Hello everyone,
This post is in response to Stayk/Rob Sioui's post.
We were only made aware of this post a couple weeks ago, and we just got back from the ISE show in Europe, and hence the lag in this reply.
First, our general company policy is not to generally participate in forums, but I feel compelled to respond to these claims.
Instead of providing emotionally charged opinions, I will present only the facts below, and let you - the reader - decide.
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This project in reference was done by Holmes Theatre & Automation of Calgary, AB, Canada.
The equipment was ordered on Oct, 5, 2008 and shipped around that time.
I personally took the order in myself, and the dealer stated that this was a "rush job."
Our company policy is to always do follow ups after equipment is shipped, as per below:
- Once a week after 7 days of shipping arrival, until a positive response is received that the equipment has arrived safely
- At least once more after installation, to see if any issues have arisen
- Then at 3 to 6 months after installation, to make sure all is well with no "lingering issues"
It's been some time, so my memory is fuzzy, but the first response I recall receiving from Holmes about the install was not until the holidays (early Dec 2008 - two months after shipping) when the equipment was finally put in. We understand that projects sometimes get delayed, so that's fine - but it was a bit odd since the order was "rushed" to start with. Even so, any time that they called in - like Rob claims - we are there to provide support and resolve the issue.
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As a manufacturer, we sell our equipment through our network of dealers and integrators so that they can be installed properly, as we can't physically be at every install site - nor do we want to compete with existing dealers since installation services are not our specialty. We provide comprehensive phone, email, and remote log-in support to quickly and effectively resolve any issue reported - as long as it's an issue on our systems that we can control. On the other hand - issues that occur outside of our control - such as networking, AV wiring, etc., can tremendously and adversely affect the performance of ours, or any system. We do our best to help, but we cannot be responsible for supporting everything (hence, why integrators get a margin on our products).
Suffice it to say, this wasn't the case.
After several months of going back and forth advising what the fixes are, we offered a refund option. It was very clear to us that our systems would not be able to function with this installation. Our goal is to keep our customers happy, so the terms offered were for a full refund - as long as the systems were in good condition.
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The returning systems finally arrived around beginning of April.
There were absolutely no signs of shipping damage on the boxes.
However, upon opening the boxes, we were VERY surprised.
Here are the pictures and the returning systems - which may explain alot of what happened:
See Pictures:
http://imgur.com/a/xSdQs
Clearly, there was massive damage on the server chassis, faceplates were missing, hard drive mounting bays were pushed in, plus internal power cables/wires on the GPU were disconnected.
Curious - when we asked about the damage and if a shipping claim should be filed/initiated, we were told by the installer that "the systems came this way."
If any shipping damage occurs, we are happy to fix/repair it for free as all of our outgoing shipments are insured. However, it definitely needs to be reported - otherwise, we can't fix an issue we're not made aware of.
(...In any event - sticking with purely the facts...)
A refund was processed and given on April 23, 2009.
Since this system was badly beaten up, we have repaired and turned this system into our internal product testbed for verifying all of our RAID-ready hard drives - and it's been working beautifully for us in our lab everyday - for years.
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Fast-forwarding to today...
At this point, Holmes Theater appears to be no longer in operation; their website is inactive - see: holmestheater.com
In the meantime, we have continued to grow our company, expanding our product line, and signing on new dealers and integrators. We exhibit regularly at CEDIA here in the US, ISE out in Europe, and CES in Las Vegas (rotating biyearly), where thousands of attendees see our systems in action.
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To readers, dealers, and Integrators : We leave it to you to judge what happened, but please feel free to call me personally at 516-730-7500 x 4201 if you would like to discuss any concerns on this post, or learn more about our VidaBox Blu-ray, DVD, and music server systems, or feel free to read the many customers reviews and testimonials available here:
http://vidabox.com/testimonials.php
Apologies for my long post, but it is important for all the facts to be presented. I hope the information has been useful - thank you for your time, and have a great day!
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Edited by VidaBox Steven - 2/10/12 at 2:52pm
