Re: DSC phone line technical support is terrible

[Jim <alarminex@xxxxxxx>]

On Sunday, May 13, 2012 7:23:36 PM UTC-4, mleuck wrote:
> On Thursday, May 10, 2012 1:28:44 PM UTC-5, Jim wrote:
>=20
> > I have never used DSC all through the years. Occasionally, when I run a=
cross their equipment I usually pull it out and replace but I do have a few=
 that I've continued to service. The first thing I notice about their equip=
ment is that it is "flimsey" Thin metal, soft plastic, "cardboard" PCB's, c=
omponents "look" cheap, etc, which translate to me as .... well ....."cheap=
". It's not that their products don't work .... it's just ..... cheap.=20
>=20
> It's a circuit board, it doesn't have to do anything other than what it i=
s designed for, being "cheap" isn't going to change how long it lasts or ho=
w well it works in fact it's remarkable how much integration they have.=20

What's remarkable is that the board doesn't break when you're trying to tig=
hten the screws. It looks and feels as if it's made out of compressed paper=
.


>=20
> If you compare it to Napco's circuit boards you see something overbuilt w=
ith tons of discrete components, every one of those resistors, diodes and c=
apacitors you see on a Napco board have to be hand soldered which adds to t=
he cost and are one more point of failure. But hey it sure feels pretty sol=
id eh?

Wave soldered. Field repairable. Not going to break or flex when thightenin=
g screws. Decent terminals and size screw to attach multiple wires. The box=
 doesn't bend when you put a battery in it. I wouldn't buy it for the same =
reason I wouldn't buy a KIA or cheap tools. Obviously, people have differen=
t standards by which they work and live. You live on the cheap side. I don'=
t. You get away with what ever you can get away with. I don't. You shirk re=
sponsibility whenever you can. I don't.=20


>=20
> > Awhile ago, someone asked me to evaluate their cellular radio. Getting =
through to technical support and waiting were a problem but getting their t=
echnical support people to give me answers to directly asked questions was =
even a problem. Me, having a very questioning mind, there were things that =
didn't make sense to me about the fucntioning of the device. I'd say that, =
.... I had to call as many as twenty times and gradually "PULL" the answers=
 that I needed, out of them. That is .... the answers could have been given=
 to me at any time during our conversations but I guess that it may have se=
emed better to the people I was talking with, to not open up the can of wor=
ms of providing me a reason to ask more questions ..... of THEM.=20
>=20
> Most likely it was the way you asked the questions, next time don't swear=
 at them so much. It didn't take me 20 calls to figure out how their setup =
works.

I'd guess that was because you're used to their cheap products and I'm not.=
 But then again, you only need to know what's in the manual, and just enoug=
h to make it look like you know something about a product, not actually how=
 to install anything.

=20
>=20
> Compared to Alarm.com and Honeywell however they do fall short
>=20
> > In addtion to all of this, the reason I had to call and ask questions i=
n the first place was because the "manual" that came with the product was a=
 crookedly made photo copy of a hand typed and stapled 12 page manual that =
had little more than hookup instructions in it. They utimately had a recall=
 of the unit because it was doing periodic checkin's even though it wasn't =
able to transmit during an alarm. NICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.=20

>=20
> I'd be curious to know when this was and what product you were dealing wi=
th, the last time I've seen them photo copy a hand typed manual was in the =
early 90's

That you'd even be able to say that tells their story of professionalism, a=
nd quality.

But mostly ..... emmmmm ....just fuck off.