smsmith@hpuxa.ircc.ohio-state.edu (02/26/91)
After talking with 4-5 people about Touche/PC Pros, it seems
everyone has something bad to say. Two people who had bought
from them had a LOT of trouble with their tech support. One
guy didn't receive a Microsoft Mouse which should have come
with his system, and it took him nearly two months and around
4 phone calls plus two letters before he finally got it.
Another person had a malfunctioning power supply which Touche
replaced, but the new one was bad too and Touche finally (after
much hassle) made him PAY for a different power supply AND
charged him postage for it too!
One guy said he was a satisfied customer, even though he had
a low opinion of Touche after dealing with them after the sale;
another guy urged me to never deal with Touche even if I had
to pay a couple hundred dollars more to deal with a reputable
company like Gateway.
So.....before I turn my back forever on this supposedly lame
company, I thought I would ask the net once more if there is
ANYBODY out there who has a system from Touche (PC Pros) and
who has either had a reliable system or has had a GOOD
experience with their tech support.
The reason I'm still holding on to the thought of buying from
this company is that they include nearly all the components in their
386-33 system which I would get if I were assembling one myself.
Instead of putting one together myself, I thought it might be
worth it to have it put together for me and take the chance of
having a bad experience should a component fail on me. I
called the Associate Publisher of Computer Monthly (Touche advertises
in that magazine) to see if anyone had complained to them about
Touche, and I was told that he had handled the account since its
beginning and he had never had any problems with Touche. He even
told me that if I had any problems with them to come to him
personally to iron things out. I called Computer Shopper as well,
but they haven't called me back. Oh yeah, I also called my VISA
company and they assured me that they would oversee any breach
of warranty--plus they said they would extend my 1 year parts/labor
warranty for another year automatically just by using their card.
I called the Better Business Bureau (312-444-1188) and they said there
were complaints with PC Pros regarding "non-delivery of merchandise"
and "inoperative replacement parts." I called Touche and asked them
to respond to this. They said they had trouble getting DOS 4.01 in
and were back-ordered for a long time, but that they were shipping
it now. As regards the "inoperative replacement parts" the guy I
talked to didn't know. I called back at another time and spoke to
a woman who said she wasn't aware of the problem. I called on 4
different occasions and was assured that if a part failed it was
definitely promptly replaced by a NEW part via overnight Federal
Express. They were upfront about this, and were consistent in what
they said.
For those of you who are interested in why I am still considering
this company, here's their 386-33 system with its individual
components and price:
AMI 386/33 motherboard 64k cache: upgradable to 486/33 with dedicated
CPU board.
--takes 1MB SIMMs or 4MB SIMMs (thus 16 MEG or 64 MEG on MB)
--8 layer construction
--AMI BIOS with setup/config. in CMOS; video/BIOS shadow (can
be disabled)
--support for 387 and Weitek
--combination of C&T and VLSI chipset
--speed selectable between 33 and 8 MHz
--6 16-bit, 2 8-bit slots
--two systems with this board were reviewed in PC Magazine,
Jan. 15, 1991--both systems were rated at/near the top
in 80386 Instruction Mix and Floating-Point calculation,
but both were toward the bottom in Conventional Memory
(.39). See next line.
8 MEGs of RAM, *60ns* (using 1 MB SIMMs)
200 MEG Maxtor LXT-200A IDE 32k cache HD
--15ms average access
--same drive used by other major vendors (Gateway, Ultra-Comp,
Tri-Star, etc.)
Orchid ProDesigner II video card with 1 MEG RAM
--ET4000 chipset
Sony 1304 monitor
--.25dp, 1024x768 noninterlaced
Tower Case with 250 Watts
--PC Power and Cooling power supply (supposedly good company;
it received an honorable mention in a recent review)
--this case got honorable mentions recently in at least three
different reviews in two different magazines for its
sturdiness and roominess (4 external, 2 internal bays)
2 Ser/2 Parallel
--I/O card is manufactured by BOCA; one of the parallel and one
of the serial ports are routed to the case's cutout openings
to save a slot
Keytronics 101 keyboard (I will probably replace this with a better
Fujitsu 4700 keyboard)
1.2MB and 1.44MB TEAC floppies
DOS 4.01
FCC Class B
1 year parts/labor. Life-time toll-free tech support (a new service).
NO 30-day money back guarantee. If a part fails a new part is shipped
via overnight Federal Express (Touche pays postage). Upon receipt of
the new part the customer sends the old part back (at his expense).
PRICE: $3599 + $115 Federal Express (+ $73 VISA surcharge, if
applicable; I will, of course, use my VISA for
added protection; this also automatically gives
me an extra year of warranty via my VISA company).
This exact system (except for a hard drive upgrade to 346 MEGs) is
reviewed in this month's (March) issue of Computer Shopper.
Needless to say it got an EXCELLENT review.
Please note: I live just a few hours from this place
(I teach in northwest Ohio), so that if bad comes to worse
I can drive to their door on an afternoon to attempt to exchange a
part or pick something up. PC Pros (the mother company of Touche)
is a high volume peripherals dealer, so that these complaints may
be from just a few people who had trouble a while back, or they
could be from dozens of people who are being ripped off: The
Better Business Bureau could give me no information about how many
complaints there had been nor how long ago they had been made.
PC Pros has been in business since 1982; Touche is 2 1/2 years
old. PC Pros advertises in the Computer Shopper and the Computer
Monthly. Touche's advertisement looks "nice"--full color and
professional; this of course means little.
I asked PC Pros why they don't have a 30-day money back guarantee.
They said that they only want to deal with serious enquirers (which
is why they have toll-free tech support, but NOT a toll-free
sales line), and they said they do not want to deal with used
equipment. They argued that they put together a top-notch system
(I do have to agree with that) and that they were backing it up
with proper support (guarantee, Federal Express new parts, etc.).
They also said that they can keep their prices so low because
they don't have a huge overhead--namely a small staff to answer
phones and one-page ads (their ads are always only 1 page).
This agrees with their ad which states "We promise we won't waste
your time or your money advertising cows, babies, salami, (or
bologna), diet soft drinks, or cartoons. Every dollar we save in
operating by following this policy gets passed on to you in the
form of superior systems at lower prices." (The "cows" and
"babies" is an obvious slam against Gateway.)
Well, that's about it. I guess it's not hard to see that I am
very pleased with the system and its price, but I am very afraid
that I might end up with a company from hell. So if any of you
have anything to say about Touche, PC Pros, or their system please
post or email.
Thanks in advance.
S. Smith
<smsmith@hpuxa.ircc.ohio-state.edu>