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From: ttp@kestrel.ARPA
Newsgroups: net.consumers
Subject: Re: Info on Outlet Capital Of The World
Message-ID: <2246@kestrel.ARPA>
Date: Mon, 28-Oct-85 01:00:55 EST
Article-I.D.: kestrel.2246
Posted: Mon Oct 28 01:00:55 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 30-Oct-85 06:14:15 EST
References: <382@mit-bug.UUCP> <800@rduxb.UUCP>
Organization: Kestrel Institute, Palo Alto, CA
Lines: 40
Summary: my experience with answering machines.

I'll submit herein my experience with answering machines.

RECORD-A-CALL 675 ($130 from Gemco): The one I had had a beeper for
remote use. The features on this were nice--you could hear your
messages remotely, and it had the "toll-save" feature: if it hadn't
yet recorded any calls, it would wait 4 rings before answering,
otherwise 1 ring, so if you call your phone from somewhere else you
can tell if it has any messages.  Sound quality was good. 
It didn't use endless tapes, so you never had to wait for the silver
part of an endless cassette to come around again. IT FRATZED
OUT IN ABOUT 1 YEAR (just long enough for the warranty to expire).
You can get it repaired for about $30 (and wait 3 weeks) or exchange
it for a refurbished one (about $40 federal express, i.e. 2days). I
did the latter. THE NEW ONE LASTED ABOUT 5 MONTHS.

PANASONIC 1425 ($95 from E. 33rd St. in NYC, list $170, $200 from
Macy's): I heard that Panasonics were ultra-reliable from a friend who
had some model or other for years with no problem and listened to my
sad story with the Record-A-Call. So I ordered a Panasonic from E.
33rd. IT WAS SOMEWHAT RELIABLE FOR 3 DAYS. THEN IT BROKE--perhaps
correlated with me answering the phone when it was too, and maybe
turning the machine off at the same time. The local service
place will take 3 weeks to fix it. It has a 1 year warranty. It has
toll saver (called auto), two digit code remote access code, although
I can't say any of the above works.

PHONEMATE IQ2845: I need an answering machine while the other is being
fixed, so I got this one ($75 from Price Club, list around $130?). It
doesn't have the toll saver, has one digit remote access code. IT
STILL WORKS AFTER 5 HOURS. Has 1 year warranty.

RUMOUR: 3 years ago a friend got a rather simplistic AT&T answering
machine, no remote. It is still working... 

I'd like to hear other people's experiences, too. In general, does
anyone have a source of reliability information for consumer products?
Even Consumer's Reports doesn't give much information on reliability,
except for cars.

-tom