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No Fragments Archive 10: Diskmags
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KELSTAR
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LETTERS.TXT
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1989-07-29
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* 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 £100.00.
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 £299.00 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 £100.00 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.