jesup@cbmvax.commodore.com (Randell Jesup) (01/27/91)
In article <1991Jan25.183925.22680@engin.umich.edu> milamber@caen.engin.umich.edu (Daryl Scott Cantrell) writes: [comments about an audio jack he busted] > Commodore sold me this computer (nice!), they have some minimum obligation >to supply replacement parts. I mean there's a bin somewhere in their factory >with 100,000 of these things sitting in it! Don't forget the factory with the bin is probably in Hong Kong, where most of our motherboards are made (US is mostly assembly and pre-production runs). It's not a real common repair part. -- Randell Jesup, Keeper of AmigaDos, Commodore Engineering. {uunet|rutgers}!cbmvax!jesup, jesup@cbmvax.commodore.com BIX: rjesup The compiler runs Like a swift-flowing river I wait in silence. (From "The Zen of Programming") ;-)
tbissett@nstar.rn.com (Travis Bissett) (01/28/91)
jesup@cbmvax.commodore.com (Randell Jesup) writes: > -- > Randell Jesup, Keeper of AmigaDos, Commodore Engineering. > {uunet|rutgers}!cbmvax!jesup, jesup@cbmvax.commodore.com BIX: rjesup > The compiler runs > Like a swift-flowing river > I wait in silence. (From "The Zen of Programming") ;-) Are you a real, bona fide Guru? Maybe you can tell me where the Fred Fish disks spawn? I mean, does Fred have an anonymous FTP or UUCP address we can use? Our group is trying to find 420 - 430. And, who do I contact about A3000ux machines for potential engineering us in our defense contractor site? Hey, I appreciate your consideration (and patience :-) if propellor heads and bandwidth eaters like me annoy you sit on a joy board <chuckle>). -- internet: {tbissett@nstar.rn.com -or- tbissett%nstar@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu} uucp: {..!uunet!nstar.rn.com!tbissett -or- ..!uunet!nstar!tbissett NSTAR Public Access 219-289-0287 - 1190 newsgroups - 1500 megabytes - 7 lines
djohnson@beowulf.ucsd.edu (Darin Johnson) (01/29/91)
>> Randell Jesup, Keeper of AmigaDos, Commodore Engineering. >> {uunet|rutgers}!cbmvax!jesup, jesup@cbmvax.commodore.com BIX: rjesup >> The compiler runs >> Like a swift-flowing river >> I wait in silence. (From "The Zen of Programming") ;-) > >Are you a real, bona fide Guru? Those that call themselves a guru will find they have much too learn. Those that feel they yet have more to learn will become the teachers. This question can not have a truthful yes answer. (Ok, so it's not Zen... Mu!) -- Darin Johnson djohnson@ucsd.edu - Political correctness is Turing undecidable.
jtravis@dworkin.Amber.COM (JTravis (Jim, SysOp)) (01/29/91)
milamber@caen.engin.umich.edu (Daryl Scott Cantrell) writes: > In article <kherron.664745849@s.ms.uky.edu> kherron@ms.uky.edu (Kenneth Herro > >twells@eecs.cs.pdx.edu (Tabor Wells) writes: > > > >>Wait, no, let me get this straight. I cannot get a new internal drive butto > >>... > > > >When the drive manufacturers ship the drive, they already have the buttons > >on them. CBM probably doesn't stock *any* separate drive parts. > > I'm having a similar problem with a part Commodore DID supply. I broke the > left audio jack on my 3000 (amazing how much leverage you get on it when you > push down on a cable plugged into it..) and couldn't get a new one. I figure > I'd just go to an authorized repair center and order a replacement but the gu > initially wanted me to replace my motherboard (mega-bucks). All for a $.05 p > of molded plasic made in a Korean sweat shop! Eventually he talked Commodore > (which refused to sell him an audio jack) into doing a warranty motherboard- > swap. I don't have a problem with this since I'm not paying for it, but I > imagine any profit margin CBM made on my educational buy is out the window.. > Commodore sold me this computer (nice!), they have some minimum obligation > to supply replacement parts. I mean there's a bin somewhere in their factory > with 100,000 of these things sitting in it! > > > -- > +---------------------------------------+----------------------------+ > | // Daryl S. Cantrell | These opinions are | > | |\\\ milamber@caen.engin.umich.edu | shared by all of // | > | |// Evolution's over. We won. | Humanity. \X/ | > +---------------------------------------+----------------------------+ Gotta say something about all these "broken button and blown cap" posts I've been reading. I am a service manager at a LARGE computer group here in the Princeton, NJ area. We sell Apples, Compaqs, IBMs, Hyundai, NECs...and I don't know of ONE organization that would: 1. Replace a part, under warranty, broken by an end user. 2. Allow component-level repairs of their hardware by ANYONE but their own internal repair groups. And that's the way the world works folks. It isn't Commodore's fault - it's the way the industry works. Most groups whore their boxes into the channel and then expect to do 50%-70% of their business in repair. Most big companies repair these days rather than replace. I know - I service American Cyanamid, Merril Lynch, Mc Graw-Hill, The State of New Jersey, National Westminister Bank, Intel, IBM (yes, we do their work!) ... quite a few others. And the prices for parts are based upon the origional cost of the machine when introduced into the market. Whuzzat mean? Well, if a Mac Whatever cost $2000 when introduced, and the retail price of the beast drops $500, pray that it never breaks. Because with $250 power supplies, $330 800K drives, $260 analogue boards and even $35 ribbon cables between the disk drive and the mother board (all of 3 inches), it'll cost AT LEAST as much as the origional list price of the machine to fix it. Some companies (READ: Compaq) offer exceptional service, with next-day air service of a warranty part (IF they have it in stock - don't even bother if it's a 386Sx or 386-based motherboard. Backlog..), but you pay through the wahzoo for the machines. Every Comapq has been incredibly expensive because of their service ability, and not every user is "lucky" enough to need it within the first 12 months. AFTER 12 months, Compaq is looking for your $$$, and you can rarely, if ever, get them to see your way. Boys and girls, the motto then is - bend over and expect to pay - especially if you're responsible for the damage. And never expect that the computer company has "spare parts" laying around. More often one board's assembled in Korea, and other in Ireland..MAYBE the boards are stuck in th appropriate slots here in the US. I'd never expect to find a part at hand. Anywhere. From anyone. And that's the business.. Jim Trascapoulos CSAccess BBS **** Lawrenceville, NJ ***** 609.584.8774
tbissett@nstar.rn.com (Travis Bissett) (01/30/91)
jtravis@dworkin.Amber.COM (JTravis (Jim, SysOp)) writes: > Gotta say something about all these "broken button and blown cap" > posts I've been reading. I am a service manager at a LARGE computer group > here in the Princeton, NJ area. We sell Apples, Compaqs, IBMs, Hyundai, > NECs...and I don't know of ONE organization that would: > > 1. Replace a part, under warranty, broken by an end user. > 2. Allow component-level repairs of their hardware by ANYONE > but their own internal repair groups. > > And that's the way the world works folks. It isn't Commodore's fault > - it's the way the industry works. Most groups whore their boxes into the > channel and then expect to do 50%-70% of their business in repair. Most big Say Jim, mainly I'm wasting bandwidth 'cause I thought your username was kind o' neat. But I also want to give about $.02 worth on oem's and vendors that don't even service the parts they sell. My 1080 zapped itself when it was only 2 years old (apparently they had a weakness in this regard). All it needed to fix it was a resistor and a coil. The resistor was easy but neither Toshiba nor CBM was helpful on the inductor. I could get neither a replacement part nor the design specs to fabricate my own. The service people shrugged and said it would be a board replacement thing that'd cost more than the monitor was worth. But I sort of got even. I sold it to a friend for $50 as salvage and used the cash to get a reliable used monochrome monitor. No CBM monitor for me. From now on I'll buy direct and avoid the middleman -- I'm holding out for a Trinitron. Bottom line: the friend imposed on a service friend of his own to get the part. It took many months and lots of heavy leaning on CBM -- West Chester finally got tired and shipped him a returned 1080. he took the part he needed and shipped the chassis back to W.C. That monitor has been running solid for 2 years now and my friend is satisfied. He got a $50 RGB monitor for only a lot of risk and effort. Me, I'm still waiting to be able to afford a Sony :-) BTW, I agree 100% with you that "that's the way the world works." CBM is probably near the middle of the pack in regards to aftersales service and support. And, the aerospace industry is well known to sell at or below cost on the new parts in the expectation of making up revenues in service parts. So I'm not picking on CBM by any means. +++++++++++++++ Travis Bissett := Cult Amigoid +++++++++++ -- internet: tbissett@nstar.rn.com -or- tbissett%nstar@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu uucp: ..!uunet!nstar.rn.com!tbissett -or- ..!uunet!nstar!tbissett NSTAR Public Access 219-289-0287 - 1190 newsgroups - 1500 megabytes - 7 lines
pondscum@zooid (Lima Bone) (01/30/91)
tbissett@nstar.rn.com (Travis Bissett) writes: > jesup@cbmvax.commodore.com (Randell Jesup) writes: > > > -- > > Randell Jesup, Keeper of AmigaDos, Commodore Engineering. > > {uunet|rutgers}!cbmvax!jesup, jesup@cbmvax.commodore.com BIX: rjesup > Are you a real, bona fide Guru? Maybe you can tell me where the Fred Fish > disks spawn? I mean, does Fred have an anonymous FTP or UUCP address we can > use? Our group is trying to find 420 - 430. And, who do I contact about > A3000ux machines for potential engineering us in our defense contractor > site? Hey, I appreciate your consideration (and patience :-) if propellor > uucp: {..!uunet!nstar.rn.com!tbissett -or- ..!uunet!nstar!tbissett > NSTAR Public Access 219-289-0287 - 1190 newsgroups - 1500 megabytes - 7 lines I am sorry, Fred is actually spawning right now, so we wont be seeing any more Fish Sticks..I mean disks until he is done with his business. You should see the trout he landed too, it looks like he might be gone a while. The Slimey One
peter@sugar.hackercorp.com (Peter da Silva) (01/30/91)
In article <1991Jan25.183925.22680@engin.umich.edu> milamber@caen.engin.umich.edu (Daryl Scott Cantrell) writes: > Commodore sold me this computer (nice!), they have some minimum obligation > to supply replacement parts. I mean there's a bin somewhere in their factory > with 100,000 of these things sitting in it! I have the same problem with my keyboard. I can't imagine what possible benefit this policy has for Commodore, but I've been round and round with them on it. Mazda is willing to sell me any silly little doohickey for my car... at an incredibly inflated price ($5 for a piece of plastic the size of a backspace key! And that's not even a critical part)... why can't Commodore do the same? I need half a penny's worth replacement parts (which I'd be willing to pay 500 pennies for, easy) and my machine's out of action. -- Peter da Silva. `-_-' <peter@sugar.hackercorp.com>.