The Northeast Group
Michael Carpenter - President/CEO
The Northeast Group is a 30 year old, family-owned printing, mailing and distribution company serving an international customer base from its headquarters in Plattsburgh, New York. It is located less than 30 minutes from the U.S.-Canadian border and one hour from Montreal. Being part of one of the busiest and most efficient supply chain corridors in North America, with three facilities offering more than 250,000 square feet of production and warehouse space, The Northeast Group relies on PrimeLink for quality broadband and phone services.
The Northeast Group moved to its current location at PARC in 2001, and has used PrimeLink as its communications provider ever since. As the Northeast Group has grown and expanded over the years, PrimeLink has been able to accommodate their growth in the areas of technology and made suggestions to assist The Northeast Group to become more efficient in the area of communications. PrimeLink fiber connects their three facilities: Nepco Way Facility (headquarters), Arizona Avenue facility and Northern Avenue facility.
“PrimeLink has always been readily available and has continued to go the extra mile for us,” said Mike Carpenter, The Northeast Group’s President and CEO. “We like that they are close. They are a local company with local people and their customer service group is great. We know all the technicians by first name and love the fact that we are dealing with people that live in our community.”
Michael went on further to say that “PrimeLink always has great customer support and rapid response rate.”
“Life before PrimeLink connecting our three facilities was a disaster,” said Pete Trombley, The Northeast Group’s Chief Information Officer. “We were trying to run VPN’s and our phone system, and it just wasn’t working efficiently. PrimeLink suggested the fiber between buildings. Once the fiber was installed, communications have been excellent and it has made my life a lot easier”.
Wells Communications
Mike Milanese – Vice President Operations
Serving Upstate New York and Vermont, Wells Communications provides wireless communications, fleet management solutions, E-911 services, video surveillance and more. Wells Communications is an authorized Motorola Dealer with Premier Service Partner status; therefore, it is crucial that all of their communications with customers and vendors are fast, reliable and secure. PrimeLink is there to assist Wells Communications in upholding their commitment to their customers.
“I am very happy with PrimeLink,” said Mike Milanese. “After we suffered with unreliable service from another company for many years, it was a relief to finally have the quality that PrimeLink is able to provide. We have been much happier since we switched to PrimeLink. I wish they could service our Watertown office too. We would sign on in a minute if we could.”
Mike added, “We had been with our other company for 7 years. It was hard to make the decision to switch when thinking of all the changeovers that would need to take place. PrimeLink was very effective in getting all of those completed very quickly. The transitions went smoother than I expected.
Mike continued to say, “We have both our telephone services and broadband with PrimeLink. Our services are run over PrimeLink’s fiber optic network giving us the reliability we need in our business. In the past, we had days that we would not have any phone service at all. PrimeLink has given us the confidence in a local company by fully supporting and giving reliable service.”
“Saving money is always nice and PrimeLink did save us well over 20% on our telecommunications bill,” said Mike. “But more important to me is reliability. Saving money is no good if you don’t have the service. PrimeLink was able to give us both.”
The Comfort Inn & Suites
Terry Meron – Owner/Operator
The Comfort Inn & Suites is part of the Choice Hotels franchise. As part of this group, they are expected to adhere to certain standards and meet certain expectations under the Choice Hotel guidelines. The Comfort Inn & Suites are subject to various compliance standards including those regarding how their telecommunications are set up. PrimeLink has been very helpful in keeping The Comfort Inn & Suites compliant with meeting these high speed Internet and telephone service requirements. The Comfort Inn group uses PrimeLink high speed Internet and local and long distance telephone services over PrimeLink’s fiber optic network. PrimeLink also installed and maintains The Comfort Inn’s telephone system’s for both their administrative office as well as their hotel patron use.
“After the devastating fire we had late last year, PrimeLink was extremely supportive and proactive,” said Terry. “PrimeLink’s response rate was incredible. In fact we didn’t have to make a call to them, they contacted us to find out what they could do to help us get back in service as soon as possible. With their help, we didn’t miss a minute of service. That would not happen with a national company.”
PrimeLink immediately moved all of The Comfort Inn & Suites communications lines to temporary office number one, and then again moved into another temporary office within a week. PrimeLink was able to transition everything quickly and worked over the weekend to get it done.
“As a hospitality, it is crucial to not miss a beat with communication. PrimeLink was calling us within minutes to find out how they could help us stay in touch and on-line with customers, vendors etc.,” said Terry.
“The Comfort Inn & Suites has been doing business with PrimeLink since the late 90’s,” said Terry. “Over the years, PrimeLink has continually demonstrated their commitment to giving quality customizable service. When rating PrimeLink, I rate them at the top of excellence. I see the internal pride in all the PrimeLink employees I have come in contact with. PrimeLink employees we have worked with have been phenomenal and their willingness to cooperate shows that they truly care about their customers.”
