tr@wind.bellcore.com (tom reingold) (02/25/88)
In article <7432@ncoast.UUCP> btb@ncoast.UUCP (Brad Banko) writes:
$ [...]
$ Several weeks ago, I posted an article about some interesting development
$ products from:
$
$ Pecan Software Systems
$ 1410 39th Street
$ Brooklyn, NY 11218
$ 718-851-3100
$
$ [...]
$ I was a little suspicious about dealing with a company with
$ a Brooklyn, NY address, and I should have trusted my instincts.
$
$ [...]
$ I have learned:
$ - to trust my instincts and avoid businesses located in Brooklyn
$ - to avoid Pecan Software, and
$ - to stick with "big blue" (i.e., Microsoft)
$
$ I don't know if anybody else on the net has had dealings with Pecan, but
$ I sure regret mine. (To the tune of $100.) But, I'm not giving up.
$ Next stop, the Brooklyn Better Business Bureau (if they have one).
$
$ I am disgusted with Pecan Software.
Brad, your complaints about the company sound valid. But would
you kindly explain to me why the thousands of businesses in Brooklyn
should all be suspect because they are in a city you don't live in
and probably don't like? Have you ever been there? This is
disgusting. It's not very distinguishable from racism. I call it
locationism. I would be as annoyed at Pecan as you are. They were
not very business-like. But I fail to see why their practices are
correlated with their address!
Clean up your mind.
Furthermore, how many software companies take a return because you
don't like the product? I think they should but they don't. So
how has Pecan been different from the others? Tell me Microsoft
would return your money. There was a discussion here very recently
about how an ad Microsoft placed was deceptive about a feature in
their new compiler that simply did not exist and thus was not
essentially present. And it was a major selling point. I am not
excusing Pecan. What they did sounds inexcusable. I just want to
put it in context.
Tom Reingold INTERNET: tr@bellcore.bellcore.com
Bell Communications Research UUCP: rutgers!bellcore!tr
435 South St room 2L350 SOUNDNET: (201) 829-4622 [work]
Morristown, NJ 07960 (201) 287-2345 [home]jik@athena.mit.edu (Jonathan I. Kamens) (02/26/88)
In article <5680@bellcore.bellcore.com> tr@wind.UUCP (tom reingold) writes: >... >Furthermore, how many software companies take a return because you >don't like the product? ... Quite a few, actually. It has been my experience that if you buy a business package (Note that I'm talking about business software and not games -- games are a totally different story.) and discover after your purchase that the program either does not do what you want it to do or does not do what the company said it will, calling up and explaining the situation to them, sometimes very politely and sometimes with more, well, vigor, will usually get them to allow you to return the software. Of course, if they think you're trying to make up reasons to return the software because you've finished copying the disk and the manual, then they won't let you return it, but that doesn't sound like what happened in this case. An example: Several months ago, I purchased a Wordstar CP/M Edition upgrade for $94 from MicroPro. It didn't work on my hardware when I finally got it. So, I called up their technical service hotline, and that was no help. I then wrote a letter to their technical service department asking for help. After a month and a half waiting for a response, I wrote another letter. After another month of hearing nothing from technical support, I wrote a third letter and sent a copy to the president of the company and the director of customer support. I got a check for the full purchase price of the program in the mail a week and a half later. Now, I'm not saying that MicroPro is an example of good customer service, because I think their customer service is crap. However, they DID refund my money. They also let me keep the software, so if I ever manage to get it to work, I'm even better off. -=> Jonathan I. Kamens | "There is no expedient to which man will not go MIT '91 | to avoid the real labor of thought." jik@ATHENA.MIT.EDU | -- Thomas Alva Edison