Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!bloom-beacon!gatech!hubcap!rchampe From: rchampe@hubcap.clemson.edu (Richard Champeaux) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Re: Mail Order Companies Summary: Ahhh, Montgomery Grant again. Message-ID: <6910@hubcap.clemson.edu> Date: 31 Oct 89 22:15:57 GMT References: <5924@merlin.usc.edu> Distribution: usa Organization: Clemson University, Clemson, SC Lines: 76 In article , sk2x+@andrew.cmu.edu (Sun Kun Kim) writes: > I got my Amiga 2000 from Montgomery Grant.(and I also own a C-64 back > home) I got my computer about 3 months ago and it came in about 2 > weeks. Their prices are cheap but I do have some criticisms. First of > > [ discription of misinformation and high pressure selling/scams of > Montgomery Grant ] > > Anyway, the prices they advertise are cheap and worth it, if they have > it.(When I ordered mine, they told me that A2000's were out of stock and > I've already mentioned this a couple of times, but I guess it's time to say it again. I didn't have a very good experience with Montgomery Grant. They weren't my first choice; after calling the places I'd had experience with and being told every time that they were out of Amiga 2000s, I went through my Amiga World one page at a time untill I came to Montgomery Grant. Not only did they advertise a good price, they had one in stock. They only catch was that they wanted $160 to ship it UPS ground. Thats very outrageous, I had to send it back, and it cost me about $10 including the $1500 of insurance. But, since it was still came out to about what the other places were charging, I ordered one. When I got it, it was obviously used, and it didn't work. The fan was very dirty, the bottom of the case was bent, the mouse ball was dirty, the rollers were dirty, the mouse feet were worn, the mouse cable was dirty, the mouse was an Amiga 500 mouse and didn't even fit into the case! The box said the computer came with kickstart 1.3, but it had 1.2. Not supprising, since the serial number on the box didn't match the serial number on the computer. Also, the box, which was packaged inside a brown shipping box, was all beat up and had had shipping labels cut off it. Last of all, the drive didn't even work. Every disk I tried to boot from gave me a read/write error. All of these disks worked on my 1000, a friend's 1000, and another friend's 2000. I called them up and told about my problem, and they seemed genuinely supprised that I had gotten a used computer. They told me to send it back, and they would send a factory sealed one. I got the guy's name, and wrote a letter explaining what was wrong with the computer, and said that I wanted only a new, factory sealed computer, and if they couldn't send me one, they should call me. I put one copy at the top of the outer shipping box, and one inside the computer box. I received a computer that was in perfect condition and I have had no problem with it. Several people emailed me saying that they had simmilar problems with Montgomery Grant, and thought that they sold grey market stuff. Someone from Commodore posted a message saying Montgomery Grant wasn't a authorized dealer. He may not have been officially representing Commodore, but his email address implied that he had something to do with marketing. When I went home (I'm a college student), I described my experience to one of the salesmen at the Memory Location in Wellsley, MA. He recognized the name and said that Montgomery Grant had called the Memory Location to ask to buy some of their computers. He said the Memory Location refused to sell them anything. He also figured that Montgomery Grant just calls everyone on a list of authorized dealers to get their computers. > > P.S. I read somewhere that Amigas are warranted for only 90 days. > That's strange, because on my Amiga 2000's waraanty card, it said that > my computer was warranted for ONE YEAR! Well, the discussion I heard is that Amigas from the US branch of Commodore have only a 90 day warrenty, while Amigas from the Canadian branch of Commodore have 1 year warrenties. It sounds to me like Montgomery Grant got your computer from a dealer in Canada. Check your warrenty information stuff to see if it has any reference to Canada. Email me what you find out, I'm rather interested in knowing. I can't seem to find my warrenty card. Also, be prepared to send it back to Montgomery Grant for any warrenty service. There was a discussion a while back that Authorized Warrenty Repair Centers may not honor the warrenty on a computer purchased from a grey market dealer. I have no direct proof that Montgomery Grant is a grey market dealer. I only have my own experiences and heresay to back up my claims. Either way, however, I would think twice before ordering from them. Rich Champeaux (rchampe@hubcap.clemson.edu)