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- From: dh@fncrd6.fnal.gov (don husby)
- Newsgroups: alt.cd-rom
- Subject: Insight/HDI: the final chapter
- Summary: Beating a dead horse.
- Message-ID: <1if0ulINNi8v@fnnews.fnal.gov>
- Date: 6 Jan 93 16:21:41 GMT
- Sender: dh@fncrd6.fnal.gov (Don Husby)
- Organization: Fermilab
- Lines: 63
- NNTP-Posting-Host: fncrd6.fnal.gov
-
-
- About a month ago, there was a thread on this newsgroup regarding
- Insight / Hard Drives International and sleazy trade practices. Here
- is an account of my final dealings with them.
-
- The story so far:
- I ordered a Talon TA-100 from Insight advertised as 380ms seek,
- 32K buffer plus toolworks, etc for $279. They promised to ship it the
- next day via Federal Express.
- 19 days later, the drive arrived. It was a Mitsumi drive with an
- 800ms/ 2K buffer. I called them on it and the salesman said that the
- ad was a misprint and that a Talon TA-100 is a mitsumi drive. The
- salesman urged me to install it and give it a try.
- Two weeks later, I got a catalog from insight advertising a talon
- TA-100 drive at 380ms/32K. I called, asked about the specifications and
- the same salesman confirmed the specs: 380ms/32K. Of course, it wasn't
- in stock that day, but the salesman offered a drive with similar specs
- for only an extra $40.
- The next day I called to get a refund and Stephanie in "Customer
- Satisfaction" claims that it was my mistake: I ordered the wrong
- drive.
-
- And then:
- I wrote a long threatening letter to Stephanie and her supervisor,
- detailing their most agregious bogosity and hypothesising that a long
- discussion on usenet and a short talk with my purchasing department
- would cost them tens of thousands of dollars in sales. An excerpt:
-
- ===============================
- > Now, Stephanie, the people who run Insight might believe that these
- > consequences are outwieghed by the profit that they make by deceiving
- > the general public. Perhaps they are right.
- > In fact, you have said that you do not beleive that Insight
- > regularly and purposfully deceives its customers. I challenge you to
- > prove it to me and to yourself. You can do this by sending me the
- > following materials:
- >
- > 1) An advertisement in which a TA-100 CD-ROM with an 800ms access
- > time and 32K buffer is advertised for $279. (This is the drive that
- > you sent to me).
- > 2) A page from the hardware manual for the TA-100 that you are
- > currently advertising which shows an average seek time of 380ms and a
- > 32K buffer.
- > 3) An invoice showing that Insight has orderd a reasonable inventory
- > of these drives in recent months.
- > 4) The names and phone numbers of three customers living outside of
- > Arizona who have ordered a TA-100 (380ms/32K) and received a drive
- > that meets these specifications.
- =================================
-
- Stephanie called on the next working day and offered apologies and a
- refund or exchange. Of course she couldn't provide the information I
- requested.
- I also got a letter of apology from her manager. One sentence in
- the letter pretty much sums up what you can expect when dealing with
- Insight: "However, as stated in our advertisements and catalog,
- pricing and availability are subject to change without notice."
- Presumably they take this to mean that even after you've ordered a
- drive and confirmed the specifications, they can ship whatever they
- damn well please if they think they can get away with it.
-
- I opted for the exchange and got a faster mitsumi drive. (See
- next article in alt.cd-rom)
-