I checked on that. I suspect the notice was put there to placate
>installing dealers of the sort found in ASA. You may have noticed there's
>a lot of hostility on the part of some "professional" dealers toward DIY.
>The notice also gives ELK a legitimate out should someone who hasn't a clue
>try to spend 3 hours on the phone with them.
>
> ELK has never charged any of my clients for tech support. They do want
> customers to seek help through the dealer that sold them the product. I
> usually can answer any questions my DIY customers have. When I don't know
> something I make a 3-way call and let ELK answer. Then my client knows
> and so do I for the next customer.
>
> No matter how this plays out long term I will of course act as a go
> between for clients needing tech support from ELK just as I do with every
> other manufacturer we carry. To be clear though, no one I know of has
> ever been charged for ELK tech support.
Robbert, Originally I was strongly leaning toward Elk based on their willingness to communicate directly with DIY users. I recently went to their site to gather some additional information, and was very disappointed to read their support information which clearly indicated that technical support to non dealers was on a fee based basis only. This would seem to contradict your comments. I have been reconsidering my choice as a result of this policy. If this is indeed not the case, then you should communicate to them that their website is communicating the wrong attitude and could be losing them customers as a result. I really need to get this clarified before making my decision.
Dennis Raher
Robert L Bass wrote:
> Agreed! The Elk does seem very capable
> > and choosing between the two would be
> > difficult. Indeed, if the schedule can be
> > programmed to the same level of sophistication
> > as the Stargate, I would say it looks like the current winner. >
> I don't know about the folks that make Stargate (though they seemed very
> pleasant and helpful the few times I've ever spoken to
> them. ELK has a great attitude toward dealers and end users. They're one
> of the few manufacturers in the trade that will actually
> let a user talk to their engineering staff. As a dealer I've had several
> occasions to request modifications and additions to the
> ELK-M1G. I and several other dealers asked for a Z-Wave transceiver.
> Done. One of my clients asked for help modifying a lighting
> protocol. Done.
>
> In all fairness, as a dealer I'm not exactly unbiased. I sell a lot of M1
> Gold systems, probably more than most independent alarm
> dealers. But it appears ELK is just as helpful to smaller accounts. >
> I failed to mention another ELK feature in my earlier posts which I
> believe makes the ELK-M1G stand out above many competing
> products. With most HA systems when there's a new firmware release the
> end user has to go to his dealer (assuming he even knows
> there's a new version), pay for a service call and purchase a replacement
> chipset. If the dealer is anything like the average alarm
> company, the cost can easily top $200. ELK allows dealers and users to
> download new firmware at no charge. DIY customers can get
> email notification and are also given access to all the "back office"
> documentation that many alarm manufacturers reserve for
> dealers on password protected websites. For a number of my customers this
> has been a deal maker when choosing between ELK and HAI
> (another good quality HA maker).
>