Xorg@cup.portal.com (Peter Ted Szymonik) (03/21/89)
Prepare for a minor flame...<grin> I bought a brand spanking new Mega 2ST in December and have been thrilled with it, but as things always happen, my mouse started to kick the bucket last week. This weekend it was on its last legs. No simple cleaning will cure its ills, the electronics are definitely shot. This is an ex-mouse. Digging out my warranty and receipt I noticed that the system was still under warranty! I called the store where I bought the computer from and was told that they do not sell or have the mouse seperately but it only comes packaged with the computer and that I should call Atari about replacement. The nightmare begins. I called Atari and waited longer than I ever have to get through to Customer Relations. There I was informed that I should send the mouse back with a copy of the receipt and a new mouse will be sent back to me, and oh, by the way...the current turn around is about six weeks. Huh?? SIX WEEKS!?! No no no, you don't understand, I run a business with my ST, my girlfriend does all of her business correspondence and work on this here ST, I **NEED** a new mouse and I need it NOW! I explained that I would gladly pay for a new mouse with my VISA card and that I would personally arrange to have Federal Express pick up the mouse from Atari and have it delivered to my door COMPLETELY AT MY EXPENSE. I would send the old dead mouse back to them and when it arrived they could simply issue me a credit for the purchase price of the new mouse on my VISA account. Having made my way to Mr. Dave Director, who was very kind, he informed me that the turn around was actually about 5-7 days (thats better) and that since Atari had no access to credit card account information so there would be no way for them to verify the charge. i.e. I would have to send in the old mouse before they sent the new one out. Having sent the old mouse back to them UPS Red Label he would arrange for my new mouse to go out the door the same day and sent back to me UPS Red Label - at my expense (about $25 total last time I checked.) Now while this solution is acceptable, it still entails three days down time without a mouse. Yes I could use the keyboard equivalents, but that would last about half an hour before I started pounding on the keyboard. And using Spectre (where my girlfriend does all her work) would be out of the question. My situation is bad enough - what if someone who worked with CAD/CAM or Desktop Publishing or any other mouse intensive application had to deal with this?? The problem is not with Atari's warranty coverage or the turn around time (if it actually is 5-7 days and not the six weeks), but with the fact that Atari is unable to help a customer who is willing to pay to have a mouse delivered *overnight* in an emergency situation. I have dealt with many computer companies before and most all are more than willing to help out in an emergency if I pay for the delivery charges. (Some will even pay the delivery charges - Jasmine Technologies, a Mac company, has always shipped emergency software upgrades and must-have parts covered under warranty to me via FedEx at their expense, even on Saturdays!) I'm not the first person to have had a mouse die and I won't be the last. Considering the fact that Atari is now pushing DTP systems like crazy, wouldn't it make sense for Atari to establish a credit card verification service so that they could handle a situation such as mine? I realize that Atari service is best handled through the dealer network, but a large percentage of ST owners (including myself) have NO ready access to a local dealer, we should be able to call Atari and have a simple mouse replacement handled quickly and overnight if we are willing to pay the shipping charges. How about it Atari? Thanx Peter Szymonik custo
clf3678@ultb.UUCP (C.L. Freemesser) (03/22/89)
I certainly agree with you about customer service. It could/should be handled better. If Atari wants to be big in this country, they need good customer service, which includes credit card acceptance (in every respect, including verifying), all types of UPS service, and FedEx. I'd also like to see a fax line or two (hey, if you are a repair center and don't have the schematics to something, waiting 6 weeks for em seems a bit silly). In general, Customer Service should be able to handle any request, be it warrantee replacements, sales, info, and shipping requests. Not that they don't do a good job now, but if Kodak wants to buy a bunch of TT's or ATW's, they are going to look at support just as much as the power of the computer. If it ain't there, they ain't gonna buy! BTW, I would LOVE to see an East Coast office. Why? Faster and easier delivery of products to stores, faster turn around time on repairs. It also seems to me that it would be less stressful to the folks in California (who have to handle ALL the requests from this country). =cf=
ljdickey@water.waterloo.edu (Lee Dickey) (03/23/89)
In article <16069@cup.portal.com> Xorg@cup.portal.com (Peter Ted Szymonik) writes: >Prepare for a minor flame...<grin> > >I bought a brand spanking new Mega 2ST ... > ... [sick mouse] ... > This is an ex-mouse. I had the same problem, but had much better luck with my dealer. He had lots of mice in stock (have there been lots of problems?). The price was about 40 canadian dollars, and the exchange price was 30. Since the Mega ST2 was still under warantee, my price on producing a photocopy of my receipt, was 0. My dealer said that he needed the sales slip so he could claim for something from Atari. > I called the store where I bought the computer >from and was told that they do not sell or have the mouse seperately >but it only comes packaged with the computer and that I should call >Atari about replacement. In the meantime, I would look for a replacement of dealers (smile). -- L. J. Dickey, Faculty of Mathematics, University of Waterloo. ljdickey@water.UWaterloo.ca ljdickey@water.BITNET ljdickey@water.UUCP ..!uunet!watmath!water!ljdickey ljdickey@water.waterloo.edu
towns@atari.UUCP (John Townsend) (03/24/89)
in article <16069@cup.portal.com>, Xorg@cup.portal.com (Peter Ted Szymonik) says: > > Prepare for a minor flame...<grin> > > I'm not the first person to have had a mouse die and I won't be the > last. Considering the fact that Atari is now pushing DTP systems like > crazy, wouldn't it make sense for Atari to establish a credit card > verification service so that they could handle a situation such as > mine? I realize that Atari service is best handled through the dealer > network, but a large percentage of ST owners (including myself) have > NO ready access to a local dealer, we should be able to call Atari and > have a simple mouse replacement handled quickly and overnight if we > are willing to pay the shipping charges. > > How about it Atari? > > Thanx > Peter Szymonik Peter, Your suggestion has been printed out and passed along to Customer Relations. I spoke with Diana Goralczyk, Manager of Customer Relations regarding this issue and she is going to look into this with her boss. I will keep you posted of the progress on this issue. -- John Townsend Atari Corporation
HEIMBIG@WSUVM1.BITNET (Bruce Heimbigner) (03/25/89)
It seems to me that Ted's dealer should have had a replacement. When I bought my Mega last summer one key on the keyboard went bad. I called explained I really need it even with one unpredictable key, they said no problem, my dealer is on the West side of Washington state I'm on the East. He mailed (at his expense) a new keyboard, when it came in (about 2 days later) I put mine in his box and sent it off at my expense. Worked out fine. There are some good dealers out there.
Xorg@cup.portal.com (Peter Ted Szymonik) (03/25/89)
Thank you John, if there is one thing I do notice about Atari its that you do actually listen to the customers in terms of service needs. I look forward to hearing what happens! Peter Szymonik