Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uflorida!unf7!tlvx!sysop From: sysop@tlvx.UUCP (SysOp) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Re: Amiga 3000 and poor quality control. Summary: bad machines (a couple of different topics) Message-ID: <383@tlvx.UUCP> Date: 5 Aug 90 18:25:47 GMT References: <9008011500.AA25318@jade.berkeley.edu> <1990Aug1.155127.11975@ncsuvx.ncsu.edu> Organization: Temporal Vortex BBS of Jacksonville, Florida Lines: 82 In article <1990Aug1.155127.11975@ncsuvx.ncsu.edu>, garvin@ccvr1.ncsu.edu (Michael A. Garvin) writes: > In article <9008011500.AA25318@jade.berkeley.edu> S36666WB@ETSUACAD.BITNET (Brian Wright) writes: > > > > (saga of a broken A3000 and 1950 deleted) > > Every so often, someone posts to rec.autos about how bad a particular brand of car is because they bought a lemon. In reality, every car brand, no matter how respected, will occasionally produce a lemon. Same here; statistically, you can't say that everything is bad just from one sample. That aside, I am sure Commodore could use some improvement in quality control. (It couldn't hurt, for sure!) > > First, take a Valium. You need it. Second, since when is the 3000 > a workstation (as you state in your article)? Commodore has not said the > 3000 is a workstation, and it isn't by any means. They're not out to > compete with Sun or DEC. If you needed a workstation you should have looked > at them. As for your 3000 woes, don't call this your last Commodore > purchase because of one (1) machine. If everyone who has gotten a bad Sun > workstation threw a tantrum quit buying their product Sun wouldn't be around > (I know, we got 2 bad 3/60's out of 5). Don't dump on the Amiga for 1 bad > machine. As for parts, etc., six months ago you wouldn't have gotten an > answer out of Commodore about getting the thing fixed (yes, I know this is > little solace). Commodore is not a large company like I*M, Apple, etc., who > keeps a huge parts supply all over the country. It may take a little time > and effort, but your machine will get fixed. At a past job, I once had to install hard drives. We formatted and tested them as we installed them, and apparently 3 or so out of 100 was considered a normal failure rate for those drives. This doesn't excuse things, but I'm just attempting to agree that the industry at large has quality control problems to deal with. As for getting parts from Commodore, it can be a pain. Let me mention my 1080 monitor (mentioned before in c.s.a.h). The last I heard from Commodore is that they didn't have the part I needed (a coil), and so I've been attempting to get the part from Toshiba distributors. I have wound up nowhere, with distributors and Toshiba telling me that they can't get the part. The monitor was made in Japan, but it seems pretty brutal to sell a piece of equipment, and then not have a way to get parts for it just 4 years after the purchase. :-( Now my monitor has a screen which is "stretched out," not allowing you to see the first and last columns. I guess someone could use it for watching tv or something, but it's worthless to me even so. (Maybe someone out there would know how I could add another component to make the thing work....) I hope this doesn't sound like ranting; I'm just saying that I really understand waiting MONTHS to get something fixed, and spending $100 for nothing, and still have come no farther. (I think it's still possible to make some more calls, and start asking for managers, but I'm tired of the run-around....) At least with the 3000 and 1950, Brian, you know they will get fixed. (You know, these sorts of things can affect future purchases. I may get a 3000, but I might not get the 1950.) > Now, on the other side, let me tell you about another vendor. A story > about a company that would not sell us repair parts since we had switched to .... > --- > > Michael Garvin > garvin@ccvr1.cc.ncsu.edu > NCSU Computing Center - Systems On a barely related note, someone asked me to post here about a problem with a mail order company. He ordered a M.A.S.T. Twin drive from Comp-u-save, and while they told him it would take a few days to ship, it took a month. When he received it, it was damaged, so he got the RMA number, and sent it back. Something like 2 months later, he gets it back, and it still has the original damage. I remember that there was some discussion here a while back on things that people in this situation could do. E-mail any advice or suggestions to Richard Tobin using the below path: ..uunet!uflorida!unf7!tlvx!lenscap (He says he's so fed up he's going to try for a refund.) -- Gary Wolfe, SYSOP of the Temporal Vortex BBS ..uflorida!unf7!tlvx!sysop, ..unf7!tlvx!sysop@bikini.cis.ufl.edu