my profile | my password | search | faq & rules | forum home

» Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE   » Operations   » Film Handlers' Forum   » An email I received from IVIE (Page 1)

This topic comprises 2 pages: 1  2

Author Topic: An email I received from IVIE Frank Dubrois Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 896 From: Cleveland, OH Registered: Mar 2005 posted 03-26-2007 01:47 AM                    I try not to judge a company unless I have first hand experiences. I saw the new IE-45 and thought it to be quite the interesting tool, so I sent them an email asking about availability and cost. After my 4th email of not receiving a reply, I told them how unhappy I was not getting a reply and that if this is the way they treat their customers BEFORE they buy their product, I can't imagine the way they service their customers afterwards. I was pissed. I sold my IVIE and vow to never again look at their products. The following is the response I got from from IVIE after my 5th and final email: quote: DELETED So....in a nutshell, they are GLAD I don't own their product anymore, and they would be UNHAPPY if I did own one. Is this the new face of IVIE? If anything, this should serve as warning to anyone considering purchasing anything from this company as they would be just as happy, or happier, if you didn't. IVIE.....  |  IP: Logged Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 03-26-2007 02:00 AM                     .you should have talked to a supplier or a tech on this before getting all pissy and butt-hurt like a mad cow with PMS in not getting an immediate reply(ies) since the pricing is sometimes done through a dealer not from the manufacturer. There are tons of alternate ways to get info on a product than reacting to the immediate conclusion of poor QC to the customer ..and they prob have a phone number to call them as well for the info needed. Emails sometimes gets lost in the traffic in a lot of these places, or they other matters to attend. Also, with his reply, you must have said something to trigger his response (granted, not the best response to come from a manufacturer) with possible reactions and emotional contents that you stated in your emails to this company ... it take two to tangle here ...  |  IP: Logged Jeremy Weigel Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1062 From: Edmond, OK, USA Registered: Mar 2007 posted 03-26-2007 02:11 AM                     The respondant may be a disgruntled employee who's looking to screw the company by diverting potential sales and ruin it reputation. I would personally keep that email; call to speak with someone above their pay grade and inform them of the extremely poor customer/sales service that was given. If you still get a rather poor response then it may indeed be indicative of their current corporate atmosphere, although I find that highly unlikely; but you never know...  |  IP: Logged Christopher Seo Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 530 From: Los Angeles, CA Registered: Jun 99 posted 03-26-2007 03:30 AM                     FWIW, the (minor) correspondence I have had with the Ivie rep from the above email tended to be on the dry side.  |  IP: Logged Joshua Waaland Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 800 From: Cleveland, Ohio Registered: Dec 1999 posted 03-26-2007 05:40 AM                     I would go over his head if I were you. We have had sales guys at our company that would show up at customer's places completely drunk. My old boss (now my peer since he was demoted for just this kind of thing) would yell at customers all the time on the phone. You just never know what is going on at this joint. It could also be that he is just overloaded with work and needed to vent (albeit not the best way). I am in sales at my company and we have all been overloaded this past year with all the business we are getting. They even split my territory in half and I can't keep up sometimes. You tend to get a lot of tire kickers and you need to weed out the bad leads and not waste as much time on the them. I used to drive myself nutty trying to help everyone and would get so frustrated because I couldn't. I have learned how to identify who is a tire kicker and will waste my time. I am not saying you are a tire kicker, just how he may be looking at it. He may have identified you as such and has bigger fish to fry at the moment. I agree this is not a good way to do business but he may have too much territory to cover and doesn't have a choice. A tire kicker will call you wanting loads of information either faxed or e-mailed. Then they call you 5 times and talk to you for 45 minutes asking you tons of questions. He will of course want you to come do a demo at his place 5 states away which means shipping the machine at a cost of several hundred dollars each way. Then you have to waste a week of your sales and family time to go out and demo the machine for him and rack up airfare and expenses. Then he will try to break you down on price and they always give you the good old, "I plan to buy _ more in the future" to get you to continue to waste your time with them. Then in the end if they do buy anything at all they just buy one unit at a discount and you have to chase them around for 6 months trying to get paid. Hardly worth your time. The other type of customer is the guy who has to get the job done asap and calls and asks a few questions about the machine. He is motivated to buy since he is paying guys to stand around and has acres of steel plates stacked up behind his building he needs beveled. He is the guy who buys 3-4 $25,000 beveling machines over the phone without ever asking for a discount. These are the guys you have to take care of. They pay the light bill. I have had 3 of these in the past month. I just say all of this to help you see why he was such a jerk to you, not to justify it. I am NOT saying you are a tire kicker or that you did anything wrong. He was obviously out of line in his reply to you. He may just be an asshole or he may have been totally stressed out and snapped. Either way it wasn't good for his company or you. If you call and talk to his boss maybe they will do something about it. It took several of our customers talking to us about the drunk salesman before he got fired. [ 03-27-2007, 04:03 PM: Message edited by: Joshua Waaland ]  |  IP: Logged Tim Reed Better Projection Pays Posts: 5246 From: Northampton, PA Registered: Sep 1999 posted 03-26-2007 05:50 AM                       quote: they call you 5 times and talk to you for 45 minutes asking you tons of questions. Then he will try to break you down on price and they always give you the good old "I plan to buy many more in the future" to get you to continue to waste your time with them. Then in the end if they do buy anything at all they just buy one unit Man, can I relate to that! I can't tell you how many times that has happened in my trailer-production business! I can't figure out if they just get-off wasting someone else's time, or if all the attention makes them feel important. Btw, where's Ivie located?  |  IP: Logged Joshua Waaland Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 800 From: Cleveland, Ohio Registered: Dec 1999 posted 03-26-2007 05:56 AM                     Tim, If I only had a dollar for everytime it has happened to me in just over a year in sales. Let's just say I would have a nicer screening room than Brad does.  |  IP: Logged Louis Bornwasser Film God Posts: 4441 From: prospect ky usa Registered: Mar 2005 posted 03-26-2007 10:04 AM                        Guys; that is the nature of sales. In the cinema industry, we take everyone seriously until they declare themselves. Louis  |  IP: Logged David Stambaugh Film God Posts: 4021 From: Eugene, Oregon Registered: Jan 2002 posted 03-26-2007 10:35 AM                        Not defending his email. But email can be an extremely ineffective way to conduct business. Sometimes it's just better to pick up the phone.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 03-26-2007 01:06 PM                     Guys, Like I said in other posts regarding IVIE... they are not the company they once were. They nused to be very customer oriented with a customer first attitude. That has long since disapprared... along with their quality products of yesteryear. Today you coldn't give me an IVIE product for free. Mark  |  IP: Logged Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 03-26-2007 01:46 PM                        Please see rule #6. Don't post private email messages without the permission of the sender.  |  IP: Logged Frank Dubrois Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 896 From: Cleveland, OH Registered: Mar 2005 posted 03-26-2007 02:46 PM                    I forgot about that..sorry...but still, my summary of his email sums it up. I just have this feeling that IVIE isn't exactly overloaded with people trying to ask them questions as they do have a lot of different offices. Is sending 5 emails too many? Maybe, but then look at it from the consumers side: Should I have to send 5 emails to get information about a new product they are trying to promote? I looked around the internet and couldn't find anything on the unit...now I don't care to even look. I now must agree with Mark...IVIE is a poor company. I'm not sure what position Bill Raventos holds within the company, but if its anything higher than custodian, then that company is headed for trouble. quote: Monte L Fullmer Also, with his reply, you must have said something to trigger his response (granted, not the best response to come from a manufacturer) with possible reactions and emotional contents that you stated in your emails to this company ... it take two to tangle here ... I simply told him that this was my 5th email to his company requesting information on his new product, but due to lack of response, I will buy an RTA elsewhere. Maybe it was the "I'll buy elsewhere" that irritated him? Who knows, who cares, my point was that this is no way for a business to respond to a customer. Whether he was extremly pissed off, having a bad day, or simply doesn't like his job, thats just no excuse....in my opinion. No biggie, I just wanted to share IVIE's current state of mind.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 03-26-2007 02:59 PM                     Frank, Its obvious that you didn't post the entire e-mail and summarized it and I think you did everyone here a BIG FAVOR by posting what you did. There are others on this site that could also be taken by what is left of IVIE. Mark  |  IP: Logged Frank Dubrois Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 896 From: Cleveland, OH Registered: Mar 2005 posted 03-26-2007 04:04 PM                    Mark, I did post the whole email, but it was deleted. Rule #6 I guess. It was posted word for word and I hope at least some people got to read it before it was deleted...I doubt very much if IVIE or Bill would give me permission to post it. It would do absolutely nothing positive for their company.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 03-26-2007 04:24 PM                     I must not have seen the whole thing then. But at any rate I think those that might otherwise be interersted in IVIE equipment will get the jist of this thread. Indeed they are worse than a used car dealer! Mark  |  IP: Logged

All times are Central (GMT -6:00)

This topic comprises 2 pages: 1  2

Printer-friendly view of this topic

Hop To: Select a Forum: Category: Operations -------------------- Digital Cinema Forum Film Handlers' Forum Large Format Forum Ground Level Feature Info, Trailer Attachments & REAL Credit Offsets Category: Community -------------------- Film-Yak Film Handlers' Movie Reviews The Afterlife Bob Maar's Joke-A-Thon Category: Classified -------------------- Equipment and Supplies Wanted/For Sale Help Wanted/Seeking Employment Category: System -------------------- Software Beta Testing Forum

The Film-Tech Forums are designed for various members related to the cinema industry to express their opinions, viewpoints and testimonials on various products, services and events based upon speculation, personal knowledge and factual information through use, therefore all views represented here allow no liability upon the publishers of this web site and the owners of said views assume no liability for any ill will resulting from these postings. The posts made here are for educational as well as entertainment purposes and as such anyone viewing this portion of the website must accept these views as statements of the author of that opinion and agrees to release the authors from any and all liability.