CompuServe Thread

15.6 Mhz limit

4 messages in this thread
#21221From: AvcomMar 28, 1988 12:32 PM
Corky/Craig-That soap-box is one that we also live on; the idea of service from a conscientious dealer is massively important as the hardware requirements and configurations evolve. We are trying to develop "if this, then this…"charts for all our tech staff (3.5 over stressed workaholics!) for the different hardware configurations that we sell and this forum helps a lot. Maybe if some of us got together here and shared knowledge we could get a nat'l tech support team that would drive out the heathen unclean non-supportive dealer slime from our fair kingdom …I'm sorry,I'm getting emotional and it's only monday morning…. But anyhow I try to read all tech questions for future ref and I've learned a lot from Don 🙂 Strimbu and some of the others here so there are a lot of us out here. Randy ( We shall Overcome )@avcom
#21333From: Corky DeedsMar 30, 1988 1:01 AM
Sounds like your in the same boat we are,doing everything before finishing anything. We've come to the conclusion that we can only sell some of the products that are out there and try to give our customers a choice of two or three from which to choose in each group. Non support dealers are a real sore subject here because we see so much of it in SoCal. I've seen quotes with "our favorite" product at $1850 retail onesies. How much support can yoou give a customer on that kind of margin and those kind of customers always go to the user group and brag about their great buy then endup bad mouthing the product as lousy rather than admitting that they really needed the support. They also tend to feel that all "authorized dealers " really should give them support when the S-M they bought from is no longer around or forgets who they are. Have you had the fun of trying to explain to a customer the difference between a well configured system (i.e. fast drives, known reliable motherboard, etc.) and a specmanship special as seen in some of the mags and in our local dirty yellow rag. Have one dealer here in town who will swear on a stack of bibles that a 287 is just a fast as a 387 if you run it with the secret board that kicks it up to 12MHZ and only costs $150 extra with his tested 80287-8. Well this may not be monday but as you can tell it was on of those days and after looking at three of the basket case systems, staying late trying to figure out how to nicely tell the owners the took it in the shorts I needed to let off steam. Thanks for listening. Corky Deeds LightSpeed Corp.
#21378From: Michael MurphreeMar 30, 1988 10:20 PM
Corky, Not to leave you out there alone, I lost a sale this morning to a fly by night outfit here. I offered the training, installation, support and "minor" menu customizations for $2850. My friendly "authorized" competitor offered a drop shipment for $1850. The client opted for $1850 and then wanted to know if I was trying to rip him off. He called me at home this evening, wondering if I would consider installing it for him, training his operators, and supporting him afterwards. I told him I'll call him back tomorrow. I've decided that I'm gonna do it. But my rates are $2850. Michael
#21382From: Corky DeedsMar 30, 1988 11:31 PM
Get the serial number of the system and turn it in with a complaint to your sales rep, if the sale went out of their territory then it cost the as well as you. They told us a Dealer Daze that they wanted to know about these kind of deals so maybe they really will do something? That looks so trite in writing, well we're all here on faith. Hope the guy takes you up on the service if not make sure to give him the direct support number from Autodesk and tell him all about using this form, wouldn't want an unsupported customer out there would we? I'm to the point of offering these type of people a flyer with insturctions, phone numbers, and a great deal on cheap modems, also giving them an auto redial program that keeps trying a number until it gets through for those hard to reach dealers that sold to them in the first place. Vengance may be Gods but ……… Corky Deeds LightSpeed Corp.