Delivery Problems with SS1+'s

[John Franks]

In early March we ordered two SparcStation1's.  We were told to expect
delivery about the end of March.  Since the end of March we have heard one
story after another about why we aren't getting delivery.  I've been told
the factory shut down for inventory, there was a chassis shortage, there
was a freeze on SS1+ shipments because of a cabling problem, the whole
order was held up because we ordered DosWindows, etc.  At every time in
the last two months I've been told shipment was imminent -- "shipping
today", "shipping the first of next week", "we thought it had already
shipped."

Here are my questions:

1. Did these shortages, freezes, and inventories actually occur or is
   three + months a typical delivery time for SS1+'s?  Is our experience
   typical of Sun sales service?

2. We are getting a standard academic discount.  Is it possible that
   academic discount customers get lowest priority for shipping?  In that
   case, perhaps orders are coming in fast enough from "full price" customers
   that we keep getting pushed to the bottom of the list.  That could go on
   forever.

3. Is this behavior typical of other vendors, e.g. Dec and IBM?  The
   inability to deliver in 3 months is certainly an important factor in
   deciding which system to choose.

John Franks 	Dept of Math. Northwestern University
		john at math.nwu.edu