sundance-communications.com/forum Forums General General Telephone & Systems Information OLD vs NEW

As I read these interesting posts by people, I cant understand why anyone wants to finagle with used systems over 5 years old. The average age life of a system is 5 years!!! And with the glut of new equipment at prices that make me dizzy, why bother with fred flintstone fone systems!!!!

The NEC DS1000 with 3 phones setup 3x8x4 wholesales at around 600 bucks!!!! 1 pair wiring and reliable like you will never see.
I'm sure there are other systems similar in price.......

mitch taylor
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Thats good if you just need a few phones, but what about a company that needs 20-30 phones, voice mail and T-1 interface? I agree, I would not try to sell them a system that has lived beyond it's years, but there is a lot of good quality used equipment out there. Right now, since the economy has turned sour, I am doing 25% new and 75% refurbed. I give the customer the same warranty as new, and most of the time you can't even tell the difference because the phones I get are in such good shape. I would like to sell new all the time, but I just don't see it happening. My biggest complaint is eBay. I have had people call me to install equipment that they bought on eBay at a "great price". Turns out that most of them could have gotten the equipment through me for less and got a warranty. One guy wanted me to install a Legend system he had bought. It didn't even come with a processor! We just gotta do what's the customer wants. A few hundred dollars doesn't sound like much, but it makes and breaks deals sometimes.

I agree with Z-man, I've sold about 50% new and 50% refurb. You have to do what the customer wants and when they are trying to save money and get a quality used system then that's what you have to do. And there is quite a bit of really good refurb equipment out there if you know where to get it.
After all the customer is always right

How much of your biz is done with leasing???
Dont get me wrong, I sell refurb. also. Mostly partner/merlin. Alot of M820D2's out there. Believe it or not, I still find the Merlin 22BIS's the best built phone ever. (just dont drop it)

I get people who buy phones from Staples and then call me to install them. I have to do what it takes to stay in biz.

I never lease, I do however have a company that finance my customers if that's the way they want to go.

Mitch
>>I get people who buy phones from Staples and then call me to install them. I have to do what it takes to stay in biz.

Do you install em if they got them from Staples or anywhere else for that matter??

MONEY IS MONEY.................

I also set a lot of refurb w/the same warranty as new in most cases. As long as you let them know what limitations they are up against, because of age,no t-1,etc. We also adopted a new hourly rate for COE (customer owned equip.) beacause there was such a demand, almost 50% higher than regular time.

DrPbx how are customers responding to your new hourly rate for COE.

I too have a rate for "COE".
I figure what the hek, I can't even make 5 to 10 points on markup as I'm not selling any Equip. other then maybe an MDF board , blocks and cable. They still need you to train them and set up the voicemail usally with an attendant who really dosn't want to do the greetings.
I do lease though when I can and it's proven to be a nice alternative. A nice new system and in some cases I can get paid in advance.
As far as used or refurbed goes I would rather the customer supply the Equip.
On a lot of these COE installs I end up getting the data cabling and patch panel and
sometimes the paging.
That's my $.02

[This message has been edited by MrGemini (edited February 06, 2003).]