🚀 go-pugleaf

I thought I'd add my voice to this onslaught of complaints which
started the day I called to price a Zeos  Pantera-90 system.

First: The package included a 4x Mitsumi CD-ROM drive at no additional
cost.  My salesrep told me that the CD-ROM drive was a "today only"
deal; I said that I wasn't ready to order yet.  Her response was that
she'd have to get approval from her manager to extend the offer, and
to do so I'd have to call her later that day (after she'd left, but on
the same day) and leave a message. *KNOWING* that this had to be
bullshit, I played along, called back and said that I was interested.
The next day, I called back and got a different salesrep and checked
the price.  Yep, same price, 4X CD included, no one-day only
mentioned.

When I got the system, there was a standard note included which said
something to the effect that.. "Your ZEOS system has been upgraded
with a 4X CD-ROM drive at no charge.."  Yeah, right.  Today
only. Today Only only specials aren't either.

Second: Lotus SmartSuite was to be bundled with this system, also at
no charge.  I specifically asked if it came with printed
documentation.  I was told that it did.  The idiot salesrep (Miss One
Day Only) said that it came in 5 boxes, one for each software package,
bundled together.  5 CDs.  I figured that she hadn't actually opened
it but had seen SmartSuite which looks like it's 5 boxes.  I asked if
the whole package was in stock, particularly Lotus and the CD-ROM
drive.  I was told that it was.

When my system arrived, there was NO Lotus SmartSuite.

I called.  It was on backorder.  It would be shipped soon.  It *did*
go out FedEx, but when I opened the box, I found it to contain one CD,
and nothing else.  No book, no manual, no nothing.  One CD. Lotus
SmartSuite with Online Documentation.

I called and got a support person who said that it must have been an
oversight and that she'd ship the documentation.  A week later I got a
packing slip in the mail which, I now assume, was the documentation
*she* thought I meant.  I called back (yesterday, now) and was told
that SmartSuite CD ships with no printed docs, just the online stuff.

Now I'm pissed. This smells of bait-and-switch.  I *am* a savvy
customer, asked all of the right questions, and got screwed anyway.  I
am on the verge of packing the whole system in and returning it.  I
have had a call in to a customer service supervisor for 3 days, but he
has not returned my calls.  His voicemail says that he's out sick
today.

Before getting the Attorneys General of New York and MN involved in
investigating potential mail-fraud and Zeos' sales practices in
general, I was wondering if anybody else had similar stories of
salespeople who 'misinterpreted' or gave information which differed
somewhat from reality in terms of what was in stock or what the
package contained.

There were other issues with my order which point towards incompetence
on their part.  Zeos had a problem with my credit card company (AT&T
Universal). Zeos Cust Support said that the order was 'kicked back
into sales for a credit problem.'  I assumed that the charge was
denied despite the fact that I had cleared additional credit the night
before.  It turns out the charge was not denied, but the CC company
wanted to speak with someone from Zeos in order for the charge to go
through.  Zeos had no idea how to handle this and kicked the ball back
into my court.  2 or 3 business days later, the system can be ordered
and shipped.  By the way, AT&T called *me* back twice to get the
situation resolved and called again to make sure everything was OK.
Zeos, needless to say, did not.

And, as if to add insult to injury, the keyboard on the system was
broken when it arrived.

So: This is not only a rant but a call for accurate, unbiased
accountings of tales of screw regarding Zeos.  If they shafted you, I
want to know.  Please don't count the replacement Pentium matter.
I've read enough about that.

~~~Steve
--
/*************************************************
 *
 *Steven Abrams             abrams@cs.columbia.edu
 *
 **************************************************/
INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY = Interactive Network For Organizing,
Retrieving, Manipulating, Accessing, and Transferring Information On
National Systems, Unleashing Practically Every Rebellious Human
Intelligence, Gratifying Hackers, Wiseacres, And Yahoos. -- Kevin Kwaku.

Hi,
I've heard quite a lot of bad stories about ZEOS recently.  In fact I have
a couple of my own.  I never thought this was happening to that many people,
so I kept quiet.  However, I'd like to support the people who have suffered
from purchasing from ZEOS.  In 1991, I bought a ZEOS Notebook 386.  There
were no problems with the computer itself.  However, I was given an outdated
version of DOS.  The salesperson told me that the package included DOS 5.0,
but when I got the package, DOS 4.01 was inside.  I knew that DOS 4.01 was
outdated, and suspected ZEOS of doing this to try to get rid of old stuff.
Computer companies always expect some percent of their customers to be unaware
of the computer market standards.  I called the salesperson, who told me to
call customer service.  I did, and after a long wait, spoke to customer
service and got the problems settled.  They sent me a new DOS 5.0 package
without regard to the DOS 4.01 package.  Another minor problem I had at this
time was that the notebook modem was backordered and arrived after two weeks.

My first experience ordering from ZEOS wasn't too terrible, just inconvenient,
so when it came time to purchase a desktop in December of 1993, I ordered from
them again.  The salesperson was very incompetent, or dishonest.  He told me
about the 'holiday special' of a free CD-ROM drive if I order before the
holidays.  I ordered the 'Top-Gun' configuration with 'free' CD-ROM drive.
Well, it took them two weeks to get the package to me, regardless of their
next day shipping, or shipping is free policy.  To make matters worse, I
received the wrong packag, which did not have a lot of the options of the
'Top-Gun' package, although it did cost the same.  I looked into a January
PC Magazine and saw ZEOS' new ad, the CD-ROM was included in the new packages,
and it wasn't a free limited offer.  This was a sales gimmick I fell victim
to, and bought early.  Not only did I buy early, they shipped late, and
shipped the wrong package.  I called back several times and waited long times
just to get a hold of customer service.  The salesperson I ordered was gone
for the season.  Everytime I got in to customer service, the person would try
to convince me to keep the system as it is, since "I got what I paid for."
I would disagree, saying the package is not what I ordered, and they'd say
that that's what my order says.  They'd finally transfer me to another person,
who would also do the same.  I finally got mad and impolite to them, and they
told me a supervisor would call me back.  It didn't happen, so I'd have to go
through the angry conversations while calling them for two days in a row.
By the third day, I wouldn't have to say who I was, everyone at ZEOS knew me
by voice.  Finally, a supervisor called me back after I threatened to sue.
I was given a RMA number and they agreed to pay for shipping (of the return).
After I returned the trash package, I waited two weeks, and called ZEOS back
on the status of my return.  The carrier said ZEOS signed it a week ago, but
ZEOS didn't acknowledge it.  They said they were behind schedule due to the
weather.  I waited another week and a half, and called back.  They were still
not ready with the 'verification' that I sent everything back.  Finally,
after I forget how many phone calls, I started to get very angry and impolite
to them again.  Finally, I guess I was lucky enough to get a rep who was
competent enough to walk to the store room and check on my return.  The next
day I got the correct system I ordered.  It took over a month for me to get
the ZEOS order straight.  A week later, I was sent a letter of apology from
the 'president' of ZEOS, saying how I get to keep a free complimentary mouse
pad and wrist pad for my troubles with the order.  The funny thing is, "where's
my 'free' stuff?"  They never sent it, and I never bothered calling them
again.  Recently, I looked inside the motherboard and noticed a cache tag-RAM
chip is missing.  The 256K cache memory chips are there, but only half the
tag-RAM chips are there.  I don't know how many ways ZEOS can find to be
dishonest.  Recently, I've been considering purchasing a P90 system, but
definitely not from ZEOS.  I've heard too many terrible stories to back mine
up.
	Thanks for you attention.  Think twice before getting a ZEOS,
or get some Tylenol first.
					wuxia@dialip.mich.net

Steven Abrams (abrams@play.cs.columbia.edu) wrote:
: I thought I'd add my voice to this onslaught of complaints which
: started the day I called to price a Zeos  Pantera-90 system.

: First: The package included a 4x Mitsumi CD-ROM drive at no additional
: cost.  My salesrep told me that the CD-ROM drive was a "today only"
[snip]

I have a P90 from Zeos, I got the 2xcd and after I foundout that they
were shipping the 4x at no additional cost I was told all I had to do was
just ship it back and they shipped me a 4x, all I had to do was pay for
shipping the old one back.

: Second: Lotus SmartSuite was to be bundled with this system, also at
: no charge.  I specifically asked if it came with printed

I didn't want lotus, I already have MS Office Pro on cd (with manuals),
but since there is no discount I got it and it did come with cd, on-line
docs and printed manuals.

: Before getting the Attorneys General of New York and MN involved in
: investigating potential mail-fraud and Zeos' sales practices in
: general, I was wondering if anybody else had similar stories of
: salespeople who 'misinterpreted' or gave information which differed
: somewhat from reality in terms of what was in stock or what the
: package contained.

I asked if I could get the scsi and the ide on the system since the scsi
is only a $50 option, but the sales person said that I could have one but
not the other... Come to findout that I can have both, but now to get the
scsi option I must send back the system (3-5 week wait) in order to get
the upgrade. An Adaptec 1545pci scsi card is a $269 option from them!

: So: This is not only a rant but a call for accurate, unbiased
: accountings of tales of screw regarding Zeos.  If they shafted you, I
: want to know.  Please don't count the replacement Pentium matter.
: I've read enough about that.

I think my biggest problem is that I ordered what I thought was going to
be a machine where all the system features were going to be
pre-configured to all work with each other, and what I got was no better
than if I had let my son put it togeather (he's only 7).

The Turtle Beach sound card MUST use the same ird as LPT1, which is a
very big problem in windoze and for dos apps that use sound and the
printer at the same time. The irq lines appear to be tied HI when not
active, causing some tsr's / drivers to fail to work. The tech support is
worthless (I already know more about my system than the 10-15 techs I
have spoken with in the 50 days that I've had my system. I have spent
many hours on phones (at my expense) to correct problems that are related
to the standard (shipped) configuration of the machine.

I was even approved for a new motherboard on 12-13, but since the first
tech fu##ed up the paper work (they didn't call me about it) I called to
check on the status and that's when the say it was not complete, then the
second tech screwed it up, then the cust service person said that they
would have it taken care right away, then I called back to see where it
was, and they said 10 days to 2 weeks. Needles to say I was very pissed
about it and threatened to not place the order for 25 more p90's with my
sales contact, I just got the MB today (not within 24hours, within 48).

Next day service is not 24hours from the time they get done talking to
you and tell you it's on the way, they use FedX 2'nd day shipping.

For what it's worth: Fed-X is great.

--
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Mark Lynch      |                                                     |
| mal@infinet.com | Help! I've fallen and I can't reach my Pepsi        |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hi,

Guess I'll add my little story to this list.

I too bought a Zeos Pantera, a 90-MHz Pentium.  When it arrived,
I found that some of the manuals were missing and the case was
cracked.  I called Zeos, and everybody there seems quite helpful.
But it took me MONTHS to get the replacement for the cracked
front panel.  I called several times during this period, and
nothing ever happened until I sent a furious letter to Zeos by
means of simultaneouly mailing a letter to their head of
custormer service and posting the same letter to the Zeos
help forum in Compuserve and another on-line service.  Oddly
enough, this caused my part to be shipped immediately.

I found it completely unacceptable that a "well-respected"
company could take my $3000 and then completely ignore me and
my repeated phone calls and FAXes for weeks.

--George

***********************************************************************
* George Yefchak                      Hewlett-Packard Laboratories    *
* Internet: yefchak@hpl.hp.com        P.O.Box 10350                   *
* CompuServe: 73607,1625              Palo Alto, CA 94303-0867        *
*   NOT SPEAKING FOR HP               Voice: 415-857-4793 FAX: 2-8502 *
*  HP employees try: http://bacchus.hpl.hp.com/~yefchak/gy_home.html  *
***********************************************************************

	I bought a Zeos 386/33 with 4 MB RAM and 120 MB hard drive from
them almost five years ago. [ It cost ~ $3000, but this was 1990,
remember. ] Back then, their shipping turnaround and customer service were
excellent. My machine has run near perfectly for the last five years.

	It appears that this is no longer the case though. This is a
shame -- I like(d) Zeos. When I pick up a Pentium machine when I head
off to college, it looks like I'm going to have to go somewhere else.
Sorry, guys.

ObPentium: when are the corrected processors slated to start shipping in
new machines?
--
Michael Handler                                         <grendel@netaxs.com>
Civil Liberty Through Complex Mathematics                   Philadelphia, PA
"Toi qui fais au proscrit ce regard calme et haut" -- Baudelaire * Skotoseme
PGP Key ID FC031321  Print: 9B DB 9A B0 1B 0D 56 DA  61 6A 57 AD B2 4C 7B AF

In article <3g9fdr$lj1@netaxs.com>, Michael Handler <grendel@netaxs.com> wrote:
>	I bought a Zeos 386/33 with 4 MB RAM and 120 MB hard drive from
>them almost five years ago. [ It cost ~ $3000, but this was 1990,
>remember. ] Back then, their shipping turnaround and customer service were
>excellent. My machine has run near perfectly for the last five years.
>
>	It appears that this is no longer the case though. This is a
>shame -- I like(d) Zeos. When I pick up a Pentium machine when I head
>off to college, it looks like I'm going to have to go somewhere else.
>Sorry, guys.
>
>ObPentium: when are the corrected processors slated to start shipping in
>new machines?

	A couple of weeks ago.  The latest machine we got in had
the new chip in it.  And the latest machine is working like a charm.
Just like the Ambra machine I got a few days ago.

>--
>Michael Handler                                         <grendel@netaxs.com>
>Civil Liberty Through Complex Mathematics                   Philadelphia, PA
>"Toi qui fais au proscrit ce regard calme et haut" -- Baudelaire * Skotoseme
>PGP Key ID FC031321  Print: 9B DB 9A B0 1B 0D 56 DA  61 6A 57 AD B2 4C 7B AF


--
strider@acm.rpi.edu     | I'm DOOMED!
Greg d. Moore           |
Green Mountain Software |
I do not speak for the RPI.ACM in anyway!

: I found that some of the manuals were missing and the case was
: cracked.  I called Zeos, and everybody there seems quite helpful.
: But it took me MONTHS to get the replacement for the cracked
: front panel.  I called several times during this period, and
: nothing ever happened until I sent a furious letter to Zeos by
: means of simultaneouly mailing a letter to their head of
: custormer service and posting the same letter to the Zeos
: help forum in Compuserve and another on-line service.  Oddly
: enough, this caused my part to be shipped immediately.

Can you, or anyone else reading this, send me the name of the head of
Zeos technical service? I am furious over the delay in my computer
system. I sent it back for an RMA on Dec 18th, an easy switch from my AMD
SCSI chip a AMD SCSI/Lan chip. It got their on teh 23rd. Zeos didn't even
know they had it until the 27th. For 3 weeks it sat around until it
finally hit the bench. When it did, they realized they hadn't ordered the
AMD SCSI/Lan chip. It has now been nearly 6 weeks. Still no computer. The
representative I spoke to promised me that I would have it 3 weeks.
Chances are, I still won't get it for another few weeks. By not
delivering on time, I have already missed several job oppurtunities (my
resume, which is uniquely designed is on teh system), been forced to
borrow other people's computer (I'm a college student), and been forced
to live without my computer (something necessary for a CS major).

I am seriously considering either writing them a letter, and demanding my
computer back with the chip or taking legal action. I don't know how
feasible the latter is, but I feel it is all I have available. The bottom
line is Zeos service has been horrendous.

--
Hussein Kanji
extant@leland.stanford.edu

ghost (ghost@news.dorsai.org) wrote:
: Can you, or anyone else reading this, send me the name of the head of
: Zeos technical service? I am furious over the delay in my computer
: system. I sent it back for an RMA on Dec 18th, an easy switch from my AMD
: SCSI chip a AMD SCSI/Lan chip. It got their on teh 23rd. Zeos didn't even
: know they had it until the 27th. For 3 weeks it sat around until it

It wont do you any good, he never had returned my 4 calls to him, but
here goes: His name is Shawn Murphy (from what I've been told).

--
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Mark Lynch      |                                                     |
| mal@infinet.com | Help! I've fallen and I can't reach my Pepsi        |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

I have been following these ZEOS discussions now for about two weeks. It
seems to me that many of the complaints on this group are voiced more
than once or twice, and even up to four times by the same person, whereas
the happy customers voice theirs only once, except for me of course, this
is my second.

Cheers,

Bobby

In <3gchgf$1o3u@news-s01.ny.us.ibm.net> sleon@ibm.net writes: 

>
>In <3gc3k2$pte@its.hooked.net>, brucek <brucek@hooked.net> writes:
>>ra07825@nyssa.swt.edu (Bobby Anaya) wrote:
>>>
>>> I have been following these ZEOS discussions now for about two 
weeks. It
>>> seems to me that many of the complaints on this group are voiced 
more
>-snip - 
>>
>>Perhaps. BUT ... its sure *terrible PR*. I'm shocked that Zeos
>>could permitt this to happend and CONTINUE to happen. Personally,
>- snip -
>
>Same here...  I'm currently shopping for 16 systems and Zeos was on the 
top 
>of the list from the reviews and ads I'd been compiling.
>That is until 2 days ago when I happened upon this group.  It takes a 
truly horrible
>experience to fully appreciate what bad customer service is like so I 
can 
>empathize with these customers.  My first (and last <g>) was with 
Insight last 
>year - the tale was much the same as the others here.  I don't think 
anything 
>could remove the taste I got, so any hint of the same causes me to run 
like hell.  
>IMO, no amount of PR can help an organization until the cogs and 
ineffectual managers 
>are cleaned out.
>

Thanks for the warning. I will not now buy as planned.

Joe
-- 


joevonr@ix.netcom.com 
Austin, Texas     

In article <3gchgf$1o3u@news-s01.ny.us.ibm.net> sleon@ibm.net writes:
>From: sleon@ibm.net
>Subject: Re: **DONT** Buy _ZEOS_
>Date: 28 Jan 1995 04:34:23 GMT

>In <3gc3k2$pte@its.hooked.net>, brucek <brucek@hooked.net> writes:
>>ra07825@nyssa.swt.edu (Bobby Anaya) wrote:
>>>
>>> I have been following these ZEOS discussions now for about two weeks. It
>>> seems to me that many of the complaints on this group are voiced more
>-snip - 
>>
>>Perhaps. BUT ... its sure *terrible PR*. I'm shocked that Zeos
>>could permitt this to happend and CONTINUE to happen. Personally,
>- snip -

>Same here...  I'm currently shopping for 16 systems and Zeos was on the top 
>of the list from the reviews and ads I'd been compiling.
>That is until 2 days ago when I happened upon this group.  It takes a truly horrible
>experience to fully appreciate what bad customer service is like so I can 
>empathize with these customers.  My first (and last <g>) was with Insight last 
>year - the tale was much the same as the others here.  I don't think anything 
>could remove the taste I got, so any hint of the same causes me to run like hell.  
>IMO, no amount of PR can help an organization until the cogs and ineffectual managers 
>are cleaned out.



Listen folks, where are you going to go?  You read these horror stories about 
everyone.  Try getting through to some of these companies.  My brother (on my 
recommendation) bought a Quantex Pentium System.  The price is right and the 
machine is basically a decent box.  But try to get through to them - you 
can't.  Gateway's tech support is that way too.  IMHO you need tech support 
every now and again (probably when you first get the usint, when you add 
something or when something stops working).  But I suspect that the guy who 
spends more than an episode (meaning a few calls until a problem is 
resolved in toto) every two years trying to get through to tech support is not 
using his computer for computing.

I have a ZEOS Pentium and in the beginning (April) it had some problems, but 
since then, I haven't really needed to talk to them.  This week I got 
snared in the Intel-ZEOS finger pointing and had to wait 15-20 minutes to 
get ZEOS on the line.  So what?  It's not a regular part of my daily life.

Just a thought.


Jeff Forman

In <forman.28.0010A206@clark.net>, forman@clark.net (Jeff Forman) writes:
>In article <3gchgf$1o3u@news-s01.ny.us.ibm.net> sleon@ibm.net writes:
>>From: sleon@ibm.net
>>Subject: Re: **DONT** Buy _ZEOS_
>>Date: 28 Jan 1995 04:34:23 GMT
>
>
>Listen folks, where are you going to go?  You read these horror stories about 
>everyone.  Try getting through to some of these companies.  My brother (on my 

Agreed.  However, maybe the discussion should be broken into 1) getting lied to
and 2) getting lousy service (incompetance, etc.).  I can handle #2 since that's
commonplace these days (my ass ain't as tender as it used to be).  Number one
throws me into fits which makes me duck n run at any hint of it.

It's interesting that some of the best service I've received was from two
"no name" companies - Jinco Computers and Microprofessionals.  Maybe it
was just luck but when something went wrong, they sent replacement parts
with very little hassle.  Even though it took 24 hours to get a return call, at
least they told me up-front.  Insight, on the other hand, I'd trash at the drop
of a hat since I had both a ditzy moron for a salesman and her low-life
asshole of a boss lie repeatedly to me.  Somebody said they thought they
saw them at the bottom of the list in PC Magazine's customer service review
lately.  Wouldn't surprise me a bit.  My humble $0.02 worth...

Michael Handler (grendel@netaxs.com) wrote:
: 	I bought a Zeos 386/33 with 4 MB RAM and 120 MB hard drive from
: them almost five years ago. [ It cost ~ $3000, but this was 1990,
: remember. ] Back then, their shipping turnaround and customer service were
: excellent. My machine has run near perfectly for the last five years.

: 	It appears that this is no longer the case though. This is a 
: shame -- I like(d) Zeos. When I pick up a Pentium machine when I head 
: off to college, it looks like I'm going to have to go somewhere else. 
: Sorry, guys.

: ObPentium: when are the corrected processors slated to start shipping in 
: new machines?
: --
: Michael Handler                                         <grendel@netaxs.com>
: Civil Liberty Through Complex Mathematics                   Philadelphia, PA
: "Toi qui fais au proscrit ce regard calme et haut" -- Baudelaire * Skotoseme
: PGP Key ID FC031321  Print: 9B DB 9A B0 1B 0D 56 DA  61 6A 57 AD B2 4C 7B AF

Micheal:

For what it's worth, Gateway 2000 is now advertising that they are 
selling Pentium systems with the new, error-free (at least to best of our 
knowledge) CPU.

However, the point is a bit moot, now, as Intel will now replace any 
Pentium with the floating point bug.

Regards
Wayne Torborg
wtorborg@cloudnet.com

In article <3gamt9$fne@horus.infinet.com>, mal@infinet.com (Custom Software Solutions) wrote:

>ghost (ghost@news.dorsai.org) wrote:
>: Can you, or anyone else reading this, send me the name of the head of 
>: Zeos technical service? I am furious over the delay in my computer 
>: system. I sent it back for an RMA on Dec 18th, an easy switch from my AMD 
>: SCSI chip a AMD SCSI/Lan chip. It got their on teh 23rd. Zeos didn't even 
>: know they had it until the 27th. For 3 weeks it sat around until it 
>
>It wont do you any good, he never had returned my 4 calls to him, but 
>here goes: His name is Shawn Murphy (from what I've been told).

That's "Sean Murphy".

But why mess around?  Write to the CEO - I forget his name but it's
in the documentation you get with Zeos computers, and probably in
some adverts.

I did, and I got a reply from Sean Murphy, who eventually fixed most 
of my dissatisfaction.

Note "write".  Paper communication may take longer but seems to get
better results.   (One reason might be that it offers more scope for
delegation -- you might *never* get the CEO to call you back, but he
undoubtedly has a secretary who can identify someone in the organisation
who might actually help you).

forman@clark.net (Jeff Forman) writes:

>Listen folks, where are you going to go?  You read these horror stories about 
>everyone.  Try getting through to some of these companies.  My brother (on my 
>recommendation) bought a Quantex Pentium System.  The price is right and the 
>machine is basically a decent box.  But try to get through to them - you 
>can't.  Gateway's tech support is that way too.  IMHO you need tech support 
>every now and again (probably when you first get the usint, when you add 
>something or when something stops working).  But I suspect that the guy who 
>spends more than an episode (meaning a few calls until a problem is 
>resolved in toto) every two years trying to get through to tech support is not 
>using his computer for computing.

If it were only tech support, I might agree with you.  But when they can't
get an order right, and they won't return your calls, it has gone beyond
tech support at that point.

You must have the right system before you get around to finding a problem
to call tech support about!

Later,
Todd
th9708@coewl.cen.uiuc.edu

>I have a ZEOS Pentium and in the beginning (April) it had some problems, but 
>since then, I haven't really needed to talk to them.  This week I got 
>snared in the Intel-ZEOS finger pointing and had to wait 15-20 minutes to 
>get ZEOS on the line.  So what?  It's not a regular part of my daily life.

>Just a thought.


>Jeff Forman

2i8$147f@news-s01.ny.us.ibm.net>
Organization: Cloudnet, St. Cloud MN (612)-240-8259 login as guest
Distribution:

sleon@ibm.net wrote:

: It's interesting that some of the best service I've received was from two
: "no name" companies - Jinco Computers and Microprofessionals.  Maybe it
: was just luck but when something went wrong, they sent replacement parts
: with very little hassle.  Even though it took 24 hours to get a return c
: least they told me up-front.  Insight, on the other hand, I'd trash
: of a hat since I had both a ditzy moron for a salesman and her low-life
: asshole of a boss lie repeatedly to me.  Somebody said they thought they
: saw them at the bottom of the list in PC Magazine's customer service review
: lately.  Wouldn't surprise me a bit.  My humble $0.02 worth...

Just my two cent's worth, but I also have had excellent luck buying my
two computer systems not from the large mail-order firms, but from small,
locally-owned computer retailers.

These are two different companies. One is a rather large clone
assembler/retailer in Minneapolis, the other a small two-person shop in
St. Cloud, the city where I live (65 miles from Minneapolis). I've gotten
good prices, free advice (including step-by-step phone advice when
installing new components), and prompt help when needed.

I also have the luxury of being able to, if needed. load up a sick
computer and take it right back to the place where it was assembled. All
in all, I'd recommend looking around to see if a local supplier could
handle your computer needs before reciting your credit card number to
some nameless stranger across the country and waiting for a large box to
arrive.

Just my thoughts,
Wayne Torborg (wtorborg@cloudnet.com)