************************************************************* * * * PPPPPP * * P P OOOO SSSSS TTTTTTT BBBBB AAAA GGGG * * P P O O S T B B A A G * * PPPPPP O O SSSS T BBBBB AAAAAA G GGGG * * P O O S T B B A A G G * * P OOOO SSSSS T BBBBB A A GGGG * * * ************************************************************* * As you can imagine,with this being issue 1,there are not too many letters in this section this month.However,this is one of the fields that I would like to encourage most,so if you have a point that you would like to make or an axe to grind,please feel very free to send them on to me at the Kelstar address,thank you.*Bob. Dear Bob, I was pleased to get your letter the other day and was most interested to hear that you are piloting a new diskmag. I think that with the demise of POWER and STELLAR we most certainly have a need for a regular interactive new mag. One of the most difficult tasks you have ahead of you is keeping up your enthusiasm in the early stages as we Atarians are notorious for being slow with support, just ask Mark Nobes (Stellar diskmag). I hope that you get the feedback from the ST scene that all diskmags need and I will try to support KELSTAR in all possible ways. GOOD LUCK - and WELL DONE Best Regards Gary Simmons ASCIILUM PDL Thank`s very much those words of encouragement Gary,I only hope that this diskmag grows and becomes as popular as Asciilum.Bob. ************************************************************************ Dear Kelstar, Congratulations on the new style of magazine, which seems to be becoming a popular thing with us ST users at the moment. As you know Bob, I have now started a news section in my own PD catalogue and some of my contacts have started sending in articles already, so with a bit of luck you'll start getting stuff from your contacts. So here's wishing you all the best and I hope you can keep the new style diskzine going, I'll be sending you stuff anyway. Keep up the good work and let's have some more of your Chit Chats ! from Keith Hunnybun ( BUN PD ) Thanks to you too Keith,and,true to his word,there`s more from Keith in other sections of Kelstar. ************************************************************************** Fraser Blacklaws of the Atari User Group (Scotland),has had a bit of a hardware problem with his TT,this is what happened. 20 December 1995 Dear Sir, Not having written to any of the currently available (and previously published) Atari ST magazines I was not too sure of how to direct the main point of this letter. However, based on my unfortunate experiences with one of the "big players" in the Atari scene I've decided to raise a question which you may like to either answer of possibly discuss through your magazine. I will detail my "unfortunate" experience before raising my question. Approximately 9 months ago I was lucky enough to finally get hold of a TT030 after much sourcing over a period of 18 months or so to find the right system at the right price. Coming with 2 meg of ST RAM and 8 meg of TT fast RAM plus a fast (upgraded) 540 meg H.D. and Crazy Dots 15 graphics card I new I had finally got hold of a great system which would be more than suitable for my Atari computing needs for several years to come. Unfortunately, I experienced a major problem with the graphics card in that it crashed the system when I attempted to set up any of the colour options, yet the mono options were working normally. A quick look at the card showed that a resistor had blown but, sadly, changing this resistance did not solve the problem of no colour! Noticing that the Crazy Dots card had previously been supplied and serviced by System Solutions (there was a test sticker on the back of the board) I contacted Rob at S.S. and asked him if it was possible to get the card repaired. He conferred with Karl Brandt while I was on the 'phone and told me that the card could probably be repaired and that I should send it to them. Rob also suggested that I "give it two weeks before getting back in touch". We agreed that I would be contacted before any repair was carried out if the cost was likely to exceed œ100.00. I sent the card on July 10 1995 and enclosed a letter (a copy of which is enclosed) describing the problem and stating that I could be contacted on my mobile 'phone number at any time (as agreed in my conversation with Rob). Giving a little extra time I 'phoned three weeks later to be told by Rob that "due to the nature of the repair, Karl himself would have to look at the card and he had not had time to do so as yet. Phone back in a couple of weeks". After another two weeks I spoke to Karl directly who said that he "hadn't had time" to look at the card and that due to being short staffed he stated that he could not find time to look at the card until "the first week of September". I asked if it was likely he would find time at all to look at the card and whether or not he should simply send it back but he told me that he would definitely find the time "some time". I also mentioned to Karl that I was after a 2 meg ST RAM expansion for my TT plus a couple of C.D.'s of P.D. software. I quoted the price from Toad Computers in the States of $199.00 for the memory and $54.00 for the C.D.'s and asked why S.S. were quoting œ299.00 for the memory alone when Karl himself had admitted that they "deal with Toad Computers" themselves i.e. use the same memory upgrade boards. Karl said that he would source the upgrade and C.D. and "get back to me" but that's another matter!! Okay I thought, he's busy, I'm paying for the repair so he must be treating me as a serious customer and it isn't desperate that I get the card back immediately anyway so I'll wait another few weeks before 'phoning again. In mid September (a week or so after Karl suggested 'phoning) I spoke to Karl personally who said that the card still hadn't been looked at but he assured me that he would look at it "fairly soon" and that I should 'phone back in a "couple of weeks". He also said that there was "no need" for them to send the card back as he would "find the time eventually" to repair it. I waited until October 20th before speaking to Rob again who first of all said "I know about this graphics card job". When I asked if the card had been looked at yet there was a pause while he conferred with Karl again before saying that it "had been looked at and that a faulty chip had been identified. This chip was tricky to get and had been ordered". "Great", I thought. At last something is being done and I'll hopefully be getting the card back fairly soon. Asking when I should next 'phone, Rob suggested trying again in a "couple of weeks". Asking how much the repair was going to cost I was told that it should be "around the œ100.00 mark". Not wishing to seem pushy (and accepting that I.C.'s can be difficult to get hold of) I waited until mid November before 'phoning and asked Rob how the repair was getting on. His first comment was "I know about this graphics card job" and there was a pause (while he conferred with someone else) before he came back to me saying that Karl hadn't had time to look at it! Being somewhat surprised at this statement I confirmed that I was talking to Rob before pointing out that he personally had told me some four weeks earlier that a faulty chip had been identified and ordered. He then paused before saying "yes....that's right. The chip's lying around somewhere". Being a bit ticked off by this time I asked why he said the card hadn't been looked at if a chip had supposedly been diagnosed as at fault all those weeks ago! He didn't say much about this so I asked if "I'd be as well getting them to send the card back". "Yes. I'll get the card posted back". Being totally pissed off now I just O.K.'ed this and hung up the 'phone. I didn't bother to mention the TT memory upgrade and C.D. I was after as I doubted very much if S.S. could ever supply these items this century let alone this year! And anyway, even if they could supply them at competitive prices there was no way I was going to put my business their way now. Another nine days later I got the board back in the original packaging that I had used, with the plastic bag still sealed as I had sent it. The only thing missing was the accompanying letter! Before commenting further on this "unusual" level of service (to a paying customer remember), I'd like to ask the question "do you think it's possible that because of the dwindling Atari market and the dependency upon a small number of "big players", (captive audience, as it were) that remaining Atari users have no option other than to accept whatever level of service these "players" decide to supply as long as they want to keep using their Atari software/hardware?" Getting back to my own particular case a few more questions spring to mind. 1/ If you sent off a piece of your computer kit for repair and were stalled for four months before finally having it returned, would you be happy? 2/ Is four months the normal wait time for Atari repairs? 3/ Has anyone else had similar experiences with System Solutions? 4/ Does Karl Brandt consider this level of service acceptable? 5/ I stuck with S.S. all this time only because I couldn't find any other company who could repair the board. Can you suggest anywhere I could try? I could go on and on (even more than I already have) but you'll probably have sussed out the general direction of my questioning by now! I would finally like to state that I have been an Atari ST user since 1988 and have worked my way through 520 STFM's, 4 meg STFM's, Mega ST's, Mega STE's and finally to a TT and have only had to send any faulty kit off once, and that was the board to System Solutions. Maybe my experience is a one-off but as far as my personal situation is concerned, a 100% piss-poor service rate from System Solutions doesn't encourage me to remain in the Atari scene (with my ageing Atari equipment) for much longer and may I suggest that this type of service has been a contributing factor to the demise in the numbers of Atari users as a whole. Your comments would be appreciated. Fraser Blacklaws. Pretty poor service I`d say there for Fraser.If you`ve had similar problems or maybe you`ve had excellent service from any of the ST suppliers,write in and let us know.