harjani@annapurna.ee.umn.edu (Ramesh Harjani (faculty)) (06/11/91)
Has anyone had any dealings with Bottomline Distribution in Austin, Texas. In the July issue of Macuser they have an add for a DeskWriter for $459 which is $65 less than what we would have to pay with the academic discount. I wanted to get some feedback as to how thier service was before I placed an order. Both good and bad experiences would be appreciated. I also tried calling them a number of times today and the phone was always busy. They also have a 1900 number ($2.00/min) - I am not sure if that is a good sign. Ramesh Harjani harjani@ee.umn.edu
ace@tidbits.UUCP (Adam C. Engst) (06/11/91)
A friend ordered XPress from them and was extremely irritated when the short phone call ballooned into a $14 charge as well as the fact that I believe the shipping was a lot extra. Mail order isn't well enough established that we should support companies with poor service and underhanded policies. My friend ended up paying more than if she had just ordered from a reputable firm like MacConnection. Disclaimer - this is all hearsay, I only ever order from MacConnection. -Adam Engst In article <1991Jun10.213441.4476@cs.umn.edu>, harjani@annapurna.ee.umn.edu (Ramesh Harjani (faculty)) writes: > > Has anyone had any dealings with Bottomline Distribution in Austin, > Texas. In the July issue of Macuser they have an add for a DeskWriter > for $459 which is $65 less than what we would have to pay with the > academic discount. I wanted to get some feedback as to how thier > service was before I placed an order. Both good and bad experiences > would be appreciated. I also tried calling them a number of times > today and the phone was always busy. They also have a 1900 number > ($2.00/min) - I am not sure if that is a good sign. > > Ramesh Harjani > harjani@ee.umn.edu > > --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Adam C. Engst Editor of TidBITS, the weekly electronic Macintosh journal ace@tidbits.uucp The best way to predict the future pv9y@crnlvax5, pv9y@vax5.cit.cornell.edu is to invent it. -Alan Kay
drg@mdaali.mda.uth.tmc.edu (06/11/91)
In article <1991Jun10.213441.4476@cs.umn.edu> harjani@annapurna.ee.umn.edu (Ramesh Harjani (faculty)) writes: >Has anyone had any dealings with Bottomline Distribution in Austin, >Texas. In the July issue of Macuser they have an add for a DeskWriter >for $459 which is $65 less than what we would have to pay with the >academic discount. I wanted to get some feedback as to how thier >service was before I placed an order. Both good and bad experiences >would be appreciated. I also tried calling them a number of times >today and the phone was always busy. They also have a 1900 number >($2.00/min) - I am not sure if that is a good sign. > >Ramesh Harjani >harjani@ee.umn.edu > Someone else has posted that Bottomline doesn't include the DeskWriter Accessory Kit (cable, manuals, ink) for that price. It's an additional charge, although everyone else includes it with the printer, since the printer is useless without it. Just a sleazy way of getting people to call them. I'd get it through your university. Besides, I wouldn't call a company that takes orders via a 900 number under *any* circumstances.
basil@thyme.jpl.nasa.gov (Basil Hashem) (06/12/91)
In article <1991Jun10.213441.4476@cs.umn.edu> harjani@annapurna.ee.umn.edu (Ramesh Harjani (faculty)) writes:
= Has anyone had any dealings with Bottomline Distribution in Austin,
Well you asked for both good and bad experiences. I'm not quite sure how you'd
rate mine since I'm smack dab in the middle.
Last Monday (June 3), I ordered three items from Bottomline ($2+ call). I asked
to have my items shipped by UPS Ground (the cheapest). Bottomline said that
I should receive my shipment within 7 days. Well, to my surprise, on the next
day, Tuesday, I recieve *some* items (unfortunately, only two of them).
Apparently, since they were shipped from a nearby warehouse (Santa Ana,
California) they took no time at all to get to me. Now, it's been 9 days and
I have yet to receive the last item. I gave a call to them on June 10th (another
$2+ call), they returned my call promptly and said that the item had in fact
shipped, so..... They told me to wait till the 13th in order to allow the
maximum time for UPS to deliver the last item, before they start hassling them.
I need to call them tommorrow (another $2+ call). Now, I'm wondering, with all
this calling and waiting have I really saved that much money?
In case you're wondering, the items I purchases were: 1) DoveFax 24/96 2) Adobe
Type Reunion and 3) Daystar FastCache IIci (still waiting on this one) :-(
Good Luck,
--
Basil Hashem
basil@thyme.jpl.nasa.gov
Jet Propulsion Laboratory La Canada Flintridge, CA
"This is not a .signature file."gillies@m.cs.uiuc.edu (Don Gillies) (06/13/91)
If you can quote the source (magazine, date, page, distributor) then you can call some place with a good reputation like 47th Street Photo and get them to match the price. I paid $499 for a deskwriter + 5% S&H (which is standard). Also, I needed to pay $14 locally for a serial cable. Total cost was $538. I --