pthiesse@jarthur.Claremont.EDU (Paul Thiessen) (04/29/89)
A while back I posted an article asking for info on FiveStar and CPU 386/25
machines. I didn't get much response :-(
Here's the info anyway for those interested.
- Paul
If anyone else has any info on Fivestar or Computer Products United, please
write me and tell me!!!
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PAUL THIESSEN, Harvey Mudd College ...!uunet!jarthur!pthiesse
pthiesse@jarthur.claremont.edu pthiessen@hmcvax.bitnet
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From: Jerry Peek <jdpeek@rodan.acs.syr.edu>
Subject: Re: FiveStar or CPU? Info wanted.
To: pthiesse@JARTHUR.CLAREMONT.EDU
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc,comp.sys.misc,comp.misc
Paul,
I've got a FiveStar FS-386, 16 MHz. The first one I got was kind of a lemon;
it ran some programs, but not others. I sent it in once for service, waited
four weeks (they told me it'd take three days), finally had to get on the phone
and rattle their cage. People in the service department seemed clueless.
The manager I finally talked to was real helpful and seemed to know something.
The machine was back to me soon. I had to send it back one more time, though,
because the memory they put in was giving me parity checks. Now it works fine.
Another time, I called tech support about a hard-reset button for the machine.
They mailed me out a custom-made switch, free, and told me how to install it.
The salesperson (Jeannie McCrae) was very nice and friendly. She went out of
her way to help me, a peon customer who wanted just one cheap machine.
When the 20 MHz unit we talked about went up in price (memory cost $$$$
then), she found me a deal on a cheaper 16MHz one.
Overall, I get the feeling that the FiveStar people have their hearts in the
right place -- they care about customers and try to help. The service people
are sort of overwhelmed by work, and you have to lean on them. But overall,
Five Star is a pretty good outfit.
--Jerry Peek; Syracuse University Academic Computing Services; Syracuse, NY
jdpeek@rodan.acs.syr.edu, SUNRIS::JDPEEK, jdpeek@suvm.bitnet
+1 315 443-3995
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From: paula@atc.boeing.com
Subject: Re: FiveStar or CPU?? Info wanted.
To: "pthiesse%jarthur.claremont.edu"
<@MUDDCS.CLAREMONT.EDU:pthiesse%jarthur.claremont.edu@uunet.uu.net>
Paul,
I saw your note on the 386-users mailing list. I'm also in the
market for a 386 and have had contact with both FiveStar and Computer
Products United. Both companies had machines that came close to fitting
my requirements. I'm still looking because FiveStar doesn't offer a
30-day money back guarantee and the salesman at CPU didn't leave me with
a warm feeling. The CPU guy either couldn't answer technical questions
or sounded like he just got off the boat from China and was learning
English on-the-job. (I've talked to so many, they're all blending
together! :-( ) I visited FiveStar's booth at the Fall Comdex last
year. They looked solid and none of the demo machines crashed while
I was there. I'm just a bit nervous about making a major purchase like
this with no possibility of aborting if things happen to go sour.
Two companies that I haven't scratched from my list are QIC and Dell.
Dell's 20MHz 386 is $500-$1000 more than the cheapest clones, but it's
also one of the fastest. Their people were excellent on the phone, too.
QIC sells their own line of inexpensive boxes. (~$3000 for a 20MHz box
with mono, an 80M disk, and 1M of interleaved memory.) They also carry
the Everex Step series of machines at considerably lower prices than
Everex's retail. Both of these companies have a 30-day money-back
guarantee, and Dell offers free on-site service for a year.
Please summarize your responses to the net. There seem to be lots of
people trying to pick the best machine.
Paul Allen
pallen@atc.boeing.com
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PAUL THIESSEN, Harvey Mudd College ...!uunet!jarthur!pthiesse
pthiesse@jarthur.claremont.edu pthiessen@hmcvax.bitnet
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