hurd@atreus.bnr.ca (Scott Hurd) (08/11/90)
Greetings:
I am posting this for a friend who is about to purchase a new
Amiga 3000. His current plan is to get the machine from Montgomery
Grant, a mail-order place in the US.
I recall seeing many postings about peoples' nightmares about
dealingwith suspect mail-order houses. I mentioned this to my
friend, and told him I'd ask the net for advice. (I apologise for not
keeping the postings, but they didn't apply to me at the time. I am
a happy owner of an Amiga 2000, purchased from a dealer.)
Can someone (or many of you) give me the 'low down' on
Montgomery Grant? What are the 'good' mail order places? Which ones
should my friend avoid?
Please respond via EMAIL to the address below.
Cheers,
Scott.
--
Scott W. Hurd,
Bell-Northern Research, Ottawa, Canada.
uunet!bnrgate!atreus!hurd
"... he who hesitates ... uh, er, ..."umturne4@ccu.umanitoba.ca (Daryl Turner) (08/11/90)
You must have been reading my mind about wanting to know about Montgomery
Grant and Amiga mail order places in general. I just upgraded to an
Amiga 500 from my 128. When I had it, I had favorable dealings with
Computer Direct and Software Support International, so I'll likely stay
with SSI for software purchases. But hardware is another matter. I'm
looking at getting a hard drive with additional RAM for my A500, and
an ad for the Supra 500XP caught my eye. The 40 Meg version of this
drive (Quantum, 19 ms, I believe) costs $569 US at MG. They say that
there is a 2 Meg expansion board available for the drive in the ad,
but denied this on the phone? I did see other ads for the drive AND
the RAM, but much more expensive than MG.
Any info on mail order houses or the Supra 500XP would be greatly
appreciated.
Daryl Turner
<umturne4@ccu.umanitoba.ca>mkiteam@osiris.cso.uiuc.edu (E.Japel) (08/11/90)
umturne4@ccu.umanitoba.ca (Daryl Turner) writes: >with SSI for software purchases. But hardware is another matter. I'm >looking at getting a hard drive with additional RAM for my A500, and >an ad for the Supra 500XP caught my eye. The 40 Meg version of this >drive (Quantum, 19 ms, I believe) costs $569 US at MG. They say that >there is a 2 Meg expansion board available for the drive in the ad, >but denied this on the phone? I did see other ads for the drive AND >the RAM, but much more expensive than MG. > >Any info on mail order houses or the Supra 500XP would be greatly >appreciated. > > Daryl Turner > <umturne4@ccu.umanitoba.ca> The mail order company I use is Computability, based in Wisconson. I recently purchased a Trumpcard 500 w/40 meg Quantum drive and an external powersupply for $654. Ordered it at 6:00pm on a Monday, (credit card call) and received it by UPS on Wednesday. They have an 800 number for orders and another for info. The Trumpcard 500 has an internal slot for their own memory expansion card, up to 4 meg. They run regular adds in most of the Amiga magazines and list phone numbers there. (disclaimer - I don't work for or have any relatives who work for this company, I only order from them) Ed Japel
barrett@jhunix.HCF.JHU.EDU (Dan Barrett) (08/11/90)
In article <1990Aug11.062205.9424@ccu.umanitoba.ca> umturne4@ccu.umanitoba.ca (Daryl Turner) writes: >You must have been reading my mind about wanting to know about Montgomery >Grant and Amiga mail order places in general. I have not ordered from Montgomery Grant, but I have been reading comp.sys.amiga for over 4.5 years. I have read so many horror stories about MG that I would never consider ordering from them. Here are my observations on a number of mailorder houses, based on my long-time reading of c.s.a., and the placement of many orders during that time. The consensus, as I have seen it, is to AVOID both Montgomery Grant and M.C.S. (Micro Computer Services). The mailorder house that has received the most praise in this newsgroup is Safe Harbor Software. Other places that have received *mostly* praise, but also the occasional complaint, are Go Amigo, Briwall, Computability (some Canadians complained), and Computer Mart. People are split 50/50 over Abel Supply Co., whose prices are almost always far cheaper than the other stores. The consensus seems to be that Abel is good for IN-STOCK SOFTWARE only. If it's hardware, or if it's out of stock, don't order it. I am a happy customer of Abel Supply, Go Amigo, and Computer Mart. My good experiences with Abel outweight the bad by about 10 to 1. >...costs $569 US at MG. They say that there is a 2 Meg expansion board >available for the drive in the ad, but denied this on the phone? Little inconsistencies like this should give you a hint of what might come if you order from MG. Dan //////////////////////////////////////\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ | Dan Barrett, Department of Computer Science Johns Hopkins University | | INTERNET: barrett@cs.jhu.edu | | | COMPUSERVE: >internet:barrett@cs.jhu.edu | UUCP: barrett@jhunix.UUCP | \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\/////////////////////////////////////
JKT100@psuvm.psu.edu (JKT) (08/13/90)
The official low-down, at least from Commodore, is that they will not
honor ANY warranties on Mail-ordered Amigas. This INCLUDES ComputAbility,
according to a recent (June) memorandum, and of course, applies also to
Montgomery Grant. Besides, Montgomery Grant is not an authorized Commodore
dealer. If your friend purchases his A3000 from Montgomery Grant, he will
have NO warranty whatsoever on the unit.
Montgomery Grant also has the _worst_ reputation of any dealer I have
ever heard of. They routinely repackage returned and defective units
and ship them out again as "new" equipment. They hassle you if you have
a complaint. They delay orders, "lose" returns, and essentially give
mail-order a bad name.
'Nuff said?
Kurt
--
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
|| Kurt Tappe (215) 363-9485 || Amigas, Macs, IBM's, C-64's, NeXTs, ||
|| 184 W. Valley Hill Rd. || Apple ]['s.... I use 'em all. ||
|| Malvern, PA 19355-2214 || (and in that order too! ;-) ||
|| jkt100@psuvm.psu.edu --------------------------------------||
|| jkt100@psuvm.bitnet jkt100%psuvm.bitnet@psuvax1 QLink: KurtTappe ||
-----------------------------------------------------------------------stevek@welch.jhu.edu (Steve Kelley) (08/13/90)
In article <90224.190820JKT100@psuvm.psu.edu> JKT100@psuvm.psu.edu (JKT) writes: 1) >The official low-down, at least from Commodore, is that they will not >honor ANY warranties on Mail-ordered Amigas. NO warranty whatsoever >on the unit. 2) >Montgomery Grant also has the _worst_ reputation of any dealer I have >ever heard of. They routinely repackage returned and defective units >and ship them out again as "new" equipment. They hassle you if you have >a complaint. They delay orders, "lose" returns, and essentially give >mail-order a bad name. I *hate* to do this *BUT*... FLAME ON 1) CBM has *repeatedly* said they would honor *ALL* warrantys. Call their cust. supp. to check. 2) This might be construed as SLANDER. *Please* cite specific cases. flame off Now my EXPERIENCE w/ MG. I bought an A2500 from them last year. My plastic was a bit threadbare so I used a friend's card. So, they (of course) called her the same day. *THEN* they called her bank and called her again 2-3 times leaving messages at home and her work. They really pushed to sell their $300 "warranty", too... It then took 10+ days to deliver UPS - if I wanted 2nd Day Air it would be 3% (of $3200) more. They charge 3% shipping *ALREADY*. I heard of the "reconditioned machine rumors" (they *probably* are a grey market opperation) after the fact but i recieved an unopened CBM box w/ a perfectly working 2500 inside. CBM assured me *at that time* that they honor all warrantys on it. Reccomendation: Unless you like hassles *AVOID* MG. This is definately a CAVEAT EMPTOR type place. The extra couple of $100 saved is not worth it. Other MOs (Briwall, Computability, GO Amigo, etc) are much easier to deal with. I recently got an A3000 at ed. disc. via a local dealer which is *THE* way to go if you're a university type. they would honor *all* warrantys.
usenet@darkstar.ucsc.edu (Usenet News Account) (08/13/90)
burned if you deal with them. Of all the mail order houses they are the absolute worst!!!. From: terry@helios.ucsc.edu (Terry Ricketts) Path: helios!terry | Terry Ricketts | Internet: terry@helios.ucsc.edu | Senior Electronics Engineer | loel@helios.ucsc.edu | Lick Observatory Electronics Lab | Phone: 408-459-2110 | University of Calif, Santa Cruz |
JKT100@psuvm.psu.edu (JKT) (08/15/90)
In article <1990Aug13.142514.5719@welch.jhu.edu>, stevek@welch.jhu.edu (Steve Kelley) says: > >In article <90224.190820JKT100@psuvm.psu.edu> JKT100@psuvm.psu.edu (JKT) : >writes >>The official low-down, at least from Commodore, is that they will not >>honor ANY warranties on Mail-ordered Amigas. NO warranty whatsoever >>on the unit. > > 1) CBM has *repeatedly* said they would honor *ALL* warrantys. > Call their cust. supp. to check. > I am Customer Support. If you want verification, call my supervisor, Dave Minnich at Commodore. (215) 431-9100. The warranty information I listed in my post came directly from him. It is a *recent* memorandum, as I stated in my post. The info about Mongomery Grant was partially unfounded, and I apologize. What I said could, however, be best described ad "common" knowledge Throughout Cust. Supp. Kurt
greg@walt.cc.utexas.edu (Greg Harp) (08/15/90)
In article <6076@jhunix.HCF.JHU.EDU> barrett@jhunix.UUCP (Dan Barrett) writes: > The consensus, as I have seen it, is to AVOID both Montgomery Grant >and M.C.S. (Micro Computer Services). I wish I had seen something about MCS before now. Today I celebrated my three week anniversary of my order, which has not arrived. When I ordered the product, I was told it was in stock (in fact, the salesperson recommended this particular product over the one I was intending to order. I had been 50/50 between the two products, so I went with his recommendation) and that it would arrive in 7-10 days. A week later I was called and told that the product was to be SHIPPED that day. When I asked why it hadn't already been shipped, I got silence, then "It'll be there Friday." Anyway, today I called, and was told that it hadn't been shipped YET. After chewing on the person (the same one who I ordered from and who called me the next week) about their business practices, I cancelled the order (to his protest -- he didn't want to do it! After all, they expected new shipments of the product that had apparently been out of stock of sometime this week! Grr!). Luckily, I had ordered COD, so I'm not out any money or anything. Half an hour later I ordered the product from BriWall. These people seemed alot more professional, and were able to give me alot of technical info on it. (Actually, after a second call, they cut me a deal on a lower price!) Also, BriWalls shipping seems to be much better priced. The same product I would have paid $13 shipping on at MCS for UPS ground will cost me $8 shipping for UPS 2nd Day Air from BriWall! My recommendation has to be for this company. I would at least give them a call, since my periodic checks of their prices have shown them to be lower than advertised. The other mail order house I have dealt with for Amiga products is 7-Day Software (which I have heard is out of business -- no surprise). These guys took two weeks to ship me an A501 compatible that I ordered and sent UPS 2nd day air! Again, I was TOLD that it was in stock when I ordered. It seems that this company's name does not apply to their hardware! :-) > The mailorder house that has received the most praise in this >newsgroup is Safe Harbor Software. > > Other places that have received *mostly* praise, but also the >occasional complaint, are Go Amigo, Briwall, Computability (some Canadians >complained), and Computer Mart. > > People are split 50/50 over Abel Supply Co., whose prices are almost >always far cheaper than the other stores. The consensus seems to be that >Abel is good for IN-STOCK SOFTWARE only. If it's hardware, or if it's out >of stock, don't order it. > > I am a happy customer of Abel Supply, Go Amigo, and Computer Mart. >My good experiences with Abel outweight the bad by about 10 to 1. > > Dan > > //////////////////////////////////////\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ >| Dan Barrett, Department of Computer Science Johns Hopkins University | >| INTERNET: barrett@cs.jhu.edu | | >| COMPUSERVE: >internet:barrett@cs.jhu.edu | UUCP: barrett@jhunix.UUCP | > \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\///////////////////////////////////// I am an unhappy customer of MCS and 7-Day (HA!) Software. I am so far a very happy customer of BriWall. We'll see how this turns out on Friday, when the product is supposed to arrive.... greg... _ _ Disclaimer: "What I _really_ meant was..." AMIGA! //// //// "Run to the bedroom, in the suitcase on the left you'll find my _ _ //// favorite axe." --Roger Waters, Pink Floyd's The Wall, One of My Turns \\\\//// \\XX// Greg Harp greg@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu
hychejw@ingr.com (Jeff W. Hyche) (08/21/90)
greg@walt.cc.utexas.edu (Greg Harp) writes: >Half an hour later I ordered the product from BriWall. These people seemed >alot more professional, and were able to give me alot of technical info on >it. (Actually, after a second call, they cut me a deal on a lower price!) >Also, BriWalls shipping seems to be much better priced. The same product I >would have paid $13 shipping on at MCS for UPS ground will cost me $8 >shipping for UPS 2nd Day Air from BriWall! My recommendation has to be >for this company. I would at least give them a call, since my periodic >checks of their prices have shown them to be lower than advertised. I got my 2nd Amiga from BriWall after my first one was trashed in a house fire. The sales person I talked to treated me very professionly and was very knowlagable in the products he was selling. The told me what the had in stock (90% of my order) and what they didn't. They shipped it on time and the rest of my order came in two days latter. And they even cut me a deal for ordering a package. It's nice to see them still around. (and thier adds are gettin slick too) Jeff
rea@AntHill.UUCP (Robert E. Anderson) (08/24/90)
Just for those who are counting pluses for Bri-Wall (NOT MG), I too would give them a big thumbs up. I ordered ROM chips for a friends SIMM & SCSI expansion on a A1000. Nothing but helpfull people who knew what they sold (That's very unusual). By the way if you haven't picked up on my spelling yours must be as bad. Does anybody have a good spelling checker that has a nice front end to AmigaDOS with an mind reading option that can be turned on to curtail the mistakes. This is (for the most part) a serious question. Does anybody have a good (usable) system to quickly check spellings from an online dictionary, hopefully with a great guesse Algrthm. -- ---------------------------------------------------------------- Robert E. Anderson From the Ant Hill Research Computing Center unhd.unh.edu!AntHill!rea Durham NH 03824 Amiga 2000 UUCP / Dillon ---------------------------------------------------------------- "Welcome my son, welcome to the machine." - Pink Ployd
jerry@truevision.com (Jerry Thompson) (08/25/90)
Another thumbs up for Briwall. I bought some memory from them. I quoted them a price on RAM, and they came back with a lower price. Not "we can match that," or "$1 under," but a lower price. Shipped it jiffy quick too. or $1 under, but less -- Jerry Thompson | // checks ___________ | "I'm into S&M, "What I want to know is, have | \\ // and | | | | Sarcasm and you ever seen Claude Rains?" | \X/ balances /_\ | /_\ | Mass Sarcasm."