Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!wuarchive!psuvax1!psuvm!art100 From: ART100@psuvm.psu.edu (Andy Tefft) Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple2 Subject: Re: AE Rumors Message-ID: <91084.103307ART100@psuvm.psu.edu> Date: 25 Mar 91 15:33:06 GMT References: <9103250419.AA09971@apple.com> Organization: Penn State University Lines: 52 In article <9103250419.AA09971@apple.com>, MQUINN@UTCVM.BITNET says: > >getting nothing for that high price. Not to long ago, we were suggesting that >they get a 1-800 number for their tech support, so what do they do? They go >180 degrees in the opposite direction and get a 1-900 number and charge us >$1.50 a MINUTE!!! This is COMPLETELY unnacceptable. 900 numbers are probably the biggest legal scam in the free world. They make money for the phone company, they make money for the company with the number, and they cost the customer an arm and a leg. I previously refrained from discussion on this because I didn't own any AE products, but now I do -- a Ramworks III and (backordered) a 5.25" drive. Hopefully I will not NEED tech support from them, because there is no way I am calling a 900 number, ANY 900 number. I realize that some 900 numbers charge at a low cost per minute, just to recoup the costs of operating the line. But whatever happened to the days when a phone line was considered part of the operating cost of a business? An 800 tech support number would be wonderful, but a 900 number is just unacceptable. I would prefer a normal, long-distance call, which would cost probably 50 cents a minute (during the day, when you would be forced to call). I guess I am a little peeved at AE for their advertising as well. The ad for the ramworks III, for example, goes to great lengths to assure us that the ramworks III is compatible with all software. This can be somewhat misleading to the uninformed computer user, who may not realize that the promise is not that if you have a meg on the card it will be used by all software, just that it is compatible AS AN EXTENDED 80 COL. CARD. Kind of like how my mouse card is compatible with all software -- not all of it will use the mouse, but it doesn't bomb anything. The ad also goes to great lengths to tell us about the enhancements to Appleworks, sounding like just by virtue of having the card in your computer you will gain these enhancements. While some of them ARE automatically supported by different versions of Appleworks, in order to gain all the enhancements you do need to patch Appleworks (software provided). While the more informed user may know this, the ads are directed at the informed and uninformed user alike. Finally, I was reading through the catalog that came with my RamWorks, and the ads there really don't help one make an informed decision between two products. For example, the wording in the Ramworks and Ramfactor ads is so similar that it is difficult to tell the advantages and disadvantages of each. This is one reason I asked in comp.sys.apple2. Now, I do like my Ramworks, and i'm not disappointed with it... I just am not pleased with the way AE chooses to do business.