[BC] Professional Respect - from the other side of the street...

[Jeff Allen]

I prefer info on the website.  Troubleshooting guides are wonderful if they
are well done.  Harris has some troubleshooting info, but it's terribly
skimpy.  When you have something down at 3 AM it's really nice to poke
around a website for information, but also very annoying when you have to
navigate through 100 or so links just to find out there is nothing on the
website regarding your problem.  Live chat is great! My transmitter sites
are too noisy to use phones, I'd rather type and read than try to hear
through the loud blowers and phase rotators.

J Allen




----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jeff Welton" <jwelton at nautel.com>
To: "Broadcasters' Mailing List" <broadcast at radiolists.net>
Sent: Friday, December 15, 2006 7:43 AM
Subject: RE: [BC] Professional Respect - from the other side of the
street...


Perhaps I should have avoided the example, we're getting sidetracked on that
when I was hoping to focus more on the expectations regarding the level of
support you expect when you walk through the door of a site to be confronted
with a piece of smoking wreckage (or some lesser degree of failure!).

I guess what I'm looking for are answers and ideas.....

- what can we do to make your job easier (I'm not talking about doing the
job for you, just taking some of the stress out of your life at 3 am).  We
all know stuff breaks; now, what should I be expecting from you and what do
you expect from me when you pick up that phone?

- how can we get information to you?  This goes mostly to station engineers,
but would also apply to contractors.  As an example, how many of you are
aware we've put "live chat" on our website?  It's been there over a month
now and it's pretty quiet, so I'm guessing the answer is not too many of you
know about it.  (if you go to our site and click on the "customer support"
tab, there is a link there to the live chat function)

- what is your preferred method of receiving information on
software/hardware/firmware upgrades and whether or not they apply to your
specific equipment?  Would you prefer an email notification, receive an
upgrade package via mail/courier (to the station or to yourself if you're a
contractor?), or should we just post it on our website and let you figure it
out, assuming we provide enough information to empower you to do so?

- it's been raised before, but at what level will you accept that we may
need to find somebody else with the answer?  As an example, I get more calls
on HD Radio at the moment than anything else.  Although I've been involved
with it since the implementation stage, the tech has changed so often and so
rapidly, I might not know how to set up the PAD for SPS2 on an importer
running v1.2.0 software (to tell the truth I don’t - but I know how to do it
for v2.0.1!)  Is this a question you would reasonably expect us to be able
to answer after hours, or could it wait til the high priced guys get in
tomorrow morning?  Alternately, some of my newer guys may not immediately
know that it's 3F2 that takes your AMPFET50 down to half power and that the
fuse is 20A and located behind the bottom exciter drawer.  We have backup
plans and phone lists for that sort of stuff, but what level of support
should be provided after hours?  Off-air only, reduced power,
install/configuration questions, parts information, or any requests at all?

This is the kind of information I'm looking for - along with any other ideas
you may have.  I certainly didn't intend to start a lambasting session of
the possibly hypothetical station in my example.  That was an example of the
type of call we receive at least once a month though, just to give an idea
of the extremes we face.  Incidentally - hypothetically, the station owner
was told two days ago that indications were that the station MIGHT be out of
tolerance, that there were problems with the transmitter and that his
contract engineer had been asked to get the tools necessary to identify the
problems so we can help to resolve them.  No word back as of this writing.

Best,

Jeff Welton
Customer Service Department
Nautel
+1.902.823.3900 x 127
www.nautel.com

MAKING DIGITAL RADIO WORK

-- 
No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.5.432 / Virus Database: 268.15.20/588 - Release Date: 12/15/2006
10:02

_______________________________________________

The BROADCAST [BC] list is sponsored by SystemsStore On-Line Sales
Cable-Connectors-Blocks-Racks-Wire Management-Test Gear-Tools and More!
www.SystemsStore.com       Tel: 407-656-3719    Sales at SystemsStore.com




-- 
No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.1.409 / Virus Database: 268.15.20/588 - Release Date: 12/15/2006