Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!apple!bionet!hayes.ims.alaska.edu!milton!mrc
From: mrc@cac.washington.edu (Mark Crispin)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next
Subject: Flame: NeXT "3 week delivery"
Message-ID: <1991Apr8.034045.19207@milton.u.washington.edu>
Date: 8 Apr 91 03:40:45 GMT
Sender: mrc@milton.u.washington.edu (Mark Crispin)
Organization: University of Washington, Seattle
Lines: 69


To add to the list of familiar sad stories:

I called 1 (800) 848-NeXT in early February, and was quoted a 3-week
turnaround from receipt of order to shipment on NeXTstation orders.  I
didn't believe it, but I decided the time had come to order a machine.

Not having a home NeXT meant that I had to take two weeks of unplanned
vacation due to snow.  I also figured that even if NeXT went under the
machine would still be a usable Unix engine.  "Computer ownership is
not for the faint-hearted", but my keeping two operating DEC-2020
mainframes is enough proof of a steel cardium.

I placed my order through the University of Washington's campus
reseller (MAP) on February 11, and again called NeXT that day to
confirm the 3-week turnaround.

MAP sent the order to UofW Purchasing on February 12.  It took just
shy of two weeks to go through that mill; the purchase order was
issued on February 25.

So, allowing a week for mailing delays, I should have received my
system sometime during the week of March 25.

Not surprisingly, it didn't show up.

I called 1 (800) 848-NeXT and asked if they could give me a time
estimate.  They insisted that "three-weeks" was the current
turnaround.  It took some amount of arguing before they would even
that yes, indeed, they had received the purchase order.

But no, they would tell me nothing more about my order.  Not when they
received it.  Not when the scheduled ship date was.  The excuse given
was "the campus resellers have requested that we not give that
information to their customers, you must have them request it."

I told MAP about this.  They were very amused, since they had never
asked NeXT to stonewall customers.  MAP was not as amused when NeXT
refused to give *them* any information about my order or any of their
other orders which have been pending since December.

MAP ended up having to threaten our local NeXT representative before
finally NeXT gave an answer: my system will be shipped "in three
weeks", and that the delay is due to not getting 68040's from
Motorola.

This promise is for delivery sometime during the week of April 22.
I don't believe it.

NeXT's has made extravagant promises which they could not keep.  Now
they are renewing the same unrealistic promise.  I would not be at all
surprised if I am told "three weeks" again on April 22.  After all, I
haven't waited > 6 months as some people have.

For all I know potential customers are still being told "three weeks."

Fortunately, I am still more amused than angry at this point; I still
expect to get my machine eventually.  However, NeXT has lost a great
deal of credibility with me.  This process started when they made
their first unrealistic delivery promise.  Their evasiveness once the
system was overdue was a major blunder.  How dare they not tell
customers about supply problems!

What else are they not telling us?  Could the glowing press releases
be a smokescreen to cover serious financial problems?  [A worst case
scenario, but not unheard-of in the cut-throat field of computing.]

In the past, I advised caution and careful consideration before buying
a NeXT.  That advice still holds.