Customer Interview: Ellen Curro, Hudson Valley Fire

We love talking to our customers — they’re the entire reason we exist! Whether they’re requesting features they’d like to see or questions about functionality, hearing from them is always a pleasure. As part of our ongoing efforts to make Fullbay even better, we sat down with Ellen Curro, Vice President and Co-Owner of Hudson Valley Fire Equipment, LLC, and asked her how HVFE has put Fullbay to work for them. 

Fullbay: Why did you decide to use Fullbay?

Ellen: You were the only program that would work for our shop. You were somebody that was willing to grow with us while you were starting out, and growing as well.

Fullbay: What would you say are the top three features in Fullbay that you can’t live without?

Ellen: The owner, Santo, would probably say his top features are service orders, ordering parts, tracking PMs, and being able to communicate with the customer through the Fullbay portal. That kind of stuff is good for him. I’m more on the billing and financial side; I like that I can update things easily, send invoices, and communicate with customers through the Fullbay portal as well. 

Fullbay: How do your customers like the customer portal?

Ellen: The customers like that they can change things and check the progress of their SO through the portal. 

Fullbay: What feature in Fullbay saves you the most time?

Ellen: Managing the workflow through Fullbay and communicating with QuickBooks. Billing vendors, or vendors billing us; us billing customers — anything money in/money out. 

Fullbay: How has Fullbay helped you increase safety with your fire fleet?

Ellen: Our customers can use Fullbay, which lets them put in service orders themselves. They can get their problems into Fullbay and we can recognize them quickly —  and repair them quickly. 

Fullbay: What type of equipment would you say you do most repairs on? 

Ellen: We sell and service fire trucks, so basically we can repair anything on the fire truck.

Fullbay: How has using Fullbay helped your shop be more efficient?

Ellen: We’re more efficient from start to finish. Really, it’s the workflow that has helped the shop become more efficient, which in turn helps the customers. Inputting jobs, ordering parts, billing, and even correcting all the situations a fire department might come across. By using Fullbay to track preventive maintenance, the customers keep the actual repair costs of their fire trucks down. 

Fullbay: Would you recommend Fullbay to other fire truck shops?

Ellen: Yes, we would — and we have! It makes communication with customers easy and it’s made the shop more efficient. 

Fullbay: Anything else you want to add or comment about why you would recommend Fullbay, or how its helped in your shop?

Ellen: The overall communication. If we have a problem with the software, or a question about it, we can communicate directly with the Fullbay team. The response has been pretty good if they need to correct a situation or glitch, or fix a workflow problem with the program — they are right on it!

We designed Fullbay to make the lives of shop owners and operators easier. Chats like this one with Ellen help us figure out how Fullbay fits into a shop’s workflow, what we’re doing right, and where we can improve. 

Has Fullbay changed the way you run your shop? We want to hear from you! Contact us at GrowYourShop@fullbay.com and tell us all about it.