miken@hcr.UUCP (Mike Nemeth) (08/04/88)
for all you ST owners in the toronto_ont_canada area, you might want to
avoid having anything to do with a company called "MicroD". i just had
a seriously unpleasant experience with them.
background: my hard disk gave me an error when i was re-formatting it the
other day ("HARD DISK ERROR!!! CLASS 3 CODE 0"), and made THAT noise, the
one every HD owner has nightmares about hearing
BBBBBBBBBBBBBRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC!!!
argh! do another format, same error, same noise. now when the drive starts
up it makes the noise, and data is corrupted on 2 of the partitions.
cut to: today, anxious user calls people who sold him the drive (the University
of Toronto Computer Store), and after the usual being switched from phone
to phone/spending my summer on hold, I get the name of the distributor,
one "MicroD" by name, look up the number and call.
(now i don't know what may have happened to this woman before i called her,
perhaps her cat was run over, but this is a transcript of the conversation)
ME: Hello, I'm the owner of a sick supra hard disk and...
HER: YES, I KNOW! I'VE HAD THREE CALLS ABOUT YOUR HARD DISK SO FAR, AND
I'M NOT GOING TO DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT!
ME: I beg your pardon?
HER: YOU HEARD ME! I DON'T KNOW WHERE THEY GOT THE DAMN THING, BUT IT ISN'T
ONE OF MINE, AND I'M NOT GOING TO TOUCH IT. THERE ISN'T ANYTHING IN IT FOR
ME.
ME: But...
HER: How long ago did you buy it?
ME: 2 or 3 months.
HER: Oh. Do you have a receipt?
ME: Yes, of course.
HER: Oh. Well, that doesn't make any difference. I don't know where they
got it, but they didn't get it from me and I'm not going to touch it because
I'm not going to make anything on it.
ME: Can you fix it anyway? That is, if it isn't on warranty, and I pay you?
HER: NO!
ME: Why not?
HER: (more of the above. ie. not worth it to me, not my problem, ...)
ME: Well, I'd thank you, but...
HER: Same to you. goodbye! <CLICK!>
Now, I've never talked to this woman before. I never called her up and gave
a rough time, nor threatened her with legal action, or given her any cause to
vent her spleen upon me. All I have is a sick hard disk and I want to find
somebody that will fix it for me. I can pay, no problem. As for her three
calls, I have no idea what she's talking about.
A few minutes later, another chap from the UofT calls me up and we converse
about who can fix HDs in Canada. Turns out he called her up too and got an
earful. I don't think either he nor I will be calling up that company again.
But I did call Supra and talk to Mark in technical hcr, and get an
infinitely warmer response, so hats off to Supra.
It'll be a long time (read: THFO) before I have anything to do with MicroD
in any way, shape, or form. For those of you that were considering it, or
considering buying a HD from somebody who gets theirs from MicroD, well,
I just thought I'd warn you.
--
Mike Nemeth
HCR Corporation, 130 Bloor St. W., Toronto, Ontario, Canada
{utzoo,utcsri}!hcr!miken
"more logic than Mr Spock!"lharris@gpu.utcs.toronto.edu (Leonard Harris) (08/05/88)
In response to the article about MicroD - I have dealt with them in the past and found them to be extremely reasonable. I have also dealt with Idiots at the U of T computor store and found them to be very unhelpful. They would pass the buck to any distributor they could and not support any products very well. I can understand the response of MicroD. They are just a distributor and U of T isn't a customer of theirs. Why should they support UofT's customers then?. Rudeness is one thing, but if you had people calling up to get support for a product you didn't sell - wouldn't you get pissed off. Retailers are there to support products - thats why they make a 35-50% markup on products. Distributors make on average 10-20% because they are there to deal with retailers - not the public. /leonard
Vaprak@cup.portal.com (08/09/88)
Personally, I would take legal action. I imagine you have alot of money invested in this and if they sent you a defective piece of equiptment, I would raise H*LL about it!!! If they advertise in the mags, the Postal service can get involved as well. The Post Office will have a field day with them! You have rights and you shouldnt let an ill-tempered person scare you off! Vaprak@cup.portal.com