kens@hplsla.HP.COM (Ken Snyder) (11/03/89)
This is a fairly long story about a computer that didn't work, a company
that was unresponsive and my dealings with them. I am enclosing at the end
the letter I sent to them when I returned the machine. It details the
problems I had dealing with their tech support. Notice I mailed the
machine back to them September 7th, they acknowleged receipt a week later
(Sept 14th) and I STILL do not have my money back. I have been told 3 times
that the "check will be in the mail tomorrow" and at least 5-6 times that
they would call me right back with information about it. I have yet to
receive a call back. These people only respond to you while you are on the
phone and once you hang up, they forget you. Dealing with them has been the
most frustrating experience I have ever had because every time they are soooo
apologetic about delays and they will get right on it and the next time you
call the process starts from ground zero. I've called them nearly every day
for 2 weeks now and it goes around and around. I've asked to speak to
supervisors or anyone in authority and always get the "They are busy right
now" or "They aren't in their office" or "We'll have them call you right
back". Needless to say, they never have. I'm ready to tell them all to
go to heck (!) but they still owe me >$4000. I'm sure Austin has plenty of
happy customers for which things went great but I am not one of them.
Another irritating item is that they split the 1 year service warrantee
cost away from the cost of the unit ($100) and this is non-refundable even
if you send the computer back the next day. So this experiment is costing
me well over $200 (shipping both ways, non-refundable). So much for return
within 30 days for a FULL refund. I would have thought this was standard
practice except my new computer (GATEWAY 2000) doesn't do this. As a
matter of fact, dealing with GATEWAY is a breath of fresh air. Not only
are they courteous on the phone (AUSTIN is always courteous) but things
come when they say they will (or before) and THEY CALL YOU BACK every time
they say they will! GATEWAY is restoring my faith in mailorder places
which is being soundly beaten every time I call AUSTIN.
For those of you looking to buy a mail order clone, consider this a data
point in your decision.
Letter to Austin follows:
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13322 62nd Dr SE
Everett, WA 98208
(206) 338-1255 (home)
(206) 335-2253 (work)
7-September-1989
Austin Computer Systems
Austin, TX 78701
Customer Service:
This return is per authorization by Scott Hedges. The circumstances that
led to this return follow.
The machine was purchased in May of this year. At the time of the
purchase I talked several times with Marty about the technical aspects of
the machine and was also told how the 24 hour service worked with the local
GE service center. He even looked up the nearest center to make sure it was
within the 50 mile radius of me. The claim of local service within 24 hours
sets Austin apart from the other mail order vendors.
About a month later I purchased and installed QEMM/386 along with
Deskview. Sometime after this I noticed an occasional system failure where
the system would 'lock up' while accessing the hard disc drive. It was very
random at first and I could not pin down just what was causing this problem.
Usually the system would return to normal after several seconds and the only
consequence was time lost waiting for the next command prompt. As time went
on the problem became more frequent and more severe with disc read errors
appearing. I did not associate the problem with the software yet.
At this time I called the Austin Technical Support line and began working
with John on this problem. The first few days were spent trying to reformat
and correct the problems on the disc drive. When this did not work I was
promised a disc drive and controller would be shipped by overnight mail.
I declined to have GE come out since I could install these components
myself. This is when the first serious delay occurred.
After waiting a week, I phoned Austin and was transferred to shipping
where it was determined that the controller card was backordered. It took
another few days to get the drive and controller which I immediately
installed, reformatted, reloaded all my software and noticed that the problem
had reverted to its earlier symptoms. Namely, the system hanging randomly.
The disc error problem did not recur.
I called John with these results and he said that he was referring the
problem to R&D and I would be getting a call that day from them. After 2
days of waiting I called John again and again was promised a call from R&D.
Two days later I called and asked for a manager. I do not recall the name
of the manager but he transferred me to Mark who said he had just been too
busy to return my call but now listened to my problems and promised to put
together a system to see if the problem could be duplicated. At this time
I informed Mark & the manager that I was up against a time constraint. In
two weeks, school would start and I needed the system fixed by then.
It is now about 4 weeks since I first called Austin. It is also about
this time that I noticed a significant increase in the amount of time I had
to wait before getting anyone to answer the phone. Since then, 3 times I have
hung up after waiting 10 minutes with no response from anyone. I also had
2 or 3 calls transferred to a phone after several minutes and no-one answered
after 3 minutes of constant ringing.
Another week went by and a further call indicated that no disc drives
were in stock and he was still waiting to put a system together similar to
mine. I impressed on him that time was running short and I needed something
done. A few days later he called to say he had tried my software combination
and could not duplicate the problem. He said he would get tech support call
me back and ship a motherboard to me. The next day John called and we
arranged to have the motherboard shipped. I was supposed to call him when
it arrived. It arrived on a Tuesday. I called John twice that day and both
times he was busy. Finally, on Wednesday, I left a message (I stopped
calling the 800 tech support line and started paying to talk to a person)
and received a reply that he got the message and called GE who would be out
the next day. My wife agreed to stay home all day Thursday in case GE called.
Thursday brought no call. Friday there was no call. Since it was the
labor day weekend I didn't expect to get a call before Tuesday. Tuesday
morning GE called and said they would be there that afternoon. Again my wife
stayed home that afternoon and no one came. That evening GE called and
apologized for not making it out and said they would be there Wednesday
morning about 10 AM. They also asked me about the problem and stated that
in the past, swapping motherboards had not helped. They stated that in 2
other cases they had had to swap the entire computer to solve this problem.
They finally arrived at 3PM and, with the use of MY tools to remove a
stripped crossthreaded screw, replaced the motherboard. On the phone from
work I directed the repairman to run the test I had been using. He
determined that the problem still existed. The system was occasionally
hanging and he was seeing garbage from some of the disc reads. That evening
I confirmed that the problem still existed. He told me he had tried to
contact Austin before coming out on the call and had been unsuccessful in
reaching anyone. He said he would call Austin and see what could be done
to get my machine fixed and would get back to me on Thursday. Of course,
no one called on Thursday.
Today is Friday and I have just completed a call requesting I
return the unit for a full refund. The reasons for this are many,
but most have to do with your service organization. I have had no
problems with any of the people in your organization. The all seem to
be courteous, professional and knowlegeable about the product. The problem
is:
1) Your organization is severely understaffed. Only once in my 25 or
so calls to your technical help line did a human answer the phone. I have
spent hours (5 - 10 minutes at at time) listening to your Austin radio
station. More than once I heard tales of how things were so busy my
problem had been set aside for something else (from AUSTIN's people
AND the GE people). While I sympathize with people who are overworked,
it doesn't help get my machine fixed. Your sales line seems to be much
better staffed!
2) The GE service organizations do not have spare parts. Even
AUSTIN doesn't have some spare parts for field service repairs. Three to
four weeks of my waiting for service were spend waiting for parts.
3) The GE service organization does not have a trained technician
experienced in computer servicing. The technician who serviced my machine
could only replace parts. He had no diagnostic tools or skills that
would allow him to diagnose problems in the machine. This is not how I
translate your advertisment which states: "Should your system fail, a GE
technician will come to you and resolve the problem...Usually within
24 hours."
These items lead me to believe that you cannot possibly meet your
advertised 24 hour response for fixing a down machine. This belief,
coupled with the fact that any machine I use will be in use on a daily
basis, is the reason I am returning the machine. This frustrating
experience has taken nearly 2 months and I still have a broken machine.
I also believe that the failure of my machine was there when it was
first purchased. It was only exposed when I purchased software that
exercised whatever mechanism is causing the failure.
Enclosed is a copy of the original invoice. I will be expecting
a full refund in the amount of $4724. This can either be in the form
of a check or credit to my VISA account number.
Regards,
Kenneth A. Snyderhalff@nprdc.arpa (Henry Halff) (11/04/89)
In article <5190055@hplsla.HP.COM> kens@hplsla.HP.COM (Ken Snyder) writes: > > This is a fairly long story about a computer that didn't work, a company >that was unresponsive and my dealings with them. ... >... Notice I mailed the >machine back to them September 7th, they acknowleged receipt a week later >(Sept 14th) and I STILL do not have my money back. I had similar dealings with a San Francisco firm. My advice, based on that experience is that you should file written complaints with the Better Business Bureau in Austin, with local government consumer protection agencies or the District Attorney, and, if the US Postal Service was involved (i.e., if Austin made any promises by mail) to the postal inspector. If you paid by VISA, complain to the VISA people as well; they've gotten me refunds as well. When you write these agencies send copies of every scrap of documentation that relates to the problem, and make sure that copies of your complaints go to Austin. hh