All for the Team: How One Altec MST Helped a Colleague During Hurricane Matthew

On Saturday, October 8, 2016, as Hurricane Matthew was passing through the Carolinas, storm recovery was taking place in Florida and Georgia. To support the crews working in the field, Altec Supply Account Managers Mitchell Vinson and Jason Sellers loaded the Altec storm support trailer with supplies leaving Birmingham, Alabama for Statesboro, Georgia.

Shortly after crossing the Georgia state line, the truck’s dash lights began flashing. The truck lost horsepower just as Mitchell was able to exit in Bremen, Georgia, to pull into an Exxon gas station. While at the gas station, Mitchell and Jason began calling local services in the area for help. Being 5:00 p.m. on a Saturday afternoon, Mitchell and Jason could not locate any assistance. As a last effort, Mitchell reached out to Brent Bridier at the Altec Alabama Service Center to ask if he knew of anyone that could assist them. Brent passed along Altec Mobile Service Technician (MST), George Harvey’s name and phone number.

Mitchell reached out to George and described why he was passing through Georgia and the problems they had encountered. Because George does not specialize in chassis repair, he connected with Ryan Corn, another MST who had previous experience servicing chassis for transmission trucks. While working over the phone, it was determined the truck had a bad fuel filter. George told Mitchell he would pick up a filter and be at their location within 15 minutes.

When George arrived, the truck would not start, so he proceeded to take off the fender cover to replace the fuel filter. After installing the new fuel filter, George asked Mitchell to get the truck up to cruising speed on the interstate to ensure everything was okay. “George followed us for roughly 30 miles, talking with me on the phone just to ensure everything was okay,” says Mitchell. George also gave Mitchell the phone numbers of two other Altec MSTs, Danny Pincus and Bob Wells, and called the guys to let them know that Mitchell was in route to Statesboro with potential vehicle trouble. Mitchell said George called several times late into the evening just to make sure there were no other issues with the truck.

Mitchell went on to describe George as being friendly, knowledgeable and excited to be able to assist them. “George made this trip a success!”

Meet George Harvey

George Harvey has been with Altec as a mobile service technician for more than 20 years. He begins each day checking his schedule for conference calls and meetings and then sets his goals for the day. This includes making contact with each customer for the day to advise them of his service plan and to verify the location and time for when he should be there to do repairs. A typical MST’s day may include picking up parts, shipping warranty parts back, updating service requests, ordering parts, filling out preventative inspection paperwork, conducting dielectric tests, and more.

George says what he loves most about his job is being able to provide complete customer satisfaction through his service. “With the strong relationships I’ve built with my customers, they have full confidence in me that I will get their unit repaired quickly; it means a lot to me that my customers are driving in a safe and well serviced truck to get home to their families every night.”

Another memorable storm situation for George was Hurricane Katrina back in 2005. He was called to help service a unit for Tombigbee EMC in Pearlington, MS and met a family with four young kids who were sleeping on the ground because their house had been torn in half from the storm. George was able to service Tombigbee’s unit which was then hooked up to a donated camper for the kids to sleep in. “I’ll never forget the looks on the little girls’ faces and the tears in the crews’ eyes when they saw their smiles. No words can ever explain what I felt that day, but it’s why I love doing my job.”

When asked how the MST program helps customers, George responded, “MSTs are the face of Altec to the customer: helping them understand how the equipment operates, making repairs or just answering question about the units. Even if the unit is not an Altec, we still try our best to help. At the end of the day, it’s not about another job or customer, it’s about the relationship, friendship and letting the customer know we stand behind the equipment we provide.”

George Harvey lives in Villa Rica, GA with his wife Lisa and enjoys spending time with his seven grandchildren. He noted it was a pleasure getting to help someone from the Altec team and was more than willing to assist in the time of need. “I went there not knowing what was going to happen with the truck, but it didn’t matter; I knew I had to get the truck back on the road so Mitchell and Jason could help those affected by the storm.”

Altec is so thankful for George’s dedication to the customer and Team Altec. George is a great example of the value our MSTs provide in servicing Altec equipment every day.