@ CWC3 - let me spell things out for you in a more clear, concise way because you are making a lot of assumptions that almost makes me think that you can't read.
1. A "respectable" vendor wouldn't allude to the British/OP as "cowboys" and that things are done better in the "states". for your information I am an American working in the UK. If you made this comment in front of one of our clients, you would have been dropped as a vendor immediately. Its unfortunate that you can't handle when someone tells you that you are wrong. What really is embarrassing is that you think you can use the anonymity of the forums to make half-ass insults to distract from the fact that you were wrong.
2. I didn't ask for "free" tech support I asked for a solution which would help me remember what a feature was. Once I remembered what Trunk groups were, then it was straight to the manual for a refresher. I'm not even programming this system. You obviously didn't read the whole post before attempting to answer, assumed that the client was using ARS and suggested the wrong answer based on that. and you're telling me to "read the Manual"
3. "you are clearly not a Respectable Vendor" this statement doesn't make any sense. I never said I was or worked for a vendor. Actually I work for a Consultancy. I/we are not brand loyal when writing our specifications and it is actually part of my job to weed out all the BS that the Vendors try to sell the client. WE deliver the best solution for our client's, not our pockets and know exactly why were specifying one Manufacturer over the next.
4. "taking work from the company that sold the equipment" Business is business and if you can't meet your client's specification then you don't deserve the work. As consultants we not only create the specification but also have preferred suppliers to deliver it. The original Panny vendor is out of the picture on this job because a. they ripped off the client overcharging them for a system that was over specified and b. The division that was using the NCP-500 must now be included in the Companies Global IT schema which is based on Cisco. Its unfortunate that you can not see outside your Panny box and realize that it is not the solution for everyone. We have actually specified Panasonic for other smaller jobs, which our other team the "Panny Boys" handle. Unfortunately, since they have been unavailable I thought I would have a go on the forums.
5. I think you have confused laziness with forgetfulness. Please read the dictionary to correct your assumption that I did not look in the manual. When you forget what something is called, how are you suppose to look it up in manual? By your logic the manual must be with me 100% of the time to reference at any given point should I have a question about a forgotten feature that I haven't used in 1+ years and because I don't meet this logic, I am lazy. Anyone, that responds with "read the Manual" is just trying to cover up the fact that they themselves would have to read the manual to answer the question and think that they are actually helping by stating the obvious.
@ jonjoeni - you got your Star, thanks for the reminder
@ obtsystems - Thanks for re-posting what I had written in my third post.