Interview with Sneaker Villa

Sneaker Villa is more than your average retailer. It is indeed a Movement; a smart retailer in the urban areas of Pennsylvania’s major cities. They prefer to serve those in inner city and urban neighborhoods, where they are serious about giving back to the communities they serve.

The Sneaker Villa stores are designed to be neighborhood hubs where customers can purchase premier head-to-toe fashion, watch flat-screen TV's, purchase concert ticks and on weekends, listen to the spin of live DJs.

"We serve the neighborhoods most retailers have forgotten about" says John Goy, Sneaker Villa's IT Manager. "Our customers are primarily young, and come by foot, bicycle or public transportation. We are a vital part of their community."

We recently spoke with John about Sneaker Villa's use of Retail Pro.

BHD: What POS system did you use before Retail Pro?

John: We were using CamData and it gave us problems from the installation. It did not poll correctly, and CamData was unable and unwilling to resolved the problem. We were really struggling with the system and knew we had to make a change.

BHD: How did you come to the decision to purchase Retail Pro?

John: It was actually a CamData tech who (on the QT) recommended Retail Pro to our owners, Ruth and Chris Lutz. They went to Magic in Las Vegas, met with Karen, saw the product and were sold.

BHD: What features are most used by Sneaker Villa?

John: At this point in time, we use Retail Pro primarily for POS, but we know we’re using only about 50% of its functionality. Retail Pro is a very powerful software package, and as we continue to grow, the system expands accordingly, to meet our increasing inventory and reporting needs.

BHD: Why did you choose Big Hairy Dog as your service provider?

(Ruth): We were looking at a number of POS systems at Magic, and walked into the BHD booth. Karen answered our questions, gave us a demo, and we loved what we saw.

BHD: Are you satisfied with the service you are getting from BHD?

John: Big Hairy Dog has always given us good service, but after spending time training with them in California, I have a completely new appreciation for the entire staff. They have a remarkable dedication to serve their customers. Colt has given me some of the best training in my entire IT career. Karen, Buddy, Paul, Stephen, Cynthia - the whole staff is great!

FIX for SYSTECH DIAL-UP ERROR

In the SYSTECH units that have been sent out to upgrade from modem, there are three optional dialup numbers that were initially programmed by the SYSTECH manufacturer. Big Hairy Dog has discovered the primary (default) dialup phone number to IP translation is INVALID, (800-950-8950). If you use this number to dialup, you will receive an error message saying “This number cannot be reached from you calling area.”

There are two other phone numbers translating to IP. These are:
877-529-5688
800-866-1764.

Both of these numbers are valid roll-over numbers, and can be used without error.

If you are experiencing this error, please call Big Hairy Dog at 800-377-7776, and we will correct this issue for you.

Pictorial Tech Support

In a "pictorial approach" to customer support, Big Hairy Dog offers hardware photos on our website. When customers hear a tech refer to their "ethernet cable", many do not know what this cable looks like, let alone what it is used for.

We at BHD consider it part of our responsibility while providing excellent tech support to educate our customers on their hardware, as well as software. The next time you hear a hardware term that you're unfamiliar with, just refer to our hardware photos at: www.bighairydog.com/pics.htm.

We hope you're surprised at how much you learn!

Trend Micro gets High Rating

Big Star Reviews has just published an updated 2008 Internet Security Review.

In a rating system with 6 being highest, Trend Micro received 5.5 stars. The review states:

“The download and installation or Trend Micro is seamless and can be completed quickly. The interface is very user-friendly and implementing the Trend Secure features such as Remote File Lock and Transaction Guard takes little to no effort.

Trend Micro internet security software is a wonderful tool for a wireless network. The Home Network Control allows the user to customize the configuration for multiple computers. This program doesn't just provide Internet security tools, but is dually functioned to act as a parental control, saving a lot of system resources. Trend Micro offers customer support via email, chat and phone and only costs about $50.00."