Minelab And Customer Communications

[fredmason]

Thank you for that laugh!!!!  My fat little belly is still quaking

fred

[MikeT]

I have a formula I use with engineers (mechanical, electrical and programmers). When they give me a commitment date, for example 2 weeks, I will raise that time to the next level of time and then double the number, thus 2 weeks becomes 4 months. In my numerous years of dealing with engineering folks in a number of capacities my formula has been correct much more often than it has been wrong. Much to the chagrin of my engineering co-workers. I look at the communications of most all the tech companies the same way. If I'm hot for some new world beater product - reality sets in and I turn up my patience and am thrilled when it does finally does arrive especially if more than half of the promised features actually work.

Mike

 

[Steve Herschbach]

It really is a cliche. There are plenty of outgoing personable engineers out there. I think it is more an introvert/nerd thing, and engineering just happens to be heavy on introvert/nerds. There is an overemphasis on taking things literally. Classic engineer communication issue:

A wife asks her husband, a software engineer...  "Could you please go shopping for me and buy one carton of milk, and if they have eggs, get six!" A short time later the husband comes back with six cartons of milk. The wife asks him, "Why the hell did you buy six cartons of milk?" He replied, "They had eggs."

If you instantly understand that joke you lean to the engineer way of thinking. If you have to think much about it, then you are probably on the other side of the fence.

I suffer from these issues myself, another hallmark being a certain blindness and insensitivity when it comes to others feelings. I have worked hard at being better over the years but foot in mouth just seems to go with the territory sometimes. My starting this thread may be a sign of such things once again at work!

[Rick K - First Member]

 OK this is gone on long enough – I have to tell a story. 

I was working at AlliedSignal – they later bought Honeywell and are now known as Honeywell.  

The group I worked in was called space and marine - and was part of what used to be called Garret Fluid Systems Division.  Most of the engineers there were all graybeards - who could do anything with fluids – any fluid - any temperature - any pressure. From 6000 PSI liquid hydrogen at near absolute zero for rocket engine fuel - to the hot exhaust Gas of solid fuel Rockets.  And they could do amazing things with these fluids by passing them through weird shapes and chambers in high temperature metals - they could achieve many of the things that could be achieved with electronics – switching - amplification you name it.

But  corporate America being what it was we had to learn new things – like  behavioral interviews.  Candidates for new positions had to go through this weird - what would you do if - sort of quizzes in panel interviews.  Well this is all pretty new to our folks - and so we had to go to training with HR to learn how to do this.  Sitting in one of those sessions, this nice HR person was trying to explain some aspect of having to do this - when one of our "graybeards" said… " i'm sorry but I don't understand that"...

 The HR person turned to him and said "well – it's not rocket science!"

 My colleague smiled and said "I understand it's not rocket science – I am a rocket scientist - and I don't understand it"

there was a brief pause – a few chuckles – and the  HR person had the good sense to say "yes I'm sorry - let me try to explain it again."

[Norvic]

Crikey, you`ve scrambled me with that one Steve, I`m not just over the fence and now Ricks just come in with rocket science, definitely am over the fence, and in a diff paddock....................and I`m a SH Engineer.

[fredmason]

well, my feeling is hurt...I got the egg thing right off...

Gee, to think with a brain and some education I could have been an engineer....

[MarkK]

yah the egg thing made complete sense to me...  :-) 

what doesn't make sense is why my wife wont give me the ok to get a GPZ....  something about rate of return. :-) so I stick to my good old gold bug...

[Ridge Runner]

You know guys I too laugh at the jokes. I read the reviews that was posted on here and the one I got in the mail today in my GPAA Mag. To read all the reviews so far has been uplifting . The reading this uplifting material is got to the point of not being that great anymore.

Myself and others like me have put their money down upfront and keep hearing tomorrow. May 8th was one of the tomorrows but now we don't know when the next tomorrow will be.

I just hope I don't run out of chap stick and where I need it,it's not going to last.

Chuck 

[OregonGregg]

I guess without those quirky engineers, we wouldn't have much in the way of good detectors. But there is one detecting manufacturing company that has something the others do not......they have a Dilek. What a difference having a Dilek makes. 

[jasong]

I seem to have the opposite experience - Minelab customer service has always been top notch to me and I wish more companies would do what they do. They literally overnighted me parts when I called since I was leaving town in 2 days and had no address in the field (and sent me an extra just to be safe), and always resolved my other issues right away. They called me back once just to check on me too. Apologized instantly the one time they made an error.

Nokta on the other hand - well, I still don't have a working detector after 2 years.   All that happened is I was referred back to Kellyco when I contacted them directly, the same Kellyco that had already botched up, and kept passing blame (and charged me for their errors in shipping) twice already.  Who then proceeded to keep sending me broken detectors with the exact same problems (I suspect they sent me the same detector back on at least one occasion). Now, 4 detectors later, still don't have a working one. Gave up. Posted about it twice, after trying all other avenues since Nokta seemed to respond to public posts - nada for me. Just a total and complete waste of $700 and being entirely ignored. A frustrating and baffling experience all around for me and I will go out of my way to recommend avoiding them, especially since even now no one has tried to make it good, just...nothing. Did people actually get customer service from Nokta or just shovelled off to Kellyco?

I'll take the engineers any day...