gjh@tybalt.caltech.edu (Greg J. Hiscott) (07/19/89)
I am posting this for a co-worker, please reply or post to me.
I'd like to inform you of a very frustrating experience in trying to deal with
the warranty department of Everex, one of the supposedly respectable
brands of equipment. The following three letters will give the details of
the interactions I had with a nonresponsive, noncaring company. What isn't
said is that all of the contacts ended with the company representative
dropping the ball and not following through with their stated actions. If
you're thinking about buying any of the Everex or Abaton products, look this
over carefully. If you've had any similar experience, please reply.
EVER for EXcellence
48431 Milmont Drive
Fremont, CA 94538
Re: Your Return Authorization Number 31485-E, your customer code LAR036
Dear sirs:
What's in a name? EVEREX, and the slogan behind it, are a commendable
policy to claim, and a tough one to live up to. To always uphold a standard
of excellence requires knowledge, wisdom, resources, and the continuing
commitment to perform at your best. I'd like to suggest some areas needing
your attention, on a management level.
Last November, I received a Abaton Propoint trackball from a mail order
supplier, Telemart, of Phoenix, AZ. I wasn't able to try it out until
December 12, when my Mac II finally arrived. You can probably imagine my
disappointment when the cursor froze on the monitor during the first
evening of operation. When I took the Mac II back to my dealer for repair, it
needed a new logic board: the dealer replaced it under warranty; they would
not check out my trackball, since it was purchased elsewhere.
On December 14 (after seeing proper operation at the dealer's), I hooked
everything up and tried it again. This time, the cursor was frozen from the
start; later inspection at the dealer revealed the new logic board was
damaged. Actual damage was likely a $1 fuse, soldered in place (!) which,
according to Apple policy, is not field replaceable. Apple would not cover
the replacement expenses under warranty, as they felt the damage was not
caused by their equipment. Due to the fact that my dealer did not have a
second spare board and delivery was ordered over the holidays, the second
repair was not made until a new spare was received from Apple, on January
16. My cost for the repair was $237. Using only the Apple mouse, operation
after repair was normal.
In the meantime, I had telephoned your service number on December 17, 19,
and 29, attempting to get a return authorization number so that I could get
the trackball checked out. Your 8 am-5 pm hours on your "hot line" and lack
of a toll-free number make it difficult to communicate. It's tough to have
to call from work; when the phone was answered by a recording, and I got
put on hold for what seemed to be an inordinate period of time (at
California's high business hour rates), I lost what little respect I had for
the name, "EVEREX". I finally did make contact (after sending a letter),
received a RA number from Ramona on the 29th, and shipped the unit back
(complete with letter, box, and paperwork) on December 30.
I received a replacement trackball on January 31, with no report of what
you found. Worse yet, the replacement trackball was shipped without its
original box or paperwork; it looks suspicously like someone else's reject.
When I got around to trying it out on February 1, my fears were confirmed:
after only 10-15 minutes of operation, the cursor started "sliding" down
the page in jerks. I tried to quit the application and shut down, but could
not adequately control the cursor. The switch on the back of the Mac II
would not shut the unit down, and I pulled the plug to power down so that I
could remove the trackball. Upon restart with the mouse, operation was
back to normal and has been since.
I do not want to keep the trackball: I demand a refund of my cost of $85. I
would be happy to ship it back, along with copies of whatever
documentation you need to confirm the facts. I also would like for you to
consider reimbursing me for my costs of replacing the logic board. I feel
that I have been patient with your system, and you have not performed. I
have access to Usernet, and would like to point out that your name is on the
line.
Sincerely,
Larry K. Jones
EVER for EXcellence March 20, 1989
48431 Milmont Drive
Fremont, CA 94538
Re: Your Return Authorization Number 31485-E, your customer code LAR036,
my letter to you of 4 February, 1989 (attached)
Dear sirs:
It has been six weeks since I sent the referenced letter to you, and I have
not received any word that you have received it. Assuming that you did not
receive it, I am enclosing an additional copy and will delay any action in
small claims court for two weeks while awaiting your response. Judging
from past experience, I believe that you probably have received my letter
and are ignoring it, but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt.
EVER for EXcellence? You've got to be kidding; I've yet to see any evidence
of interest from you in your product's performance or your customers'
satisfaction.
Sincerely,
Larry K. Jones
Office of the Attorney General
Public Inquiry Unit
PO Box 944255
Sacramento, CA 94244-2550 17 July 1989
Subject: Complaint of treatment by Everex Systems, Inc., regarding their
Abatron Propoint trackball (computer curser control)
Dear sirs:
The attached letters from last February and March will give you background
information on my complaint. Instead of pursuing any small claims action, I
again tried telephone contact in early April, talking with Mosella Harris,
the assistant manager of customer service, and Ramona Coletta, of
technical support. Ms. Harris informed me that since I had not purchased
the trackball directly from Everex, they could not reimburse me for the
purchase. Telemart, the dealer I purchased it from, has a policy of no
warranty service. EverexUs warranty service (for products purchased from
a dealer) is limited to replacement, which was very poorly done, in my case.
I was placed in a Catch 22 situation, being sent (apparently) someone
elseUs reject, which nearly caused a repeat of the logic board failure.
Ms. Coletta does not appear to be interested in solving the technical
problem; she has not asked the basic questions of what models of keyboard
and monitor were being used, and admitted that no tests were made of the
unit I sent back. To me, this is not a valid warranty response, but is a
fraudulent practice.
Can you give me any hope for satisfaction? Short of that, I would at least
like to inform the rest of the world of the dangers of purchasing Everex
products. To that end, these three letters are being published on "Usernet",
a nationwide electronic mail network of commercial and collegiate
computer users.
Thank you for considering my case.
+-------+ Greg Hiscott gophers = gophers - 7; +-------+
|+-----+| gjh@ligo.caltech.edu |+-----+|
||[===]|| Phone:(818)356-2974 ||[===]||
|+-----+| USPS:Caltech, 102-33, Pasadena, CA 91125 |+-----+|
+-------+ FAX:(818)304-9834 +-------+davew@hp-ptp.HP.COM (Dave_Waller) (07/22/89)
I, for one, will NEVER buy anything from EverEx, based on this posting, and will petition my collegues and fellow Mac users to Boycott this company., Greg, the situation you have been put through over an $85 product is simply rediculous. I hope EverEx understands that they are compromising thousands of dollars worth of sales by treating you this way... maybe even the viability of their company. Hey Mac-folks, we really need to stick together on issues like this. Greg has been abused and mistreated by EverEx over an issue that quite frankly is at the noise level financially for them. I know this sounds radical, but the only way companies like EverEx are going to shape up is if we hurt them where it counts -- in the pocketbook. Dave Waller Hewlett-Packard Co. Workstation Group Pacific Technology Park 1266 Kifer Rd. Sunnyvale, CA (408) 746-5324 [ucbvax!]hplabs!hpdstma!dave | dave@hpdstma.ptp.hp.com +-------------------------------------+---------------------------------------+ | Standard disclaimer: | "I refuse to put anything in quotes | | The opinions expressed above are | in this space" | | solely my own, and in no way reflect| | | those of my employer. | | +-------------------------------------+---------------------------------------+
davew@hp-ptp.HP.COM (Dave_Waller) (07/22/89)
BTW, Greg, I am composing a letter to be signed be fellow Macintosh users in my local community that I plan to send to EverEx explaining our Boycott action against them, and detailing how we were made aware of their abuses so that they don't take your threat of posting to USENET as trivial. Good luck with you lawsuit in small claims court. Dave Waller Hewlett-Packard Co. Workstation Group Pacific Technology Park 1266 Kifer Rd. Sunnyvale, CA (408) 746-5324 [ucbvax!]hplabs!hpdstma!dave | dave@hpdstma.ptp.hp.com +-------------------------------------+---------------------------------------+ | Standard disclaimer: | "I refuse to put anything in quotes | | The opinions expressed above are | in this space" | | solely my own, and in no way reflect| | | those of my employer. | | +-------------------------------------+---------------------------------------+
steveg@tove.umd.edu (Steve Green) (07/24/89)
In article <1570006@hp-ptp.HP.COM] davew@hp-ptp.HP.COM (Dave_Waller) writes:
] I, for one, will NEVER buy anything from EverEx, based on this posting, and
] will petition my collegues and fellow Mac users to Boycott this company.,
] Greg, the situation you have been put through over an $85 product is simply
] rediculous. I hope EverEx understands that they are compromising thousands
] of dollars worth of sales by treating you this way... maybe even the viability
] of their company.
]
] Hey Mac-folks, we really need to stick together on issues like this. Greg has
] been abused and mistreated by EverEx over an issue that quite frankly is at the
] noise level financially for them. I know this sounds radical, but the only
] way companies like EverEx are going to shape up is if we hurt them where it
] counts -- in the pocketbook.
]
I have my own Everex stories to tell but I think that you may be overreacting.
I agree that Everx has made a foolish mistake by not resolving the issue. They
should at the very least, replace the unit and revoke the dealership from the
mail-order house for not hounoring the warranty. (Is that legal?) Now, I say
this is an overreaction because I feel the issue was poorly handled on both
sides. That is, if you are going to buy mail-order, make sure you know who you
are purchasing from and what their polocies are. Had this happened in a local
retail store, it could have been resolved on the spot. I am pretty sure that
there are laws that make dealers honour a products warrenty.
As for the blown fuse, I think a call to Apple or even a trip to another dealer
would have solved that problem the second time.
--flame on...
steveg@tove.umd.edumdh@srhqla.SR.COM (Matt Hardin) (07/24/89)
In article <1570006@hp-ptp.HP.COM> davew@hp-ptp.HP.COM (Dave_Waller) writes: >I, for one, will NEVER buy anything from EverEx, based on this posting, and >will petition my collegues and fellow Mac users to Boycott this company., I think that persons other than Mac users must take heed from Greg's experience. I have been in the process of selecting a fleet of 12 to 14 IBM PC-Compatibles (ugh) to run UNIX (yay) and Everex was in the lead for several reasons. Hearing about the abuse that Greg received, I have removed them from any consideration whatsoever. I think that ANYONE who does ANY kind of business with Everex should listen to this warning. Greg, Thanks for posting the article and speaking up the way you did. Equally important is the way you did it. It is clear that you did everything possible before giving up and telling others of your experience. Had you appeared hot- headed or unfair, I don't think that I would have paid much attention to what you said. I think I should point out my reasons for dumping Everex. My own performance is judged not only on the performance and quality of the equipment that I select, but also on the performance and responsiveness of the vendor that supplies the hardware/software. It is obvious that Everex fails miserably in the second category. Matt Hardin SilentRadio Headquarters, Los Angeles mdh@SR.COM Claimer: In this case, I AM the company, because I am doing the selection. The opinions I express here, therefore, are those of SilentRadio and of Cybernetic Data Products.
davew@hp-ptp.HP.COM (Dave_Waller) (07/26/89)
steveg@tove.umd.edu (Steve Green) writes: > In article <1570006@hp-ptp.HP.COM] davew@hp-ptp.HP.COM (Dave_Waller) writes: > ] I, for one, will NEVER buy anything from EverEx, based on this posting, and > ] will petition my collegues and fellow Mac users to Boycott this company., > ] Greg, the situation you have been put through over an $85 product is simply > ] rediculous. I hope EverEx understands that they are compromising thousands > ] of dollars worth of sales by treating you this way... maybe even the viability > ] of their company. > ] > ] Hey Mac-folks, we really need to stick together on issues like this. Greg has > ] been abused and mistreated by EverEx over an issue that quite frankly is at the > ] noise level financially for them. I know this sounds radical, but the only > ] way companies like EverEx are going to shape up is if we hurt them where it > ] counts -- in the pocketbook. > ] > I have my own Everex stories to tell but I think that you may be overreacting. ^^^^^^^^^^^^ Then mdh@srhqla.SR.COM (Matt Hardin) writes: > [...] > > ... It is clear that you did everything possible > before giving up and telling others of your experience. Had you appeared hot- > headed or unfair, I don't think that I would have paid much attention to > what you said. > > [...] I couldn't have said it better myself than Matt did. My strong reaction to Greg's posting (for his friend Larry) was for the same reasons that Matt describes: Larry went far beyond what many would consider reasonable effort to get his problem resolved. I don't agree that just because someone buys something mail-order that they should have a lower standard for service when the product is defective. Go back and read the basenote and you'll see that Larry has laid out beaucoup bucks to fix his Mac because of a defective product that Everex sold him, and they are not even willing to try and help him fix the defective trak ball. I stand by my decision to boycott this company, as do my fellow Mac user friends (and I might add, unanimously). Dave Waller Hewlett-Packard Co. Workstation Group Pacific Technology Park 1266 Kifer Rd. Sunnyvale, CA (408) 746-5324 [ucbvax!]hplabs!hpdstma!dave | dave@hpdstma.ptp.hp.com +-------------------------------------+---------------------------------------+ | Standard disclaimer: | "I refuse to put anything in quotes | | The opinions expressed above are | in this space" | | solely my own, and in no way reflect| | | those of my employer. | | +-------------------------------------+---------------------------------------+
mithomas@bsu-cs.bsu.edu (Michael Thomas Niehaus) (07/27/89)
> I, for one, will NEVER buy anything from EverEx, based on this posting, and > will petition my collegues and fellow Mac users to Boycott this company. ... > I stand by my decision to boycott this company, as do my fellow Mac > user friends (and I might add, unanimously). Everex has also lost Ball State's business. Last year, Ball State made a large purchase of hard drives from Everex. Within six months, over 60% of them had failed, crashed, or otherwise caused problems. The people at Ball State spent hours on the phone complaining to Everex. Everex finally did give in and send boxes of power supplies (since that seemed to be the one part causing the most trouble), but by that time it was too late. I must say that I can't complain: Most of these people have decided that they are better off sticking with Apple. In the past 4 years, only one Apple hard drive has had a problem here. And by my count, we have several hundred of them. (And besides, the Apple drives are coordinated with the Mac's case... If you want to see peripherals, make them match the machine.) -Michael -- Michael Niehaus UUCP: <backbones>!{iuvax,pur-ee}!bsu-cs!mithomas Apple Student Rep ARPA: mithomas@bsu-cs.bsu.edu Ball State University AppleLink: ST0374 (from UUCP: st0374@applelink.apple.com)
nghiem@walt.cc.utexas.edu (Alex Nghiem) (07/30/89)
[ problems with warranty with Everex Systems ] I had this same problem with U.S. Pioneer with a stereo system that was worth 750.00 on the open market. Basicly, the unit did not work from day one and was shipped back and forth to the warranty center about five times. The unit was bought in 1978 and warranty problem was not resolved until 1982 (four years.) To force the situation to a close, I angrily mailed a cover letter explaining the situation, with complete copies of all transactions [including statements from witnesses,] to U.S. Pioneer, the Students attorney, and all consumer protection groups I could get my hands on. (Better Business Bureau, the State Attorney General's office, etc.) The size of the final stack of xerox copies was over 100 pages. In the end, someone at Pioneer finally relented. I got a complete replacement of my stereo component with a system that was worth slight more than the original component. And, fortunately, the replacement system has been extremely reliable. But, I will always bear a grudge when buying Pioneer components because even though there was an acceptable resolution to the problem, it took FOUR years of massive headaches. My suggestion to you is to follow the route I take, and do it quickly. Nothing motivates a company more that a DOCUMENTED public allegation of wrong doing. If you do not scream, they will simply pigeon-hole your file even though in the long run they will loose more money in man hours and replacement costs and loss of a satisfied customer that if they had simply refunded the unit in the first place. nghiem@walt.cc.utexas.edu !cs.utexas.edu!ut-emx!walt!nghiem