Path: utzoo!yunexus!geac!syntron!jtsv16!uunet!seismo!sundc!pitstop!sun!decwrl!ucbvax!DBNUAMA1.BITNET!VBRANDT
From: VBRANDT@DBNUAMA1.BITNET
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: Atari Diagnostic Query
Message-ID: <8810251851.AA06306@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU>
Date: 25 Oct 88 18:52:50 GMT
Article-I.D.: ucbvax.8810251851.AA06306
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Organization: The Internet
Lines: 41
X-Unparsable-Date: Tue, 25 Oct 88 16:35:18 SET


In Info-Atari16 Digest #458, portal!cup.portal.com!BobR@uunet.uu.net
(Bob BobR Retelle) says:

>Lee Dickey asks:
>>>    The local Atari Service Depot has not heard or seen this code before nor
>>>has Atari Canada Service Dept. any idea what this means, (their
>>>solution to the first machine was to replace the mother board at a
>>>cost of $400.00 Can. rather then find out what's wrong with the machine).

>>So, I thought that the replacement cost was $95 exchange.
>>Does this price represent a change in policy?

>The "official" exchange program involves sending your entire ST back to
>Atari U.S. in California along with $95.  They will send back a new
>ST...  (the $95 is for the original 520ST, other models are higher, AND
>I have no idea if the program is offered outside the U.S.)

>Of course, sending your machine back to Atari can take three weeks or so...
>BobR

Well, it isn't, at least, not in Germany. And if you get a new motherboard
for the low price of only $400, be happy. I had to pay more than DM 300 to
get a 1040ST fixed (there were broken connections on the motherboard) with
the old board, because Atari Germany   ***REFUSED***   to sell my authorized
certified contract Atari dealer a replacement motherboard AT ANY PRICE. NONE!

And, of course, it took 8 weeks to find these broken connections (they were
beneath a chip) ...

From what I've seen and heard, Atari customer support in the US seems to be OK
if not perfect. But Atari Germany is treating customers like $#!+ !!! They have
an attitude of 'if these things sell like they do they don't need support' !

I just wish we had something like that replacement deal over here.

Bitnet:  VBRANDT@DBNUAMA1                              Volker A. Brandt
UUCP:    ...!unido!DBNUAMA1.bitnet!vbrandt             Angewandte Mathematik
ARPAnet: VBRANDT%DBNUAMA1.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU       (Bonn, West Germany)

Dis-Disclaimer:  I said it, I mean it.