[Electronics-Talk] Fw: [blind-hams] FW: ACB-L Talking Thermostats.com Closing

[Andy Baracco]

This is sad news indeed!  which other accessible thermostats are folks 
using?

------ Original Message ------

From: janet.dickelman--- via ACB-L
To: leadership at acblists.org, acb-l at acblists.org
Sent: August 25, 2019 at 5:08 PM
Subject: ACB-L Talking Thermostats.com Closing

Many of you have this product, please see note below from Harry Cohen.



Janet Dickelman

Talking Thermostats.com

P.O. Box 27145  ●  Golden Valley, MN  55427  ●  Tel  (763) 591-9557  ●  Fax 
(763) 544-7166



Dear friends of the Blind and Visually Impaired Community,



My name is Harry Cohen and my company, Talking Thermostats.com has supplied 
many of you with talking thermostats and excellent customer service over the 
past sixteen years.  I am writing to inform you that as of this date we will 
be exiting the talking thermostat business and closing our company.



This was a difficult decision to make.  We were helped with this decision by 
the manufacturer, BuyMax Alliance who is also our supplier of the VIP 
talking thermostat.  Because of poor inventory control by our supplier, 
their stock of talking thermostats was depleted in January of this year.  In 
addition, our supplier changed to a new electronic assembly vendor in China. 
Both of these issues by our supplier have caused very long lead times 
resulting in a stock out condition of thermostats not only for our company 
but also for our competitors.  All the VIP talking thermostats come from the 
same factory in China.



We have not had thermostats to ship since February.  BuyMax Alliance told us 
we would have thermostats in April.  Then they changed the delivery to the 
end of July.  It is now the third week of August and still no thermostats. 
During these six plus months, we still offered customer and technical 
support even though there was no income being generated.  Without income, we 
can no longer afford to pay rent, keep the lights on and keep the phones 
active.   Therefore, we are closing up shop.



With the closure of our business, product questions and warranty issues now 
revert back to BuyMax Alliance, the VIP 3000 manufacturer / supplier. 
BuyMax Alliance can be reached at 866-936-6622.



Over the past sixteen years this business has given me the opportunity to 
establish relationships with the blind and visually impaired community of 
the United States and provide another means to help people with visual 
impairments live more independently.  Thank you for this opportunity.



Sincerely,

Harry Cohen

Harry at talkingthermostats.com