Frequently, in our work as phone system engineers, we’re called out to try and sort out a fault on a business system by a desperate customer.
An Awkward Conversation
Us:– “So, don’t you have a maintenance contract for this system”
Them:- “Well, we used to…”
Us:- “You do have the engineer maintenance passwords for the system, don’t you?”
Them:- “Errmmm…(loss of eye contact, embarrassed shuffling)”
Us:- “Are there any back-ups of the system settings anywhere?”
Them:- “They might be with the pile of old CD’s at the back of the cleaner’s cupboard. We did throw a load of stuff out, though”
Us:- “There’s always the chance that the system might need to be reset, and it will need to be reprogrammed from scratch?”
Them:- (silence).
Honesty. Do We Walk Away?
We don’t like being the bringers of bad news, but, in a sales-driven industry where promises are made and broken regularly, we do pride ourselves on our honesty, even if this can be a bit brutal.
Some engineers would walk away from these kind of situations. Occasionally, we feel the same. However, we actually enjoy the challenge of trying to set things right, to adopt an orphan phone system, unknown, unloved, and poorly. We have access to some of the best specialists on certain systems, and call them in when we need them.
A Day In The Life – A Short Case Study
A local large and modern church needed some additional phone system extensions in a top-floor office. The original supplier, a very large British Telecommunications system supplier (!) said “you have no wiring to allow you to do this – you will need to connect the new phones via your computer network. Before that, you need to upgrade your system. That will be £4000.00, please.
In mild despair, they called us. We took a look at their premises, and found two barely-used direct exchange lines with their own number serving that floor that happened to route back to the phone system. Good news
Furthermore, in asking them about how precisely they were planning to arrange the new office, I found out that some degree of continuous flexibility in locating the phones would be useful. Happily, there was a small data network on that floor, with multiple wall sockets and a central cabinet. The common-sense solution would be to allow these new extension cables to arrive at this cabinet, then out to whichever wall socket they wanted to use.
Next, we supplied an independent system programming engineer to get into the system, carry out some routine maintenance work, and set up new phones on the system. The result? Exactly what they wanted at a fraction of the price.
They Are Happy, We Are Happy.
Here’s what the admin. manager said in her Google review:-
“HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! If you’re having issues with your phones don’t look anywhere else! Give Rob a call. We had huge issues with BT who couldn’t sort our business phone system out at all. Fortunately someone put me in touch with Rob who solved our problems quickly, efficiently and professionally, with no fuss and at a very competitive rate! Thank-you Telecom Green!”
There is always a sense of achievement when we exceed the customer’s expectation with limited damage to their budget.
And Finally…
Here comes the inevitable sales message. It’s simple and hopefully painless; if you are looking for phone system engineers, it’s worth getting in touch.
