ACB-2322B-8 and ISC

[John G. De Armond]

In article <1243 at ssbn.WLK.COM> bill at ssbn.UUCP (Bill Kennedy) writes:
>In article <542 at rsiatl.UUCP> jgd at rsiatl.UUCP (John G. De Armond) writes:
>
>>I thought I'd never see the day when I'd be siding with Interactive but Bill
>>Kenedy, don't you think that level of hostility is a bit premature?  The 
>>first Bill did not indicate that he'd asked for his hardware back so I'd
>>hardly call it criminal.  Poor customer relations for sure, but hardly
>>criminal.

[your additional details deleted]

Ok Bill, with the added information, I'm now on your side.  Interactive
does have some explaining to do.  Actually, I do have my own bag of 
ICS flames but I'm not ready to post yet.  My main concern in the minor
chastisement is that we don't give ISC an excuse to claim unfair harrasment.
I think your case is adequately built given this second posting.

I do want to make one small correction, though, so that we keep this in
perspective.

>Any comparison with Microsoft or IBM isn't reasonable.  When you buy
>from either firm, you're on your own and you should know it.  Neither
>comoany has any pretense at technical support, their stuff is "as-is"
>just like the warranty states.  Since they neither offer nor advertise
>technical support (when your products are `perfect' you don't need to)
>nobody expects it.  ISC advertises "all you can eat" technical support,
>that's their term, not mine.  When I hear about a case like Bill Miskovetz'
>I wonder what they suggest we eat.

Both Microsoft and IBM DO claim to offer technical support and in fact
market that "fact".  Microsoft has both free AND pay (SDK) support lines.
You get the same dweebs but that's a different issue.  IBM is heavily
pushing their "superior technical support" in their AIX pitches.  
Even at the current state of crappy service from Interactive, it is STILL
better than the "leaders".  

I recall one incident in which I had a simple problem.  The new MSC 
compiler 5.1 was locking my Novell network up.  Many calls to Microsoft
tech support, (I was a paying developer, remember), the only answer I got
was "Can Novell and buy Microsoft networks".  I posted a hefty flame to
the net, and asked anybody who was disturbed with this support policy to
call Billy boy himself at the number I supplied.  At least THAT got 
their attention.  I was contacted by a high level manager and my problem
was fixed. (Turned out to be a well known bug in the Novell shell - easily
fixed by getting a new revision shell).  I wasted a LOT of time on that one.

So by all means let's toast Interactive til they are golden brown for 
the major problems but let's also appreciate the fact that they ARE here
and (I suspect) are trying.

John


>
>In email, since my follow up, Mr. Miskovetz says that he has followed
>up the situation roughly every week.  He sent the equipment overnight
>air express, figuring it would be a quick fix.  He *HAS* asked for the
>equipment to be returned, but he has gotten a lot of guff about people
>being at shows, on vacation, nah nah nooh nooh.  The stuff was shipped
>(as reported by ISC Santa Monica) November 6th.  It hasn't arrived,
>400 miles away in seven days...  Yes, they had the original manufacturers'
>cartons.
>
>Sorry John, I don't see where I'm being unreasonable asking ISC to comment.
>You say they are working hard, I agree.  You say they are on the net and
>helpful, I agree.  What's that got to do with Bill Miskovetz' situation?
>I discarded your painful report about the Newbury disks because it didn't
>have anything to do with Miskovetz' article or mine.  That doesn't diminish
>the pain you've undergone or the risks that go with buying discontinued
>goods, but what's discontinued about ISC 386/ix 2.0.2?
>-- 
>Bill Kennedy  usenet      {attctc,att,cs.utexas.edu,sun!daver}!ssbn!bill
>              internet    bill at ssbn.WLK.COM   or attmail!ssbn!bill


-- 
John De Armond, WD4OQC                     | Manual? ... What manual ?!? 
Radiation Systems, Inc.     Atlanta, GA    | This is Unix, My son, You 
emory!rsiatl!jgd          **I am the NRA** | just GOTTA Know!!!