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Author Topic: An email I received from IVIE Michael Schaffer "Where is the Boardwalk Hotel?" Posts: 4143 From: Boston, MA Registered: Apr 2002 posted 03-27-2007 02:59 AM                        This is a somehwat bizarre thread. I have had good and bad experiences with a lot of manufacturers, but one can't hold it against a company in general or one of their products in particular if a misunderstanding (like this appears to be) occurs. But Ivie is one of the companies with whom I have had nothing but the very best experiences. I didn't see that email before it was deleted. Maybe Frank wants to share with us what he wrote to them to get that response? But I have a dozen or so emails here that I got from them, most of them from Bill, which are all very friendly and professional, and in which all my questions and suggestions about the IE-33 were answered and commented on in great and exhaustive detail. I also talked to Bill and other people there on the phone a number of times, they were always very friendly and took the time to answer questions and listen to suggestions, too. I was one of the early customers for the IE-33, and it did have some problems at the beginning, and they corrected basically all of them and kept adding features after I had got it, that's why there was so much communication. I was just very interested in sorting theseproblems out and getting a thorough understadning of how the unit works in order to exhaust its many potentials fully. Every time I called, there was someone (usually Bill) who had time to talk to me, and if not, then they took my number and always called back within just a few hours. Anyway, even if misunderstandings occur, it is not very professional to take that personally or hold the kind of emotional biases against a company that some here feel the need to share with us. I don't think it's very technical either. About the product, what I already partially said in the other recent thread, even though there were some bugs at the beginning and the iPaq and its memory loss problems were a little annoying, so it wasn't the best idea to run it on that platform, te IE-33 has served me very well over several years and on many occasions. The analyzer itself is very versatile and exact. It has been thoroughly tested by a number of professional institutions in Germany, they go about stuff like that very technically an thoroughly not based on if they like the manufacturer's people or not, and their generally very positive reviews were more of interest to me than who is working there now and who isn't (apart from the fact that I had excellent communications with those who do work there now, see above). The included Type II microphone isn't the exactest on the planet, nor is it claimed to be (part of the Type II specs allow for a certain rolloff of frequencies above 10kHz), but you normally don't use it for our purposes anyway, and even if you are in a situation where you might want to use it, you can take that int account. The whole specs with the X curve and all that aren't that exact anyway, there is a margin there, it's not a "spot on" measurement. There are too many variables involved in that anyway. For analog A-chains, it works fabulously well, and you can also use it for SPL measurements, phase checking, and a number of other applications, as well as room EQing with a multiplexer such as the USL. I got the new IE-35 but haven't played with it a lot yet. In a few weeks, I will have opportunity to compare it myself to an R2 and maybe also D2. The software is basically the same anyway, the differences are the Dell Axim X51v platform it runs on andthe new jacket design. It makes a very solid impression - most of the jacket itself is actually metal, and it has an extended life battery included in the basic package. It's pretty heavy for such a small device, but I like that, because it feels (and is) less plasticky. I look forward to working with that.  |  IP: Logged Tim Reed Better Projection Pays Posts: 5246 From: Northampton, PA Registered: Sep 1999 posted 03-27-2007 09:11 AM                       I wonder if they lurk here?  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 03-27-2007 11:35 AM                     quote: Michael Schaffer The analyzer itself is very versatile and exact. Er... ah... I seem to remember Heir Guttag said in some other thread said he found it to be not so exact..... quote: Michael Schaffer Anyway, even if misunderstandings occur, it is not very professional to take that personally or hold the kind of emotional biases against a company that some here feel the need to share with us. I don't think it's very technical either. Michael, I have had a number of varying bad experiences with IVIE over the years going all the way back to when I was doing this work in the Modwest area. These range from calling for simple technical quastions to replacement parts. Would you also like me to introduce you to others that have had similar experiences? I'd be happy to do so. Mark Mark  |  IP: Logged Joshua Waaland Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 800 From: Cleveland, Ohio Registered: Dec 1999 posted 03-27-2007 04:28 PM                     quote: Louis Bornwasser Guys; that is the nature of sales. In the cinema industry, we take everyone seriously until they declare themselves. Louis I am well aware of that. I speak with all of my customers and answer their questions when they call me about a product. Our business is somewhat different. We have three guys covering the entire country. Our industry simply won't support more salesmen when the economy is down and we have two other major competitors. So when times are good like this we are very overworked and time constrained. Our business cycles about every 3 years. If we hired someone we would barely get them trained and would have to let them go. When I started in sales in January of 2006 we were starting a record breaking sales year. I had thirteen states stretching from Wisconsin to Texas and everything in between. With that much territory you can waste 2-3 days a week just traveling. As a new salesman I simply could not do it all. I tried though because I am a people pleasing type of person. It didn't take me long to figure out I was wasting valuable time on people who were just using me. They would use me to justify buying my competitors products by having me write out quotes for them or bring equipment to them for demo. (Our product is a higher priced but higher quality product like a Cadillac compared to a Chevette. Unfortunately many purchasing agents like the price of a Chevette better and have the final say.) I only need to speak with a customer once or twice and I can usually see where they are going with it. Of course, when they sense that I know what is going on they always revert to the "We plan to buy 10 of these" statement. I have been there for 8 years and I used to talk with customers daily when I worked in the office. I used to believe that statement, but after hearing it hundreds of times since then I know that 99.99% of the time it is bullshit. In a perfect world with infinite time I would love to help out everyone that calls, but I simply cannot. Especially not in busy times like these. We beat our monthly sales goal for March by 2.5 times already. We are just trying to keep up with the folks who are placing orders. [ 03-27-2007, 09:16 PM: Message edited by: Joshua Waaland ]  |  IP: Logged Frank Dubrois Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 896 From: Cleveland, OH Registered: Mar 2005 posted 03-28-2007 01:43 AM                    quote: Louis Bornwasser Guys; that is the nature of sales. In the cinema industry, we take everyone seriously until they declare themselves. A response like that to a potential customer is NOT the nature of sales. Lets not mistake that...  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 03-28-2007 10:49 AM                        I'm not exactly a huge buyer, so I try not to ask too many questions of a potential supplier unless I really want to buy their product. If the product is an unfamiliar one, I might e-mail or call once and ask for information. If they blow me off because I'm a single screen, I'll never bother them again. But, I might not always be a single screen, so it's in their interest to at least answer my question. Unreplied e-mails are just not acceptable. If I don't get a reply within a couple of days, I'll figure they just aren't interested in me and go elsewhere. So it's in a business' best interest to make sure all e-mails get answered, and promptly.  |  IP: Logged

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