#TTR Closing
17 messages in this thread
I just saw this message on BIX, and I thought it might be of interest to
some folks that are here.
————————————————————————-
* Notice * 13 July 1992
I must regretfully inform the Amiga community that TTR Development, Inc.
with exception to product support and company business, is shutting down
all development operations effective this date.
* Please read on about product support *
Many factors are involved in this decision but before I give some of
those
details, I would like to express my sincere thanks to ALL Amiga users,
Dealers and other people who have supported our efforts.
TTR started out as a small company dedicated to the Amiga. TTR grew to a
well established company with many products that were second to none.
Circumstances beyond the control of the company or its employees contrib-
uted to TTR's demise. No one person or situation caused the problems
the company ran into.
The main reason for the decision to shut down TTR was cash flow. In the
last (6) six months, TTR lost more money on accounts that defaulted than
it could handle. Combine this with slow sales due to the recession and
some internal employee problems and you have the making of a company in
trouble. We sincerely hope that other companies who are going through
the same thing we did, are able to hang on a bit longer or are able to
come up with ways to collect on monies they may be owed. Amiga
developers are becoming a rare breed. We hope they do not die out
altogether!
On a lighter side, because of the popularity of many of TTR's products,
most of the TTR's products will be picked up and fully supported by
other vendors! Within the next two weeks, information on what products,
who is now carrying them, and how to obtain support and upgrades on those
products will be posted on the nets and passed on to the major Amiga
magazines. These products have been picked up and will be supported:
WMS V3.0 Amiga
<continued>
ALL
>> "One person can literally destroy the reputation of a company. We know,
it happened to us." <<
Who could that be??? Could it be …. SATAN?
Boy, do I think that was petty. Everyone knows cash flow can not be cuased
by one person. One should look at the distributers for that.
And "One person.." is also bull. I myself have talked a lot of people out
of purchasing TTR's TxTools (the program from hell with the manual in
Chinese.) In recessionary times you dont give credit. And even in good
times; you dont treat your customers like dirt.
-Tom
Distributors have always been slime, always will. they play games with
margin and cash flow. If someone within a company wasn't handling
distributors correctly, yes, one person could be "at fault." If they
handed the company to the wolves, then they're to blame, no?
John,
I don't know. We don't have too many problems with distributors anymore.
We set our pricing based on what we know they do to margins, and only ship
COD. They don't like it, but they do buy and they DO pay. (past problems
are the reason we have this policy)
Dean
DKB Software
We do the same thing. Every time they call to order, they ask for credit
and we say "no." As Todd Butson said to me as I wandered through the empty
warehouse / office space that held TTR a month or two ago, someone there
(him?) let Micropace take them for a ride to the tune of tens of thousands
of dollars, and they took their sweet time to pay, on the order of eight to
ten months after legal action started and Commodore supposedly intervened.
Scum, the lot of them.
John,
I find it rather sad that a distributor will do that to a developer when
in most cases the distributor is many times larger than the developer.
Honestly, we haven't had any problems with most of our accounts for the
last year or so, especially since we went to COD only terms. I think the
last one was a sorta distributor that bounced a check and then went out of
business. I now require financials from any new major account. (a way to
track the offending parties if necessary)
Oh well, I guess you have to plan for some bad accounts. If you don't
you won't be in business long.
Dean
DKB Software
Tom, if the "one person" is sufficiently highly-placed in the company, or
in a customer-interface at the right position, yes, one person can destroy
a company's reputation.
For example, a malicious customer service rep in a small company can
promise all kinds of things — delivery by a certain date, shipping today
of out-of-stock product, free products or prices that don't cover costs,
etc. Maybe worse would be actual replacement of problem product with
product having the same (or other) known problems, etc. By the time the
chickens come home to roost, that person can be long gone (this is usually
indulged in only by someone planning to leave the company…)
In TTR's case, cash-flow problems (which many small companies have right
now) might not have caused the company to close down, without the extra
problems caused by the "one person" mentioned. This can, of course, be a
face-saving measure for TTR. That doesn't mean it isn't possible for any
company's reputation to be fatally injured by a single "bad apple".
Regards, Whap!penned…
Pat @Oxxi (310) 427-1227
So, Pat…. which TTR products is OXXI picking up, eh?
g>
Michael
…..on AutoPilot
..zzZZZIP!
Regards, Whap!penned…
Pat @Oxxi (310) 427-1227
Pat,
Actually, I believe the "one person" that can ruin a company's reputation
that Todd Butson was alluding to was yours truly, a dissatisfied customer
of the company.
I had sent out a number of complaint letters regarding TTR and
uploaded a copy here. After 2-1/2 months, TTR just recently replied
to my letter. Based on that letter, I think he is referring to me in
his upload. I'll be uploading TTR's reply here soon, together with my
response.
Stay tuned…
I hope Todd isn't implying that an external party can ruin a company
-unless that person is a "power in the land". (Gee, Dom, I never
knew you were related to the Kennedys!)
Pat,
Sure I'm related to the Kennedys. Can't you tell by my Irish name?
Obviously, one person can't ruin a company. So I'm certainly not saying
that I ruined TTR. I'm just saying that when Todd referred to "one person"
doing all that damage, I'm pretty sure he meant me.
I think you'll enjoy TTR's letter and my response after I u/l it.
Bye.
Dom Fontana
I am confused,
I thought the quote from BIX said "NO ONE PERSON" caused the problem…
Philip Laitar
Supervisor
You're absoutely correct. Todd Butson did contradict himself in his
BIX upload. First he said "No one person" caused the problem. Then he
said "One Person" could ruin a company's reputation and that he
should know because it happened to him.
That "One Person" he was refering to was me, a dissatisfied
customer.
If you're interested, you can d/l my complaint letter from the libs
here. Search under "TTR." TTR's response and my reply will also be
u/led shortly.
Dominick,
I did follow part of your thread before…and have been in my own business
I do realize how much trouble 🙂 a dissatisfied client can be! However, and
no disrespect intended, from what I read in the thread on CompuServe I
can't beleive all that TTR closed because of your complaints. I have to
beleive other effects, such as sales, cash-flow, etc. may have had a
factor.
Also, I found it a little disturbing that facts (or fiction) can be so
easily spread on a forum such as CompuServ. We all have to remember that if
we would not say things to someone's face, we should not say it on a
faceless forum–this shows little courage.
Although CompuServe may seem like an open debate, often (and on other
e-mail systems and in the general press) I feel that facts are often
scewed. Both parties may feel in the right but will have totaly different
veiws of what happened.
As users of these forums, we have a responsibilty to act and judge
fairly–when we leave messages, respond to them and most importantly when
we read them.
Don't get me wrong, I am not saying that anything you left was
mis-directed–it is a general observation on this fairly new medium of
expression.
Philip Laitar
–not leaving this message as a Gold Disk Rep 😉
Philip,
I think you missed the point a bit. I never said my one complaint letter
could cause TTR to go out of business. I would not attribute that kind of
power to one of my letters. Todd Butson, TTR's president said that one
person could ruin a company's reputation. He's probably looking to place
the blame somewhere. A few messages started talking about one person within
TTR ruining the company's reputation. I simply left a message stating that
I believe that the "one person" Todd was referring to was me, and not
someone from within TTR. So I didn't say I ruined TTR's reputation. Just
that Todd is saying that I did, although he didn't mention any names.
Also, it wasn't so much a matter of following my message thread about TTR.
I sent a complaint letter to the Wisconsin Better Business Bureau, Dept. of
Consumer Affairs, Attorney General's Office, and three Amiga magazines. I
then uploaded a copy of the letter here in the libraries and it's still
there.
Although I appreciate your concern about the chance for abuse when using a
telecommunications service, since any complaints may not be seen by a
particular company and they might not have a chance to respond, I believe
the users here are intelligent enough not to base their opinions of a
company on one letter. If many users respond that the particular company
has been great with them, I don't believe their reputation will suffer. If,
on the other hand, many users respond that they also have had trouble with
a particular company, then a damaged reputation is justified. So if a
company keeps the large majority of their customers satisfied, they should
have nothing to fear. Only disreputable companies have something to fear by
networks making it easier to broadcast complaints. They make it easier to
show that a company's "slip is showing," so to speak.
I'm not quite certain what you meant about saying something to someone's
face and a lack of courage, but I would make my statements to anyone's
face. I stand behind my TTR complaint letter 100% and wouldn't hesitate to
upload any other complaint letters, if the situation warrants it. …Dom
Fontana…
All When I read >> "One person can literally destroy the reputation of a
company. We know, it happened to us." <<. I never thought Todd could be
refering to someone in his company. I can not see an owner blameing anyone
in his business for it's falure except himself. No one should be given
that much of a free hand, not even in a partnership.
I am in the mobile radio business and have had more then one salesman
promise the world to a customer. That only happens once! Normally he is
told what he can and can not do. He is given the names and phone number of
people that he must check with before doing or promising certain things.
The name Dom came to mind as soon as I read Todd's message. I did not want
to bring Dom's name into my reply. I never added anything to his thread
about TTR. Why? Becuase I had no idea how TTR treated anyone else nor
what quality of programs they sold or supported. I did know what _my_
problems with the company were, and I talked about them in my reply,
figuring that anyone else that read my reply would assume I was talking
about Dom also and was just adding my say in the hope that he was not
blamed as the destroyer from hell.
I have talked a few people out of buying RxTools, becuase of the way TTR
does not support the product. Please note that it is the program I bad
mouth and not the company. I did notice that RxTools was not mentioned as
having any support from anyone after TTR closes the doors. No problem it
had none before they closed the doors.
-Tom