d88-jwa@nada.kth.se (Jon W{tte) (07/04/90)
I called the campus store today. YES ! It was HERE !
Leaving work 5 hours early to get there in time (only open
three hours a day, three days a week during summer) I dash
away to fetch it. Computer box, Keyboard box, and Monitor
box. "No video card" "Oh, it's already installed" "Have a
look anyway" - no video card. (Fortunately, one was available
on a nearby shelf.)
Stuff the things into the car and drive home (DAMN! something
gets very wring with the car and I barely get home at all)
Unpack, plug in, install everything. Hit power switch.
Nothing.
Frenetically change cords, card and stuff around, checking the
outlet with another mac that was handy.
Still nothing.
I think that when you pay $11,500 for a <something>, it should
at least have been QC tested & passed. (That's the price of an
8-bit 13" 4/80MB IIfx system with educational discount here)
I've bought four macs during my lifetime. Two of these have
been DOA. Isn't this kind of "quality" hurting APple's image ?
On the other hand, _when_ they work, they keep it up flawlessly.
Jon W{tte, Stockholm, Sweden, h+@nada.kth.serussotto@eng.umd.edu (Matthew T. Russotto) (07/04/90)
In article <1990Jul3.192829.2745@kth.se> d88-jwa@nada.kth.se (Jon W{tte) writes: > > >Stuff the things into the car and drive home (DAMN! something >gets very wring with the car and I barely get home at all) >Unpack, plug in, install everything. Hit power switch. > >Nothing. >I've bought four macs during my lifetime. Two of these have >been DOA. Isn't this kind of "quality" hurting APple's image ? >On the other hand, _when_ they work, they keep it up flawlessly. > > Jon W{tte, Stockholm, Sweden, h+@nada.kth.se I don't think Apple has too much control over DOAs-- most of them seem to be due to obvious shipping damage (like the two I've seen-- in both cases, the circuit board was actually cracked) Maybe they need to be packed better, but there seems to be sufficient styrofoam... -- Matthew T. Russotto russotto@eng.umd.edu russotto@wam.umd.edu ][, ][+, ///, ///+, //e, //c, IIGS, //c+ --- Any questions? Hey! Bush has NO LIPS!
ac08@vaxb.acs.unt.edu ((C. Irby)) (07/05/90)
In article <1990Jul3.192829.2745@kth.se>, d88-jwa@nada.kth.se (Jon W{tte) writes> [Horror story about buying a Mac, having trouble with the campus store, car trouble, and a dead on arrival IIfx...] > I think that when you pay $11,500 for a <something>, it should > at least have been QC tested & passed. (That's the price of an > 8-bit 13" 4/80MB IIfx system with educational discount here) > It did. It was then shipped halfway across the world. Gee- only got bounced around about a million times in between? I'm surprised that it's not in ten or twelve pieces. > I've bought four macs during my lifetime. Two of these have > been DOA. Isn't this kind of "quality" hurting APple's image ? > On the other hand, _when_ they work, they keep it up flawlessly. > In all of the time I worked selling Macs, we had three DOA machines at the store (which is a major Apple dealer). All three were dead from bad treatment along the way (you could tell from the boxes that they had been bounced around pretty hard). One more thing- check to see if the power supply is still plugged in to the motherboard- that's a common shipping "killer." > Jon W{tte, Stockholm, Sweden, h+@nada.kth.se -- \ C Irby \ "The following will be a test of the ac08@vaxb.acs.unt.edu \ Emergency .Signature System. ac08@untvax \ This is only a test. \ Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep." \
philip@pescadero.Stanford.EDU (Philip Machanick) (07/05/90)
In article <1990Jul4.011508.10300@eng.umd.edu>, russotto@eng.umd.edu (Matthew T. Russotto) writes: > In article <1990Jul3.192829.2745@kth.se> d88-jwa@nada.kth.se (Jon W{tte) writes: > > > > > >Stuff the things into the car and drive home (DAMN! something > >gets very wring with the car and I barely get home at all) > >Unpack, plug in, install everything. Hit power switch. > > > >Nothing. > > >I've bought four macs during my lifetime. Two of these have > >been DOA. Isn't this kind of "quality" hurting APple's image ? > >On the other hand, _when_ they work, they keep it up flawlessly. [Hmm. stories of blown analog boards etc...] > I don't think Apple has too much control over DOAs-- most of them seem > to be due to obvious shipping damage (like the two I've seen-- in both cases, > the circuit board was actually cracked) Maybe they need to be packed better, > but there seems to be sufficient styrofoam... Too much, if anything. I suppose Apple pays someone to design these things, but they aren't exactly environment friendly. I've been involved with the purchase of about 20 Macs over the last 5 years. I can only remember 3 DOAs, one of which was a result of bad installation of a non-Apple internal HD in an SE. Actually, strictly speaking, the other 2 weren't DOA, but died within days. Maybe it depends on whether your dealer burns them in (can't expect this of a low-markup university bookstore, perhaps). Philip Machanick philip@pescadero.stanford.edu
chris@imagine.ADMS-RAD.Unisys.COM (Chris Sterritt) (07/06/90)
In article <1990Jul4.011508.10300@eng.umd.edu> russotto@eng.umd.edu (Matthew T. Russotto) writes: >In article <1990Jul3.192829.2745@kth.se> d88-jwa@nada.kth.se (Jon W{tte) writes: >>[...about DOA macs...] >I don't think Apple has too much control over DOAs-- most of them seem >to be due to obvious shipping damage (like the two I've seen-- in both cases, >the circuit board was actually cracked) Maybe they need to be packed better, >but there seems to be sufficient styrofoam... Early (Apple II, II+ days) Apple repair documentation had a funny line about the UPS et al. using SHERMAN TANKS to do their deliveries :-), so Apple has known about the difficulty of shipping delicate components for quite a while. In those days, however, it was really rare to get an Apple component that was dead on arrival. --chris sterritt ============================================================================ = Chris Sterritt - chris@adms-rad.unisys.com = = "Tune in next week for 'Rocky 20'. The story of 20 rocks. Very heavy = = stuff." -- Alastair Cookie (Cookie Monster), Monsterpiece Theater = ============================================================================