#Computer Answers
Consumer Alert: Computer Answers
A friend of mine has asked me to post this letter written to Donna
Viveiros, Administrative assistant at Amazing Computing.
On March 22, 1994 I called Computer Answers to order an Amiga 4000/40.
My first question was "do you have it in stock?", the answer was "yes
we do". My second question, "how long for delivery?", the answer, "two
weeks at the most". I am trying to get a small business off the ground
and time is quite important, but for the advertised prices I figured
it would be worth the wait. As you can see by the date on this letter
(June 16, 1994), it has now been close to three full months of anxiety,
frustration and a different excuse with every inquiring phone call. I
first called approximately three weeks from the order date to find out
why my Visa had been charged on March 29 and nothing had been received.
I was told at this time that they were waiting for the WarpEngine to
ship and that it was expected in the next couple of days. Evidently "in
stock" means something different in Canada. I called a week later and
was told that it was just starting to ship and I was first on the list.
At this time I also ordered some additional memory to be installed and
asked that they make sure it was 60ns and not the 70ns chips that come
with it. I called again one week later and was told that they were
having trouble getting a shipment from the States, but they were sure
it was about to be shipped from one of their nearby distributors. I
waited another two weeks to call and was told that the WarpEngine was
there, but they had to wait for the memory chips which had just come
in that day (June 7, 1994) and they were just putting it together,
promising faithfully to ship it that same day. When I called again on
June 13, 1994 I was told that the shipping clerk was off sick that day
and that the computer had been shipped on June 10, 1994 via UPS air,
so the sales person did not have access to the shipping number that I
might have it tracked. I called again the following morning, June 14,
1994. The shipping clerk was in, but they would have to call UPS for
a tracking number and would call me back. At 1:15PM that same after-
noon I called them back and was told that my computer was not actually
in the hands of UPS or customs either. They told me that they have
their own warehouse next to the border and it would be shipped from
there to customs with a promise that I would have it by Friday, June
17, 1994. HAH!!!!
With time lost and several international long distant phone calls,
this hasn't been such a great deal after all. I would appreciate any
thing you could do to bring some light to this nightmare of deception
and false advertising.
Robert O. Bennett
Funky Fliks
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Well there you have it. I've been following this saga with Bob for
the last 3 months and Computer Answers has sure given him the
run-around. Myself, I probably would have canceled the order about
a month ago, but Bob has more patience than I. The false advertising
Bob was referring to is a statement made in their ad's that reads:
A4000 or 4000T $39 5-9 days
(Quoting from ad) "These are the average rates & delivery times in
business days for ground service within Canada & the USA."
They are not even close!! Looks to me that its easy to offer great
prices on something if you don't deliver the product, or make
enough interest off of the VISA charge <g>.
// John (Speeding on the Information Superhighway)
\X/ Mercury@ins.infonet.net