Mindblowing Manufacturer Support [RE-wrenches]

[jeff.oldham at realgoods.com]

I second the praise of Allan. John, Kent and Vince are doing a super job of
getting inverters out pronto and with call tags to follow for the defective
unit. Technical support is also first rate, as Kent pointed out once,
Inverter manufactures seem to have to support the whole industry - array
sizing, controls, lightning, grounding, over current protection and on and
on...My only complaint (sorry SMA, no free lunch!)is that Allan was lucky
getting someone on the phone as those boys are on the road or in meetings a
lot. Thankfully, they seem to be rectifying this instead of AC for battery
charging.

btw-be sure to keep an eye to the western sky after sunset for the planetary
spectacle, all 5 naked eye planets are lining up and will be within 33
degrees on the 14th. Not to be seen again for something like 40 years.

-jeff

> 	From the Solar, Wind & Hydro Powered office of:
> 	Jeff Oldham
> 	Gaiam- Real Goods & Jade Mountain
> 	Design & Consulting Group
> 	11755 Mid. Mtn. Rd.
> 	Potter Valley, CA 95469  USA
> 
> 	Ph: 303.222.3814
> 	Fax: 707.743.1820
> 
> 	www.solardevelopment.com
> 
> 	"When you turn to face the Sun all shadows fall behind you"
> 	- Old African Proverb
> 


-----Original Message-----
From: Allan Sindelar, Positive Energy, Inc.
[mailto:allan at positiveenergysolar.com]
Sent: Wednesday, May 01, 2002 6:10 PM
To: New wrenches posting
Subject: Mindblowing Manufacturer Support [RE-wrenches]


Wrenches,
Here's one for the record books.
Phil, Dan, and Colin have been in Taos, NM the last two days, completing our
first Sunny Boy installation and a sophisticated DC solar thermal/hydronic
radiant system. (We're not California: no buydowns and .08/kwh rates, but we
DO have retail net metering.)

Yesterday, Dan was installing the AC output wires into their terminals when
a terminal screw on a pressure connector snapped. Mind you, Dan was using
his torque screwdriver (this guy is obsessive about quality) to torque the
screw (torque spec listed as 35 inch-pounds). Even though this figure seemed
high, it was per the installation manual. He called me at the office; I
called John Berdner of SMA (and got him!); John thought this was high,
verified that this was indeed the published spec, determined it was their
mistake (probably in translation from newton-meters), called Dan back on his
cell phone, and overnight shipped a replacement SB2500 to the job site.
Replacement inverter arrived today, was installed (took 1/2 hour to
completely replace the unit), job completed on schedule.

Everyone was completely blown away by the unexpected support we received.
Dan says "John's prompt response saved the job, saved the day, saved our
moods, and saved our asses. It's the kind of support that makes me glad to
be in this business."

Support this exemplary needs to be broadcast to the world.

Allan at Positive Energy

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