When it was first arranged for me to go & spend a day at Primesat it didn’t really phase me. I naively thought I’d spend the day twiddling with remote controls, answering a few phone calls, taking a few maintenance/fault finding job bookings, meet a few customers & maybe fix a few satellite dishes ‘in house’. Ready for my chilled out day I was picked up for my ‘shift’ by James a satellite technician for Primesat & off we went to the office. The rest of the team were very welcoming & Sarah (Company Secretary) made us all a lovely cup of coffee before showing me the ropes with the administration, financial & organisational systems of the business which she heads up assisted by Pauline (Part time Administrator). A few telephone enquiries, job bookings & a meet & greet later, I am feeling more than relaxed about the day. In the meantime James, Ray & Sotos the owner have been ‘fiddling’ with a few satellite dishes & boxes in the office. They then ‘announce’ that its time to go out on some pre-booked calls, so I jump in the truck with James & Ray & off we go! The first house is in Protaras with excellent views, little did I know I was going to see those views up close & personal when I see Ray scuttle up the ladder with a Satellite dish & several other pieces of equipment in his hand. Then comes the realisation that I too have to go up the ladder to get a better understanding of what is involved with the job. James holds the ladder at the bottom for me & I begin to climb, it's a bit wobbly but I am ok, that is until I reach the top, see how high I am & realise I have to get off the ladder onto a pitched, tiled roof. By this time my heart is pounding & I admit I am pretty scared. I finally (with Rays help) get on the roof & we are quickly followed by James. They are wondering about the roof (approx 24ft high) carrying all sorts of heavy & funny shaped equipment & cables. They work well together, one sorting out the cable & the satellite box in the house whilst the other installs & tests the dish on the roof. Ray shows me how they fit the dish on the roof, the view is magnificent, but I can barely look as I concentrate on keeping my balance & trying to hold the testing box in place whilst Ray tests the signal. Luckily the job doesn’t take long as Ray had pre-prepared the Dish at the shop whilst James had pre-programmed the box so I am soon climbing safely back to the ground.
The rest of the day is a combination of new installations, repairs & servicing, although not all involved walking around on pitched roofs. Thankfully some dishes are located on flat roofs that can be accessed by stairs or a hatch. What is interesting is watching James & Ray work, how organised they both are & how they both know which one of them is doing what to get the job done effectively & efficiently. Their calmness climbing roofs with heavy equipment must only come with experience, something I am glad I don’t have do every day especially in harsh weather conditions! Meeting existing customers for servicing & repair jobs was also really interesting, they had nothing but praise for Primesat & the excellent job that the boys do. We arrive back at the office, hand in our payments & job sheets, & catch up on the days events including the jobs Sotos has been to & any incoming enquiries or job bookings Sarah & Pauline have been dealing with. After a final cup of coffee we finally finish for the day, & I must admit all the excitement & trepidation of the day made sure I slept really well that night! Thanks to Sotos, Sarah, Ray, James & Pauline for welcoming me to experience just what it takes to run an efficient, professional company such as this. It certainly was a real eye opener for me. To find out more about Primesat please see advert above.
We would give Natalie 10/10, s h e w a s genuinely interested in what we do & was not afraid to get her hands dirty, she was also very brave working at height.