Construction equipment rental company Durante Rentals, LLC was struggling with an outdated phone system that couldn’t even handle transferring calls between their three locations in the Bronx, Mount Vernon, and Queens. As Chief Financial Officer Chris Jones recalls, “We were having to make customers hang up and dial a different number to reach the other offices, and it was not in line with the kind of experience we provide for our customers.”
Chris and other members of the management team at Durante Rentals were familiar with Select Telecom’s CEO Mike Durante and COO Paul Durante (neither of whom, coincidentally, are related to the namesakes of Durante Rentals) from events sponsored by the Business Council of Westchester. As Chris remembers, “We were very comfortable with Select Telecom,” so they reached out for a recommendation on a new phone system.
Durante Rentals ended up implementing a state-of-the-art ShoreTel IP Unified Communications system, and they couldn’t be happier with the results. Chris explains, “We have one of the best phone systems in the industry. Customers have commented how quickly we get calls transferred to the right person, which is exactly what we wanted. With the new system, getting ahold of people in any location is easy – we’ve gotten some really great compliments from customers. And if they call Queens, we set it up to ring in the Bronx too, so we can help out on the phones and get our customers whatever they need faster.”
Durante Rentals has also been satisfied with the high level of service they consistently receive from Select Telecom. “My partner John Durante handled the implementation working closely with Danielle whom has been very responsive and gets back to us very fast. We’re a demanding client, because our clients are demanding of us. We live and die by our phones – we don’t take orders over the internet – so our phone system is our lifeline and if they’re down for even a minute, we’re losing business.”
In fact, Durante Rentals was so thrilled with the new system that they honored their ShoreTel with the company’s Technology of the Year award. Explains Chris, “We like to be a forward thinking company, and we make it a point to recognize the technology that helps us get to the next level. Last year it was our GPS; this year it’s the phone system. It helped us boost our professionalism and deliver a seamless experience for the customer – now we can tell them to just call wherever and we will help you.”
In the end, the ShoreTel system was absolutely the right choice for Durante Rentals. “We can do our own programming, John understands the phone system inside and out and has selected some of the more sophisticated features for us. Danielle and her team have done a great job implementing John’s designs and feature requests for the phone system, and as a result we are getting tons of value out of the system. And there are so many features we haven’t even started using yet!” Chris expresses. “You guys have been good to us.”