Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!utstat!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!att!mcdchg!ddsw1!corpane!sparks From: sparks@corpane.UUCP (John Sparks) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: The Mail Order Amiga Message-ID: <767@corpane.UUCP> Date: 7 Jun 89 20:03:03 GMT Organization: Corpane Industries Inc., Louisville, KY Lines: 253 A few weeks ago I posted a request for some of you to help me in gathering information for an article I am writing for my local user group. I wanted to write an article that would help my local group to buy Amiga 2000's and 2500's through mail order. First, let me thank all who replied: "Thank you". Now, many people wrote and wanted me to post the newsletter article when I finished it. So here it is. I am submitting it here first in hopes that some of you might be able to add to it or critique it before I submit the article to the newsletter. BTW: Our local Amiga group is A.S.K. - The Amiga Society of Kentuckiana (serving Louisville and southern Indiana). //////////////////////////////////\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ The Mail Order Amiga by John Sparks There are three main methods of buying Amiga equipment: One is to go to a dealer, who will happily help you in selecting your purchase. The advantages to buying through a dealer are multiple: You can try before you buy. The dealer (usually) has repair facilities on site. Very easy return policy, just drive on over. But all these fringe benefits are not free. You pay for them by having to pay a high price for the product. Another is to buy used equipment. With this method you take your chances. There is no warranty. But you can get excellent prices. A major drawback is that you have to wait around till someone is selling the piece that you want. The third, and the subject of this article, is Mail Order. Mail Order can be risky, but if you follow the guidelines provided below, you can minimize those risks. The major advantage in Mail Order is PRICE. Not only can you find some extremely good discounts, but most prices quoted are not carved in stone. You can haggle them down, sometimes hundreds of dollars and sometimes only a few dollars. Many will be willing to beat a competitors price, so use this fact to drive the price down. In researching this article I called several mail order places and received prices on an Amiga 2000, 2500 and the boards that make the 2000 into the 2500. I chose these particular pieces of equipment for two reasons. One: I am planning on buying a 2500 next year. And Two: Most members of A.S.K. already have Amiga 500's or Amiga 1000's, and will be interested in how much it will cost them to upgrade. Also I received help and prices from several people on Usenet, a nationwide computer network. Well, let's get on with it! First, The Amiga 2500 is an Amiga 2000 with the following options: A2620 - 68020 card with 2 meg of 32bit memory A2090A - SCSI hard disk controller 40 Megabyte Ronin hard disk drive Price Comparisons: These prices represent the first quoted price to me from the mail order house. Your prices may vary. Take them as a reference only. Prices from May 1989. Product Computability Go Amigo J&R Music -------- ------------- -------- --------- Amiga 2000 $1489 $1479 $1499 Amiga 2500 $3299 $3399 $3359 A2620 $1349 $1499 don't carry A2090A don't carry $ 319 don't carry Flicker Fixer ? $ 469 ? Mitsubishi 14" Multisync monitor ? $ 599 ? AT bridge Card ? $1195 ? ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ? = not able to check on availability or price on this item Notes: Go Amigo and Computability are very helpful on the phone. J & R kept me on hold for 5 minutes then passed me to three different people. The salesman then didn't even know what the parts were and had to look them up. Of course they sell more than just Amigas. I generally found that it is cheaper to buy the Amiga 2500 as a package deal rather than buying the parts separate. You basically are getting the Ronin disk drive for almost free when you buy the 2500. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ There are several other mail order places you can try, I just picked a small sampling for this article (I also had some help in getting the prices) Some of the other reputable mail order places I know of are Computer Discount and Computer Mail Order. There is least one that I think of that I should warn you against. Several people on Usenet warned me away from Abel Supply. Many complained about losing their money and others warned of their 'No Refund, exchanges only' Policy. I was told a good rule of thumb in regards to Abel was: "get it C.O.D." that way you have the product before they have your money. Make sure it is in stock before you buy it. That goes for any mail order place. If they want to back order it, tell them you will place your order when it arrives and not before. Below is a guide that will help you in dealing with mail ordering. -- A Users Guide to Mail Order. Before ordering from a mail order company there are a couple of questions that you should ask yourself first. 1. Am I prepared to wait for the item if something goes wrong? In most cases the items that you want to order is available from your local hardware/software dealer immediately. Granted it is probably more expensive then the mail order price, but that is what you pay for convenience. The item is there and you can take it home right away. 2. Can I get a better price from my local dealer? Usually your local dealer can be talked into giving you a better price on an item. And if you and some other people are looking for the same item you can organize a 'group purchase' and usually get a better per unit sales price. If you do decide that you want to purchase via mail order make sure that you look around first. There are a LOT of places out there each saying that they are the lowest, and a lot saying they will meet or beat any other advertised price. Take advantage of this and shop around. Invest in a few phone calls and do some comparison shopping. While you are asking about prices from companies you should also ask the following questions to them as well. These questions SHOULD greatly influence your choice on who you want to deal with. You also should consider calling the company's local Better Business Bureau and check and see if there have been any complaints lodged against them. Another source of information is to contact the companies local UPS office and check for complaints about shipping from dissatisfied customers. (Most of these question are taken without permission from page 112 in the August 1988 issue of Computer Shopper. The page is an ad from the Microcomputer Marketing Council.) 1. How long has the company been in business? 2. Does the company offer technical assistance? 3. Is there a service facility? 4. Are manufacturer's warranties handled through the company? 5. Does the seller have formal return and refund policies? Very Important!!! many places have a 'All Sales Final' Policy or will only let you choose alternate soft/hardware instead of refunding your money. 6. Is there and additional charge for use of credit cards? (This is the one that I hate the most. Companies WANT and NEED your business. To get it they offer the consumer a more convenient way of purchasing. Why should you pay a penalty to use this form of payment???) 7. Are credit card charges held until time of shipping? (They SHOULD ALWAYS be held until time of shipping) 8. What are the shipping costs for the items ordered? 9. Are there any re-stocking fees? (these fees should NOT apply to you the consumer. This is a general maintenance type fee that the company SHOULD have to pay.) Reputable dealers will answer all these questions without giving you the run around. If they do [give you the run around] , do not deal with them. Chances are they are not very reliable. Now that you have decided to deal with a certain business you should be a specific with them as possible. 1. State as completely and accurately as you can what merchandise you want including brand name, model and catalog number (if possible). 2. Establish that the item is in stock, is READY to ship and confirm the shipping date. 3. Confirm that the price is as advertised. 4. Obtain an order number and identification of the sales representative. 5. Make a record of your order, noting exact price including shipping and handling, date of order, promised shipping date and the order number. 6. If you can avoid it, NEVER pay with cash, cheque or money order. Use a credit card, it is safer for you in the end. you can always call your credit card company (Visa or whatever) and refuse payment on an item. You should also not use a debit card. Debit cards are like credit cards but the money comes out of your checking account. The dangers of checks, money orders and debit cards are that if you have a problem, it's too bad... the seller already has your money. An alternative to credit card is COD. With COD you are sure that you have your order before you pay, but you still may be in trouble if the product is unsatisfactory. You may have difficulty returning it for a refund since they already have your cash. If you do have a problem with a company, and you wish to do something about it, here are some things you can do. 1> Call the manager of the company, Tell him the problem [make sure you have all the numbers, dates, etc. ready]. Tell him you will follow up in a few days and will keep calling until the problem is resolved. 2> Tell the manager that unless your problem is solved, you will: A> Call your credit card company and refuse payment. B> Call the publication that you found their ad in and make a formal complaint and request to get their ad pulled. C> Call the US Postal service and lodge a complaint for mail fraud. D> Call the Better Business Bureau. E> Get your Lawyer to call them. Make sure you stay civil in your discussion. Even though yelling will make you feel better, it only angers the person on the other end and will make it that more likely (s)he won't do anything to help you. But don't take a lot of run around from them. Be firm and make sure they know that you know your rights. Using these simple guidelines you can avoid a lot of hassles and headaches that others have gone though. You are a costumer with certain rights and you deserve to be protected. Make sure you exercise these rights and protect yourself. It will save time and money in the end for both you and the mail order business you are dealing with. --------- I would like to thank Trevor Paquette for writing most of 'A User's Guide to Mail Order' and Blaine Gardner for helping with some of the pricing data and some of the tips that I added to the 'Guide'. Computability: 1-800-558-0003 J&R Music: 1-800-221-8180 Go Amigo: 1-800-232-6442 Computer Mail Order: 1-800-233-8950 Computer Discount: 1-800-825-2943 -- John Sparks | {rutgers|uunet}!ukma!corpane!sparks | D.I.S.K. 24hrs 1200bps ||||||||||||||| sparks@corpane.UUCP | 502/968-5401 thru -5406 Anything not worth doing is not worth doing well. -- G. Bell