ELK and Cocoontech

[Spanky]

The first anniversary of my first post to Cocoontech has recently passed. A year ago few people knew anything about ELK Products and the M1 on this forum. I used to frequent some of the Newsgroups, but I got tired of reading about posts concerning Robert Bass' problems. I concentrated on servicing questions on Cocoontech pretty much exclusively.

There has been some comments how this forum talks a lot about ELK. This forum talks about HOME AUTOMATION and as far as I know is open to any manufacturer that wants to spend the time in servicing questions about home automation. I love this forums equipment comparisons and open dialog about any concerns and suggestions for future enhancements. Believe me, hardly a day goes by that comments from this forum is not mentioned in ELK Engineering.

Yea, there is a lot of ELK talk, but "Birds of a feather, flock together". So come on GE, HAI, JDS, APEX.... join it! Knowledge sharing is wonderful. It has helped ELK, Distributors, Dealers, and DIYer's.

 

[toymaster458]

I totaly agree with you. Having a Manufacturer Rep that is technical watching a forum that is not theirs and answering questions on a daily bases along with sharing information on other subjects is hard to find. It lets us know that our voice matters and we are just not another phone call.

So lets keep FLOCKING!!

 

[Steve]

I'll drink to that!

 

[TCassio]

Maybe Smarthome should follow ELKS example.

 

[Digger]

I think that the staff and management at ELK see the benifet of Customer Service and interfacing with the customer to hear their needs and respond to them.

Sometimes as companys grow they lose sight of the customer. My last employer was that way. They thought the customer was always going to be there no matter how bad the service became etc. I know I warned them that customers were not happy and you cant treat them poorly or they will leave. The same went for the way they treated employees. I was basically told to mind my own business. All of a sudden the competitor is stealing large chunks of business overnight and has even hired people away from my old company. I could no longer work for a company whose management did not want care for the customer or employee anymore. New managers were hired and their goal was to climb fast and jump ship and better themselves and not the company. Both could have been accomplished but would have taken a little more effort and time. Companies that have customers and employees of 20 plus years jumping ship should realize they are going down the wrong path.

So if you lose sight of the customer you can lose both the customer and your staff. In the end you may have some loyal customers left but business will never be as good as it was and could have grown to if you do not pay attention to and service the customer.

In my opinion ELK services the customer far better than many (not saying all since Idont deal with all) companies in this industry and I would guess the sales are increasing in part because of this. In the year or so that I have been dealing with ELK I see the product line evolving fairly rapidly. The support I have seen on this forum for a "newbie" homeowner installing his first panel is amazing (I am not the newbie). I doubt some of the other companies would bother at all.

One thing I noted about the staff at ELK. They ALL seem to LOVE their job. It is FUN to them. They get to go to work and enjoy what they are doing. To me that sounds like a very well managed company and thats part of the reason they are so successfull (that and the many years of experience in their staff).

I for one and not afraid to buy an ELK product since they are so supportive. How many times do people buy a product and never get to use it to its full potential or at all because it is not supported. Not the case at all with ELK.

Ok Spanky you know where to send the check.......... just kidding.

 

[Spanky]

Digger,
Not saying you sleep with your M1, but you do have intimate knowledge of its behavior being from that BIG Testing Lab.

Can't agree with you more that when a company gets too big for its customers, something will change. Probably not good!

Wish you was on our staff!!

Thanks and good luck on your new adventures.

 

[MRL]

It is because of the insight and information I received on this forum that I placed an order yesterday for an ELK M1GSYS4/CADDX NX-448E wireless system with Martin at AutomatedOutlet. Martin had everything in stock and in fact it was shipped same day.
I'm as happy as a pig in ... whatever. I am looking forward to "playing" with this stuff and I know if I run into problems, I have an incredible resource just waiting to help.

 

[IVB]

Ditto to MRL. I also wish more companies would realize that good news spreads faster than bad news. I never hestitate to tell people on any forum i'm on that the reason I picked Elk above all others was because they monitor cocoontech, and it's easy to get some guidance from the mfr. Rapid response and great service outweighs everything else, as no product in any industry ever meets 100% of expectations the first minute you own it.

 

[BraveSirRobbin]

We are very fortunate having a rep from Elk who is not only knowledgeable and helpful with their product, but whose engineering experience helps with matters beyond those of just the Elk's!

We do have reps from other companies who contribute to CocoonTech, but they will have to increase their post count a lot to match the standard Spanky has set!

We do have members from Smarthome/Smartlabs, Control Think, Embedded Automation, Russound, Cinemar, Hobby-Boards, HomeSeer Technologies, Red Radio, and others.

As far as asking companies like HAI or GE/Caddx to contribute, good luck! They don’t cater to the DIY’er and have ZERO interest in it.

 

[Spanky]

My opinion:

Home Automation awareness is the key to success for everyone involved in home automation, from the manufacturer to the end user.

The average non technical home owner will not call a professional installer to put in a home automation system, because he does not realize he needs home automation in his home.

In the same neighborhood as the non technical home owner is a DIYer that has fixed up his home with all the home automation bells and whistles. The non technical neighbor, seeing what can be done in an automated home, becomes jealous and calls the professional installer for the same home automation features.


The DIYer now sees a business opportunity and becomes a professional installer. The manufacturer now has more customers and is able to offer more products to the home automation market and the cycle continues.

Support the DIYer!

 

[Digger]

Home Automation has tremendous growth potential. I think that several things will help. As people (your average homeowner) get into Home Theater and Plasma TV's they will progress into PC based video/music storage faster. Then I would guess they would want to automate the lighting with the same PC and Software in some cases. After that the rest of the house will start to catch onto the automation trend.

I know that many of my former coworkers were interested in what I was able to do with the M1 alone. My house is still in the begining stages of automation. I have really started out with a better than average alarm system and now I am automating lighting, water shutoff (due to flood), and sprinklers. Once the lighting is done I will look at Home Theater.

It only takes money after all.

 

[Mike]

As far as asking companies like HAI or GE/Caddx to contribute, good luck! They don’t cater to the DIY’er and have ZERO interest in it.

Funny you should say that. When I first found this site, I was pretty sure I wanted a HAI system (I had found a distributor but had not heard the pains from a DIY perspective). I had even gone so far as to buy the HAI thermostat when I needed one in anticipation.

Needless to say your support and participation with the ENTIRE community is what made me purchase my Elk.

Happy Anniversary and I applaud your support. In return I can only offer that I have felt compelled to purchase one of just about everything in the Elk section at Automated Outlet...

and Digger 'It only takes money after all' what a profound statement for those with HA interests... It does speak volumes though.

 

[BraveSirRobbin]

You know come to think of it, I'm taking inventory of all the Elk products I have in my house right now.

I have Elk echo speakers, Elk sensitive relays, Elk-800 amplifier, Elk-900 Timer Relay, Elk 12 volt power supply (with battery backup), Elk Power Distribution Modules, Elk telephone ring detector, and an Elk strobe light.

When are they coming out with the bumper sticker that says:

Honk if You Love Elk Products!

 

[Digger]

I think ELK should give us all T-Shirts...........

 

[BraveSirRobbin]

Or at least temporary tattoos...