 |
|
|||||||||||
Trade
FAQ
| © Copyright 2007 ToneTel Telecom | Email Webmaster |
Q Will ToneTel Telecom sell direct to my customers?
A
Absolutely not.
We have built up our reputation by remembering that your customer remains your customer – whilst we provide services on your behalf, you as the (Dealer/Comms Provider) are our customer and we want you to remain so by providing your customers with great service and by advising them when upgrades etc are required so they can order them from you which hopefully means more work for us carrying out the installation & support.
All site visits to your customers are carefully filed under your Trade/Dealer account and your customers will never be added to the ToneTel Telecom Direct database. To date we have never as much as sold a single telephone direct to another (Dealer/Comms Providers) customers, not many of our competitors can say that even if it is explained away as an administration error !
All enquiries to our staff for extra phones or upgrades etc are passed straight back to you so that you can contact your customer and make the sale.
Return to Trade 'Frequently Asked Questions' Menu
Q How will using ToneTel Telecom increase my companies profits?
A
We will save you considerable
costs on running your own engineering department as you will obviously not have
to pay us during quiet periods when you do not need engineering services.
You
also save on the costs of running company vehicles and supplying engineering
tools including Laptops, ISDN testers etc.
We
like to think of our trade customers as partners and are sometimes able to pass
leads to you where we feel an end-user would benefit from the sales experience
and solutions of your company.
Return to Trade 'Frequently Asked Questions' Menu
Q How will ToneTel Telecom engineers represent themselves to my customers?
A Exactly as you need us to.
By
default when working for a trade customer on a client site, we introduce
ourselves as working on behalf of “YOUR
COMPANY NAME LTD” etc.
But
we can represent you as you need us to, some trade customer like us to represent
their company directly whilst others prefer us to announce ourselves as ToneTel
Telecom working on your behalf.
ToneTel
Telecom engineers are provided with branded and non branded workwear to meet our
trade customer’s requirements, some of our regular trade customers have even
issued us with their own branded clothing and/or ID cards etc to wear on their
client sites (we do the washing and ironing for free!).
ToneTel Telecom vehicles are non-branded by default, we use easily removable magnetic vehicle signs so that again we can appear with our vehicles as you need us to.
Return to Trade 'Frequently Asked Questions' Menu
Q What services do ToneTel Telecom provide on a phone system installation visit?
A We will basically do as much as we can in the time you allocate to us.
As
well as phone system fitting & programming, we will provide customer
training.
We
will also label the phone system central control unit (CCU) with your company
name and phone number.
For
a charge we can produce multiple laminated copies for all users if you let us
know in advance, alternatively contact us and let us know if you would like
non-branded electronic copies of any of our documentation so that you can
produce your own.
Return to Trade 'Frequently Asked Questions' Menu
Q What improvements do ToneTel Telecom offer over other engineering companies?
A
We specialise in
really knowing our supported products inside out, which is built-up from plenty
of real world experience, emulation testing as well as the manufacturer training
courses.
We do not just take on any job because we can hopefully work it out on site - unlike many of our competitors. We know the systems we work on and we will be quick to let you know if you try to book us on equipment we do not have real experience with.
When
you make a confirmed booking with us, it stays confirmed, if you make a
provisional booking - we will courtesy call you before the time/date slot is
booked for anything else. We will not make last-minute cancellations
because a bigger job has come along, it will have to wait for its own slot like
every other job (big or small), many of our customers have originally come over
to ToneTel Telecom after being let down by other technical engineering companies
at the last minute such as the important implementation project which had a completion date of
Christmas Eve - we stepped in and completed on-time.
We
produce our own quick reference guides to features and voicemail because as we
all know the manufacture guides often miss out many of the basics.
We are happy to pass electronic copies of these for you to produce your
own branded versions.
In the past we have written guides for customer for applications such as Hot Desking, Voicemail & Hotel Receptionist/Guest so that laminated professional copies could be produced and distributed onsite.
Return to Trade 'Frequently Asked Questions' Menu
Q How much will ToneTel Telecom charge me for an installation or site visit?
A
We
have a charge band scale that is dependant on a number of areas to work out
installation cost including customer location, equipment we are working on and
whether it is a single site visit or part of larger rollout project. This
ensures you get the best deal and that we are charging a reasonable amount for
our services.
Normally
our basic Day-Rate (up to 8 hours) is between £250.00 and £375.00, with
subsequent hours charged from £35.00.
If
you have a particular budget for a project, discuss it with us and we will see
what we can do, though we have standard rates, we can negotiate with you on
costs if margins are tight on a project.
We
are not always the cheapest as we believe in offering the best service, but we
believe our rates will be on a par with many other installation companies and
are definitely cheaper than many installers. We regularly monitor the
costs of other technical service providers and often save trade customers over
£100 per day (sometimes more) for installation work in comparison to their
previous engineering provider with better communication and service.
Return to Trade 'Frequently Asked Questions' Menu
Q What maintenance services does ToneTel Telecom provide?
A ToneTel Telecom engineers regularly provide maintenance visits and remote access support on behalf of our trade customers.
We
do on occasion take on maintenance contracts where a dealer wishes them to be
looked after directly by us but this is dependant on location and requirements
as we have limited resources and get an awful lot of requests for maintenance
support.
If we are unable to take on a maintenance contract ourselves, we will do our best to put you in touch with national companies who can and at an economical rate.
Return to Trade 'Frequently Asked Questions' Menu
Q Can ToneTel Telecom provide references from other Comms companies or dealers?
A Yes we can.
We
don’t just provide our trade references to anyone though as we have had a few
unfortunate instances in the past where other so called competitors have
contacted us with interest in our trade installation services, and then promptly
targeted our trade reference customers with lower rates and unfortunately
normally lower service.
However once we have had a good chat with you and are satisfied in your genuine interest in our services, we will be delighted to provide you with some trade references from our regular customers.
Return to Trade 'Frequently Asked Questions' Menu
Q How will ToneTel Telecom report back to us on installations and site visits?
A However you like.
We
normally email a completion report with feedback and any additional requirements
and/or notes to our trade customers within 48 hours of an installation or visit,
dependant on workload we will often email you our report a lot sooner.
We can of course use any reporting method you need, just let us know.
Return to Trade 'Frequently Asked Questions' Menu
Q What locations do ToneTel Telecom engineers cover?
A
We are based from Guildford
in Surrey and normally work round the South East of England, Home Counties &
London. We regularly work in Berkshire
For
special requests we may be able to cover other areas for a surcharge.
Return to Trade 'Frequently Asked Questions' Menu
Q Can ToneTel Telecom help us in specifying hardware solutions for our customer solutions?
A Of course we can.
We
provide technical support & backup to all out trade customers, we can check
over your hardware specifications when arranging phone system supply to ensure
it meets the requirements of your customer solution.
Return to Trade 'Frequently Asked Questions' Menu
Q We are a Communications/IT provider but are new to selling phone systems, can you help?
A No problem, we are here to help.
We have a number of trade customer who have far more experience in selling other communication products such as Music on Hold, Mobile solutions or Line Rental and Calls than PBX telephone systems.
We
can help you to choose the right solution or check over your quoted
specifications, if you need us to we can also provide a consultancy service to
recommend distributors & select the correct parts and hardware for a
customer solution.
Return to Trade 'Frequently Asked Questions' Menu
Q Does ToneTel Telecom hold maintenance stock/spares?
A
We
do hold many hardware items in stock but normally we would expect the trade
customer to courier advance replacements straight to site (or direct to us with
prior arrangement) as if we tried to meet every requirement for maintenance
replacement we would need a warehouse as big as a football pitch and of course
it would be largely non-profitable as most customer arrange to provide us with a
replacement straight away rather than be invoiced for the item.
Sometimes
our trade customer arrange for us to hold a small number of maintenance spares
(such as a CCU, trunk cards etc) in stock for them, these are clearly labelled
and logged under your account and will never be used for another customer –
however desperate !
Return to Trade 'Frequently Asked Questions' Menu
Q What Test Bench facilities does ToneTel Telecom have available?
A
We
have our own in-house tech bench with a range of our supported products (both
new and old) connected. We use our
test bench to test new manufacturer firmware versions before they go live on
customer sites, to emulate advanced application and to replicate customer faults
or technical issues.
What
equipment does ToneTel Telecom keep on the test-bench?
Return to Trade 'Frequently Asked Questions' Menu
Q How much does ToneTel Telecom charge for parts or hardware supplied during an installation?
A
If ToneTel Telecom have to provide hardware (such as connection boxes, cable, modtaps etc) for you during an installation, you will be notified by our engineers and the item (s) will appear on your invoice, we have a list of standard prices for miscellaneous parts which can be downloaded here - Installation Materials (Adobe PDF - 92Kb).
Where we have to provide phone system parts for you because of faulty equipment, maintenance replacements etc, unless otherwise arranged we will invoice you for the item at standard RRP but also provide you with the option to send us a replacement for the item to us within 5 working days.
Return to Trade 'Frequently Asked Questions' Menu
Q How much will ToneTel Telecom charge for cabling at my customer site?
A
We
need to survey to provide cabling prices to identify costs and/or hazards at the
premises. We are happy to provide
you with some rough estimates if you contact us with any site information you
may have already gathered.
Sometimes
during a phone system installation, your customer may request an extra socket or
a socket moved, if we have time we will do it and we will charge you at our
standard rates for cabling materials such as linejacks & cable provided.
Return to Trade 'Frequently Asked Questions' Menu
Q How much will you charge me for Remote Programming and/or Remote Support?
A Normally £35.00 per session (up to 1-hour).
We offer a range of Remote Support & Access services, normally for a single session of remote programming (up to 1-hour) we charge £ 35.00. We also offer a range of remote support (email or telephone) for single session or hours to be held on account, remote support services can be provided directly to the end-user customer or to technical staff who work for our trade customers.
We are very confident that you will find ToneTel Telecom technical support a big improvement to the support provided by the technical staff of many distributors who normally just pass most enquiries straight to the original equipment manufacturer.
Return to Trade 'Frequently Asked Questions' Menu
Q Can my customer contact ToneTel Telecom directly?
A Yes they can if you wish.
We offer a range of remote
support services for a fixed charge and we will be delighted to help you or your
customers with any initial after-installation questions free of charge.
We
answer our telephones as ToneTel Telecom but you are welcome to setup a 0845 or
other telephone number with ‘Custom Caller ID’ (A-Number Presentation) so we
can identify your calls and answer the phone in your company name.
Let us know if you need advice in setting up this service.
We also provide email support and can allocate you your own ToneTel Telecom email address such as “YourCompanyName@tonetel.co.uk” so that we can identify customer emails relevant to your company quickly and effectively, though we also keep careful records to ensure we know at all times whose customer we are talking to.
Return to Trade 'Frequently Asked Questions' Menu
Q What are ToneTel Telecoms payment terms?
A
For
standard installation work and site visits, our standard payment terms are 7
days.
If
your company requires longer terms because of monthly accounting etc, please let
us know in advance and subject to credit checks and/or references we will amend
your account to make note of this.
Return to Trade 'Frequently Asked Questions' Menu
Q Can ToneTel Telecom take delivery of equipment for installation on my customer sites?
A We can sometimes arrange this, yes.
We
would normally recommend as long as the site is secure that for convenience you
courier equipment straight to customer sites so you know its all there and on
time.
Please
check with us in advance, we are a small company so when we are busy our office
is not always physically manned. But
we do have certain days allocated to remote programming or awaiting deliveries
etc so normally we can schedule round them.
Return to Trade 'Frequently Asked Questions' Menu
Q Which Telephone Systems do ToneTel Telecom support?
A We mainly work on NEC, Philips & BT.
ToneTel Telecom provide expert support on the NEC XN120, Philips Sopho IPC 100 + BT Lake systems including the BT Versatility, BT Pathway, BT Inspiration & BT Revelation.
We believe in specialising in a small range of systems so that an expert service can be provided rather than a 'jack of all trades attitude', all of our supported system range is backed up by accreditation training (where applicable), site experience and we always purchase in-house units for our test bench to improve skills and provide an emulation platform.
We have worked on a variety of telephone systems over the years including Ericsson and often this was in response to a request from a trade customer for regular engineering support, we will consider any serious request for us to take on new manufacturer equipment as we want to be able to support the models you are selling. Please contact us if you would like to discuss this so we can evaluate the training and equipment costs.
Return to Trade 'Frequently Asked Questions' Menu