My visit to Parallax

Giemme

Hi
last week I came back to Switzerland from a beautifull holiday·in San Francisco. When I was there I took the opportunity to visit my favorite company in Rocklin

The 28. Februrary, after 2 hours drive .... me, my wife, my son and my TomTom navigator arrived around 12:30pm·at Parallax.

After introduction myself to the receptionist, she organized a company visit for me.

Josh·from·Parallax arrived·and together we went across all department:
- Sales
- Engineering
- Lab (the cnc machine was producing the new alluminium wheel in almos 20 minutes)
- Warehouse ( with dozen of hydraulic gas robot)
- The lab were the propeller was designed
- Educational lab (with dozen experimental kit: basicstamps, propeller, hydra and pinguin)

After almost·1.5 hour visit we arrived back to the reception. In the meantime the Receptionist was taking care for my wife and my son.

At the end of this visit I could make an order ( just some propeller, a 512k hydra card, a prop plug and some books)

As present I get a white Parallax T-shirt with the propeller on the back side.

I take the opportunity to thank Josh and the Receptionist and all sales staff for the time spent with me and my family.

Sincerly
Gianni Metitieri

http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?p=714650

http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?p=701170


P.S. The reccomended mexican restaurant was very good!

Post Edited (Giemme) : 3/10/2008 9:03:04 PM GMT

Ken Gracey

Hey Gianni,

I know how you feel after visiting Parallax. It helps assemble the whole picture of a company.

I once made a visit to a company in Germany whose products I really enjoyed using, only to be dissapointed in the outcome. I use small CNC mills and lathes from Wabeco in Remscheid, Germany. A few years ago I was in Germany to meet with Guenther Daubach and some distributors and we decided to go to Wabeco's factory and office. Up until this time I had some kind of magical impression about this company, but I really had trouble getting any questions answered (even simple ones about lubing a machine or obtaining a schematic of the motor driver). Perhaps I was turning my head hoping my observations were not for real. I called and mailed the company ahead of time but received no response. Guenther, Chip and I went there anyway in Guenther's BMW. I showed up and everybody was gone to trade shows. . . OK. . .fair enough. I asked if I could buy a few things, still hoping somebody might offer me the opportunity to go behind the scenes. They made an exception to sell parts directly to me while we waited in the lobby. Then I just asked "hey, do you think you can show us around?". Well, nobody here can show you around at Wabeco. Either there's nobody who has that authority to do such a brief tour or there are some rules against bringing guests onto the factory floor. I don't remember which excuse was given to us.

Though I knew how to treat Parallax visitors before that experience, it reminded me of what appears to be the case on the outside is often true on the inside. But it also tied up the impression I had about getting support from that company - what I observed when I visited was the same as what I saw from the outside: nearly nothing.

Parallax is an open place and everybody is welcome to see our whole shop anytime. Thanks Josh and Leona for taking care of Gianni's visit.

We exist for you, our customers and friends, and we enjoy our business because of the satisfaction we obtain from serving you.

Ken Gracey
Parallax, Inc.