Sad to hear Brookes experience. RTI's mantra is all about personalizing and providing the customer with an extremely custom experience that has to be simple. Clearly, Brooke unfortunately selected a dealer who could not properly deliver a system that met his client's expectations. In my experience I have seen that happen with all major systems, from Crestron, to C4, to Savant, URC, and RTi is no exception. The quality of the remote is all about the quality of the programming. I would like to share some advice on those who wish to pursue RTI as a control solution and hopefully avoid the experience Brooke describes:

1) RTI has been around for a pretty long time. Find out the dealers experience with RTI, if he has completed an aptitude test and received all the required training. (There are physical ways for them to represent this).

2) Ask to see some of the past work the dealer has performed and even some local references. Depending on your system it could be worthwhile to actually visit with a client to see what their experience is like.

3) Ask for an executable. RTI provides dealers with a way to create an .exe executable file that will run on any windows based computer that will mimic the controller's interface and experience. You can see other clients interfaces and even your own and see if it is in line with your expectations.

4) Screenshots and flowcharts are always great as you will learn how your interface works and what features are available.

5) Give your dealer a list of your expectations, don't let him guess. Tell him what is important to you (and what is not). Give them an idea of what you expect from the interface in terms of simplicity. Chances are if you have an experienced dealer he will know what deliver, but it is always good to give him as much input as you like.

If done right, just like other systems, RTI can be a highly powerful, enjoyable and reliable system. The dealer's ability to make it look, act and perform exactly the way you want is a huge advantage.