shawn@eddie.mit.edu (Shawn F. Mckay) (01/18/91)
Howdy, I just picked up a Packard Bell PB286LP at a local leachmere, (they let it go for a song :-)), however, I'm starting to think perhaps it was a death march :-). It seems to work ok, (although loading minix has been a bear, I'll take another stab at it tomorrow I guess). My problem is when I called PB for some tech help, they were somewhat willing to help, but I'll have to wait for the mail to find out. They directed me at a local service center in Lexington, and said I should be all "set". When I called the service center, they told me they ONLY did waranty repairs. Furthermore, because my machine was a "prior-return", (which is why it was low price for me), they would not even discuss working on it. When I asked if there was a way to make it "blessed" again, they said "no". So, what I have is a machine that has shown some strange behavior, (Writing write-protected disks, memory flakyness????, etc..), and NO WAY visible to get help, PB does nothing "direct", and its reps out here seem to feel I'm diseased or something. To "me" the machine is new, but they are clinging to a legal technicality. So, a) Does anyone know anyone good in the Boston area who works on PB machines? b) Are there any "standard" gotcha's with this machine? c) Is there a user/support group? d) Is PB *REALLY* this bad with customer support, or is there another number I should call? * Thanks * for any help! :-) - Shawn Internet: shawn@eddie.mit.edu
neal@mnopltd.UUCP (01/25/91)
->Howdy, I just picked up a Packard Bell PB286LP at a local leachmere,
->(they let it go for a song :-)), however, I'm starting to think
->perhaps it was a death march :-).
..............
I bought one about a year ago as a stopgap lap until the price/size/performance
jumped an order of magnitude, which I suspect will be in another year. I have
been quite satisfied with it. (I also got it cheapo at LetSmear)
-> a) Does anyone know anyone good in the Boston area who works
-> on PB machines?
No. And actually, according the the Mitsuba guys I talked to at Comdex, it is
really a Mitsuba Ninja 12, built for Packard Bell. So of course PD don't
know beans about it.
-> b) Are there any "standard" gotcha's with this machine?
No killers. If you figure out how to see the right hand 1" of the screen in
Hercules Graphics mode, let me know. (I spent $50 on a monitor for graphics)
And mine seems to start beeping about the battery after 1.5 hours, although it
runs for another hour until it powers down.
-> c) Is there a user/support group?
Yeah. you and me.
-> d) Is PB *REALLY* this bad with customer support, or is there
-> another number I should call?
I thought they were useless, and I gave up. There is a mitsuba dealer in town,
but I haven't had any trouble worth persuing.
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