cole@sas.UUCP (Tom Cole) (05/18/89)
I currently have several Jasmine DirectDrive 45 (not 40) drives, purchased
last summer. One has taken a nose dive, and I have had zero luck in reaching
Jasmine technical support to get help or a return authorization.
I am looking for advice. I see my choices as
o Open the case, and poke around, possibly breaking it even worse.
o Programming my Mac to call Jasmine every 5 minutes until I get
an answer, at which time I will not be at home and it will have
done me no good.
o Use it as a doorstop.
Seriously, does anyone have any luck/advice in reaching Jasmine these days?
I realize that they are having lots of fun with legal stuff, exciting new
products, and generally being a company, but sheesh! I sure wish I could
get them to answer the phone, let me talk to someone, or call me back.
BTW, the drive usually doesn't spin up at all, blinking its ready light
pitifully every second or so. Sometimes it comes up, but then checks
out again after about 30 minutes of use. Driveware diagnostics reveal
no hardware or media problems when the drive will come up, and doesn't
see any scsi device when it doesn't.
Whimper.
Tom Cole
SAS Institute
Declaimer: Othello!cliff@cfa250.harvard.edu (Cliff Stoll) (05/19/89)
From article <1043@sas.UUCP>, by cole@sas.UUCP (Tom Cole): > I currently have several Jasmine DirectDrive 45 (not 40) drives, purchased > last summer. One has taken a nose dive, and I have had zero luck in reaching > Jasmine technical support to get help or a return authorization. > > Seriously, does anyone have any luck/advice in reaching Jasmine these days? > I realize that they are having lots of fun with legal stuff, exciting new > products, and generally being a company, but sheesh! I sure wish I could > get them to answer the phone, let me talk to someone, or call me back. I can't help with your 45 MB drive, but I just bought a Jasmine 80 MB drive, which showed up promptly and works peachy. But what's the scoop about Jasmine? Who's suing them? Why?
pasek@ncrcce.StPaul.NCR.COM (Michael A. Pasek) (05/19/89)
In article <1551@cfa253.cfa250.harvard.edu> cliff@cfa250.harvard.edu (Cliff Stoll) writes: >From article <1043@sas.UUCP>, by cole@sas.UUCP (Tom Cole): >> I currently have several Jasmine DirectDrive 45 (not 40) drives, purchased >> last summer. One has taken a nose dive, and I have had zero luck in reaching >> Jasmine technical support to get help or a return authorization. >> >> [woes about being unable to reach Jasmine deleted] > >I can't help with your 45 MB drive, but I just bought a Jasmine 80 MB drive, >which showed up promptly and works peachy. > >But what's the scoop about Jasmine? Who's suing them? Why? I don't know who's suing them, or even if they are being sued. However, I also have a Jasmine DD80. I believe (although I'm sure someone will tell me I'm wrong) that Jasmine used CDC Wren drives in the 20/40/80/120 series, and now use another manufacturer's (Rodime??) drives. Could explain BOTH the failure of the "45", AND your inability to get in touch with Jasmine (they're too busy answering the calls from all the OTHER people with failed drives). As a last disclaimer, I have had NO dealings at all with Jasmine since we bought our DD80's a year ago, and I must say I am very happy with the product we have......I hope that what APPEARS to be happening to Jasmine (inferred by reading articles like the one above) is due to some circumstance like a move rather than the beginnings of a good company going under due to "bottom line" and "profit" considerations ("Gee, this drive has 5 more megabytes and costs $50 less, so we can charge $50 more and that brings $100 to the bottom line.") M. A. Pasek Switching Software Development NCR Comten, Inc. (612) 638-7668 CNG Development 2700 N. Snelling Ave. pasek@c10sd3.StPaul.NCR.COM Roseville, MN 55113
lauac@mead.qal.berkeley.edu (Alexander Lau) (05/20/89)
In article <1294@ncrcce.StPaul.NCR.COM> pasek@c10sd3.StPaul.NCR.COM (M. A. Pasek) writes: >In article <1551@cfa253.cfa250.harvard.edu> cliff@cfa250.harvard.edu (Cliff Stoll) writes: >>From article <1043@sas.UUCP>, by cole@sas.UUCP (Tom Cole): >>> I currently have several Jasmine DirectDrive 45 (not 40) drives, purchased >>> last summer. One has taken a nose dive, and I have had zero luck in reaching >>> Jasmine technical support to get help or a return authorization. >>> >>> [woes about being unable to reach Jasmine deleted] >> >>I can't help with your 45 MB drive, but I just bought a Jasmine 80 MB drive, >>which showed up promptly and works peachy. >> >>But what's the scoop about Jasmine? Who's suing them? Why? Jasmine has been having large-scale shipping delays, since their line of credit with Quantum is extremely small. Jasmine sued Rodime, their supplier of drive mechanisms from August of 1988 up to a few weeks ago, for supplying them with "defective drives." They mentioned a "conspiracy," and claimed they had a "smoking gun" to prove their case irrefutably. A couple of former employees were also mentioned in the suit. The suit was for $25 million, but Jasmine admits that they still owe Rodime in the millions for the "bad drives" they've been getting. You can't blame Quantum for not really trusting Jasmine. Also of note: Jasmine's tech support staff has dwindled to one person. Customer service is handling all tech support questions. They've been swamped ever since the lawsuit was filed a few weeks ago, and things just keep getting worse. --- Alex UUCP: {att,backbones}!ucbvax!qal.berkeley.edu!lauac INTERNET: lauac%qal.berkeley.edu@ucbvax.berkeley.edu FIDONET: Alex.Lau@bmug.fidonet.org (1:161/444)