[comp.sys.mac] MacProducts

jbr0@cbnews.ATT.COM (joseph.a.brownlee) (04/28/90)

In article <15741@phoenix.Princeton.EDU> wailam@phoenix.Princeton.EDU
(Wai Man Lam) writes:
>Does anyone know about the mail-order company MacProducts in Texas. [...]

I have oredered memory from them twice with no problem, although the second
time, it did take about a week longer than originally promised.  I found the
people I talked to there to be friendly and helpful.  I would be interested
to hear if others have had the type of trouble the original poster describes.

-- 
   -      _   Joe Brownlee, Analysts International Corp. @ AT&T Network Systems
  /_\  @ / `  471 E Broad St, Suite 1610, Columbus, Ohio 43215   (614) 860-7461
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awessels@walt.cc.utexas.edu (Allen Wessels) (05/08/90)

In article <16100@cbnews.ATT.COM> jbr0@cbnews.ATT.COM (joseph.a.brownlee,cb,) writes:
>I have oredered memory from them twice with no problem, although the second
>time, it did take about a week longer than originally promised.  I found the
>people I talked to there to be friendly and helpful.  I would be interested
>to hear if others have had the type of trouble the original poster describes.

I have dealt with the MacProducts retail store here in Austin for about 4 years.
Indirectly, I have dealt with the mailorder people because they handle repairs.

I would recommend that if you do business with MacProducts that you do so only
because they offer the lowest price on a product or they are the only source
for a product.  MacProducts management has a commitment only to profit.  Their
service is iffy at best.  While MacProducts does have some good employees, that
doesn't seem to be by design.

I have a bunch of their hard drives which we purchased a few years ago because
MacProducts had good prices.  (I accepted the problems that accompany the low
bid process.)  Over the past couple of years, I've had several of these drives
fail and sent them in for service.  In the most recent case with two drives,
I called in once or twice a week for 5 weeks to confirm the status of the drives
After the first week or two I was told the drives were going on the bench the 
next day each time I called.  When I finally got the drives back, the results
were less than satisfying.  The one drive that could be fixed died a couple of
months later.

I've had trouble with orders too.  (All the ordering for the retail store is
done through the mail order section.)  It took them months to deliver on one
order of Smart Alarms.

I've spoken with many ex-employees of MacProducts and they confirm the problems
with MacProducts' management.  The bottom line is: if you order from MacProducts
make sure you don't need service or a particular delivery time.

(I won't even go into criticisms of how their HDs, memory, or boards are put
together.)

6600bike@ucsbuxa.ucsb.edu (Puneet Pasrich) (05/09/90)

From article <16100@cbnews.ATT.COM>, by jbr0@cbnews.ATT.COM (joseph.a.brownlee):
>>Does anyone know about the mail-order company MacProducts in Texas. [...]
> 
> I have oredered memory from them twice with no problem, although the second
> time, it did take about a week longer than originally promised.  I found the
> people I talked to there to be friendly and helpful.  I would be interested
> to hear if others have had the type of trouble the original poster describes.

I have another side of the story....I ordered a MicroTech 300Z color
scanner from them.  I received it late (and it turned out to be one
which had been previously used - extensively).  After using it for
48hrs, I noticed some STRANGE vibrations coming from it.  I played with
it some more....then decided to call up MicroTech tech support.  They
were real patient (and reasonably fast) with me.  They agreed to fix it
up as soon as they got hte RMA.  I tried calling up MacProducts.  Busy.
Busy.  Sheesh! this is an 800 number.  Busy.  "hello".  Customer
support, please.  "Ohh, she's gone home for the day."  It was 11am
(Pacific time) - thatmeans 1pm Texas time.  Well, if that's how you do
business.

I tried to contact that ONE and only person in customer support for
about a week.  No go.  Finally got to her.  It took her one MONTH (Damn,
little snot) to issue the RMA.

I sent the scanner to MicroTech and got it back within a week - fixed.

I'll never deal with MacProducts again.  Not worth the shit they give
you.

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  |Puneet Pasrich  |  Internet:  6600bike@ucsbuxa.ucsb.edu  |
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