Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!mnetor!seismo!rochester!pt.cs.cmu.edu!spice.cs.cmu.edu!mjp From: mjp@spice.cs.cmu.edu (Michael Portuesi) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: With friends like these.... Message-ID: <1112@spice.cs.cmu.edu> Date: Mon, 5-Jan-87 02:26:22 EST Article-I.D.: spice.1112 Posted: Mon Jan 5 02:26:22 1987 Date-Received: Mon, 5-Jan-87 06:43:24 EST Reply-To: mjp@spice.cs.cmu.edu (Michael Portuesi) Organization: Carnegie-Mellon University, CS/RI Lines: 105 Keywords: When is owning an Amiga not fun? When you encounter the following scenario: I was at home in Detroit for Christmas. I decided to pick up some software for my machine while I was there. My two prime objectives were to get a copy of the 1.2 Enhancer and access to the Fish Disk collection. I investigated two dealers in Detroit that were big on Amiga support -- The Slipped Disk and Micro World (the place sells the reconditioned Amigas and also the same place from which I bought my machine). Micro World has four shops in the Detroit area. I called Micro World's Roseville store earlier in the week and asked if I could get copies of the Fish Disks. Sure, they said, but you have to be a member of their software rental club. I explained to them that my permanent home is Detroit, that I spend most of my time attending college in Pittsburgh, and that a membership in their software rental club would be useless to me. They said that I could copy the disks in-store for a fee of $3 per disk NOT COUNTING media, which I had to purchase myself. They also told me they sent all their disks back to their central store in Livonia for updating (since the contents of the disks do not change, I silently wondered to myself why this was necessary). I would have to go to the Livonia store (a 60 mile round trip drive from my house, compared to 10 for Roseville) to get copies. I called the Livonia store and asked if it was okay for me to stop in and get copies. After explaining my situation and the fact that I purchased my Amiga from Micro World, the man on the phone confirmed it was okay. This was Tuesday; I planned to go out and get the copies Saturday. Saturday came. I decided to call The Slipped Disk, since they were much closer to me than the Livonia Micro World store. They politely informed me there was no way I could obtain copies of the Fish Disks without being a member of their rental club. I explained my situation. They refused to allow me access to the disks. Fine, I thought to myself. I can still go to Micro World. I called the Micro World store in Livonia one more time to see if they had the 1.2 Enhancer in stock, so I could pick it up along with the Fish Disks. The salesman said he didn't have any of the Enhancer disks, but that he was going to go to the Dearborn store that day and pick up two dozen copies. If they would let him have that many, he added. He also told me that 20 of those copies were already reserved for people that paid in advance. I asked him when he would be going to the Dearborn store, so that I could stop by Livonia when the disks were in stock. He told me that he did not know when he would be able to go and thus did not know when the Enhancer disks would be in stock. I asked him if the Dearborn store had the Fish Disks, since I did not want to add another 40 miles minimum to my trip for the day. He said he did not know. I asked him if the Roseville store might have gotten either in stock since the last time I talked to them, on the off chance he might know (after all, this was their central store). At this point he shouted at me: "Look, I just don't know!" followed by "If you would just get off the phone and let me tend to my customers I might be able to find out something!" Obviously I was not considered a customer, since I was not worth his time. I politely replied, "This conversation is clearly counter productive", said goodbye, then hung up. Too bad I didn't get his name. I went to the Dearborn store. They had the Enhancer in stock, but not Fish Disks. So after a day of hassle and downright rudeness from the Amiga dealerships in the Detroit area, I ended up with half of what I was searching for. I have but two questions: 1) Where do these people get off restricting access and charging fees for access to freely redistributable software? Can they legally do this? For the record, Micro World's rental club requires a $19.95 fee to join (free if you buy your machine from them) plus a $200 security deposit. The rental fee is 25% of purchase price, applicable toward purchase should you opt to buy it. I would be interested in hearing Fred Fish's word on this issue. Fred, are you listening? 2) How does the largest Commodore dealership in Michigan expect to sell Amigas, let alone compete with Atari and Apple, if they have the rudest salespeople to be found anywhere? If anyone else had to go through the hell I went through to get one piece of software I'm sure they would have tossed their Amiga into the ocean and bought an ST or //gs instead. I did not treat the salesperson like he was dirt; I was merely asking him innocuous questions. He was the one to alienate me. The above opinions are my own and not those of my institution. -- +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Mike Portuesi | | Carnegie-Mellon University Computer Science Department | | | | ARPA: mjp@spice.cs.cmu.edu | | UUCP: {harvard | seismo | ucbvax | decwrl}!spice.cs.cmu.edu!mjp | | | | "Talking about music is like dancing about architecture" | | --Laurie Anderson, "Home of the Brave" | +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+