Heathkit Service

[Larry Gauthier]

Murray:

Funny that you should mention the SB-104 as one of the exampes of Heath's
bloodshed. I was the ham tech for the two Detroit-area stores in the
mid-70's, and poured countless hours into 104's trying to get them to meet
specs - several times ending up shipping cards and whole carcasses off to
Benton Harbor. Since most of these were received as in-warranty failures, we
didn't collect a dime on them. Frankly, I'm amazed when I hear one on the
air today.

-larry
wb8bgo


-----Original Message-----
From: Multi-Volti Devices <multi-volti at SOFTHOUSE.COM>
To: HEATH at LISTSERV.TEMPE.GOV <HEATH at LISTSERV.TEMPE.GOV>
Date: Thursday, April 22, 1999 11:48 PM
Subject: Re: Heathkit Service


>Even without being an accountant, I can confirm that while I was at Heath
>they had to draw lines regarding what products they would no longer
support,
>and could not be all things to all customers, we still had pretty much open
>license to do whatever we felt would help a customer in the technical
>consultation department. Some of you have heard (read) my story of not
being
>permitted to 'throw in the towel' while battling an S(o)B-104A that was out
>of spec in several areas. I put over 40 hours into it (gee, what a lousy
>tech, you might say!). But that #@^#% radio did everything it was supposed
>to when it left my bench. (Yup, even CW mode.) You know they didn't make
any
>money on that one with the flat service fee.
>
>Unchanged service fees for many years (neglect due to focus on computers)
>meant they were 'bleeding' economically for some time before the 'too late'
>changes near the end.
>
>Murray
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Harvey A. Kader <optom at ibm.net>
>To: HEATH at LISTSERV.TEMPE.GOV <HEATH at LISTSERV.TEMPE.GOV>
>Date: Wednesday, April 21, 1999 9:47 PM
>Subject: Heathkit Service
>
>
>>I found Heath service to be the best whenever I needed them in my
>>Heathkit building days(70's and 80's). They went above and beyond to
>>satisfy my needs, even at a large cost to themselves. So even as kits
>>became less important to the company in terms of product numbers, they
>>supported the kit builder big time!!
>>
>>This was both the US head office, and their Canadian division.
>>
>>As a kid growing up, this made a big impression on me about the
>>corporate world. It showed that companies(some) do care about their
>>customers. This fantastic treatment kept me going to build more
>>Heathkits. As the company slogan said, "we won't let you fail". What
>>more can any kit builder ask for!!
>>
>>Harvey A. Kader - http://www.angelfire.com/on/vacuumtubes
>>
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>
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