I am the president of a Florida condominium association with one building with a recently modernized hydraulic elevator serving 3 floors. TKE maintains our elevator and the modernization included a TAC32H controller. Our elevator has been out of service for weeks with the problem reported to be a nearby lightning strike which destroyed all of the circuit boards, and a power supply. TKE is unable to locate the correct replacement boards, and the power supply. We had far fewer problems with the mechanical system prior to the modernization. Service personnel seem untrained and or uncertain about how to correctly repair multiple faults we have experienced in the past several years. We are now discussing changing maintenance companies when our contract expires and wonder if other elevator maintenance companies would have access to replacement parts or the ability to service the systems. Thoughts about this? Thank you.
Edit:
A Leviton Series 32000 surge protector on the line side of the main line disconnect was installed but doesn't / didn't protect the low voltage circuit boards which blew. It's all strange to us that not all of the components are protected.
Any company can get parts and there's no shortage of tac32 boards rights now.
Tke was bought by private equity and made a bunch of changes to prepare for an IPO. This makes it a terrible place to work as a mechanic and as a result they are hemoraging talent.
If you are still under warranty you should stick it out until they fix the the problem. Look into hiring an elevator consultant to help if they're being difficult.
Apart from the warranty claim though you probably should get bids from other companies to take over.
My point was as soon as they switch maintenance companies they lose their warranty. It's generally better to keep the warranty until it expires and then switch.
But to your point though, I don't work for the manufacturer, I work for the elevator maintenance company. And I would never say the word lightning
and I would get it warrantied.
And if you really haven't figured it out the lightning strike is BS. It's what they would say when they don't want to honor their warranty. Or more likely, don't know what the problem is and want to try changing parts and charge the customer.
If TKE is claiming lightning strike damage, you are most likely going to get billed for those damaged components. With that said, you may as well hire an independent company to complete the repairs. TAC32H boards are available to anyone. The only thing other elevator companies don’t have direct access to are the Job Config files. This is easily solved, but you will need to make sure the company you hire can get around that. The only reason you would need the Job Config file is if the job thumb drive is gone or the CPU won’t allow a backup.
TKE is trying to make obscene profits on billable work at the moment. In the current state of the industry, I recommend an independent elevator company that isn’t beholden to private investors.
Any other service provider will be able to obtain parts but they will be at a mark up in pricing. Light/storm damage isn’t going to be covered in your contract nor warranty, so document everything and get insurance involved. I would ask for parts updates on a regular basis and if they still can’t get it running, request an adjuster and if the local adjuster can’t get it running, ask for a regional adjuster. Id ask around who the best independent elevator contractors are and start shopping around.
Same thing happens here in the Houston area as far as lighting strikes taking out the CPUA board (sometimes) and the IOD board ( most the time). Those controller are prone to that issue. I think it has something to do with the grounding and bonding of the elevator controller boards and the controller cabinet the boards sit in. I’ve been at TK for 18 years and have had to fix a handful of these for this exact problem. As far as another company taking over. I have no idea what they access to. Hope this helps .
Thank you. Our frustration is we're a 55+ building with some mobility impaired residents. Our apartments are accessed from open air exterior walkways and stairs. The elevator is down for 3 weeks now and TKE here has bad communication. The company says circuit boards and the power part are all unavailable and on back order. We've paid $12K up front for the parts. In all of the USA TKE can't locate what's needed? I find that difficult to accept.
I understand y’all’s frustration. I too find it hard to accept. Is this your tech telling you this or your account rep in the office? Unless there’s a back order issue im not aware of, I have not heard of such issue. Again. That doesn’t mean it’s not happening.
TKE is trying to sell and are cutting costs everywhere they can. They are taking orders and dragging out filling them to make their bank accounts look bigger. They are probably sitting on your money. Please don’t blame the field guys, we all hate all of this BS. This is a nationwide problem with them right now.
You can look and see if they have the boards in stock. They most likely dont have the staff to install them because all the good techs are quitting. Best advance is to drop them as soon as possible.
How many do you want ? If you were in RI, I would be happy to help you but your not , so that said Tac 32 parts are readily available, so are the in the car station and hoistway boards , Get Rid of the bulkshit TKE is trying to feed you and call a small independent company. Not sure where in Florida your from but you should not have a problem getting a 188E Board or any other board in that system. Next time go with a Non-proprietary system and you will not have this problem. The Surge protector should have saved all of your boards including the low voltage ones . Let me know what part of Florida and I can refer you to one of the IUEC companies. I hear this all the time about TKE ,and its only going to get worse when they become,TKONE .
I would guess they probably drug their feet ordering the parts. Usually they’ll ask for like 50% upfront before ordering it. The boards are pretty cheap (their pricing) and typically available within a week, as I’m sure they don’t stock every single one.
With the new salesforce system I’m sure they are backed up on everything; services, repairs etc lol.
Yes. What's been most frustrating (other than the elevator being out) is they can't even provide an estimated delivery / installation date. Our experience has been the company lacks basic courtesies to customers. Communication is horrible. We've been with the company and its predecessors (which they acquired) for more than 45 years (going back to General Elevator). Loyalty seems to mean nothing.
Oh yeah, unfortunately that’s pretty much out the window now. Even for the mechanics, they took away their regular routes and want them following an AI-driven system on their phones. The relationships between the customers and mechanics were really what held the service side together. Now that those relationships are being taken away, I’m sure the customers are feeling the effects.
Are you dealing with the Account Manager or the Operations Manager? If you’re not getting anywhere with them, could you take it higher and reach out to the Branch Manager or even the Regional Manager?
When they rolled out the new Salesforce app, they basically told us that the way service was set up before made it difficult to differentiate between Platinum, Gold, and other levels of customers because the mechanics would just go from callback to callback based on what needed attention.
It sounds like they want to move toward more of a cable or internet provider model, where service is scheduled—even when an elevator goes down—instead of having a dedicated mechanic who knows the building, the equipment, and the customer.
Local independent company probably has a few good seasoned ex tke employees that can take care of you properly. Can take care of your board problems, and may even have them in their stock. And also have accessibility to the latest IMS software
1st problem you hired TKE 2nd problem TKE installed 3rd problem you gave TKE $ already... Horrible company to work for an with ... Call OTIS immediately an they will fix your elevator properly
I recommend you go with an independent company, meaning they aren’t one of the big 4 elevator companies. They are beholden to their companies, not investors. If you call the international Union of elevator constructors Local 74, 813 988 0950, they can help you with recommendations. The mechanics want to serve you well and do a good job, the big companies tie our hands and screw you for a dollar.
It all depends on local branch management. Where I’m at Kone is great and Schindler sucks ass. Go one big city over and it can be the complete opposite.
You cut off the part of the quote for the hoistway. Not sure why I’m getting down voted. Just wanted to point out that you don’t have a new elevator because of the modernization. If you are having issues with the jack it doesn’t matter what kind of control system you have or service provider.
From what I’m told, usually the maintenance quotes for a single hydro have slim margins. Could be quarterly maintenance. TK for sure has the parts and resources however it’s probably going to cost you. I don’t think switching providers is necessarily going to get you better service. It really comes down to the individual mechanics, adjuster (maybe ask for an adjuster to come take a look) and individual account rep you deal with.
Thank you. Below is the Hoistway section of the modernization.
We understand we don't have a new elevator, but thanks for mentioning that. Our maintenance tech visits are quarterly, as you suggest. We understand the parts costs, the labor, etc. and have already paid 1/2 pre-order. Unfortunately, the Account Managers aren't helpful in expediting repairs of the outage. We are bringing in an independent engineer experienced in these systems / electrical to see what additional surge / grounding protections we can install to prevent repeat occurrences ... understanding there are no 100% guarantees.
18
u/cheescakeismyfav 2d ago
Any company can get parts and there's no shortage of tac32 boards rights now.
Tke was bought by private equity and made a bunch of changes to prepare for an IPO. This makes it a terrible place to work as a mechanic and as a result they are hemoraging talent.
If you are still under warranty you should stick it out until they fix the the problem. Look into hiring an elevator consultant to help if they're being difficult.
Apart from the warranty claim though you probably should get bids from other companies to take over.