Frontpage Story #57

I have a confession.

I work at CompUSA in San Jose, CA and I enjoy my job for the most part. I recently sold two systems to a nice gentelman who was looking for a system for himself and another for his wife and kids. He started looking at the high end systems, the various P-III's and Athlons we carry. Our high end HP 8595C (PIII 733) and the Compaq 5868 (Athlon 600) (or is it 650..? can't recall right now) were side by side. The hypothetical 'moat' between manufactures.

He asked about the differences and I explained them and since the Athlon system was a substantially cheaper, he decided on the Compaq. Not only did he take the system, but he casually picked up a 5441 (major piece) and headed up to the registers. On the way there, he asked about multifuction printers and I reccommened HP (the R series are GREAT!) but he felt he should stay within brand name for 'compatibility.' I told him that it really wouldn't matter and the HP's are by far a better buy, but he decided squarely on the A900. We didn't have any in stock, so I told him I'd knock off $150 and we'd download the drivers. He had us deliver and install the system. Damn good thing too.

From what I gather from the Tech who did the install, the 5868 was DOA, the 5441 had parts loose and rattling inside. Both had to be brought back and exchanged. The systems took an A+ certified tech THREE HOURS to get running properly. Even then, the crappy 'softpaq' drivers only included and 'update' which didn't supply any sort of TWAIN drivers for using the scan function on the A900. And thats not all...

Occassionally, I'll do odd jobs for people. Install a card or a drive or something on my free time. (Our installation prices are kind of outrageous, but hey, thats the price of retail) The gentleman had asked me how to connect the two systems in order to share files and printers. I explained that the simplest, hardwired solution would be to throw a couple NIC cards in and connect them with a patch cable. I told him that I could drop the cards in for him for a small fee and since he lived around the corner from me, I could do it the next day. The next afternoon, I went over and put the cards in. (crossing my fingers the whole time) They installed correctly and I shared the drives and printers on both systems, collected my fee and left. Later that night, I received a voicemail explain both systems had gone down, the printer wasn't functioning and a strange odor was emminating from the 5868. I knew something like this was going to happen..uhhgg.

The next day I went over and was able to fix the 4551, but the NIC card (A Soho FAST 10/100) in the 5868 was no longer detecting. The printer had to be returned for service. I still don't know what happened to it. I believe in the end, my customer exchanged the Compaq for an HP. Damn good thing he bought the warranty :)

Moral of the Story- Don't Sell Compaq, Don't Buy Compaq.

P.S. We've had a consistent return/defective rate of one out of three Compaq systems returned. Take it from a guy who sells them, go for pretty much *any* other name brand.

Front Page Story
Author: Steve
Email: Steb@beer.com