phil@titan.rice.edu (William LeFebvre) (02/17/88)
In article <41881@sun.uucp> cmcmanis@sun.UUCP (Chuck McManis) writes: >In article <565@ra.rice.edu> phil@Rice.edu (William LeFebvre) writes: >> (2) the local dealer doesn't charge outrageous prices for hardware >> and software. > >Does "outrageous" in this case mean "list price" or does it mean something >different? Well, I guess I should have been a little clearer. To me, "list price" for certain products seems outrageous. *Most* software for the Amiga still has a semi-reasonable list price (although I am beginning to see a trend towards the expensive). What I considered outrageous was the $1999 list price for the B2000. It was reasonable at $1500 and I probably would have paid list for it if I had to. But $2000 PLUS another $350 for the monitor? Give me a break! I had found a dealer here in Houston, on the recommendation of a 1000 owner, and became one of their "preferred customers". They were going to give me a very nice price for the 2000+1080. I figured, "this is great! Not only do I get all the advantages of a local dealer, but I get a good price too. I will stay on good terms and buy all my software through them. They are very nice people." And they were wonderful people. They met my first three criteria mentioned in my previous posting. They were people I wanted to support with my business. When Commodore announced the "real" list price for the 2000, they quickly calculated another pretty good discount price and it was still a decent buy (not as good as before, but I understood that it wasn't their fault). And I was still going to buy from them. Unfortunately, they went out of business waiting for 500's and 2000's to ship. The only other Amiga dealer in Houston that I checked with (there's only two that I know of, and I had heard very bad things about one of them) wanted to charge me full list price and seemed unwilling to budge. So I went mail order. And I still go mail order for software. It's frustrating having to wait and not being able to demo the stuff myself, but I feel kind of guilty taking up time at the local dealer (the salesmen are obnoxious, anyway---they don't leave me alone). >I wonder sometimes about the consumer market, especially now that >there are signs that computers may begin to act like 'regular' products and >get more expensive over time rather than the reverse. That's a frightening thought. I've rambled long enough........If anyone is interested in hearing more details, I'll e-mail them to you. William LeFebvre Department of Computer Science Rice University <phil@Rice.edu>