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Text File | 2010-04-21 | 14.8 KB | 302 lines

####################################### ######################################### ##### MY COMPUTER PROBLEMS CONTINUE ##### ############################################# ########### BY JAMES L. MATHEWS ######### ######################################### ####################################### Well, my computer problems have been going on for a while now and this is the third part. In this article, is the previous two articles done on this topic and the latest update on what is happening. / / \ \ /ILLICA /YSTEMS ================ |\ ¯¯¯|¯¯¯ | |\/| |/ | | | | |\ \ | | | | |/Y \|AMES |__ :: | |ATHEWS ================================ Oh dear....Oh deary deary me. Tut tut! Oh dear......No I'm not talking about the poor attempt at a livened up title but Sillica Systems. "Sillica Systems?!" I hear you ask. Well, come on, you must have come across their adverts in the big glossy magazines. They have about three full page adds every month in every magazine apart from ST ACTION. Still don't know who I'm talking about. Well, they're the company that (and I quote!), "...Ensure that you will have nothing to worry about...", they have been established for almost 14 years and "with their unrivalled experience and expertise, they can now claim to meet their customers requirements with an understanding which is second to none." But remember, "Don't just take their word for it..." All that is pure quoting from their adverts and basically it is all complete crap! Let me tell you a small story about our friends at Sillica System (hope you're reading guys!). I had been on holiday at my mates house for a while. When I came back, my dad had tried to upgrade my 520 STFM to a megabyte for me. Sadly, it had all gone terribly wrong and after a brief session with a repair man, we were told that our dear computer should be buried and forgotten. The computer was beyond repair (cheers dad!) and was useless in all ways! I had an issue of POWER to get out. I couldn't wait for it all to be sorted out, so we got a new 1040 STE from Sillica Systems as they seemed to be a reputable company and it is where we got our first ST from without any problems. They were offering their usual TEN STAR package with the ten games, 1st Word and all that. I already had their pack from the last purchase and told them that I didn't want their pack which they claimed to be worth over £320. "You can have 15 quid off then!" said the assistant. Mmmm, great stuff, £320 worth of software for a £15 discount, shows how much this software is REALLY worth! Anyway, I got my computer home and with glee ripped the packaging open like a savage dog and set it all up. I chucked in a disk. Great stuff - It worked! After a few games I decided it was time to work, so out with my POWER FILE disk and my copy of 1st Word. Yep, still working. I then had a bit of file copying to do and when doing this, noticed that the computer was not reading blank disks. I rang up sillica and this is what the detailed conversation went like: Me - "Er...I've just purchased a 1040 STE from you and although it works properly, there is one problem; it doesn't read blank disks!" Assistant - "Well, if they're blank they ofcourse it's not going to be picked up is it?!" Me - "Well, I've had an ST before and know what I am talking about and it SHOULD read blank disks otherwise how am I going to copy stuff on the desktop?!" Assistant - "(Damn, one that knows what he's talking about!), oh er.....Well, ring our help line!" And that was it. Cheers for the "14 years of unrivalled experience and expertise" mate! Anyway, I knew that there was a problem with it so I didn't bother ringing up the help line. I rang back Sillica. A different bloke answered. After I had explained the problem for the 50th time, he went down to the store room to check if there were any I could swap with. There wasn't. I was told to wait a week and then phone back. It didn't bother me that much as I could still write POWER with it and do my work so I decied to hold on to it. Monday came and the computers still hadn't arrived but at least my computer was still working....Or was it?! I went back up and turned it on and was happily typing up a review for POWER when the machine suddenly reset itself and went all grey. I turned the POWER off and then on again....The computer was broken and it was now broken in every sense as I couldn't load a thing and the POWER just wouldn't turn on at all. I checked all connections, read through all the manuals and everything but still could not get it to work. I was in trouble, what was I going to do?! We rang back up and explained the problem. We were told to go up there (about a 2 hour journey!) and we could take a 520 STE that was upgraded to a megabyte. Well, I did, brought the computer back and would you believe it.....It didn't switch on at all!!! We rang back up and told them the problem. They were out of computers completely but we could try one of their other branches. So we did, got another 520 STE, took it home and that one had the same problem as the 1040 STE. At first it wasn't reading blank disks and then it just crashed out. We phoned back up AGAIN and were told to go to their OTHER branch which was the last branch that we had not tried. We were told that they had ONE 520 STE left and they would reserve it for us so we could go up and collect it. We went up to their other branch only to find that our reserved computer had been sold!!! We started getting a bit angry at this point and told them about my disk magazine etc. All of a sudden their whinging about how it wasn't their fault suddenly turned into a red carpet treatment....This STILL didn't work though. They offered me a loan machine which was loaned out to people such as myself. I was told that it had a megabyte and although it was in bad EXTERIOR condition, it would still work okay. I wasn't going to risk it again and told them to try it out before hand. They did and suprise suprise.....IT DIDN'T WORK!!! They had nothing left to offer me and told me that I should wait about two weeks until a new one arrived. We went home incredibly annoyed. We then got a phone call from one of the staff who had found out about my disk magazine. They had arranged a 520 STE to be SENT DOWN to me in a few days. Thank God, I thought that the problem was finally over! The computer arrived and I just could not believe it! There was software missing, a broken mouse, a broken function key and the ports at the back were all wrecked. I tried it and it worked for a while. It worked every now and then and I rang up, told them the problem and continued using it whenever it was working. My dad took it back and got nothing in return. On his way back, he noticed a special offer in Dixons offering the same package for £150 (compared to the original price of £199). He bought it and brought it back. It worked and is the computer I am using now. Although the software is crap (see the review last month) it still all works okay. Meanwhile, the SILLICA SYSTEMS problem is STILL being sorted out. By the way (and this IS true), when the man came to deliver our computer (he was from SILLICA themselves!) he actually said this, "I shouldn't be telling you this, but I would NEVER buy a computer from them because I take so many backwards and forwards!" Well, that says it all really doesn't it! Sorry SILLICA SYSTEMS but although you've had 14 years of unrivalled experience and expertise, I think it will be a good few centuries before you get a decent company going! By the way, we got no compensation or any apologies for all the travelling costs and wasted time. Cheers lads! Oh well, if you have anything to say about this company whether it is in their defence of backing me up (I honestly don't mind!) then please send it in. Any other companies to be congratulated or slagged off would be greatly appreciated too. MY COMPUTER PROBLEMS CONTINUE... BY JAMES L. MATHEWS Last month, you may remember an article entitled SILLICA SYSTEMS and it was all about the many problems I had been having with them and all their broken computers and everything. Well, my troubles are still continuing but not with Sillica anymore. It was the last straw, we got our money back from Sillica because there was a special offer on at Dixons. They were selling the 1040 STE curriculum pack for just £150. I got my money back and bought the pack from Dixons. When we got it back, it had a duff drive in the same way that all the previous STE's had. I couldn't believe it. I took it back and they told me that they were out of stock and were not going to get any more in (hence the reduced price - They were getting rid of them!) and in not so many words told me that I would have to lump it. After a bit of tactical reasoning on my part, they said that they would try and find a replacement at another of their branches and send it down. Not too many days later, I received a replacement and you just would not believe the state of this thing. The keys and casing was covered in black grime, there were missing keys, the back of the shell was coming off, the void sticker had been removed (in other words I had no guarantee anymore!) and it was all scratched. The amazing thing was, that it actually worked properly!!! It is the computer that I am using at the moment while we wait for Dixons to sort something out. Can you believe that the bastards didn't even say sorry about the state of the computer or offer a discount or anything?! The cheek of it, I tell you, this computer is a complete wreck on the outside! Anyway, at the moment, Dixons are sorting something out with their warehouse and have got a few ST's that I can go up and choose from. I was told that they were not new but I wasn't told that I could have a discount. Anyway, we have already had one of these little sessions and guess what I was offered....A 1040 STF. For those of you that don't know, a 1040 STF is one of the very first ST's ever, it is below an STE by miles and can't handle anything lthat an STE can and is even below the STFM. I STILL wasn't offered a discount. The bloke clearly didn't know what he was talking about because at first I pretended that it was perfect. I asked him if it was the same TOS as the STE I had returned first along with other questions and all I could get out of him was, "It's exactly the same computer!". In the end I had to get the computer, stick it up his nose, twist it round and shout, "NO IT'S BLOODY NOT THE SAME COMPUTER!". With a brief apology we were sorted out to have another viewing of some other computers later on so I've still got that to look forward to. Meanwhile, I am typing away on this old computer that is falling apart but at least it works. I'll update you on what's happening as and when it happens. Meanwhile, the quest for the perfect new STE continues... MY COMPUTER PROBLEMS CONTINUE ISSUE 11 UPDATE Well, I soon after got a new 1040 STE from somewhere. It seemed to be okay when I first got it and at least it wasn't falling apart. But I have been having a few problems lately. The disk has trouble reading and writing to and from disks and I get messages saying that my output device isn't outputting data. At first, (after a few choice words shouted at the top of my voice!) I decided that I would take it back, but I don't think I can be bothered to go through any more troubles like this. Dixons have stopped selling the STE now anyway. It seems that the fault seems to be with the computers themselves, but I'm not saying that SILLICA SYSTEMS and DIXONS (both well known and reputable companies) didn't deserve what I have said about them. Both services were unknowledgable, unhelpful and provided a bad service. For example, Sillica selling a computer that we had reserved and which we had to travel for an hour or so to get, only to find that they had sold it. Then there is Dixons, who replaced my computer with a dirty second hand one which was literally falling apart without giving me an apology, a discount or anything! However, ATARI is ALSO at fault. For me to have TEN (yes, 10) faulty computers is completely ridiculous! ALL of them were faulty at the drive if I can remember correctly. ATARI have admitted that they have taken short cuts on the computers to be able to sell them at the reduced price and it really does show. It seems as if ATARI have taken a massive short cut on the disk drive side of things and it's problems like this which put a new ATARI customer off ATARI for life. I know that if I had bought that STE as my first ATARI and I had had to take it back TEN TIMES, I would have surely got my money back and went and bought (God help me when I say the word...) an AMIGA!!!! That's desperation for you, I also would probably steer clear from any ATARI product for the rest of my computing years. Anyway, let's hope that I was just incredibly unlucky or something because otherwise, ATARI could be losing more potential customers through this deal than they are gaining!