Hey All,

So AVAD and Savant got together in a few markets and recruited some dealers (like myself). After signing up to be a Savant dealer through AVAD I thought I would go through some training, buy some product and boom I would be a Savant dealer. Not. the. case.

I get very limited access to the product line and I don't get access to Blueprint to program. I get access to their new Savant Studio iPad app to try and program my systems. I've been in this industry for nearly 20 years and this app based programming is a total nightmare. I have a very simple system at home and at our office and we cannot get this thing to work at all. Have done online training and in-person training. I also cannot call Savant tech support, I have to call AVAD tech support.

This isn't even the worse part. When I signed up with Savant through AVAD no one told me that I would be forever blacklisted from going direct with Savant and getting access to the whole line. The only way I can sell more of their line is if AVAD designs the system and then they have to do the programming from Chicago (I live in San Diego) that is just not going to work.

I am so pissed off and frustrated that I was never told about this. I have multiple jobs where people are asking for Savant by name and I can do nothing for them but call a friend of mine who is a Savant dealer. This lie that they sold me is costing me thousands of dollars. I have done everything in my power and everyone is telling me that there is nothing that I can do about it.

This just seems like really bad business for both of them. Everyone is losing on this.

Sorry for the rant, just so pissed and frustrated.

Are any of you dealing with this?

Or are any of successfully using Savant Studio to program your systems?

Dealt with things like that with other companies.

My response was to go to a competitor company and tell the offending company to get screwed.

Who completes with Savant? That's who you need to look at. Most likely will get better products and will definitely get better service.

I've considered C4 but I just like the Savant system better and I've got people that are asking for it. With proper training and equipment purchase, there should be no reason for me to not be able to sell their product.

We have been pro's in this industry for some time now and we know what we are doing.

And I have no problems buying the gear from AVAD and paying a little extra. I just want access to the whole line, tech support and Bluprint to program.

I was going to make a comment on "if you lay with the devil...", in response to trusting anything AVAD says or doing business with them at all.
But then I remembered there are dealers that have said 'their' AVAD branch is really good to them. So it would be unfair to those branches with great employees.
But I will say that trusting AVAD at the corporate level, was a bad mistake. As you have found out.

It has been well over 10+ years (maybe 15?) since I told AVAD to shove it and never did business with them again. I have not missed a single day of it.

They have been very good to me and one of my really old friends works there. It just seems corporate didn't pass all the info down to them. If I stop doing business with them I would be hurting a really good friend.

But since I won't be buying anymore Savant from them everyone is losing and it just doesn't make any sense from a business point of view.

Maybe you could talk to corporate and make them feel some pain. Corporate is as good a scapegoat as any, I guess.

Write a letter, stating that your friend is to be held blameless for you leaving- you have a business to keep running and someone up their food chain caused this.

I looked at Savant before they temporarily put on the brakes- they were involved with Haus for educating their dealers and it was a royal PITA. Had to pass their BS courses that were not only time-consuming, they were damn near useless. They were also tied in with Sonos and the main reason I was signing up was for that, but Haus went tits up and just about everyone carries Sonos now. The only places here that sell Savant are Magnolia.

I will never understand anyone who wants to put themselves through hell to sell a product. Sign on with Control4. Do one really awesome project. Every time someone asks for the other company by name show them the really awesome project you did.

Last summer i remember walking out the door of a client meeting the customer says "what about Control4?" after being pitched Crestron, my boss...with no stutter or hesitation...said "It's a nice product, it would probably cost about 20% less but we chose Crestron because after 20 years we think its the best.". That was it. That client owns a Crestron system now.

Obviously those words didn't seal the deal all by themselves. The UI we developed, our referrals and portfolio and general expertise are what made the sale. It doesn't matter what product you use as long as you do it right.

.

AVAD and Savant. Just the two names together make me cringe. Hopefully this marriage blows up in in their faces and both bankrupt. You literally couldn't pay me to use either of those. I wish them nothing but the worst.




It's business. Is your friend gonna send you checks when your business slows down?

This.

I'd look at Elan. Roughly the same price as Savant, nicer and more upscale than C4, customizable guis, etc.

I don't care what anyone says about C4, those $49/night motel room remotes are atrocious. Yuck!

AVAD did the same thing with Crestron and their Prodigy line years ago.

Savant is a master at marketing their product as THE apple solution for home automation. Lost a huge Crestron project to a Savant dealer a couple of years ago just because a lot of people think Savant = Apple.

Funny thing is our proposal was mostly IOS devices as control devices. Did Savant ever figure out how to make a functional handheld remote yet?

I did their training about 6-7 years ago, the place I worked for at the time signed up as a dealer and subsequently got dropped because we never sold their stuff, stuck with RTI or Crestron.

Apple HQ thought the same thing several years back and updated their system to Savant. I am not sure how long that lasted, but I am told Apple HQ is no longer controlled by Savant.

We have been doing Elan for a while now and they have their issues but we do like them, I would just like to have another option for my clients and I like Savants interface and product line.

Elan still has no IP amps and we are currently installing very old audio matrices on our jobs because that's all they have.

They came out with a camera system recently but they are really expensive compared to using Luma, which is our go-to camera system and works fantastic.

But thankfully they came out with a speaker line because that's what we need is another speaker line.

Still no front door camera/intercom solution.

The Elan G1 is more expensive than the Savant S2 host and has half the I/O ports on it. I have been finding it difficult to spec in a G1 when I know the S2 is cheaper and does way more and it just feels it's built better.

There are so many 3rd party products we have to use with an Elan system where Savant has a pretty good ecosystem.

Maybe we should just look into C4 as an alternative option as they do have a good ecosystem as well, I just don't really care for their UI however, I have heard the programming is really easy.

Just so lame that I even have to have this discussion....anyway I'm over it, I won't be selling Savant and I will be buying from AVAD as very little as possible since I do have other options.

Other than that business is very good!

Once again sorry for the frustrated rant and I thank you guys for your feedback!

Keep it pro,

Ryan