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"		     |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+