Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!uunet!lll-winken!uwm.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!ncar!tank!gargoyle!igloo!ddsw1!ddsw1!karl
From: karl@ddsw1.MCS.COM (Karl Denninger)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: USA-Flex, and ordering from them.
Message-ID: <26263cd4-28e0.6comp.ibmpc-1@ddsw1.MCS.COM>
Date: 13 Apr 90 21:00:08 GMT
References: <90102.002037MHS108@psuvm.psu.edu> <187@tropez.UUCP>
Lines: 48

>-----
>Response 4 of 5 (10464) by phil at pepsi.amd.com on Fri 13 Apr 90 08:06
>[Phil Ngai]
>(31 lines)
>
>|Speaking of which, let me tell you a story:
>|
>|	We have a customer who bought a system from us about a year ago.
>|	Last week his hard disk bought the farm -- the system is out of
>|	warranty by roughly three weeks.
>
>This is a very nice story but my problem is how do I tell between the
>dealer who charges more for good service and the dealer who just
>charges more? You said that you don't guarantee this kind of service
>to everyone, you just do it when you can. So if I really need this
>kind of service, I can't depend on you to provide it. If I don't need
>this kind of service, maybe I'd do ok buying from the lowest bidder.
>If it would be nice to have the dealer honor an expired warranty,
>it would also be nice to have the savings of the best price.

This is true.  The point being that it is not reasonable to expect anyone to
honor an expired warranty.  Some dealers will TRY, others (the mail order
places that play cutthroat prices) won't bother; there's nothing in it for 
them, in fact, there's a big upside for them if you don't get the good 
deal -- you might buy another drive!

It is difficult to tell who's giving the good service.  One thing is
certain, though; the places that sell at 5% over cost can't AFFORD to give
that kind of service to their customers!

>What I could go for is a service contract. I pay money and the
>mutual expectations are in writing. Otherwise, I could see some
>misunderstandings at the worst possible time.

Agreed.  Which is why we're offering 5-year (actually 4 years and 11 months)
extended warranties on Maxtor drives (ESDI and SCSI) now.  It's a slight extra 
cost at the time of purchase, sure, but the extra $100 or so is well worth 
it when they buy the farm.  Those replacements are normally made from a 
rotating pool of refurbished units; we can almost always have a replacement 
to you within 48 hours of receiving the defective drive back (subject to
your desires on shipping, etc).

That's my idea of a proper way to solve the problem.

--
Karl Denninger (karl@ddsw1.MCS.COM, <well-connected>!ddsw1!karl)
Public Access Data Line: [+1 708 566-8911], Voice: [+1 708 566-8910]
Macro Computer Solutions, Inc.   "Quality Solutions at a Fair Price"