FWIW, a friend of mine in Thousand Oaks, Ca bought a Tri-Ex crank-up from
First Call. Despite long delays, lots of phone calls to Tri-Ex and First Call
(my
friend jokes that First Calls motto should be "your First Call won't be your
last),
his tower was finally delivered from Tri-Ex's facility in Visalia last fall.
From what
I can see, it was worth the wait. It is a very nice tower. The galvanize
finish,
unlike Rohn, is very clean, and the tower looks to be built like the proverbial
brick outhouse.
>From what I could gather from my friends situation, this was a case of demand
outpacing supply and a salesman's reluctance to turn away perspective buyers
(perhaps a case of misguided optimism about the manufacturers capabilities).
Hopefully, the switch to Will-Burt will remedy some of the supply problems with
what appears to be a very nice product. I would personally consider buying one
once it is demonstrated that the new manufacturer is able to deliver the
product.
73 de Mike, W4EF..........................
P.S. I have no financial or business interest in Tri-Ex, First Call, or Will
Burt
----- Original Message -----
From: "d" <wa2ndp@combase.com>
To: <towertalk@contesting.com>
Cc: <K4XT@aol.com>; <wgcooper@airmail.net>; <w4pku@aol.com>
Sent: Sunday, January 21, 2001 3:50 PM
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] set the record straight
> Joel, If you want to set the record straight then
> please explain to me why my tower was NOT shipped
> during the third (3rd) WEEK OF OCTOBER 2000? That's
> when it was completed.
> Also, why haven't you refunded the $9,000+ to
> Bill, K4XT? DAN, WA2NDP
> On 21 Jan 01, at 10:19, Joel wrote:
>
> I have been witness to a lot of negative remarks being posted
> regarding First Call Communications over the last few days. I believe
> it is time to set the record straight for many comments are very much
> "off the wall" or a year or two behind times. As we also noticed over
> the last twelve months it was Bruce at U S Tower who got attacked, than
> Gerald at Texas Towers and now I guess its back to First Call.
>
> Before I get into certain postings it would be nice to have everyone
> know that a few people who made comments on T/T never ordered nor
> spoke to us about a tower but just joined in for the fun of it. . I
> guess its more of a "search and destroy" mission for them as they were
> probably tired of hearing about 3 in 1 oil over and over again and have
> nothing else to do. Another person making a not so nice comment
> purchased a NON TOWER item in September of 1999 and here he is 17
> months later attacking First Call and the tower delivery problem. Why
> is this person attacking First Call? Was he robbed or screwed or lost
> money? Not at all, I guess just having a little fun trying to get rid
> of the few remaining dealers that are left that can really discuss your
> tower needs and installation.
>
> I think we have to remember at this point that just in the last 22
> months First Call sold over 1,000 towers in the U.S. However what
> we're seeing on T/T are just a few people who had problems getting
> their tower from the Visalia factory with promise after promise broken.
> There are close to 1,000 other tower owners who got from First Call
> just what they paid for but yes, many had to wait longer than expected
> for delivery.
>
> Now lets get down to the tower delivery problem with a little
> background on Tri Ex over the last year or so.
>
> In January of 2000 First Call was offered the Tri-Ex line by the
> President of Tri-Ex. Tri Ex suggested that we work with their
> sub-contractor one mile away from the original Tri-Ex site in Visalia
> which we did.. Over the next few months with advertising and
> telemarketing and with people that wanted a strong tower at a good
> price the factory was loaded up with orders. Promised delivery times
> (as told to First Call) went from two to four weeks than six to eight
> six than 10 plus. QST, CQ and other magazines we advertised in were 5
> weeks behind the real up- dated delivery time. Tri Ex tower sales at
> First Call grew and grew but the Visalia factory making the towers
> tried to expand to keep up but did not have the experience of handling
> such growth faulted terribly and all their people were let go. Will
> Burt in the mean time was making crank up towers and had everything
> including fixures,jigs and tooling moved to Ohio They are presently
> up and running in a building dedicated to making only CRANK UP LATTICE
> TOWERS. Production is in progress and Will Burton is very much on
> their way to catching up to fill all past orders plus establishing a
> real inventory both for amateur radio and tower trailers. The tower
> specifications did not change and this to the customer means your Tri
> Ex is the strongest telescoping tower on the market today.
>
> First Call with 16 years of experience in crank up towers had done its
> best to work with each customer and there were many. First Call and
> staff related to each customer truthful information it had or was told
> about the delivery of their tower FROM THE FACTORY.. It came to a point
> however that people at the Visalia facory did not tell the truth not
> only about delivery but what was actually shipped out. This was a
> horrible time for everybody but we did the best we could and worked very
> closely with each customer and every customer to make them whole. I
> completely understand the anger some people have but consider where the
> problem started from. WE ARE NOT THE MANUFACTURER
>
> What a few people are posting are terrible things said about First
> Call. Lets face it, nobody likes long delays in getting a tower
> delivered. OK, I agree but we do not make towers in the back yard,
> we're 3000 miles from the factory and all these insults and lies
> repeated on Towertalk are not fair to us or to Tri Ex customers. First
> Call never made up the delivery schedule, this was done at the factory.
> Most of you know where the problem is so go after the manufacturer or
> whats left of them and give them "a piece of your mind" as some
> customers have. From reading the postings it appears the previous
> Visalia Tri Ex tower manufacturer is "home free" and ALL BLAME for
> EVERYTHING is with its dealer, First Call. If this was true, we
> wouldn't be selling towers since 1985. Please, lets cut out the insults
> and tell us (not on a Towertalk posting but direct) how we can help
> you. Give us your suggestion(s) to making things better especially in
> your particular case. (Please send your e mail to
> firstcall@cyburban.com) We will do what we can and respond directly
> off Towertalk as I don't want to open up a continuous dialog for the
> purpose of entertaining people.
>
> Will Burt is starting to deliver Tri Ex towers now and all orders will
> be filled as they come rolling off production. No one will lose money
> as it is a matter of transition and Will Burt getting up to speed. We
> ask you, the tower customer to bear with us and understand how
> difficult this change over and last few months were with the previous
> company in Visalia.
>
>
>
> AGAIN, we at First Call Communications have been utterly frustrated,
> took the brunt of everything for the last couple of months but the
> solution is very much in hand. New and updated technology has been
> added to each tower coming out of Will Burt and we invite everyone
> interested to give us a call to discuss this topic and the delivery
> schedules. . Our website (firstcallcom.net) is being updated to
> reflect what Will burt will be bringing you in the way of Tri-Ex and
> Tri-Ex tower trailers.
>
> We hope our posting means something especially for those people who are
> upset and frustrated. We hope to prove to you our devotation and
> loyalty as we start the year 2000.
>
> As they say, "time will tell".
>
> '73
>
> Joel Kornreich
> First Call Communications,Inc.
> January 20,2000
>
> P.S.....We're answering each posting seperately but wanted to comment
> about one January 19 e- mail in particular. The person that posted the
> e mail stated that "First Call did the same thing when they
> represented U S Tower some time ago"
> Well, this person is 100% correct for we sold more towers than U S Tower
> could keep up with and deliveries for a period exceded 14-16 weeks.
>
>
>
>
>
>
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>
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