In praise of SMA - again [RE-wrenches]

Nick Nicholas, APS APS at SBCGLOBAL.NET
Fri Jan 24 11:30:29 PST 2003


Hi Jeff et al:
    Thank God for the Sunny Boy inverters and SMA.  Thank you John, Sam,
Kent, Jason, and others for your enthusiasm, hard work, and ethical
policies.
    I too have found it hard to reach SMA staff at certain times, but it has
never been a problem.  I have found success in the process of calling, press
Jason's extension, get voicemail, hang up, call again, press Kent's
extension, get voicemail, hang up, and finally call John's cell.  If all
that fails, I take the 5 minute drive from my store to the SMA headquarters.
As SMA continues to grow, an emergency tech support line will be more
necessary.  Until their inverters are providing primary power, such as with
a Sunny Island, the present phone system works for me.
    On another note, I want to mention that I have been impressed with the
quality of tech support that Xantrex has offered.  With all the issues the
SW has, I truly appreciate the Tech Support Line at Xantrex.  It has been
very useful to me, even though I generally sit on hold for 5 minutes first.
They replace faulty SW inverters under warranty with little hassle.   This
service is superior to tech support offered by other electronics
manufacturers, especially computer companies.  I hate Dell.
Nick Nicholas
Alternative Power Systems
www.alternativepowersystems.com
aps at sbcglobal.net
135 Colfax Ave.
Grass Valley, CA 95945
(530) 274-0588 phone
(530) 274-0589 fax
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jeff Clearwater" <clrwater at earthlink.net>
To: <RE-wrenches at topica.com>
Sent: Friday, January 24, 2003 7:18 AM
Subject: RE: In praise of SMA - again [RE-wrenches]


> Hi John and All,
>
> I too have had great response on problems from SMA EXCEPT, in the
> interest of not letting SMA's head grow too large - It's been a
> hassle getting people on the phone in the field.  With all the sales
> and success, I would think SMA could afford a phone receptionist -
> someone that could filter the urgent stuff and get it dealt with .  I
> always get a voice mail box when I call and I often don't hear back
> for a couple of days.  By then I've either had to solve it myself or
> move on and leave a loose end.  I've resorted to trying each person
> on the company roster - thereby hassling people for tech questions
> where it's not their job.
>
> That coupled with the fact that half of SMA's voice mail boxes lead
> you into an endless loop where you are asked for a password and can't
> get back to the main menu further frustrates my attempts to get
> answers in the field.
>
> How about a "Tech Support Hot Line" for field only related calls?  Or
> a real person to talk to? Or?
>
> Otherwise, I totally agree that SMA has been a shining example of
> service in the industry.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Jeff Clearwater
> Ecovillage Design
>
> At 3:06 PM -0800 1/22/03, jberdner at sma-america.com wrote:
> >Lastly one item not in Peter's post:
> >If you are in the field with a problem PLEASE say that you are in the
> >field if you call and get voice mail. This helps us to give priority to
> >those who need it most.  Also please repeat your telephone number slowly
> >if you are on a cell phone.  Cell phones sometimes make it hard for us
> >to get the numbers right and repeating the number gives us a much better
> >chance of getting back to you promptly.
>
>
> --
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Jeff Clearwater
> Ecovillage Design Associates - Whole Systems Design
> Community and Village Scale Renewable Energy & Water Systems
>
> Cell: 720-480-8455
> Office:  800-440-2523 (PIN-7071)
> Fax:  720-528-7813
> jeffc at ic.org
>
> 2525 Arapahoe Ave.
> Boulder, CO 80302
>
> PO Box 2255
> Redway, CA 95560
>
> Council Member - Ecovillage Network of the Americas -
http://www.ecovillage.org
> Advisory Board - Living Routes - Ecovillage Education -
> http://www.livingroutes.org
> Founder:  Ecovillage Research, Development, and Demonstration Program:
> http://www.home.earthlink.net/~clrwater/RDD/rdd.html
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
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