Released On 29th Oct 2019
Over recent weeks and months, our team at RadioTrader has been growing increasingly concerned by the quality of service and experience offered by some of our online competitors. We have had to report incidents of bad practice to most of the major manufacturers and to the government agencies which govern our industry.
When buying two-way radios online or looking for a new radio communications partner, there are several pitfalls that you should really be aware of. Although most online resellers meet the required customer service standards, there are many that do not. Below are the some of the bad practices that you need to look out for when buyinh a two way radio.
In order to achieve a better headline price, we have found that some online resellers are selling new two way radios with non-genuine accessories. The most popular trick is for companies to sell non-genuine batteries and chargers with radios. This kind of practice should be frowned upon, but more importantly, it could invalidate your radio's warranty. If you see this sort of offering online, please steer clear.
Although RadioTrader does offer non-genuine aftermarket accessories, we would never offer these accessories with new radios in order to appear cheaper online.
The two way radio market is flooded with cheap, inferior imported radios from China. Although some Chinese radios are reliable, the vast majority are poor in every way.
A common trick is for UK resellers to brand a cheap imported radio as their own and then offer it to their customers. This is a very greedy approach and the only loser is the customer. This type of radio equipment is very unreliable and the performance usually leaves a lot to be desired. You will find that companies offering such products usually have very poor customer service, as they are only in it for the money.
Our advice is to stick to the major manufacturers such as Motorola, Kenwood, Icom and Hytera when buying a new radio system, and purchase your new equipment through an approved or licenced retail partner. These manufacturers spend millions on research and development, and the products are reliable.
If you have a limited budget, ask for second-hand equipment but make sure a minimum of a 6-month warranty is offered.
Does the radio communications supplier that you are looking to deal with have the significant experience and company stability to look after you on a long-term basis? Does the company have a significantly experienced sales-force so that they can recommend the correct products? We find that many of our competitors have very little experience and knowledge of the products they are selling.
Here at RadioTrader we have an extremely experienced team of sales and technical support personnel. We always have at least one company director working with the sales team. Our sales people also specialise in certain industries and equipment types - this ensures that every customer's requirement is dealt with professionally and the best solution is always recommended.
We have found that there is a lot of online mis-selling, owing to many sales people chasing commission-based sales. Customers at these inferior suppliers are regularly either over-sold or under-sold products purely due to inappropriate financial incentives. For example, if a sales person receives a £5 gift voucher for each radio they sell, that’s probably the radio that is recommended to you, the unsuspecting buyer.
Our sales people are not incentivised by commissions; we prefer to reward performance and experience. Our sales people propose the most suitable product by asking our customer lots of questions.
RadioTrader is not just an online reseller, we have a nationwide sales and engineering team. If a site visit is required, we are more than happy to attend site in order to provide the highest level of service possible. We will always recommend a site survey so that the correct equipment and infrastructure is correctly located for optimum performance.
We have found that many of our competitors don’t have the resources or technical experience when recommending on-site solutions. This is not a good experience for the customer and miss-selling can be a common occurrence.
If you require further information on two way radios please do not hesitate to contact us.
24th Oct 2019
20th Apr 2017
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