kek@mgweed.UUCP (Kit Kimes) (08/06/85)
According to the latest issue of COMPUTER ENTERTAINER newsletter, Atari is taking a very strange and disturbing stance on defective units. This can adversely effect distribution of the 520ST. I hope they change it fast! I quote from the article: "Atari has just taken the stance that they will acept NO returns from distributors and or retailers. Instead, they will offer 4% discount to the distributor/retailer which is supposed to cover any losses due to defective returns. As a result, unless a retailer feels they can move large quantities, they simply cannot take the risk involved as mark-up in the computer area is traditionally very slim, especially in competitive markets such as New York and Los Angeles. Imagine the luckless dealer who has five units on his shelf and one is defective. Any other company will take the computer back and provide another one that the dealer can sell. Instead, that defective unit must be "junked!" and the dealer must "eat" the machine under his 4% discount. Dealers we have spoken to simply will not deal with a policy like that and if they do, they plan to price the 520ST above the retail of $999.95 for CPU and RGB monitor to protect themselves. And we have had confirmation that due to this policy, at least one major distributor has dropped the ST line before it reaches their warehouse." With the competition that the ST line will be getting from AMIGA, Atari can ill afford such an inauspicious start to distributing the ST line. They need to have distributors knocking at their door, not the other way around. Kit Kimes AT&T Information Systems Montgomery Works Montgomery, Il. 60538-0305 ..!ihnp4!mgweed!kek