forrest@ucsbcsl.UUCP ( ) (12/20/84)
I've started buying stuff for my soon-to-be delivered PC from various mail order places. What follows are comments on the quality of places I've dealt with. 1. LogicSoft - This place seems to stock only the most popular software (and now hardware) but they have reasonable prices. What I consider the strength of this place is that they claim that they will beat any advertised price by $10 (if their price isn't already the lowest and if the price is over $100). I've bought 2 things from them where their advertised price was from $15 to $45 dollars higher than the competition but their followed their promise and beat the other prices. They were even cheerful while doing it. They have free shipping, which is another good reason for dealing with them. My only bad experience was when I ordered PFS-proof from them along with SuperCalc 3. They charged my credit card for both. A week later SuperCalc showed up but no PFS-Proof. I called them and asked what was going on. They said that they were temporarily out of stock. However, a week later I got a credit-card credit slip for PFS-proof and a note saying they didn't stock it. No big deal but they should never have accepted my order in the first place. If you are buying something that costs more that $100, you are making a mistake if you don't buy from them, providing of course that they have what you want. 2. Computers and More - I'm in the process of buying a Leading Edge PC from them and have had a little trouble, some of which was their fault and some wasn't. They have a pretty good prices in general but fantastic prices on the Leading Edge Pc. I ordered one. Five days later I called them to find out what was happening. They said my credit cards were OK and that I would be sent a PC soon. After another week I called them again to find out why I hadn't received anything. They said that there was a law suite between Leading Edge and Mitsubishi and that they had to send back all their PC's. However, the person I talked to (Karen) seemed genuinely conserned and read my the letter from Leading Edge that described the suite. My only complaint with them is that they also charged my credit card even thought they didn't send me anything. Karen said this was a mistake and isn't their policy. If everything works out and I get my PC I'll probably do business with them again. We'll see. 3. PC's Limited - I've had absolutely no trouble of any kind with them. They also have free shipping and, since they are out of state, the price you see in their add is exactly the price you pay. They used to have the best memory price (29$/64K) so I bought 640K. Then the next week they lowered the price to $25/64K. Although this cost me $50 it wasn't their fault. In fact, I commend them for having such a price. Everything I've bought from them has arrived around 5 days after I ordered it. This place doesn't seem to stock much stuff, at least according to their add, but their prices are great and their service is too. 4. MicroMart - I ordered a TallTree memory board from them about 3 weeks ago and haven't heard or gotten a thing from them yet. But, they haven't charged my credit card yet (I think) so no real damage has been done yet. We'll see what happens. 5. Telesoft - I've never ordered anything from them but I often use their prices at references when dealing with LogicSoft (see above). They had SuperCalc 3 (Release 2) for $160, which was the lowest I ever saw. This meant that I got it for $150 from LogicSoft. I hope comments such as this don't stop mail order places from including prices in their adds. I hate it when they say "Lowest Price" or "Call". I think positive comments about places to buy stuff from would benefit the net. What do you think? Jon Forrest P.S. By all means get a free subscription to PC-Week. Many of the best prices are in it. ucbvax!ucsbcsl!forrest