Below is the dialog between me a prospective Teltek client as they try to decide which phone system to purchase, Avaya or NEC; I thought this content may be beneficial for others to see so they will know what questions to ask when shopping for a new telephone system and selecting a reliable vendor.
Hi Chris,
Thanks for calling us back today to clarify some of our questions. We have decided to use Teltek to purchase our new phone system; you and Ben (and your office staff) have been very helpful and accommodating- and we have confidence that you will be there to help up and provide a quality product.
Thank you, that is what we strive to do; I can ensure you that my team will continue to take care of you thought this process as well as into the future.
We are clearly leaning towards the Avaya phone system at this point…but we will make our final decision by week’s end (or at the latest by early next week). Clarification: What is the “talk time” on both the Avaya and the NEC systems? I thought we had discussed 120 minutes on one of the systems. Is that correct?
You were correct in the voicemail that you left, the NEC system has 8 hours of message storage space “talk time” and the Avaya has 100 hours; we did discuss 120 mins on the Avaya system in the past but that was a different voicemail option (Avaya PC Messaging Large). The reason we switched to the full Avaya Messaging unit was because the smaller one did not offer you all of the features that you requested at our last meeting; also there is a really good special on the large (100 hour) voicemail so it’s good timing!
Once we decide exactly what equipment/parts/phones we want and get the final total on the costs: Our preference would be to pay it out over time (or in several installments)? It would be easier on our company cash flow; would that be possible?
I can offer you 3 payments over 90 days through Teltek directly or if you would like, we work with financing companies that have several options as well. The plan I would recommend through them would be Bakers Dozen finance plan: you can pay the total balance over the course of 12 months then the interest is just one extra payment. So to calculate the monthly rate you would take the total system purchase price divide by 12 and add one additional payment (i.e. a $4500 Avaya system would cost you 13 payments of $375 a month then you would own it outright) .
As an alternative, does your company accept Visa?
We do accept credit cards but there is an administrative fee associated with that.
We are considering your monthly maintenance, but still are not sure at this point; we have a couple of additional computer/internet questions:
We have a router in our Workroom (where our main phone is), so we technically should have wireless internet throughout our office. Currently, our signal is not very strong- and one of my partners is unable to get a wireless connection in her office. Can you help us with that? Would a maintenance contract cover stuff like that, you helping us with internet connection and wireless connection?
Couple of thoughts here – can anyone use wireless internet? This may sound like a dumb question, but it’s not, it may be because your router does not offer wireless, not all routers do and you could be on someone else’s connection. If you don’t have wireless built into your router or if the problem is just that some offices cannot just reach the service you may just need to add a wireless access point – about $100 plus the cost of cable and labor – another $125. This is not Teltek’s specialty but we can get it connected if you would like. Also if you prefer, we can refer you to one of the IT companies that does specialize in computes/computer networking. Back to the maintenance question, our maintenance does not cover this kind of problem; it would only cover it if the internet service was completely down; in that case we would contact your service provider and resolve the issue for you. Hope this clarifies the question and does not add additional confusion to it?
We have McAfee Virus protection on for our desk top computer in the CMH Workroom; we purchase McAfee when we moved to this suite 5 years ago. It automatically renew every year ($39.99). Should we keep it? Is there a better option you would suggest?
We are probably not the best company to advise you on this; I would refer you to one of the IT partners we work with. Would you like their contact information?
When you are on site, can you check of the 5 offices to insure that the computer wall outlets in each of the offices is in working order?
Certainly, that is not a problem at all.
When you are on site, can you double check that our computers are directly connected to our Workroom printer (although I think they already are)?
Again, we can, but you are probably best to bring on a local IT company for support for these kind of issues.
Our internet connection is extremely slow. I think you told us that was a Verizon issue; would you handle stuff like that on a maintenance contract and review our Verizon charges regularly? Would you handle all Verizon issues?
Yes, this is what our maintenance covers (i.e. the consulting and facilitating the upgrade); if I remember correctly you are on a very slow DSL plan which should probably be upgraded. Also if you and your partners connect directly into the wired network (not wireless) this should help increase the speed. Finally, the IT company that you select may be able to change some settings in your and clean up each one of your computers that will improve your speeds.
I hope this helps, as I mentioned on the phone it is very important to us that you fully understand this process and are comfortable with it so if you have any additional questions or reservations please give me or Ben a call. Thank you again for choosing Teltek, we are looking forward to serving you!
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