How long do you co-operate with Farfisa?
It was 1995 at a show in Birmingham, when we first met Eng. Armando Cupido and his team. The intercom equipment that we were shown was very modern for its time, lollipop or ice cream scoop style handsets , you either loved or hated them. We were looking for a conservative style handset that would please everyone. The following year, thanks to Eng. E Sgreccia, the “Project Series” handset was introduced, we loved the style and knew that they would be suitable for our South African market. We placed our first order in June 1996.
Why choose the Farfisa Brand?
The Beginning - 25 years ago
My visit to IFSEC Birmingham was to look for a suitable European intercom manufacturer that was not already represented in South Africa. I was looking for an intercom product line with versatility, a line of intercoms that offers features like intercommunicating service, modular door stations, Handset accessories, extra pushbuttons indicator lights etc, while this might be a norm for European intercoms, this was not so from some Asian products that were then being Installed in South Africa. I was tired of seeing holes drilled in Handsets to fit switches and LED indicator lights. I was pleased to find that FARFISA offered all of these features as standard. You need to consider that 25 years ago with Versatility come more wires! Our technically challenged customer base, did complain about the number of wires and even after extensive training, we were constantly being called to site to help resolve installation problems. We solved the problem by supplying “as is” wiring diagrams and Building labelled Distribution boards. Our installer base now happy with this as it saves them a lot of time and they can present a neat professional installation to their client.
Farfisa Present day –
The 2 wire technology has revolutionised our market, we and our customers are so happy with all the features that the Duo product has to offer. Our customers say that they have cut their installation time in half, and that it is wonderful to be able to connect the 2 wires any which way, and know that the system will still work perfectly!
In general, what is your opinion about Farfisa Corporate, your relationship with the team?
We at Raicom pride ourselves in being able to supply good advice, we quote with confidence knowing that we have full support from Farfisa which has been outstanding! We are situated far away at the other end of Africa but with modern communication technology we are so close! I know that at virtually any time, we can call our friend Andrea and all the staff for all the technical advise we need. I say Friend because these people have been with the company for many years! Some of them have worked there from the time we started trading 25 years ago. Its a lifetime in the business of selling Farfisa intercoms, which we enjoy very much. We love Farfisa!
What are your next projects with Farfisa?
We have many projects due for completion this year and hope that the pandemic will not affect us as badly as it did last year. Amongst the projects in hand, we point out: upmarket housing estate using Duo video: 87 apartments using Duo audio to PDX2000 concierge in the security office + upmarket 24 apartments using Duo with lift control where the lift opens directly into the apartment.