[froyo]

Hello. This brings up a subject I've been hesitant to bring up, but I have come across this several times over the course of several years. I have attended many, many Digidesign events over the years. AES conventions, product demos, tours, etc. I have personally witnessed many times how Digidesign representatives have dropped the ball. In these occasions, many customers attending these functions know more about the product than the individual representing the company. These are supposed to be Digidesign representatives, and as the word implies, they are representing the company and all that implies.

If you have read some of the threads in the last couple of months about people attending demos and tours, you will see some instances of what I'm describing. Some reps claiming only P4 chips were supported, or a 24 track limit on Mbox when clearly those were erroneous, premature or misinformed statements. I know a lot of these may be miscommunications, people misunderstanding the Digi rep, misquoting him/her or taking something out of context. I'm talking about the times I have experienced it first hand, when it's happened when I was there.

I would say if I was to guess as to how many times it's happened over the years I would guess that 50% of the time there have been some significant errors. I remember one time a few years ago some attendee asked at a demo why LE had no SMPTE timeline. The rep explained and I had to interject and tell him about the 'TDM session import' workaround. He was very adamant about the fact that I was wrong, that it was impossible, LE didn't have these capabilities, etc. The fact that I had been doing it for months didn't matter to him. He was very emphatic in telling the rest of the group that I was mistaken, when I clearly wasn't. I'm sure if you all search your memory, you or someone you know has had a similar experience at a Digidesign event.

One other fact to bring up. A majority or a very significant portion of these problems seem to center around reps with a very clear Mac background who come across dificulties with PC related questions or problems.

My question to Digidesign is, how do you choose, pick and/or screen the reps that go out to these events? These are people that are representing your products. They are trying to create sales. Why would you send individuals who are clearly unprepared for some of these situations? Isn't it a little embarassing to you when you hear about how a customer knows more about a subject than a company representative? Don't you find that unprofessional, and frankly almost insulting to the public?

I have struggled commenting about this throughout many years because I feared it might be misconstrued. I want to go on the record to say that I am a loyal Digidesign user/customer who plans on being one until the company ceases to exist. But I did want to bring this to their attention. I am almost certain not to be the first who has done so. It seems on this last 'PC family' tour there have been some instances of Mac guys with little or no PC background. Why would you put your company in that situation?

I know it's impossible to have an individual who can have every single answer to any question, no matter how remote or obscure it may be. This is clearly not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about specific misinformation/errors/ignorance on certain facts which you would think would be basic knowledge for anybody who is supposed to be representing a company.

I hope Digidesign receives this criticism in the spirit it is offered. As a criticism geared towards bringing about awareness to a problem I have personally witnessed too many times from a company who is an industry leader in many ways.