Linux Business to Avoid

[Civileme]

Arthur Corliss wrote:

> Greetings:
>
> Just a heads up to everyone on the level of service you can expect to recieve
> from one of the more prominent Linux vendors:  EBIZ Enterprises, Inc.  These
> people own and operate The Linux Store, The Linux Lab, Linux Wired, and
> InfoMagic, among other things.
>
> I recently purchased some hardware from them and found some of it defective.
> Even after going through their procedure of filling out an on-line RMA
> request form (that had the gall to ask for a CC#), it took repeated e-mail
> barrages to get them to even provide that.
>
> After finally getting an RMA, and shipping the hardware down to them at my
> expense, they had the gall to refuse acceptance of it, and so it ended up in
> my lap once more.
>
> These people promised via telephone and e-mail to get this resolved, and it
> appears that was a blatant lie.  This definitely ranks as one of my worst
> buying experiences, and I will never order from them again.  Unless you wish
> to dare experiencing the same, I would recommend that you avoid them as well.
>
> Just an FYI, do what you will.  ;-)
>
>         --Arthur Corliss
>           Bolverk's Lair -- http://www.odinicfoundation.org/arthur/
>           "Live Free or Die, the Only Way to Live" -- NH State Motto

\Second Arthur's experience .... annnnnd they also do CPU MicroMart.  Their
marketing is hype and empty promises  (Example:  www.planetPIA.com has been
"Coming Soon" for almost 9 months).

They sell a linux-powered box they call a Personal Internet Appliance with
Debian installed and ...  Of all things, a PCTel Software modem.  This is an
authentic copy of a genuine imitation of a $3 Rockwell Chipset that has Gateway
computers giving ISPs headaches nationwide.  A blasted linmodem!

Getting the root passowrd out of them for one of those PIAs went the
distance--two weeks, 17 phone calls and 7 emails.  Someone had shut it down
improperly and needed the root password to get to maintenance mode  (The PIA
comes unequipped with extravagant options like CDROM drives and floppy drives).
The mainboard of the PIA appears to be a PCChips M748MR or equivalent with any
of a dozen brand names used by the notorious PCChips, the progenitors of the
"fake cache chip fiasco of 1996."

InfoMagic was once a linux innovator, but over the past few years they have gone
to seed, and EBIZ picked them up I suppose because the name was still worth
something.  Last time I dealt with InfoMagic, they could not solve the problem
of Win98 boxes refusing to talk to their WorkGroup Server, and their latest
innovation and big sale item is supplying Webmin for headless server boxes along
with a nicely written tutorial.  (I think when I am finished with my docbook
chapter on Webmin for the Linux-Mandrake reference manual that we will have a
superior product, but InfoMagic definitely fits well with the EBIZ sales hype.)

And CPU MIcroMart is the sort of Other/Locally Built that makes every survey on
PCs show Dell to be a high-end product, because they drag down the curve of user
opinions.  CPU Micromart will teach you every way to spell C-H-E-A-P except in
relation to your wallet.

Some of the experience I had was direct  (they lost my order) and a lot of it
was cleaning up after their disasters.  I guess you can tell I am totally
thrilled that they use the linux name.  YMMV of course.

Civileme

=================================================
Mailing list info:  If at any time you wish to (un|re)subscribe to
the list send the request to majordomo at hfb.pm.org.  All requests
should be in the body, and look like such
                  subscribe anchorage-pm-list
                  unsubscribe anchorage-pm-list