Deep South Equipment Makes Seamless Switch to Verizon Connect Reveal

Deep South Equipment provides top quality industrial equipment to customers in the lumber, paper and warehousing markets. The company sells, rents and repairs forklifts; provides parts, service and maintenance; and runs a forklift training program. With more than 450 vehicles to track, Deep South Equipment requires a robust GPS tracking and fleet management solution and excellent customer service and support.

But according to Deep South Equipment's Marketing Manager Laura Terry, the company's GPS tracking system provider was falling short. Terry said the provider was ignoring their problems and failing to answer their questions about confusing contracts on individual vehicles. 

“It had become a nightmare. Between being charged for equipment no longer in use and units not working, we were really over paying,” Terry said.

And that's when Deep South Equipment met Verizon Connect. Deep South Equipment decided to pay a fee to get out of their old contract and make the switch to Verizon Connect. “When it comes to GPS fleet tracking providers, pricing can be pretty comparative, though you get much more with Verizon Connect. We were really impressed with their customer service, reporting capabilities and training, none of which we had seen from anyone else,” says Terry.

Terry also found the transition from their old solution to Verizon Connect Reveal easy. “It’s never fun to switch a provider, especially when you have 450 vehicles, but it was painless. The Verizon Connect support team was just fantastic and made the switch much easier than I ever imagined. I felt like I wasn’t doing it by myself.”

Deep South Equipment relies heavily on a quality GPS fleet tracking solution for tracking, dispatch and insurance purposes. Knowing the locations of their 450 vehicles, accurate time reporting and proper vehicle maintenance are essential to efficiently running their business. “We use Verizon Connect Reveal as a dispatch tool, for fuel efficiency, driver safety, and, of course, for insurance discounting purposes.”

The company has GPS fleet tracking installed on every company vehicle from service vans to haul trucks to sales vehicles. “We don’t check up on all our drivers, but we have looked at under-performing employees and actually caught a sales rep who said he was with a customer when we could clearly see he was on the golf course,” says Terry.

Deep South Equipment also added GPS fleet tracking to their forklift rental fleet. This has enabled the company to track hours of use so customers are accurately billed and also helps make sure the forklifts are being maintained. “They are our assets. If our forklifts aren’t being properly maintained and they blow an engine, we have to pay for an engine job,” says Terry.

Verizon Connect also worked with Deep South Equipment to provide reporting capabilities unique to the company’s needs. “With our forklift rental fleet, they are billed by hours used, not mileage. A team at Verizon Connect created a custom report for our rental fleet assets. It’s pretty impressive that Verizon Connect will work with us for what we need to do,” adds Terry.

“Verizon Connect Reveal is just an all-around tool for us,” says Terry. “I can’t put a dollar amount on it just yet, but we know it has definitely helped us.”