Özdilek İzmir Shopping Center, which was opened in 2000, was constructed on an area of approximately 10 thousand sqm on 3 floors, one of which is a storage area. EEC installed the fire detection and alarm system of this shopping center, which hosts an average of 20 thousand people per day, particularly on weekends.
I have been an engineer for 7 years and I have been working at Özdilek for 3 years now. I knew about EEC before. After our shopping center opened, there wassubstantial circulation here. I was not here during the installation phase, but now I am managing the communication with EEC and the arrangement of the maintenance activities.
The most useful property of our fire detection system is that it is addressable and notifies us about the relevant locations where the alarm is triggered. The notifications are sent to our panel on the basis of locations such as boiler room, air pressure tank room and laundry. In this way, we can understand where the alarm or breakdown has occurred.
Whether it is sales, technical service or any other team of EEC, they all act with a solution-oriented approach and understanding. During the contract renewal periods for all Özdilek companies every year, the process can sometimes take longer when our head office purchasing department and the purchasing department of EEC try to find common ground. However, in any case, we would like to maintain our relationship based on an agreement.
I recommend the products and services of EEC, but I think they are slightly expensive. The products are of good quality and they fulfill their duties and do not cause any problems for us in terms of detection. The properties of the products are sufficient for us and meet our expectations.
Our communication with both field teams and sales personnel is very good in terms of lead times. I can tell that compliance problems occur sometimes, particularly with the blue-collar employees, but I can see that EEC is more professional on this issue.
When we have a request for technical service, EEC complies with the lead times given for the delivery and installation of a part or resolution of our problem. Sometimes it is not easy to reach an agreement on the phone, everyone would like to comply with the legal procedure, but as we are a shopping center that is open on a 24/7 basis and we cannot shut down our facility, we ask for support directly on the phone. We do not experience any problems, and EEC is very good at this.
The approach and communication of the sales personnel is very good. So is the technical service. We are in continuous contact with them. When we call them by phone, they all respond to us, whether they are at the airport or at lunch. They are very good.
There was no change in the quality of EEC during the pandemic. We did not have any communication problems with the person that came to our facility for maintenance. The only problem is that the contract renewal process sometimes takes longer, when the contract period expires. In case of fire, God forbid, this is a fire detection system that I cannot put aside and wait. We would never want to have any problems during this period of uncertainty. The systems of EEC, as you know, are not like: "remove and throw it away and set up a new system", but we would like the system to continue operating in the same way during this period of uncertainty. I hope there will be no problems thanks to the after-sales services unit that has been restructured by EEC. Whatever unit it is, they should be aware of the problems that we experienced in previous years. Likewise, Özdilek needs to act with this awareness. The faster we can finalize the maintenance agreement processes, the better it will be for all parties.
Fire detection system equals to time, time equals to measures. It is very important for us that in case of fire, it is notified directly to the relevant area without loss of time. We fully believe that the measures taken intime will protect our business against fire.
