Today we’d like to introduce you to John Doba.
John, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Bammel TV & CB, Inc., was founded in 1976, performing sales and service on TV’s and CB radios. My father, Eugene E. Doba, bought the company in 1980, transferring his family from the Chicago area to take part in the Houston boom. We ran the company as Bammel TV, Inc., for many years and have settled on Bammel TV Technology Services recently, to reflect the very wide range of repair and service categories we now offer. We’ve endured many challenges, purchased commercial property and built our own facility, and have survived in our current location 22 years to become the leading service center in the city and region for repair and service of TV’s, home and pro audio including guitar amps, digital pianos, mixing decks, DJ gear, and speakers, as well as legacy audio, projectors, appliances, and many other categories, including custom home theater and smart home design. We are rated A+ with the BBB and perform about 3000 repairs each year. John Doba CEO
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Definitely a bumpy road!
Early on we had the early-80’s oil shock…When we bought the company in 1980, we could sell a 13″ Zenith TV for $400. Now, such an item is 1/20 the weight of that 1980 Zenith set, runs in super-hi-def, and comes free with a gallon of milk at Wal-Mart. Needless to say, new sales are no longer our forte. We do some, as part of our Custom Home Theater and Smart Home division.
The overall market for product repairs has also definitely declined with the cost erosion and tech revolution in new products. We’re aggressively pursuing strong digital marketing, attempting to be the “last man standing” as many other servicers shutter—an ongoing trend. We hope the robust and large Houston economy will enable us to survive, by capturing a larger share of the overall market.
Please tell us about Bammel TV Technology Services.
Our motto is Gold Standard Service. We do stand behind our work and offer what we believe is the best repair warranty in the industry.
We of course perform TV repair on all major brands. We still maintain warranty relationships with several Japanese brands—although truth to tell, they have been mostly massacred by the Korean and Chinese brands.
http://bammeltv.com/tv-repair-houston/
We also do home audio, almost all types: vintage receivers, modern stereo amps, surround-sound receivers, tape decks, reel-to-reel decks, turntables, loudspeakers, pre-amps, subwoofers, 8-track stereos, and vintage console stereo restoration. Included here for organization purposes would be legacy video gear: vcr’s, DVD’s, consumer and pro camcorders, digital video decks and mixers, etc.
http://bammeltv.com/stereo-repair-houston/
On pro audio, we do guitar amps, digital pianos and synthesizers, vintage synthesizers, pro mixing decks and powered mixers, loudspeakers and subwoofers, DJ gear, rack effects gear, disc duplicators, digital tape decks, mini-disc recorders, and more.
We’re the leading firm in the city for repair of consumer and large-facility projectors, with many clients among the large churches here in Houston.
http://bammeltv.com/projector-repair-houston/
We service many high-end appliances such as La Cornu and Thermidor ranges, fridges, and Bosch products.
http://bammeltv.com/houston-appliance-repair/
We can perform high-end ISF calibration to optimize video picture quality on new TV’s:
http://bammeltv.com/houston-isf-calibration-services/
And finally, our Custom Home Theater and Smart Home offerings:
http://bammeltv.com/custom-home-theater-services/
I’m proud that we’ve survived 37 years under current ownership, and hope to continue to expand our position as the city’s leading repair firm in the years ahead.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
Many things! I should have taken a more active role from earlier on, and paid more attention to the accounting. I re-entered the company in 2005, after sowing some wild oats, and much remains to be done to optimize efficiencies, etc.
We lost our shirt, almost, on a number of expansion campaigns, most notable of which was our relationship to Circuit City. Before they sank we performed the great majority of their repairs for several years, with great effort, only to find in the end that it was a break-even, busy-work project…
Oh well, live and learn.
Contact Info:
- Address: 14530 Walters Road
Houston 77014 - Website: bammeltv.com
- Phone: 281-444-0287
- Email: info@bammeltv.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BammelTVTech/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/BTV_Tech
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/bammel-tv-technology-services-houston
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