atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums TDM Business Telephone Systems Panasonic Telephones & Systems TDA Certification

Only problem I have had with this (and correct me if I'm wrong)is that you have to be a dealer or be employed by one to become certified.

Looks like some installers might want to take it upon themselves to become certified either because their employer won't cooperate or they chose not to become a dealer usually because of product sales commitments.

-Hal

There is no TD training anymore anyway.

Does that mean that distributors can now sell the TD systems to anybody??

-Hal

They have been selleing TD systems to GOD and his brother since 95.

The TD systems are still available for a while longer.
The TD training did stop a while ago.
I don't know of anywhere execpt on the intrnet that you can buy a TD unit without certification.

This is the problem I have with Panasonic. Many years ago we sold a lot of 61610's and then the 624's. We would have liked to have moved up to the TD but I'll be damned if I was going to pay all that money to have our guys certified then have it taken away because we didn't meet their product commitment.

I will never understand why a company would operate this way. I can understand that their reason would be to maintain standards but apparently they don't need to make any money. Maybe that's what happens when you are a small part of a giant corporation, and maybe that's why there are so few Panasonic dealers.

They need to cut the elitest crap, their equipment isn't any better than any other in it class.

-Hal

I am a contractor in Ireland, When the tda came out here I had to pay for this myself 400 euro quite cheep I thought for the cert
Most of the other people on the course were employers they went for training themselves & then they train there staff & use their cert to commission that way no problem with staff leavening course price now gone up to 1000 euro ............

Right, I can remember when it was $75 here. What's it now, 10 times that?

-Hal

The lowest I've ever seen the TD class was $300.00 and that was back in 94 when they came out.
You don't have to send all of your Techs. and I have never heard of anyone loosing their Cert. for not selling enough systems.
It's actually quite reasonable. all of the major players charge for training. Your nortell and some of the Avaya systems are up into the thousands.
If you like the systems then you get certified.
If you don't like them, don't sell them.
It's that simple.
If you serious about your business then you should realize that part of your overhead is for training and certification.

If you serious about your business then you should realize that part of your overhead is for training and certification.

Absolutely, I'm not complaining. As I remember the $75 cost was from way back even before the TD.

It's not that I don't like the systems, just that Panasonic makes you jump through hoops to do business with them and that's what turns me off.

Around here at least you can find someone selling 624's to anyone who walks through the door on almost every street corner. When I see a 624 install I can be certain it was done by a hack. On the other hand installers like myself who have been in the business for years can't buy a TD or TDA for the occasional customer who prefers it.

-Hal

If it was before the TD then the fee was to an independent dealer or vender who was simply conducting a "training class" There were no Panasonic ran certification classes before the TD systems wih the exception of the actual
KXT 336 PBX.
The very reason that most of the KXTA 624 systems you see that look like crap is because anyone can buy them as well as the fact that these are very often sold as "plug & play" over the internet.
If you feel you know the TD systems well enough to sell and service them but don't want to get certified, (as you can't now anyway)
you could have always bought them from an internet dealer and resold them.
Granted, the prices are not as low as you would get from a vendor but if your only concerned with one or two a year that would have been the way to go.
I and many other certified dealers never felt that the TD systems should have been sold over the internet but Panasonic opted to go for the sales and as long as these internet companies offered Tech. support they let it go.
It's all a mute point now as the TD isn't for long and may be gone by the end of the year.
Hal, you have to remember, as long as there are customers who shop solely by price there will always be hacks and trunk slammers to accomodate them.
When I 1st started I would cringe at having to clean up wiring or straighten out programming after a hack or a slammer but now I look at as another way to pay the bills.
The customer is amazed to see what the install should have looked like in the 1st place whether it's a small 3X8 on a backboard or a 200 or 300 port system in a rack.
Some customers just learn the hard way.