Let me respond to your statements one at a time. First, we are chartered by FEMA. We do not however receive any Federal or State funding. Most of our funds come from private sources. There are only about five teams similar to ours nationwide and we were the first of our kind in Ohio.
Second, The repeater was received from a Kenwood Factory Authorized Dealer who then refused to support us after the repeater failed within the first hour after the initial installation. That is when we went directly to Kenwood. They have admitted in writing that their dealer failed to perform but then Kenwood refused to force the dealer to do so. I even have e-mails from the dealer promising to refund our money and assuring us they would send a call tag for the unit. None of the promises were ever fulfilled and Kenwood never forced the dealer to fulfill them even though Kenwood was provided with copies of the e-mail's we received from the dealer. We tried to work with Kenwood but it got us no where except for them to continue to tell us to return it each time so they could fix it. The repeated problem was with the PA deck on the unit. They replaced various pieces within the unit and it failed soon after we got the unit back each time. I must point out that since last fall when we finally installed a Motorola repeater at the tower site we have been up and running without problem with the hardline, antenna and other equipment that we originally installed at the site when we first took the Kenwood unit to the site for installation. I have an extensive background as do several other members of our team in G.E. and Motorola commercial radio equipment having worked in that field for a number of years. We have our own in house professionals. In addition our team is attached to the City of Cincinnati Fire Department and we work closely with the cities radio tech department as well. We have "experts" running out of our ears. The last thing we needed to do was go outside and hire someone to tell us what we already knew, the Kenwood repeater kept blowing through no fault or ours or the equipment that is was attached to. Third, We operate a number of repeaters in the Greater Cincinnati metro area including amateur, commercial and public safety on various bands. We have a combination of G.E. and Motorola equipment with some sites having been in service for over 10 years with little or no intervention on our part except for site visits about every six months to check equipment and make log entries at the site. In fact we just retired a G.E. repeater that I helped design a custom controller for almost 15 years ago. That repeater has worked flawlessly over the years and was just replaced with new Motorola equipment. The Kenwood repeater was purchased after we were granted access to a tower site that would extend our coverage into outlying areas in several counties north of Cincinnati. Because of the high profile location of the tower we did not want to transfer any of our existing equipment to it but rather thought it would be better to buy all new equipment. New repeater, new antenna, new polyphaser equipment, new emergency power systems and new Andrews hardline and fittings. This is what brought about the purchase of the Kenwood repeater. Forth, I have duties that entail my traveling regularly to military facilities around the country so I had to deal with this issue when I was in town and had time and I was not the original person that began dealing with the issues but rather picked it up later in the struggle. Kenwood kept refusing to admit that the unit was a lemon. Fifth, after I became involved we even connected the repeater up just after one of the last trips to the Kenwood repair center on our test bench into a dummy load and without engaging the transmitter but by just turning on the power to the unit it blew white smoke out the rear of the unit and died. This was the point at which I contacted our attorney general. Sixth, We have reviewed our procedures and we no longer buy Kenwood repeater equipment. I can assure you that this is the complete story and I can also assure you it is fully documented. This is not "complaining" but rather a WARNING of what might happen if you deal with Kenwood. Bottom line, the Kenwood equipment failed to perform then the Factory Authorized Dealer Failed to perform and then Kenwood Failed to perform even though they were given every opportunity to do so. You may be loyal to Kenwood but you cannot defend an indefensible position "Buyer be ware!" (this is the last I will say on the subject) Capt. Steve Helton Communications Division Emergency Support Services Federal Emergency Management Agency Cincinnati CERT Task Force [EMAIL PROTECTED] -----Original Message----- From: Nate Duehr [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, September 15, 2004 22:40 To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Repeater-Builder] Kenwood Repeater Steve Helton wrote: > We were dealing directly with Kenwood (Cheryl Daly > [EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>]). I wrote > numerous e-mails over many months. Let me be clear that it was only > after we contacted the Attorney General's office and threatened > Kenwood with legal action that they finally agreed to replace the > "Lemon" with a new one. This was only after the unit had been to both > the East coast AND West coast Kenwood repair facilities numerous times > without success. We are still out between $200 and $300 from this > event that Kenwood has refused to reimburse us for (for shipping cost > back to Kenwood repeatedly). We were told we would be reimbursed (I > have multiple e-mails to that effect) but it has never happened. > > We sold the unit and got most (not all) of the money that we > originally paid for it back. > > My point is that if an agency like ours cannot rely on Kenwood then > the average Joe does not stand a chance. They failed in their > corporate responsibility. The other part of this problem is that a > high profile tower owner gave us the top spot on their 350+' tower for > this system and we kept having to go back to the tower over and over > and over and over and over again. It caused us issues with the tower > owner that we are just now overcoming. > > I might be willing to rethink my position on Kenwood if they would > ever return all of the money we lost during the time we had their > product. Maybe some of you dealers could tell us where to go within > Kenwood to get our money back. > > > > > *Capt. Steve Helton* > > *Communications Division* > > *Emergency Support Services* > > *Federal Emergency Management Agency* > > *Cincinnati CERT Task Force* > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>* > Now before you go get all huffy and upset ('cause there seems to be a pattern here), please remember that you started this complaint on a public list with your FEMA title slapped on your name, and now you have me, the guy PAYING for your radios interested in your story -- are you just completely mismanaging the funds you took from me in taxes? I'm not trying to be mean here, but seriously... It just sounds like you might have just mismanaged the whole situation. I'm just an "average Joe" but I'd never let Kenwood or anyone else stomp all over me like it appears you guys did. -> You should have talked with the Attorney General much sooner than "numerous" e-mails and "numerous" trips to both repair facilities. -> You should have purchased through a reputable dealer who would be able to cover your outage from stock. -> If you're an Emergency Services group, where's your BACKUP repeater?! -> And if you had even a hint of a possibility of a strained relationship with your tower owner, by the time you made the third trip to the tower you should have had another repeater of whatever model to put up there to keep your tower folks happy. -> Why didn't you escalate beyond Cheryl if she was non-responsive? -> Why did you push so hard for a replacement if they weren't responding? Why not demand a refund? Reaching into someone's wallet pocket always gets their attention better than whining that they won't fix something. -> Did you demand written reports on the repairs as to exactly what was wrong so you could see if something in your environment could be causing the failures? -> If you're truly purchasing for FEMA, were you in contact with other local Federal agencies to ask them what types of repeaters they recommended and could help with trades in true emergencies? Many Federal agencies talk to the ones that have 2-way system test labs for advice before purchasing, and some agencies are required to purchase from a list of products that have been tested and certified. -> Did you pay a professional to install the repeater so they could provide a report of conditions at the site to Kenwood? Did that professional test the feedline, the antenna and the rest of the system beyond the repeater to make sure it met all specifications? Color me skeptical of this whole story -- there's something else going on here you're not telling us about. Complaining to the "public" through a mailing list is probably not the brightest of ideas at this point. Not with your title attached, anyway. Back up ten steps, talk to the AG and sue the crap out of Kenwood if you really think you have a case, Captain. Otherwise, you may want to review your procedures for procurement of new equipment. Purchase Orders don't get paid until a particular set of circumstances are met in my industry (telecommunications)... why don't your purchase orders have similar words? Or just ignore me, I honestly don't really care. But, $200-$300 bucks lost to learn how to improve your process (in the business world anyway, who knows what you government guys do) is considered a very CHEAP education. You can learn from it or just blame Kenwood forever... but I think complaining about it to taxpayers might expose your every decision you made to that same public's... scrutiny! Don't you? -- Nate Duehr, [EMAIL PROTECTED] - WY0X Yahoo! Groups Links Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Repeater-Builder/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
