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From: steve@digibd (Steve Wahl)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: C= screws customers again!
Summary: Is it C= or Mail Order who's doing the screwing?
Message-ID: <1990Aug31.182655.1029@digibd>
Date: 31 Aug 90 18:26:55 GMT
References: <3986@crash.cts.com>
Reply-To: steve@digibd.UUCP (Steve Wahl)
Organization: Digiboard Incorporated, St. Louis Park, MN
Lines: 41

My opinion only (of course, I just wanted to share it):

Those who complain about C= shutting down mail order sales of Amigas,
and who offer the fact that there is NO close dealer (or no close,
competent dealer) as a reason they need mail order, could be missing a
point.

Perhaps there is no close dealer (or competent dealer) because it's
not possible to open a dealership, invest the time and money to know
enough about the products you are selling to actually be of help to
your customers, and make a proffit -- while still being able to
compete (price wise) with high-volume mail order outfits.

What do you think?  The Amigas are complex machines, and users need
support, especially if they're going to do more with the machine than
stick the latest game disk in the drive and shoot all the aliens (or
whatever the latest craze is).  It can be hard to supply enough
support over long distance phone lines.  If there is no dealer in a
region now, and many people buy mail order, and end up giving the
Amigas a bad reputation due to the poor support, what do you think
that does to the chances of succeeding in opening up a new dealership
in the area?

Yes, I know, some people here on Usenet say they have received exelent
support from certain mail order dealers.  But Amiga users on usenet 
tend to be much more computer-literate than I immagine the average
Amiga user to be.  Most of us here know almost instinctively how to
isolate a problem and then have that part fixed or replaced, software
or hardware.  Does the average user?

I guess I'm raising two questions:  Would there be more GOOD local
dealers if they didn't have to compete with mail order?  And can mail
order dealers provide enough support to average and below average
users?

--> Steve
-- 

Steve Wahl               uunet!digibd!steve
DigiBoard Inc.
St. Louis Park, MN       (612) 922-8055