[comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc] Mailorder Disks

CTB103@psuvm.psu.edu (02/20/91)

I am considering buying 3.5" double sided,double density disks in bulk
from a mail-order house, but I do not know which one.  If anyone has a
strong opinion, please re-post or e-mail.    Thanks



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rdippold@maui.qualcomm.com (Ron Dippold) (02/20/91)

In article <91050.132640CTB103@psuvm.psu.edu> CTB103@psuvm.psu.edu writes:
>I am considering buying 3.5" double sided,double density disks in bulk
>from a mail-order house, but I do not know which one.  If anyone has a
>strong opinion, please re-post or e-mail.    Thanks
>

I've never had a problem with MEI.  Dirt cheap, fast, and if there are any
bad disks, just tell them and they will send you replacements.  If you ship
the bad disks back to them with a note, they will send you replacements and
enough blank disks to make up for your shipping costs!

I believe they are selling 800K 3.5" DSDD disks for about 39 cents each.

jdb@reef.cis.ufl.edu (Brian K. W. Hook) (02/20/91)

In article <91050.132640CTB103@psuvm.psu.edu> CTB103@psuvm.psu.edu writes:
|>I am considering buying 3.5" double sided,double density disks in bulk
|>from a mail-order house, but I do not know which one.  If anyone has a
|>strong opinion, please re-post or e-mail.    Thanks

Two names jump to mind immediately:  Americal and MEI/micro center.  I have
done ALL my diskette buying from MEI and have reached that they are:

no frills
high reliablity
quick service
low cost

Labels, etc. are extra, but disks are so cheap that you still save a ton
of money.  I like the store a lot, and have bought aruond 300 1.2MB 
floppies from them -- NO BAD SECTORS.  I guess I have been lucky, since
I also bought 50 DS/DD 3.5 and 100 DS/HD 3.5 and still haven't had a 
bad sector.

Brian

rlk20269@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Richard Leon Kapusta) (02/20/91)

In article <1991Feb19.224018.18787@qualcomm.com> rdippold@maui.qualcomm.com (Ron Dippold) writes:
>
>I believe they are selling 800K 3.5" DSDD disks for about 39 cents each.

Do they sell 1.44 Meg disks and if they do, for how much?  Is there a minimum
purchase?  How long does it take to receive the disks?

                                 Rich

rdippold@maui.qualcomm.com (Ron Dippold) (02/21/91)

In article <1991Feb20.091403.17133@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> rlk20269@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Richard Leon Kapusta) writes:
>In article <1991Feb19.224018.18787@qualcomm.com> rdippold@maui.qualcomm.com (Ron Dippold) writes:
>>
>>I believe they are selling 800K 3.5" DSDD disks for about 39 cents each.
>
>Do they sell 1.44 Meg disks and if they do, for how much?  Is there a minimum
>purchase?  How long does it take to receive the disks?
>

I will have to dig out my catalog... I believe they are currently (last month)
selling 1.44 3.5"s for 79 cents each.  You buy them in lots of 50.  It has
taken anywhere from 3 days to a week and a half for me to get my disks from
them.

goat@ucscb.UCSC.EDU (Craig Stephen Campbell) (02/21/91)

...you can get 1.44meg disks for no more than $.69 from one of the beeg 
distributors (Americal?) that advertises in Computer Shopper. Pay no more!
I think it was at least a 50 disk minimum....who cares, at that price
I got one hundred...

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ntaib@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (Nur Iskandar Taib) (02/23/91)

*>Two names jump to mind immediately:  Americal and MEI/micro center.  I have
*>done ALL my diskette buying from MEI and have reached that they are:

*>no frills
*>high reliablity
*>quick service
*>low cost



Well, maybe their 3 1/2" disks are OK, but about two years
ago I bought 200 of their 5 1/4" diskettes. About 20% for-
matted with bad sectors. Many had bad track 0's. The media 
was varied. Some was dull brown and some was burnished. Some
was mottled. I even came across several with malformed write
enable notches. One had NO write enable notch (they got pro-
gressively worse and worse until they got to this one). Re-
placements took a month to get, and they weren't any good 
either. I ended up shipping the whole lot back.

On top of that, their customer service person was exceeding-
ly rude.

I'll never buy from MEI again.



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woan@nowhere (Ronald S Woan) (02/24/91)

In article <1991Feb23.052451.853@bronze.ucs.indiana.edu> ntaib@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (Nur Iskandar Taib) writes:
>Well, maybe their 3 1/2" disks are OK, but about two years
>ago I bought 200 of their 5 1/4" diskettes. 

The keywords are two years ago. I have heard that MEI had supplier
problems back then, and in the past two years I have purchased 150 of
their 5.25" HD diskettes in three lots of 50 and have had only 6 that
have had bad sectors or failed to format... As others have pointed out
recently their service seems to be much better these days with them
making up the inconvenience and shipping back of bad diskettes with
extra disks. Can't ask for much more than that...

Just a satisfied customer.


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kamal@wpi.WPI.EDU (Kamal Z Zamli) (02/25/91)

In article <1991Feb23.052451.853@bronze.ucs.indiana.edu> ntaib@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (Nur Iskandar Taib) writes:
>*>Two names jump to mind immediately:  Americal and MEI/micro center.  I have
>*>done ALL my diskette buying from MEI and have reached that they are:
>
>*>no frills
>*>high reliablity
>*>quick service
>*>low cost
>
>
>
>Well, maybe their 3 1/2" disks are OK, but about two years
>ago I bought 200 of their 5 1/4" diskettes. About 20% for-
>matted with bad sectors. Many had bad track 0's. The media 
>was varied. Some was dull brown and some was burnished. Some
>was mottled. I even came across several with malformed write
>enable notches. One had NO write enable notch (they got pro-
>gressively worse and worse until they got to this one). Re-
>placements took a month to get, and they weren't any good 
>either. I ended up shipping the whole lot back.
>
>On top of that, their customer service person was exceeding-
>ly rude.
>
>I'll never buy from MEI again.
>



Hmm, I bought 50 high density (1.2 megs) 5 1/4 disks and
25 high density (1.44 meg) 3 1/2 from MEI 2 months ago. So far
so good.... I don't have any problem with it.

albert@endor.uucp (David Albert) (02/25/91)

>Well, maybe their 3 1/2" disks are OK, but about two years
>ago I bought 200 of their 5 1/4" diskettes. About 20% for-
>matted with bad sectors.

>On top of that, their customer service person was exceedingly rude.

>I'll never buy from MEI again.

I have ordered from MEI many times.  On the one occasion that I received
diskettes with bad sectors, I called them about it and they immediately
shipped replacements (I didn't have to return the bad ones).  They were
very nice about it.
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