Sometimes…Less Costs You More
We wanted to share a common problem that we’ve seen some home owners face. Regardless of whether someone is in the process of building a new home or wanting to upgrade something within their existing home, some people just don’t give enough thought as to whom they are hiring. Even worse, they focus on the price more than the end-result which ends up costing them a whole lot more in the process. The old saying rings true here… “You get what you pay for”. In other words, we see potential clients choosing to focus on the price rather than the performance, and in the end, that ends up being a “lesson learned”. For an example, we would like to share an experience that a home owner faced as well as the “lesson” that they learned from that said situation.
Firstly, they are now…our client. At first, though, the home owner sought out multiple quotes which is an appropriate thing to do. We remember that they wanted to wire their home for network as well as for DirecTV. Well, after getting a few bids, the client made their choice and ended up choosing the cheapest bid that they were offered. Simply put, they thought that that would be it.
Quickly thereafter, the AV company wired their home (which at first glance, sounds rather efficient). However, much sooner than later, the homeowner began noticing problems with their system. First, the network did not provide adequate coverage throughout their home. Portions of the house would sometimes have Internet and sometimes would not. Then, they went into their attic and noticed that wiring was strewn about the space, making it quite dangerous to walk around without tripping. Furthermore, it limited their usual storage space. More issues surfaced.
The DirecTV system would not work consistently in some of the rooms that they used on a regular basis. For instance, within the main living area, the unit would require a “reset” almost daily, in order to function at all. Frequently, the system simply wouldn’t load. When the homeowner opened the cabinet, in which the equipment for the living room system was in, they found a massive, state of disarray. Long loops of wiring encircled the equipment. Everything valuable had been pushed to the back. In fact, the cabinet doors would no longer fully close due to the way the equipment was placed. What’s even more ridiculous is that the system wouldn’t even work unless the cabinet doors where left slightly open. The customer quickly learned that the pile of remotes, that the AV company left for them to use, couldn’t even communicate through the closed cabinet doors properly. This is no way to do business!
Sad but true, the network equipment began to suffer the same afflictions as the living room system. The client found that they lost valuable space within the desk of their study due to that vast array of wiring as well. Within that desk as well, they found bulky equipment too that prevented the desk cabinet door from closing similarly to the one in the living room. Needless to say but the wiring and equipment was so deeply wedged between the wall and the back of the desk that the desk itself stood out from the wall awkwardly.
Obviously, due to the lack in satisfaction, the client had the AV company return multiple times in order to correct the issues that they began. More so, their visits resembled a long trail of band-aid fixes. For instance, it took 24 hours to resolve the Direct TV drop out issue, the client had to pay the AV company multiple times to organize the mess of wires which they never ended up doing satisfactorily and a solution to the “opening of the cabinet” issue was never found. Having spent so much on additional service calls that never resolved the constant problems, the client eventually became fed up with the additional costs and the sub-par product. They hired Custom Audio Video as their new AV Contractor, and we got to work to fixing all the mistakes.
Since the client now wanted to convert a part of their attic into a sitting room, we began with the issue of the attic wiring first. We removed the excess cabling and installed a technology panel which enabled us to not only organize the wiring, but it added additional functionality as well. Also, we were able to remove the low-quality ethernet to power line converters that the first AV company installed throughout the house (as well the coaxial adapters, which were used for distributing high speed Ethernet throughout the house). We then moved the networking equipment out of the client’s office desk and placed it within the technology panel, thereby providing them with a new, sleek, functional space to now use without distraction. We also installed high speed ethernet lines and enterprise grade wireless networking equipment from Ubiquiti Networks that gave the client reliable and seamless coverage throughout the home and in the gathering areas outside. Besides being more esthetically pleasing, the technology panel gave the client a simple location to go to if they needed to reset the Internet after a storm. Speaking of which, we also added an intelligent surge protector to the panel which continuously monitors the Internet, modem, the router, network switches and wireless access points to keep everything running more smoothly. That way should a device lock up or the Internet stop working, the surge protector will power cycle the device automatically, making it unnecessary for the client to even have to reset the equipment manually.
Of course, we had to clean up the Direct TV. At first, there were 4 Direct TV boxes in the house, and there were a dozen splitters strung around the house which weakened the signal. Once we cleared out the splitters and properly connected the wiring, we found that the signal was not even being powered correctly. That meant that, for the entire time that the clients had been suffering with system dropouts, the cause came from the original installers not installing a simple power unit for the signal coming in from the dish! Finally, we reprogrammed the universal remotes, that the client had been struggling with. Gone were the days of punching multiple buttons and scrolling through multiple pages…just to watch tv. Not only were the remotes now easier to use, they worked with the cabinet doors closed!
Looking back, the client suffered for multiple years with a poorly implemented system that, simply, did not work the way that it should. In the end, they paid almost 4 times the cost, which ended up costing a lot more in frustration. Why suffer the same frustration and pain, just to save a buck up front when you can have it done correctly (and cheaper) with a quality-ensured AV Contractor?
