Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!spool.mu.edu!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!ut-emx!ccwf.cc.utexas.edu From: greg@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Greg Harp) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.misc Subject: Re: Amazing Computers bites the dust? Message-ID: <48315@ut-emx.uucp> Date: 3 May 91 00:15:03 GMT Article-I.D.: ut-emx.48315 References: <315@texbell.sbc.com> <1991May2.162543.26976@cse.uta.edu> Sender: news@ut-emx.uucp Reply-To: greg@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Greg Harp) Distribution: tx Organization: The University of Texas at Austin Lines: 69 In article <1991May2.162543.26976@cse.uta.edu> hill@cse.uta.edu (Adam Hill) writes: > > 'Tis true I am afraid. Last Thurs Amazing FW and Dallas were closed >for good. Lets just say the closing was "less than friendly". Hmmm... I'd like to know the story behind it... > All warantees and repair work is/was refered to Metropolitan >Connecting Point in Richardson Tx (214) 437-9119. Metro is the ONLY >DEALER in the Dallas/FW area. There may be some that pop up later. Oh no! We're doomed! Seriously, Metropolitan has a pretty poor reputation, and I can back it up with my own horror story. You see, I, fool I am, bought my computer there. My brother was the actual person who paid for it at the time (I eventually bought if off of him). Anyway, to make a long story short, we bought an ECE MIDI interface with the computer. The MIDI interface box was marked "A1000 version," which concerned me since the A500 version square was unmarked. The salesman said that it would not be a problem. SO... We took the computer home, set it up, and loaded DMCS (as you may have guessed, the initial purpose of this machine was MIDI music). Of course it didn't work. We hooked it up to a standard Hayes modem and got no reponse, either (Strangely, this modem has worked with everything I've tried _but_ A500s. I never investigated this, though.). Figuring the serial port was the problem, we took the machine back to the shop. We waited a week, and I finally called them to check on it (they had promised to call us). I was told it would be ready when I got there. When I got there they finally bothered checking the serial port (which involved calling a BBS using one of their modems). They OKed it and said I could take it home. I talked with the service man and when I brought up that the MIDI interface was the A1000 model he told me that _that_ was the problem. When I got ready to leave, they wanted to charge me $30 labor. After gawking at them, I told them that I had bought the computer a week ago in that very store. They informed me that since there was no problem that the service wasn't covered by warranty. (What service?!?!?!) I told them that since the problem was the incompetence of their salesman that they would not only NOT charge me for the service, but they would also exchange my interface free of charge or I would call the Better Business Bureau. I guess they were surprised to see a (then) 16-year-old kid suddenly threaten their business, because they immediately agreed to my terms. (Yay for me...) I guess they thought they could screw me out of some $$$. Anyway, I have since then avoided this store. I will use mail order or drive to the new Austin store if another Dallas store doesn't exist, and I would recommend this policy to others. BTW, I should add that the salesman offered to sell us a hard drive with lots of software installed free of charge. Some of the software he mentioned was Excellence! and a few commercial games. I probably should have gathered at that point the fact that these people didn't do honest business. Now, all of this occured almost four years ago. This store may have changed since then. Personally, I don't give businesses a second chance to try and screw me around, so I don't know... Greg -- Greg Harp |"I was there to match my intellect on national TV, | against a plumber and an architect, both with a PhD." greg@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu| -- "I Lost on Jeopardy," Weird Al Yankovic