🚀 go-pugleaf

Hello Malcolm

I've kept very quiet so far since I first got my Demon account, but really
felt I had to say something.
 
      In article <821047794.7396@thokk.demon.co.uk>
      malcolm@demon.net (Malcolm Muir) said:-

      (In response to an article posted by Neil Martin)


>Demon sell internet conenctivity. They did not (until recently with
>Turnpike) sell *any* software. None at all for any platform.

Point taken, but if they are backing and selling PC software, what's wrong
with doing the same for other popular computers?


>What was purchased was an account to permit connection to the
>internet. How that connection is established is entirely down to the
>account holder and Demon have no knowledge nor wish to be involved
>in the decision of what machine and software is being used.

By not recommending and supporting software, Demon are potentially allowing
people to disrupt their services by using inappropriate software.
 
>That the account that was sold works can not be disputed. There are
>50,000 successful account holders a vast number of which sucessfully
>connect daily. There are over 1,000 connections established to Demon
>at any time of day or night. No one can dispute that Demon accounts
>work and permit connection to the Internet (Quality of the sevice once
>connected is a different issue).

I estimate that 1 in 3 of my calls to my local PoP fail to connect with
anything of Demon's (and that's using both the original NOS and Oasis.)
 

>That Mr. Harrop was unable to get the computer he chose to use and the
>software he chose to install on it to connect to the service is I
>regret to say his problem. Demon did enact their part of the contract
>bu setting up an account for him to use. That account was available to
>him and the terms of business require that he pay the set up charge
>and a minimum of one month connect charges.


Demon supply Atari software for use in connecting to their system, thereby
implying that they are aware that there are Atari users out there. They
should state clearly if their system has difficulty coping with Ataris
before opening an account.


>The fact that Demon provided support to him in order to try to get him
>started is incidental. The support service is principally to answer 
>queries on the use of the service. We do not offer software support as
>part of the subscription fee, but on the basis of best endevours to
>assist our customers.

I only opened an account with Demon because I was under the impression that
the company was Atari-friendly. I have never made use of the support
service, but find it very hard to believe that they don't have an Atari
set-up to at least make an effort to help.


>Demon fulfilled their part of the contract, they are therefore 
>entitled to be paid, even given the unfortunate circumstances that Mr.
>Harrop was unable to get his choice of hardware and software to work.


If Demon were more upfront in regard to the many (IMHO) problems being
encountered by Atari users, then Atari users wouldn't waste their money and
Demon's time in setting up the account. I specifically stated that I owned
an Atari when I opened the account. There was no mention of the fact that
using Ataris with Demon is difficult.

If it wasn't for the help of an ex-Atari user, who changed to a PC because
of the problems he had with using an ST with Demon, I would probably never
even been able to send this posting.

Although I do not expect Demon to spend hours on the phone teaching me how
to use my software, I did expect them to make me aware of the problems I
would encounter. 

The software I downloaded from Demon's BBS was NOS 0.41, which was out of
date. The documentation made, in many cases, little reference to the ST, if
at all. It was only through help of other people, that I was able to source
a copy of Oasis 1.34. Only since then, have I been able to make any use of
Demon's services.

My suggestion is that Demon, if they are to keep Atari-users with their
service is to at least make sure that their downloaded software is more
up-to-date, the documentation is relevant, and they provide some form of
specific Atari tutorial to allow people to get started. If they did this,
then many people including the gentleman that Neil Martin originally wrote
about, would have much more of a chance of making use of what they have
paid for. 

I know Malcolm that you are not speaking for Demon officially, but perhaps
you could make them aware of the problems being faced by many Atari-users.
I for one have very seriously considered cancelling my Demon account. I
will not make a hasty decision, but if the problems I am constantly facing
don't get any better soon, I'm off elsewhere.

Sorry if I have rambled, but I do think Demon are partly to blame for many
of the Atari-related problems. I don't hold them responsible for links
outside their own network, but I DO hold them responsible for making access
to my local PoP a lot more reliable, I am really dreading my next phone
bill, especially when I see the large amount of wasted phone calls to my
PoP.

BeST regards

Mike Kerslake

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                         mike@coconut.demon.co.uk
                     where The Atari (b)eats Bill Gates 
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