Sage 100

Anyone hear that Hightower shut their doors yesterday? We had an open support case with them and got a call from our rep that they were shutting down - most likely due to Multi-Bin fiasco.

No --- anyone try calling them?

Nothing on their web site.

Phone just keeps ringing. No voice mail.

Sent a LinkedIn to their CFO Brian Dunn for confirm/deny

If anyone knows an employee from there and can get confirmation that would be interesting. I've not been able to get through on the phone although it might only mean that there's a problem with the phones there.

@EdWlodarczyk Was this someone from Hightower who provided the information that they have closed?

What????

So far I've been unable confirm anything additional

Didn't somebody just talk about selling the HTI POS. UH-OH.

Has anyone been able to get through to Hightower via phone? I have tried two or three times and it rings with no answer.

OMG - They owe me over 3K.

What's this multi-bin fiasco you're talking about?

HTI Employees met at the office to take an unscheduled and unpaid vacation that they'd hear back in a week to 10 days. Email shut down over the weekend.

Criminetly. I was working on 2 clients, one of which is supposed to go live Apr 2. I wonder if they have been told ANYTHING.

@WayneSchulz We heard it from our support rep, Peggy. @DawnAnastasi I'm not sure, but apparently their update to multi-bin was a disaster and caused all kinds of problems. We don't have anyone using it, so I'm unaware of the issues. But this is what we were told.

@EdWlodarczyk can I name you?

Well I hope we find out soon if they are shutting down for good or if this is just a temporary hiccup.

@WayneSchulz - I'm going on hearsay at this point - I didn't take the call. I'd rather not be named outside of the group.

Understood

Here's my post -- http://erplife.com/2012/03/20/erp-var-hightower-inc-reportedly-closes-for-undetermined-period-of-time/

Hate to be snarky (especially since Beth is on the hook), but gosh, Pascal needs to be careful what he pray's for. Looks like some opportunity for the Midwest resellers to pick up some business. Wonder what this will do the the ROR issues at hand?????

I'm checking with William Schlageter in our office to see if he's heard anything. William worked at HT about 10 years ago and was one of the initial developers of their POS solution.

@JeffSchwenk - I have to admit that even I have a love/hate with this scenario... Right now I'm actually more concerned with that client who is supposed to go live, because I had such a good on-site with them and they've put off their go live already once before (prior to my arrival with a whip in hand).

The only info I have is that employees were advised to take unpaid leave and that at the end of that time they'd be informed on the next step. I'm not sure if that means HTI is closing or what the issue is -- though it is not too difficult to put 2+2 together. Their phones were not being answered for at least a two hour period of time this morning when I tried to call.

I actually got a call from Brian yesterday asking me to not work on anything for them this week. I thought he was just pissed because I had such a big bill for those 2 days on-site. I emailed back later in the day telling him I was scheduled for more work for that client this coming weekend and never received a response, ditto with my email to my contact re clients today.

Is there any buzz on LinkedIn?

Nothing on Hightower's page - haven't checked any of the Sage groups today.

I just checked with a Sage rep of one of my resellers and she hadn't heard anything out there yet.

I got a voicemail from their main line indicating they have had a major T1 disruption. Apologizing for the inconvenience and asking that you leave a message for a call back.

<sarcasm> Whew! Good to know that it's just a T1 issue and that they aren't going out of business ... </sarcasm>

I am not sure that is the case... Just a message that they are leaving for the inbound calls.

LOL @Dawn Did not see your html tags.... LOL

Maybe they are following Sage's steps and have shut down for a system wide sales meeting...........

Tuesday, November 15, 2011 -- Skokie, Illinois -- HighTower, a leading ERP systems consultant and developer, earned a place on the Accounting Today 2011 Technology Pacesetters list. The list recognizes firms that are ahead of the curve in their thinking and practices. So does this mean they are just ahead of the curve and this is all our future directions.... LOL

Realistically it wouldn't be a big surprise that they are struggling given: -the downward trend in support and the layoffs in last few years. -And given the associated lack of confidence, I am guessing that they aren't adding a lot of new customers for add-ons -perception of pretty high overhead at exec level All spells trouble to me. Are there other MAS dealers in Chicago area?

xkzero in Chicago directly, us in Milwaukee which isn't too far away. Plus we have an office in Northbrook, IL.

@PeterWolf would be able to chime in on this

does xKzero have much of a MAS practice?

Paul Ziliak is a member of this group, isn't he? Or do I just see him on Linked In? Anyway, I sub some of their MAS support, so yeah, they've got a good MAS practice. They just came out with a mod for doing global searches in MAS, and another mod for order entry via iPhones which is pretty slick. I'm wondering why Paul hasn't driven by Hightower's offices yet to let us know if people are carrying out their desks.

Maybe that is where he is at right now.................... He should be doing on the spot reporting for us!

Skokie to Rosemont is about a 1/2 hour away.

Interesting - though I do not know if this means there is any amount remaining. It's possible that this was already paid off.

Paul is a good guy and really smart and hard-working. His business is going gangbusters. They have built a decent MAS practice very quickly.

http://www.ccrd.info/CCRD/controller?commandflag=getDetails&optflag=DetailsCommand&county=il031&userid=null&userCategory=7&instrumentnumber=1134811160

166K due the Feds?????? It isn't nice to piss off Uncle Sam.

They want $2.50 plus $1.50 to download a copy of the lien. I can't tell by looking at this whether it's still outstanding.

Wayne, you should be a private investigator.

@DawnAnastasi if he did that, none of us would ever pay off the blackmail.

http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=108339,00.html

This is unfortunate if true.

Wayne - you should be working on that million bucks (or whatever it is) that Larry Flynt is offering for dirt on politicians!

@BethBowers keep us posted on what you hear. You may be our closest tie to the situation since you're actively working on a project.

I hope I hear something soon, but I figure I have to give Brian until Monday since he said THIS WEEK. But DAMN - I've got stuff to do for this client to get ready for the go live and I don't know what in the hell I'll do if I don't hear something next Monday. I'm open to everyone's suggestions on what is ethical, moral, and/or the RIGHT thing to do...

If it's HTI's customer - they are the lead and defer everything to them. I would not provide any info to the customer. It stinks but until there's better info it's HTI's lead.

Do what's in the best interest of the customer. HT has orphaned them at this point (and maybe it is temporary but I don't believe it) and the customer is relying on you.

I would agree @wayne other than maybe an obligation to the client from Beth stating that she cannot get in touch with Hightower assuming the cilent is their customer. I would not go into the rumors on this forum other than the simple fact - you called Hightower and they are not answering phones which is odd.

I wouldn't disrupt the project. Why should the customer be penalized because of HT's poor management decisions?

We don't know any facts yet. I would be careful before counting their business as done.

Sounds like Doug confirmed it.

I missed that - was that in this thread?

In Wayne's thread ""Curious if anyone...

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