"Challenging" Commercial Installations and Sonic Preparedness

General discussions and other topics.
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by paulcoldren » Wed May 04, 2022 10:38 am
Some installs are harder than others -- that's just the nature of the business.

I've helped several small businesses in the area get Sonic Fiber now. It's a no-brainer decision, but the installation logistics aren't always as smooth as I'd hope.

In some of these cases, a single installer showed up, totally unprepared for an installation that required multiple additional crews, additional tools, and 5+ hours of work. We eventually got it done in each case, but neither the customer nor the installers are pleased when the situation doesn't match the expectations.

To be clear -- in every case where I knew it was going to be a hard install, I did whatever I could during the sales calls and appointment scheduling to let Sonic know about the specific requirements. But each time, the installer still showed up with zero context, insufficient tools, and without the necessary prerequisites (drop, etc) completed according to requirements.

Something is getting lost in the process where Sonic Sales doesn't talk to the install crew to explain the details, which means the install crews are unprepared, which means I have to re-explain all the details and wait while they scramble to find more people and tools.

A few (non-exhaustive) examples:
* One install required drilling through a 4" concrete slab. This was noted during the MDU presale walkthrough but not passed on to the installer team. The installer did not have tools for this. We had to wait for a different installer, from a different job, who had the right tools, to finish up so they could join us.
* One install required 400ft of fiber from the pole through a parking garage, splices prohibited (property owner requirement for aesthetic reasons). The drop was completed ahead of time with only 200ft of fiber. This wouldn't meet the property owner requirements, so a bucket truck had to come back out, block a major road yet again, and do a brand new drop from the pole across the street. This was noted during the MDU presale walkthrough but apparently not passed on to the initial drop crew.
* One install required 300ft of exterior fiber routed along the top of a commercial building, based on the location of the pole relative to the building's MPOE. I specifically addressed this with Sales, I even sent them photos, and called the day before to remind them, but the installer still showed up with no idea what pole the fiber was on, how it would get to the building, or how it needed to be run. The installer expected a 2 hour job, alone. It was actually a 5 hour job for the installer plus an additional crew to assist at various points.

In each case, I'm glad the crews had the flexibility to marshal extra resources and get the job done. But my point is -- they shouldn't have to. In each case, I knew what these particular installs required, I tried to tell Sonic, but the details got lost in the dispatch shuffle. It's also not a great experience for the customer. For example, in one case, the appointment window was 8am-noon, and service was finally installed at 4:30pm after a grueling day of work.

Right now, whenever I recommend or facilitate a Sonic install, I say "Sonic is great, we should absolutely get them, it's by far the best option. The install might be a little rocky, but we'll get it done, and then you'll have trouble-free service."

I'd love to be able to make these recommendations without any install caveats.

Thanks!
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