From: scasterg@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Stuart M Castergine)
Subject: Mac Zone Lies! (Was: Mac Zone flame
Organization: The Ohio State University
Date: Wed, 15 Apr 1992 02:29:11 GMT

I have my own Mac Zone horror story.

  Back in November 1991, I ordered three Mercury 030 accelerators from
them. A couple weeks went by. I heard nothing. I called and was told
they were on backorder. "OK," I said.
  To be honest, I wasn't in any big hurry, since none of the machines
was in an area where speed was vital, I was just buying them as a
convenience to users, since they are our oldest, slowest Macs.

A couple more weeks passed. No word. I called. The sales person told
me that the manufacturer of the Mercury 030, Total Systems, was going
out of business and that they would not be able to get the Mercury 030
for me. He suggested the New Life accelerator. I took him at his word
about Total Systems, though I admit I was surprised, because they have
always been popular. I asked him if the New Life included an upgraded
power supply and fan like the Mercury does. He assured me that it did,
so I told him to go ahead and make the switch.

Another month went by. No word. I call up. The salesman never switched
the order. I leave a message for him to go ahead and switch Like I
said, I was obviously not in a hurry).

*ANOTHER MONTH* goes by. Even patient people have their limits. IN the
meantime, I have found out that the sales man *lied* to me. Total
Systems is *not* out of business. Total Systems is *not* out of stock
on the Mercury 030, and MacWarehouse is offering them at a better
price! I call MacZone. They have *still* not changed the order (and
apparently made no progress in fulfilling the original). I say, sorry,
I could have crossed half the United States balancing the box on my
head by now. I cancel my order amid profuse apologizing from the woman
in customer relations at MacZone.

A week later, the New Life accelerators arrive form Mac Zone!!!

Itis painfully obvious that when they got my cancellation noticed they
tried to see if they could get away with shipping it anyway in hopes
that I would accept it.

Well, their plan almost worked. Except for two things: the accelerators
did *not* come with an upgraded power supply, and the wiring harnesses
for them were miswired -- they had switched the +5 volt and ground
wires on *all three harnesses.* After we realized that, I did not want
to mess with the pieces of garbage (who knows what else they screwed
up). We withheld payment and shipped them back.

I called up Total Systems and verified that they and alive and well,
and ordered the Mercury 030s directly from them, at a better price
than either MacZone or MacWarehouse was offering!

I will *never* *ever* deal with MacZone again. Incompetence is one
thing -- I don't expect much out of telephone sales representative,
but the deliberate spread of lies and misinformation is intolerable.

Total Systems was *very* interested in finding out that a salesperson
at one of their resellers was telling people they were going out of
business and switching people to other products. MacZone must have a
higher profit margin on New Life accelerators.





-- 
scasterg@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu -- Stuart M. Castergine

Wake the Witch!
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.misc