hat do you do when you are a major player in the merchant services field and you've got 50 terminals that aren't working? You can pray, but that won't get your customers any closer to processing credit card sales. You can call the equipment provider and hope they know more than just how to build it.

Or you can call CDE Services, a full-service depot for the support of electronic transaction processing equipment. And that's exactly what National Data Corporation did.

CDE fixed those 50 terminals with an amazing five-day turnaround time, and NDC was ecstatic. So much so, it brought 150 ailing units to CDE the next week. That was more than 10 years ago, and CDE hasn't looked back.

Founded in 1991 by Joe Barna, CDE strategically shifted from a terminal-oriented focus to comprehensive support of all electromechanical and electromagnetic devices after its initial success.

Barna, CDE's president, says his company handles from 6,000 to 12, 000 units a month and more than 10 million devices nationally. But while CDE's primary expertise is in equipment repair, its secondary core is making older devices operate and appear as new.

"If you are a ma-and-pa company, you just want to process your credit cards. You don't want a new machine. You don't want to spend money for new machines," Barna says.

To satisfy that market segment's need, CDE provides refurbished equipment complete with stickers that say, "This equipment was manufactured by (fill in the blank) and refurbished by CDE" and offers them at prices well below the cost for a brand new, out-of-the-box device.

Since CDE is a privately owned company and not affiliated with any one manufacturer, an added bonus to its customers is the fact that CDE provides repair and refurbishing services for all branded equipment in any merchant base, not just for one particular manufacturer.

"We can take any 10-year-old piece of equipment and make it look like it just came off the assembly line," Barna says.

CDE recognizes that certain items can be patented, and it strives to improve dramatically the parts it refurbishes. "We never try to fob off on consumers that we are actually making parts," Barna says. "We are making replacement parts like rubber keypads versus old individual 16-key plastic keypads."

CDE also recognizes that manufacturers are focused on new widgets while, for CDE, there is little residual in keeping the old ones in the field. It makes for interesting interaction.

"We have a love-hate relationship with manufacturers," Barna says. "They hate us. We love them."

CDE boasts that it even can design out flaws when remanufacturing and make the refurbished equipment easier to support.

For example, in May 2000, CDE introduced a patented equipment-installation system for POS equipment. With CDE's redesigned P250-style plastic case and color-coded labeling system, customers can install their point-of-sale equipment quickly and easily. CDE provides redesigned cases and label sets as a standard procedure in P250 remanufacturing.

CDE's bar-coded, easy-peel overlay is another unique supply item with special ISO appeal. CDE has patented a tear-off tab on the side of the overlay that can be bar-coded with a part number. This makes inventory maintenance easy for the ISO. It also helps ensure the right overlay is being applied, either by CDE or at the ISO merchant site. Making overlays for models of all POS terminals, CDE even will print the ISO logo and help-desk info on the overlay.

CDE's third core expertise is deployment retrieval of products and supplies - product fulfillment. CDE does its best to be transparent to ISOs and merchants during the customization process. CDE puts itself in its clients' position, asking such questions as: What would my expectations be? What would make me look like a hero? Would I get a reasonable price or cost to handle the equipment? Can I eliminate internal handling through prepackaging? Can I send products back to my customers with customized packaging, specific to that merchant?

Providing the right answers to those questions is what makes CDE the one to beat. CDE's credo: "We love to fix it!" Offering more than a standard solution, CDE doesn't force a one-size-fits-all mentality on its customer base. What ISO couldn't up-sell with customized programs meeting multiple merchants' needs?

"We want to help little ISOs get bigger," Barna says. "The little guy is typically ignored. They need name recognition more than anyone else, and CDE can help them get their name out there."

How exactly does CDE accomplish it? For larger customers (50 to 100 units), CDE keeps preprinted packaging with the customer's logo in its inventory. For the smaller-volume customers, CDE prints and affixes customer labels on materials. CDE prints the customer's logo and its corporate colors on equipment boxes, outside barcodes on shipping boxes and on equipment ID labels, overlays, powerpacks and printer ribbon cartridges - all inclusive in the remanufacture flat rate. CDE even has a different approach to its competitors. Barna says, "We are probably more of an asset to our competitors. We have lots of competitors who buy product from us. When they buy remanufactured equipment from us, it is much improved over the original manufactured product."

So how exactly does a sick unit go from ailing to up-and-running? CDE takes the call, pays freight and awaits its delivery. Upon arrival, each unit is completely disassembled, and all board-level components are tested. These complete internal diagnostics allow technicians to look in each nook and electronic cranny for what's wrong and what else could go wrong that the customer wouldn't be aware of. All components that don't meet the manufacturer's specs for a new piece of equipment are replaced.

The unit is then tested thoroughly and repeatedly to ensure function, including online test transactions and overnight burn-in tests. This results in high reliability for the ISO. The charge is a flat rate, depending on customer volume. Averaging between $30 and $45 per unit, the cost includes everything - evaluation, repair, spec update, customization as well as incoming and outgoing freight charges.

In addition, CDE is the only vendor that also offers an inland marine insurance policy. Whether shipping five or 5,000, CDE covers the product from the time it leaves a customer's location until the equipment is returned. And every piece of equipment receives a one-year warranty. When the warranty expires, CDE will refurbish it again with another one-year warranty. CDE even communicates to each customer exactly what the problem is with the unit. There's no hidden agenda. CDE's customer support is eye-popping as well. CDE's call center has been designed and deployed to handle multifaceted projects. In operation since July 1996, the call center is fully equipped with video-conferencing capabilities, management staff, trained telephone staff and a comprehensive array of hardware and software, enabling labor-intensive hardware and software conversions, merchant training and hardware help-desk support. There's even a room for cross-training sessions as well as business and personal-enhancement courses with the ISO industry in mind. Include a massive inventory of every make and mode of equipment that guarantees 24-hour turnaround time to merchants, and CDE can save time and money for ISOs who maintain customer-support and deployment services. Based in Atlanta and independently owned, CDE plans to add to its staff of 53. The company already is established in India, Taipei, Shanghai and the United Kingdom and is looking to move into Latin America this year. CDE is always looking to increase its 700-strong ISO customer base and partnerships with providers and processors. ISOs in need of reliable repair should check out www.cdeinc.com.