CompuServe Messages

Fred, You need to understand how the entire distribution system works in order to understand why CBM (the United States distribution arm of Commodore Int'l) won't honor warranties from unauthorized dealers such as Montgomery Grant. In simple terms, CBM, the organization we tend to simply call 'Commodore' is nothing more than a distributor. They buy equipment from Commodore International (the parent company) and sell it thru their sales channels where it eventuall ends up in your hands. CBM sets the suggested retail pricing, sets the dealer policy, runs national advertising, runs specials such as the power-up deals and educational pricing. There are quite a number of distribution arms of Commodore Int'l. For example, Commodore Canada is another one, and totally separate from CBM. In any event, part of they way these distribution arms set wholesale pricing is how many computers they expect to sell, how many they'll have to repair under warranty, how much overhead they have, and (of course) how much Commodore Int'l charges them in the first place. With that in mind…figure out how it'd throw off those numbers if Joe Blow went up to Canada and bought several thousand computers from Commodore Canada, and then brought them into the United States and sold them here. Commodore Canada gets all the profit, and doesn't have to pay any warranty work. CBM on the other hand, got zero dollars profit (they didn't sell them) but would have to repair them if they break. In other words…pure loss. Add to that, companies like Montgomery Grant that sell refurbished machines, they're not necessairly brand new. They may be dealer demos, they may be returns and so forth. continued…