During the Summer of 2011 I was in the market for a new netbook lab for the school. I was looking to purchase enough netbooks to fulfill a classroom and have a cart to house them in that was well built and user friendly. Our school currently had 4 other mobile labs ranging from full size laptops, netbooks and iPad’s. Each lab utilizes a different manufacturer’s cart. This is due to issues I have found with each cart. During the quote process, my vendor suggested I check out the LocknCharge cart. One of the first things that impressed me was the clean look of the cart. Also having the laptops or netbooks stored on one level was something unique in design and would make using the cart much easier. The more information I read on the cart the more I became interested. We setup a telephone conference with a LocknCharge representative who answered my questions and explained the features of the cart. At this point I was sold on this cart and purchased it. On delivery I had a 17 year old setup the cart installing all the laptop cords, shelf adjustment, power hookup, etc. It was that simple. Our cart has 28 netbooks and a wireless printer that is used on a daily basis in multiple classrooms.

The construction of the cart is fabulous. It is very solid but very easy to move. The wheels all turn which is a huge requirement in the classroom. We have some carts that only have two wheels that turn and to navigate the cart into a classroom we end up moving desks and chairs. The other bonus is having an outlet for a printer. We have wireless printers on all of our carts. A previous cart that was purchased from a different manufacturer was advertised and displayed in their sales material with a separate outlet for plugging in a printer. When the cart arrived it was missing this outlet. It took an extreme amount of time and discussions to persuade the manufacturer to supply the outlet. It is now advertised as an option. The purchase was very frustrating and has left a bad feeling with that cart. With the LocknCharge cart the separate outlet is part of the construction and is a valuable asset to the cart.

Recently I was talking with another school district who was inquiring as to what we use for a mobile cart. They indicated they were looking to make a purchase but were unhappy with the current cart that they had. We setup a visit for this school to come and view all of our carts and discuss what they saw and liked. The LocknCharge was the favored cart – hands down and they are planning on purchasing two.

Customer Service has always been an important business gauge and a major factor in creating a return customer. One day I received a call from LocknCharge doing a follow-up on how we like the cart, if we are having any problems with the cart. What we liked best and what we didn’t like about the cart. It was an unexpected but welcomed call. Their next question also came as a surprise. It had come to their attention that some of the carts had shipped without the bottom trays and they wanted to know if the trays were delivered with the cart. My response was “What trays?” I had no idea that there were supposed to be bottom trays, the cart seemed complete as it was. Needless to say I was thrilled that LocknCharge had followed up and was shipping the trays. I received the two trays within the week. The cart that we were extremely happy with just got better. The trays offer a way to keep the cart neat and organized. We can now carry paper for the printer and we store our headsets for the netbooks in the trays instead of keeping them in a basket on the top of the cart. This cart has become a teacher favorite. The management, mobility, ease of use and its energy efficiency makes this cart our choice for future purchases.

 Michael Lessard
Technology Director
Auburn School District
[email protected]
(603) 483-2769 ext 1200