sundance-communications.com/forum Forums TDM Business Telephone Systems Comdial Telephones & Systems Looking for a Reputable Tech in NYC

Our current company has not been able to get our Comdial Impact System working properly for five years. At a point of total frustration at this point, I would like to find a new company at this point. Anyone out there from NYC or who can refer someone from NYC?

Sure some NY guys will chime in here, that system isn't too complicated, what isn't it doing?

The largest problem is that we were supposed to have Caller ID under the original equipment specs. According to our equipment vendor, our telephone service provider (XO) has some way of sending Caller ID information over a regular T1 (which is why they specified a T1 card versus a PRI card). When our service went down and our service provider forwarded our DIDs to our cellphones, we were getting caller ID information on our cellphones which makes me think the service provider is sending the information but our equipment vendor didn't set up our system properly to receive it.

Then there are a number of features that we KNOW don't work properly (having not yet gotten into some of the more advanced features). These include:

1. Call Transfer Outside System: While I have been able to get the Message Notification Service to work (mostly a function of figuring out the inaccuracies in the manual), I have not been able to get the Call Transfer Feature to work. I am able to enter a number to transfer to and the system recognizes the number and says the feature is on, but it doesn’t ring where I sent it.


2. The first "line" buttons on all the phones in one of the six calls group stopped working within a month. When they got reprogrammed, they lasted less than a month before they ceased working. (This is especially frustrating because, according to the revised directions for CFOS I got from our vendor, one needs the first line button to set up CFOS.)

3. Call Transfer Service: While I have been able to get the Message Notification Service to work (mostly a function of figuring out the inaccuracies in the manual), I have not been able to get the Call Transfer Feature to work. On a phone in a call group where the first line button is working, I am able to enter a number to transfer to and the system recognizes the number and says the feature is on, but it doesn’t ring where I sent it.

4. Multiple Greetings: At first we didn't have them. Finally, we got the system programmed for them. Since then, it has begun dropping greetings entirely, replacing them with generic messages. The vendor says that it must be because people are pressing the wrong buttons; I might agree with this, but it's happening to me and I know I'm pressing the right buttons.

5. Systemwide Speed Dialing: We enter all the numbers, and then mysteriously lose some. We re-enter them, they work for a while, and then they disappear.

6. Let's not even talk about TAPI; they say it doesn't work and they won't support it!

Then, for six months, I've been trying to get the Equipment Vendor (EV) to set up a service contract which they have not done.

Yesterday, we couldn't make or receive calls. The Service Provider (SP) tested the smart jack remotedly and could communicate with it and said it was probably an equipment issue. Further the SP said the kinds of errors he was getting were usually indicative of a bad T1 card. So I called my EV.

Our EV said that SPs say this all the time but the SP isn't able to fully test the smart jack without being onsite and I should tell the SP to send someone out also. The EV sent a tech who didn't have a key to the system (the EV never gave us one)and didn't have a T1 card (EV claims they don't keep one on the truck because they are so expensive). The tech told US he couldn't get into the KSU and left. According to the EV, their tech did get into the box and looked at the cards and they "looked" okay so I should call the SP.

Today, the SP tested the smart jack onsite with a T-Bird computer. So I called the EV. Now the EP informs me that it will cost me $2,450 to have the T1 card replaced. (Why didn't they say anything yesterday?)When I pushed at them, they said they could install a refurbished card for $1,500. When I asked why it would cost $900 more than the price of the card, they said because something always goes wrong and they end up having two guys on site for 3-4 hours going back and forth with the service provider.

I don't know why it would take two guys to install a T1 card and I don't see why there should suddenly be a problem with the new T1 card if there wasn't a problem with the old T1 card, but the SP says it "happens all the time." Further, when I asked if it wouldn't be logical for them to also have tested the smart jack when they were here yesterday, the EV claimed this was not their responsibility. Granted, it's not. But if you're providing the equipment support, doesn't it make sense to rule out the smart jack as a problem? They claim that the T Bird is a $3,000 piece of equipment and so they don't have one.

I'm wondering whether I shouldn't invest in a T-Bird and a T1 card because if we run an office center with 10 different tenants. If I lose a tenant because of phone service problems, that's $3,000 right there!

So, am I getting my chain yanked by my EV or are things really this complicated?

In either case, thanks for letting me vent.

Email me with the name of your current vendor and I'll see if it's on the list of vendors that we have used successfully in your area. Don't want to give you the same vendor name if you have less than desirable relationship with them. Also what part of NYC?

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Business Phone Systems

yikes you apparently have some issues.

1. If you have multiple tennants I would recommend going with a PRI instead of T1 anyways. You would be able to give each company thier own number rather than a blanket number. I think that would solve your Caller ID issues as well.

2. If you are not under contract with this company you would be wise to seek a new vendor. It sounds as they are maybe in over thier heads. You are correct that it doesnt take 2 guys to replace a card. haha

I do work in NYC. 20 year comdial dealer. Send me an email or call me at 631 956 0100. Thanks

Jim
SST Communications