Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!ucbvax!betelgeuse!carlson
From: carlson@betelgeuse.uucp (Richard L. Carlson)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Amiga dealers
Summary: Support is a two-way street
Keywords: Constructive criticism
Message-ID: <26615@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU>
Date: 29 Oct 88 05:24:35 GMT
References: <7392@ut-emx.UUCP> <7414@ut-emx.UUCP>
Sender: usenet@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Reply-To: carlson@betelgeuse.UUCP (Richard L. Carlson)
Organization: University of California, Berkeley
Lines: 52

In article <7414@ut-emx.UUCP> dak@ut-emx.UUCP (Donald A Kassebaum) writes:
>  . . .
>	The point of this article is that it is not lack of Commodore support
>	in Austin (Byte by Byte got a whole lot of that and didn't do well
>	with hardware because of their management), but it is also we, the
>	loyal Amiga user comunity, that must help.  Let's get things moving.
>	No dealership will stay in business unless we support them.
>
>	I am sure that this article applies to many other areas of the country.
>
>	Don Kassebaum

There have been several articles over the past few months arguing to support
your local dealer.  But in spite of the extra support I would expect to
receive from a dealer, I have *never* bought hardware or software (well,
except for blank floppies) from my local dealer.

Why?  Well, out of the four dealers I've been involved with (three in my
"permanent" home town, and one at my current location), *none* has projected
an eagerness to help me when I walked in the store, an impression that I was
an important and valued customer, or even an indication that they really
knew anything non-superficial about the Amiga machines they're supposed to
be selling.  Part of the problem may be that most of these dealers also
handle other brands of computers---in and of itself, this is not a bad
thing; the Amiga is not the optimal computer for all possible applications,
and a good dealer, having the responsibility to help the customer find the
best configuration for his needs, should be able to offer a wide range of
alternatives.  *But*, a dealer is certainly doing *no* service to his
customers if he spreads himself so thinly that he doesn't know everything
he sells inside and out.

And, as far as I'm concerned, there is absolutely no excuse for dealers to
treat customers as minor inconveniences, which is exactly how I've felt
several times upon entering a dealer's store.  Now, as has been noted
before on this net, it is unreasonable to expect dealers to be heavy-duty
Amiga programmer-gurus.  But it is quite reasonable (I hope) to expect
them to be courteous and knowledgeable salespeople.

I hope that my experiences are in the minority, but batting 0/4, I'm either
very unlucky, or else these experiences are somewhat representative.  On the
other hand, I'm certainly not inferring that there are no good dealers---on
the contrary, stories of their existence :-) demonstrate to me that it is
reasonable to expect better performance than I have seen.

This was not meant to be a flame, but rather constructive criticism.  I will
be happy to patronize my local dealer (even if it costs me a bit more
money), but *only* if I can see more than dollar signs in his eyes as I am
talking to him.  Support is a two-way street.

-- Richard     (donning his asbestos suit, just in case)
   carlson@ernie.berkeley.edu
   ...!ucbvax!ernie!carlson