bchurch@oucsace.cs.OHIOU.EDU (Bob Church) (11/18/89)
> > > Well, maybe there service isn't the greatest, but how many Apple dealers > do you know that do provide good service for Apple II's? However, if > you're looking for the best price, they usually have it. I got my IIGS > there for less than mail order prices, and most their other hardware > is priced likewise (like an Apple SCSI card for $104). Plus, unlike mail > order, you can walk out with your purchase that day. For service, find > a dealer with good service (if you can :^). > Wait a minute! If this message means what I think it does then it is suggesting the very thing that has (IMHO) caused the vast majority of dealer problems. If you buy from the cheapest source and then go to another dealer for service you cut the throat of the "good" dealers. The local dealer in Athens cannot compete with prices in Columbus because of the volume they do. On the other hand the Columbus dealers promptly forget your name as soon as they cash your check. When questions arise people who bought their systems in Columbus expect to get the royal treatment from the Athens dealer. They can't under stand why they don't get treated as well as I do and complain. It's because I buy from them. If you don't want the Apple // to become another K-MART item quit acting like it when you goshopping. Bob Church att!oucsace!bchurch
IRPGMR7@OUACCVMB.BITNET (11/19/89)
To bchurch@oucsace.cs.ohiou.edu et allii: When I decide where I get my Apple products (or others for that matter), a big factor is how helpful is the salesman. If he can answer the question placed before him, then he's usually made a sale, otherwise, I'll go to Columbus. I remember having problems with the Athens dealer trying to get System Disk 5.0 (still no word on 5.0.2) all in the same month I bought an extended keyboard & SCSI Interface from the guy in Athens. I paid about $189 for the interface & $249 for the keyboard. Meanwhile the salesman acknowledged having 5.0 but didn't want to bother getting it out. (They were too busy, this is from what I saw, setting up IBM clones in the fron of the salesroom.) It's no wonder that I turned around and bought my LQ from Columbus (by the way, they sent me the system disk 5.0 package free of charge.) And guess what came today: a note from the salesman in Columbus telling me that he'll send me the 5.0.2 package, or whatever the latest version he has after 5.0 as soon as he clears it with his mgr. Guess the guy didn't forget about me after all (but then I used a credit card, not a check). A year ago, when I got my 65 meg SCSI from Tulin, I chose them over Hard Drives International. HDI was cheaper, but they had an attitude problem. I paid about $150 more at Tulin, but then when I had a problem they were there. Price is not the primary feature that makes me buy here or there, it's whether or not the salesperson I talked to gives (1) a damn about the kind of computer he's trying to sell, (2) any inkling of knowledge about said computer, and (3) whether or not I'm going to get any kind of help from this person after I buy the product. David William Wrage a.k.a. The Frenchman -'I don't have a nifty saying yet, but I'll think of one.....' US Mail : 7140 Selby Road - Lot 109, Athens, Ohio 45701 (USA) Userid : IRPGMR7@OUACCVMB.BITNET (Ohio University) + - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - + 'If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker that came along would destroy civilization.' - Gerald Weinberg