I'd be willing to bet they will come up with something. The bigger you get the more people have to be involved with decisions. Sort of like the decision to release dealer cost on HDMI products.....

Ironically this thread will eventually point clients to the CePro ad. 

I had someone call me who said he had Snap stuff and needed me to install it for him. I declined to give him an estimate.

I will still use Snap when I can.

Bingo.

This should have been posted on IP.

Still cant believe they would do this, esp. with there HDMI solutions.. Makes no sense to me !!

I'm not apart of the cool club. I debated posting this on here but ultimately decided it was a better idea to post. Sorta like Snap...

Hi Guys,

As a company, we do our best to make calls based on dealer feedback and data. Based on the response here, I know what our decision would be if we had a time machine.

We debated this internally quite a bit. Ultimately, we chose to do a pull-out insert (not a print ad) so that it was easily removable for those dealers that like to leave CEPro out in their showrooms.

I’m not saying that was the right call. Based on the feedback here, it wasn’t.

I agree with ScottEdge’s comment above – hashing this out in a public forum is in nobody’s best interests. That said, please don’t hesitate to contact me via PM if I can help answer any other questions on the topic.

I’d also like to address one other thing that came up in this thread regarding how SnapAV signs-up a new dealer:

SnapAV collects and records tax ID numbers for all new dealers. We also use a live interview process combined with requests for proof of industry affiliation when we receive a dealer application. The pay plan of our sales organization provides no incentive to sign up a “dealer” that is only likely to make an occasional purchase (again, I’m happy to explain this outside of a public forum, but don’t think it’s appropriate here).

While I understand that many here view the decision we made as boneheaded, please understand that it is not an indication of any change in policy on our part.

Sincerely,

Adam Levy
Senior Vice President
SnapAV


P.S. Regarding the comment about whether we “over extended [our]selves moving into that behemoth building…”, let’s just say that it’s a pretty good time to negotiate a commercial real estate lease. Covering overhead is not an issue. We are in very good financial health.

Adam,

Thank you so much for the clarification! that enough to put me at ease and im sure the others. The comment for the over extension part was purely a guess and my opinion of the matter, we've all seen guys over do them self's in your area and ours and the next thing you know they are blowing boxes out to joe shmoe and this seemed like an avenue of you possiblyt doing that. That was just my speculation and im glad to here your in great financial health.

Im also really glad to hear you have an interview/re sellers certificate policy in place. Back when you got me 2 1/2 3 years ago none of this was in place, and because we dont have to re sign up i just thought you guys had the same policy in place.

Adam, with all due respect, your company preaches an understanding to the custom installer - it's down right scary that this issue was actually being debated there based on the outcome. if you would have said it was an accident, oversight or some scrum there got fired for doing it I would feel a lot better about it. The fact that the powers that be actually got together in a room and there were some in there that were actually pushing to release dealer based pricing in a public magazine regardless of the market share is shocking and scary. If I were you I would post a full page apology in CE PRO for doing that. In the least, would have loved to be a fly on the wall in that conference room to hear what kind of case was being made to actually print that in the ad...

Perhaps you guys are becoming too big - this is the sort of thing that happens in companies that get too big - they start contradicting their own business plan.

As I said, they always listen to us. Just another example, and I still feel everyone was blowing this far out of proportion. I too did not have to provide any tax ID and thought it was a bit odd when I signed up. I have not had an account for a year yet either. I do hope they require it, and would provide it if I was asked. Part of being protected is not just not keeping product off the web, but also keeping unqualified people from purchasing direct.

Adam,

Thank you for the honest and thorough response. As you can see we value a few things about your company. Namely, your response to product related issues and dealer concerns. We are a finicky group but loyal to those that have our back and do what they can to help us maintain a profitable business and long term service to the client. This in turn, as you know, means more business for you.

Thank you for taking the time to stop by.

Thats exactly what I needed to hear.
I understand why it was done and the thinking behind it and I also believe it was an innocent mistake by those who failed to think it through any further than the customer in a showroom scenario.
I just needed to hear that for sure and confirm that it was not going to happen again.



+1

Innocent mistake? Not a chance........I'll bet on the fact that it will happen again...but with a different spin......

I certainly hope not and agree with Sound.SD's comment above.

As for the ad, I had this magazine for a week before I noticed the ad and wouldn't have noticed it if this thread didn't popup.

That said, I often pass these magazines on to friends and family, sometimes client's kids like to read them if I have one in my bag. In my case, this "Private" information could have very easily ended up in the hands of the end user or more likely one of my DIY clients that I help out usually with programming. 

That would have been terrible. Sure, a friend or family probably wouldn't even know wtf was being marketed. But the type of non-CI's that get CEPro are the DIY'ers, the ones that would very readily share this information across the net.

THis ad will most likely never come back to bite one of us in the ass, but if it happens again, I'm sure many dealers will start limiting or elimating their business with Snap.

Why are you so angry? It was, to date, a one time thing. Had this been a recurring problem, or if they continue to do it, then that is a different story. Innocent mistake refers to the fact that they thought it out with one line of thinking, and perhaps were wrong. That is called a mistake. I am just not sure why you are so angry when they have only had this one little occurrence to date.