Since 1967, Birkel Electric has provided full-service industrial and commercial electrical contracting services throughout the St. Louis area and has been a customer of Sonim Technologies since January 2020.
The Challenge
As a commercial and industrial electrical contracting company with over 90 electricians, Birkel Electric needed mobile devices that not only provided reliable connectivity, but that were rugged enough to meet the demands of their industry.
“I was receiving at least two calls per month that an employee’s phone was not working,” said Kathy Davidson, Office Manager at Birkel Electric. “Our old phones would not hold a charge, the speakers were not working, screens would go blank, battery easily died, and one drop off a ladder and it would break in 15 pieces. It was a perpetual challenge to keep the devices running.”
The Solution
After realizing that their previous rugged devices weren’t doing the job, Birkel Electric contacted their representative at Sprint in search of a more rugged and reliable smartphone. Sprint provided them with a Sonim XP8 to test out for one week. By the end of that week the Birkel Electric team was sold, they placed an order, and never looked back.
“I will attest to the fact that in the six months we have had these devices, I have not received a single call from our employees regarding a phone problem,” Davidson said. “That is huge to our company. If I could give it 100 stars I would.”
The Benefits
By switching to the Sonim XP8 Birkel Electric was able to increase their team’s productivity, in turn saving time and money. “It is important for the phones to work due to the need of communication between employees, job foreman, office, supply houses etc.,” said Davidson. “When the communication stops, it costs us money.”
In addition to the benefits of now having the industry’s most ultra-rugged smartphone, Davidson explains the positive experience she had with Sonim’s customer service team.
“We unfortunately had an employee who passed away and his child wanted to keep her dad’s phone. I was searching the internet for a Sonim phone as a replacement thinking I could find a refurbished one and transfer the number. I came across the Sonim site and sent an email to the customer service asking if they would sell phones direct, giving a brief summary of my situation. We corresponded several times and Sonim offered to replace the phone at no charge. I was in total disbelief that a company would have the compassion to help us. This is the type of customer service others should strive for! Sonim has raised the bar.”
For more information on Sonim’s devices please visit https://www.sonimtech.com/products/devices/