Reader Mail

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Date: Tue, 23 May 1995 06:53:58 -0500 (CDT)
From: Chris Hall <chall@clover.cleaf.com>
To: jcompton@shell.portal.com

The co-sysop on my BBS had big problems with A&M Computer repair.  He
wanted me to email this to you so you could put in the AR and warn
everyone about this company.

---

subj: AR letter to jcompton@shell.portal.com
from: Chris Foster
on  : Sun 21-May-1995  1:52p

 Dear Jason,
 
 I am writing you and your staff to tell you what a great job you do
informing the Amiga community about news and new products for the Amiga.  
You have continued to do a great job and I will continue to read your
magazine (Who could ask for a better magazine for the price.) :)

 The other reason I am writing you is the concern I have with a company in
which I feel needs the attention of the Amiga community.  In February of
this year, I sent my Commodore 1960 multiscan monitor to be repaired to A&M
Computer Repair Service.  Before I sent it I called their office and spoke
with someone and told him what problems I was having with the monitor.  The
computer screen had collapsed into a single vertical band down the center
and was emitting a high pitched whining noise.  He told me to send the
monitor with $85.00 + $12.00 shipping (money order).  Another person in
their office told me that someone would call me as soon as they received
the monitor.  I allowed 6-7 working days for UPS to deliver it to them.
Approximately 10-14 days later, I called A&M back to see if they received
my monitor and money order.  I spoke with another person and she said that
they received the monitor the day before, but that there was not a money
order enclosed with the monitor.  She then told me that it would cost
$168.95 to have it repaired.  Obviously, whoever received the package just
took out the packing material and threw it in the trash without checking
the contents of the box.  I then had to spend $5.00 to get a refund on my
money order and wait 3 weeks for it to be mailed back to me.  I called A&M
back and told them to repair my monitor and send it back to me C.O.D.  When
I received my monitor back, there was only a shipping label attached and
when I opened the box, there was not a copy of my invoice or any type of
packing slip.  I hooked the monitor back up to my computer and noticed that
the PAL/NTSC screen modes weren't being displayed correctly.  On the far
right of the screen pixels were squeezed tightly together and pixels in the
center of the screen appeared enlarged.  All other video modes were normal.
I also noticed that the case on the front of the monitor had been scratched
as though someone had set it face down on a workbench and dragged or slid
across a rough surface.  I immediately called A&M back and told them what
the monitor was doing and that I hadn't received a copy of the invoice.  He
told me to send it back and they would fix it and there wouldn't be any
charge for the repair, and that someone would call me when they received
the monitor.  Well, sending the monitor costs approximately $15 (insured)
and I was not able to send it for another week or so.  I did not use the
monitor except to only demonstrate what the PAL/NTSC modes were doing when
the picture suddenly collapsed into a single vertical bar and emitted the
high pitched whining noise (what I had sent it to them for in the first
place.) I packed my monitor back up and shipped it back to A&M and waited
two weeks before I finally had to call them again and ask if they had
received my monitor and given any diagnosis.  I called numerous times
wanting to speak to the owner and each time I was told to leave my name and
number and he would get back with me.  I never once was called by anyone at
A&M Repair Service in regards to this matter.  I had to initiate all
communications with them.  I finally got to talk to the owner and he said
that he would look at the monitor and call me back.  Still no call back to
me.  I called repeatedly and asked to speak to the owner (who I later found
out was also the technician that was doing the repair work) and was told
that he wasn't in.  I was informed that a circuit board on the monitor had
a hole burned into it and that there was nothing they could/would do about
it.  I asked to be refunded and they refused to refund any money due to
terms that they did not authorize me to have any repair work done on it
other than by them.  I simply stated in a letter I sent with the monitor
the second time that I had a friend/technician LOOK at the monitor, and
they are taking that to mean that I had work done to it.  I did not take it
to a repair shop, I had a friend (who is also a technician) come look at
it, not disassemble it, when it blew out on me the second time.  He said
that he couldn't work on it because he couldn't get parts for the monitor
since the Amiga market is in the position that it is in right now.

 I am still trying to get a refund of $168.95 that I paid to have it
repaired.  I spoke with someone at A&M Repair Service but they refuse to
refund my money.  I have since then received my monitor back with just a
note written in pencil on the back of the case that says "burnt hole in
board".  Well, I took the cover off of the monitor just to look around and
see where this hole was and if I could maybe get it repaired somehow.  The
hole is about 1/4" in diameter and the component that used to be there is
missing.  I also noticed that the RF shield was missing.  After some
studying of the circuit board I started to just put the whole thing back
together when I noticed that there were some spare parts from somebody
elses monitor floating around inside my monitor.  The rubber feet that are
on the bottom of monitors and screws that also attach the bottom cover of
the monitor were loose, rattling around my monitor.  I believe that this
could've caused the monitor to have shorted out and caused the arcing that
burnt the hole in the circuit board.

 I feel I have no choice but to bring this matter to the public eye and let
you come to your own conclusion.  I feel that I've been ripped off royally
and believe that I deserve my money back since they did not fix my
monitor.I have gotten absolutely nowhere with this company.  It is really
sad to pay $170 dollars for repair service and end up with a dead monitor.

 You may edit/revise this letter as you wish, but please post it for me and
for others who may have defective Amiga equipment so that they won't make
the same mistake I did.  This is a warning to fellow Amigans to get a
reliable company to work on their computer equipment.  Thank you.

 Chris Foster
 Dark Horizon BBS 903-832-6214

                            --- --- --- --- ---

From PUTYTHECAT@delphi.com Sat May 27 21:05:34 1995
Date: Sun, 28 May 1995 00:06:11 -0400 (EDT)

Dear Jason,

I have read a lot of UseNet posts recently concerning the whereabouts of
Stefan Boberg, the author of the LHA archiver.  Apparently several people
(close to 10 by my count) have sent in their registration fees, but they
never received the registered version of LHA or any word back from him. 
Several others, myself included, have wanted to send in for the registered
version, but the address listed in the documentation is four years old and
half way across the planet.  I know I'm not about to send out money till I
confirm the address - especially in light of the recent messages I've
read.

My question to you is: Do you know the whereabouts of Stefan Boberg or at
least his current address?  One of the posts said they heard Stefan has
recently joined the programming group "Team 17".  All EMail messages to
them though have gone unanswered.

If you don't know his whereabouts, would you at least consider including
this letter in the next issue of AR so he or someone else who knows his
whereabouts might read it?

HEY STEFAN, PEOPLE ARE TRYING TO SEND YOU MONEY!!!  THE LEAST YOU COULD DO
IS MAKE IT EASY FOR THEM!!!

-   Anyone?

                            --- --- --- --- ---

From: Bill Silvey <wsilvey@magua.oo.com>
To: jcompton@xnet.com
Subject: ...PANTS? (letter to editor)

Jason-

After reading the latest word from Escom, I'm inclined to think of the
episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000* in which Joel gave all of the
'bots neat presents.  Tom got a hot-rod go-cart, Gypsy got a bath playset,
and Crow got ...  PANTS.

Well, that's what U.S.  Amiga users got handed this week.  Pants.  In other
words, all of the good news was just that -- if you happened to live in
Europe.  Or be one of the 10000 people in the US or Canada who can afford
one of the 10000 A4000T's Escom is so /GENEROUSLY/ sending across the sea.

So here we sit.  European Amiga users get the neat toys and we get...  
nothing.  Not a damn thing.  Ten thousand A4000t's are an excuse for Escom
to say "Look.  Amigas don't sell worth a damn in North America.   Let's not
even think about that market any more." Why?  Who in the hell will be able
(willing) to pay for an A4000T?  NewTek?  Not hardly.  They jumped ship a
month ago.  Die-hard Amiga users?  OK.  There's 10000.   That's not even
the beginning of a thought of an idea about doing something that might
create an indication of a ripple in the computer market here.

This isn't an "It's not made here Alex should have won" rant...lots of
great things come out of Europe.  But how "fair" is it to NA Amiga users to
be completely ignored by Escom?  It isn't.  And I guess now that NA stands
for "Not Applicable" now.

And set-top boxes, you say?  Great.  We got a shirt with our pants.

*ObAmiga: They use(d?) Video Toasters extensively in the "BestBrains" labs.

Anyone who leaves the platform, at least here, can't be accused of 
"abandoning" the Amiga.  It's abandoned us.

Sadly,

    Bill Silvey (wsilvey@oo.com)

                            --- --- --- --- ---

I was reading AR 3.09 today (I don't have a modem etc., but friends
generally send me AR) and I thought I'd just add a coupla things to the
letter about UK Amiga mags:-

1.  Amiga Pro had gone to the wall
2.  The best mag of all wasn't included-namely, JAM (Just Amiga Monthly),
    probably because it's a subscription-only magazine not a fancy glossy
    job!

Glad Escom are gonna restart production of A600s (assuming of course that
they actually do what they say they're gonna do...) it really is an
underrated little machine-graphically disadvantaged though it may be :-( -
it's a great "first-timer's" computer.  If I'd had to start out on an
A1200, never having touched a computer before, I'd have been put right
off, instead of hooked for life. ;-)

Anyway, thanx to you and AR for keeping the Amiga community in touch with
what's been happening over the past rather traumatic year or so.

Jen Allen
Sussex, England

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