Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!bloom-beacon!bu-cs!dartvax!eleazar.dartmouth.edu!merchant From: merchant@eleazar.dartmouth.edu (Peter Merchant) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac Subject: Re: Need advice on buying a Mac SE Keywords: HELP! Message-ID: <10161@dartvax.Dartmouth.EDU> Date: 23 Sep 88 21:28:51 GMT References: <8221@alice.UUCP> <649@esquire.UUCP> Sender: news@dartvax.Dartmouth.EDU Reply-To: Peter.G.Merchant@dartmouth.edu (Peter Merchant) Distribution: na Organization: U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, Kings Point, NY Lines: 40 In article <649@esquire.UUCP> sbb@esquire.UUCP (Stephen B. Baumgarten) writes: >In article <8221@alice.UUCP> apdoo@alice.UUCP (Alan Weiss) writes: >>4. Where to buy it? We live in New Jersey near New York City...what are the >> tradeoffs buying from a discounter in New York such as 47th street photo? > >47th Street is fine as long as you know *exactly* what you want. >Computer Era is an especially good place to shop, and even Computerland >is OK these days. Avoid Computer Factory like the plague -- you'd be >better off buying your Mac off the back of someone's pickup truck. I don't believe 47th Street photo is an authorized Apple dealer. Watch what happens when you try to do something under warranty... I also have to disagree with your statement about Computer Factory. We have been dealing with them for about three years, leasing Macintoshes and IBM PCs. The only difficulty we have had has been in the fact that their service department is constantly losing people to other parts of Computer Factory. They have been giving us a 25% discount off their retail price for both Apple and IBM equipment. There are a number of midshippeople who have bought Macintoshes through them and they have always bent over backwards to help people. They recognize many of the difficulties of being a military academy, that our freshmen ("plebes") are not allowed to just wander out and get their machines fixed if they break. There are a number of times that they have sent a serviceperson out and he'd repair a midshipman machine while he was here. I've called their help line a few times with problems, back when I had a HyperDrive. While it was sometimes a bit tricky to get through, they were always quite helpful. The salesperson who I deal with, Dan Cohen, has always been knowledgable and ready to help. Awhile back, when my HyperDrive died for the umpteenth time, he even arranged a free trade for a used Apple HD20SC. The service person came out, took out of the HyperDrive, and said "That's the first time I've ever done an abortion.") I know of no-one here who has had problems with Computer Factory. Now, it may just be a particular store, but I'm not certain where you get your complaints from... --- "A little bit louder now!" Peter Merchant (merchant@eleazar.UUCP) (Peter.G.Merchant@dartmouth.edu)