🚀 go-pugleaf

Hello netters, I am going to tell my ongoing tale of my service dealings
with Jasmine.  Bit first, for those of you who don't want to hear any
more of that, I have a few questions, which I will gladly summarize
to the net:

1) Have any of you had bad experiences with Jasmine? - I would like 
   to compile a list of unsatified users and their complaints.

2) If I can get my money back from them, where should I invest it?
   Notes: I'd like an internal drive for a IIcx, 80MB or larger, and
          I like the speed of the Quantums.   What about LaCie's
          famous software and a bare drive?

3) Any hints as to how I can get Jasmine to give me a refund?

Please mail to me, Stuart Ericson, using the addresses:
USEnet: ...!att!ihlpa!stuart       ARPA: stuart@ihlpa.att.com

And now, back to the story...

Last May (89) I was on the search for an internal quantum drive, by
recommendations from the net.  Unfortunately, I thought Jasmine gave
the best price&software for such a drive.  That summer, I began to
get the well-known quantum problems, and learned to make backups
VERY frequently (many kudos to MicroSeeds for Redux!).  Finally, in
September (4 months) the drive failed completely.  

It took about a week and 40 dollars in long-distance calling to get
through for a return authorization.  I left many messages, but they
never returned any calls.  Finally I managed to get through to a 
technician, just for the return authorization.  I was also able
to talk them into giving me a loaner drive.  After I received the 
loaner, I began to believe in their service and support after all,
they were even able to ship the loaner to me within a week of the
earthquake.  But the good feeling didn't last long.  Soon the loaner
drive itself was failing - it was one of their bad Rodime-based drives.
Once again, I found it necessary to back up the drive after EVERY use
of the machine.

I called Jasmine thinking I could get a replacement loaner.  I was
informed that I was lucky to have a loaner, and if I sent the one
I had back, it could be weeks before I had another.  And they didn't
know how long it would be before MY drive was fixed.  So with their
help I learned that sometimes I could revive the drive with use
of a hairdryer - it warmed the sticking grease.  But that solution
was not perfect.  Eventually, the hairdryer trick didn't work.  A
another 10 or 20 dollars in call attempts to Jasmine got me the
next solution: if you can ever get the drive going, DO NOT TURN IT OFF.
As luck would have it, after repeated attempts, the drive did start
up, and I've had it on ever since.  

By now it was december, and I was anxious to get a reliable, full-size,
fast drive back into my machine.  I spent a more time and money 
getting through to Jasmine, and they finally game me an estimate: probably
in January. I tried to express my frustration, so they said they would
expidite the fix. Because they had held my drive for 3 months, and it was
going to be another month, I tried to pursue another avenue: refunding
or upgrading to another drive.  They promised to call me back, but once
again I had to put in the time and money to get through.  After a while,
I gave up and decided to wait for January.  

By the January fifteenth, I was anxious and spent more time and money
trying to get through.  Eventually I received a message on my answering
machine stating that they were sorry, but it was going to be another
4 weeks!  I was infuriated -- this was an EXPIDITED repair?  This is the 
fifth month that they have been holding my drive, and I have spent at
least one hundred dollars on phone calls, shipping and other related 
expenses to get my drive fixed WHILE UNDER WARRANTY!

I gave up.  It was time to get a refund.  Their warantee states that
Jasmine has the option to either fix or replace, and if they cannot
fix it, they can give a full refund of the purchase price.  Well, I
figured, if they cannot fix or replace the drive in four months,
they cannot fix it at all, so I should get a refund.  So I called and
left a message to that fact, and asked for a refund.  

Surprizingly, the next day, Tim Timon, manager of techinical support,
called back to tell me how he had suddenly expidited the repair and 
assured me that the drive would be sent out next week.  Well, I no
longer trusted the word 'expidited', and I do not trust Jasmine.  If
they do send me the drive next week, and it failed, would it be another 
5 months before they fixed it again?  To top it off, Tim told me that 
my warrantee would not be charged for the time the drive was in service.
In other words, they are not confident of their service - my drive will
NOT come back with a 2-year warrantee, but about a year and a half.
Ridiculous!

So I asked again about a refund.  He said that he wasn't authorized 
to give me a refund, and referred me to Rose Williams.  I was able
to leave a message briefly stating my case and asking for a refund.

We shall see how this turns out...  I would be grateful for any
suggestions as to how to get a refund - I want to get away from 
this company!   Again, I also would like to hear other stories
of Jasmine troubles, as well as suggestions as to where I should
go for RELIABLE drives and service.

Stuart

Stuart Ericson                  AT&T Bell Laboratories
USEnet: att!ihlpa!stuart        IH 1C215
ARPA:   stuart@ihlpa.att.com    2000 N. Naperville Road
Voice:  (708) 979-4491          Naperville, Il 60566-7033