Monday, September 05, 2005

To Charge or Not to Charge? The Tribeam Question

Always expecting the unexpected, I realized I had a problem with the charging station we had purchased from TriBeam. The connections from the station to the handhelds were based on a regular charger. The connector was at the end of a short wire that came out of the slot the handheld was placed in. The handheld actually was placed upside down into the slot so the charger could be plugged into it. Students were not allowed to unplug or plug in their handhelds; I did that to prevent possible damage to them. After about two weeks of using the handhelds, I noticed that some of the plugs were losing plastic pieces that covered the metal on the end. There was also a problem with the connection between the station itself and the wire that plugged into the wall. It wasn’t a complete connection and I had to wiggle the wire around to get it to fit properly. Realizing that I couldn’t continue with the charging station the way it was, and worrying about what would happen weeks from now, I contacted the TriBeam Company via email about the problems I was having. Talk about CUSTOMER SERVICE! I sent an email on August 27, 2005, near the end of the school day. The morning of August 29, 2005, I had the following email waiting for me from Henry Kazecki of TriBeam Technologies, Inc.:

“We have updated the design of the TC200. We will exchange your unit with the new model. It will be shipped this week. There will be on cost to you for this exchange. Sorry for the inconvenience.”

All I had to do was box up the old charging station and return it to them in the same box the new one was sent in. About 10 days after my initial contact, I had a new charging station sitting in my classroom. I must admit that I was IMPRESSED with the service I received from the company and the way they stand behind their product.

In this world of ever increasing technology, it is wonderful to have a company that supports their products when problems have been corrected.

Go TRIBEAM Go!