sundance-communications.com/forum Forums Other TDM Phone Systems ESI Telephones & Systems New ESI Policy - Pay to be a dealer

Just curious if any other Resellers for ESI have heard the news that starting 1/1/2019 we get billed $350/quarter to continue to be an ESI dealer. It's portrayed that all training for techs is included - which I suppose is great if you have a ton of techs to train. But - if you don't, then you are going to need to pay $1,400 per year to be able to continue to purchase equipment and support. No 30 day notice - just a webinar this week.

So - for the ESI systems that we have sold over the years...if we choose not to continue to be a dealer, I guess we just tell them to call ESI?? Maybe I'm just getting old and grumpy - but when they have 1,200 resellers each paying that amount - that's nearly 1.7 million dollars in revenue. Anyone else aware of this or have any thoughts?

With hosted taking over, it's just a last ditch effort to stay in business. In my opinion they are shooting themselves in the foot. I'll be damned if I'm going to give you $350/quarter for the privilege of selling your crap. You have it backwards, YOU are supposed to pay ME. If that's your attitude let hosted take over.

-Hal

I know a while back they were going to charge for tech support in some instances. Did they ever do that and if so is that included in the $1,400. Part of their issue is they had lots of little dealers doing very little volume. They have been offering their own Hosted platform for 4 or 5 years now after purchasing another company.

That is a lot of money to be a dealer ! good bye ESI

I agree with all of you however I think their biggest mistake is going all IP with this new flagship product. 99% of my sales have some digital phones. I realize the digital handset market is shrinking but it is still bigger than IP. And more reliable...

Reminds me of an old church/school that is my customer. Originally they had a 1A2 and I sold them a Partner system probably 20 years ago. Now they are looking to replace that and since I'm basically retired I suggested they contact another Avaya dealer. All they want to do is sell IP systems and they scratch their heads over how they are going to install it. It's an old stone complex and I re-used the 25 pair that I think was installed during a remodeling maybe 50 years ago. No way is anybody going to run any new wiring now.

-Hal

Still plenty of digital systems out there. No reason for VOIP for that application. Ya ESI charging to be a dealer...silly. Not like they are a major player. I like their stuff but seriously? As for hosted, apparently common core has killed the ability to add or multiply amounts of money. Hosted in most cases is WAY WAY WAY more expensive and far less reliable.

Part of the issue is that the way ROI is figured now it changes things in favor of hosted. Instead of classifying phone systems as what they are, they are grouped in with computer equipment which has a shorter lifespan. As far as they church goes, we install Panasonic and like it.

At the moment yes. But this customer looks at the long term and want's equipment and service to still be available 10 years from now.

-Hal

After I wiped the tears off my cheeks from laughing so hard, I figure that I was looking for a product when I found ESI. In the last THREE years, I have sold about 5 non-IP systems, 4 of them being ESI. So, why would a sane person pay $1400 to sell 1.3 systems? Fortunately I have a secondary market supplier for parts and I have a stock of systems on the shelf.

Time to dust off my NEC DSX and 2100 systems... ESI must be using the Comdial business model where they make more money selling training than product LOL

Carl