hamilton@uiucuxc.CSO.UIUC.EDU (09/15/86)
>Custom parts for the Amiga are available *ONLY* through Authorized Amiga >Dealers. To become an authorized dealer, the dealer must agree to 'service' >Amigas. The dealer gets a Service manual, containing a parts list, and can >order, via telephone, any parts on the list. interesting... does this mean a dealer who refuses to service amigas can lose his "authorized" status? in my town, we have an authorized dealership that does most of its business in the ibm/mac sector, and only reluctantly has anything to do with amiga. they charge the kind of prices you'd expect from an ibm dealer; when i bought my machine last october, they wanted $70 for 10 3.5" sony DS/DD disks. i think they no longer even have a demo unit in the store, and the last time i talked to the salesman, he implied they would not be re-ordering. as far as i know, they haven't done any in-store amiga repairs for owners around here. a few blocks away we have a long-established commodore (but not amiga) dealer, who is very enthusiastic about the amiga, stocks software and hardware for it, maintains a PD library for customers to copy, and even sells gray-market machines. he would love to be "authorized", but the other store has him blocked(?). wayne hamilton U of Il and US Army Corps of Engineers CERL UUCP: {ihnp4,pur-ee,convex}!uiucdcs!uiucuxc!hamilton ARPA: hamilton%uiucuxc@a.cs.uiuc.edu USMail: Box 476, Urbana, IL 61801 CSNET: hamilton%uiucuxc@uiuc.csnet Phone: (217)333-8703 CIS: [73047,544] PLink: w hamilton
preece@ccvaxa.UUCP (09/16/86)
> Eric Green {akgua,ut-sally}!usl!elg writes: > He makes his living repairing computers, since it's becoming > impossible for anybody to make one selling them (let's face it, K-Marts > and stereo stores have stolen the low end, the high end is mostly > direct corporate sales, there's a tight squeeze on the middle right > now). ---------- You might change that "stolen" to "captured". The non-computer retailers have done nothing illegal or unethical to dominate the low-end market -- they've just undersold the competition. -- scott preece gould/csd - urbana uucp: ihnp4!uiucdcs!ccvaxa!preece arpa: preece@gswd-vms
elg@usl.UUCP (Eric Lee Green) (09/17/86)
In article <148600139@uiucuxc> hamilton@uiucuxc.CSO.UIUC.EDU writes: > >>Custom parts for the Amiga are available *ONLY* through Authorized Amiga >>Dealers. To become an authorized dealer, the dealer must agree to 'service' >>Amigas. The dealer gets a Service manual, containing a parts list, and can >>order, via telephone, any parts on the list. > in my town, we have an authorized dealership that does most of >its business in the ibm/mac sector, and only reluctantly has anything >to do with amiga. they charge the kind of prices you'd expect from an >they would not be re-ordering. as far as i know, they haven't done any >in-store amiga repairs for owners around here. > a few blocks away we have a long-established commodore (but not amiga) >dealer, who is very enthusiastic about the amiga, stocks software and >hardware for it, maintains a PD library for customers to copy, and even >sells gray-market machines. he would love to be "authorized", but the >other store has him blocked(?). The above is a sad occurence that happens oh too often. The problem is that the Amiga dealer network specifically discriminates against established Commodore dealers, in order to avoid associating the Amiga with their "toy" machines. In fact, my local Commodore dealer only became an Amiga dealer by putting up a $10,000 deposit after he was rejected the first time (the situation here in Lafayette is similiar, an IBM dealer mangling the Amiga, a Commodore dealer pushing the Amiga). Of course, the only way he stays in business is by repairing computers (let's face it, you aren't going to make much money being a Commodore dealer, what with every K-Mart in town selling the critters). Hurrah for Commodore quality control! (although he hasn't fixed a single Amiga yet, out of the hundreds sold around here). > wayne hamilton >UUCP: {ihnp4,pur-ee,convex}!uiucdcs!uiucuxc!hamilton -- Eric Green {akgua,ut-sally}!usl!elg (Snail Mail P.O. Box 92191, Lafayette, LA 70509) -- Tengo lo mismo que doy y solo sirve al presente.