Conference hydra::amiga_v1

I called some place in Connecticut to order Aegis Animator/Images and after 
being on hold for 20 minutes (a tool-free 800 number), a girl finally came on 
and asked what computer I wanted software for. I told her the Amiga and she 
said they don't carry software for the Amiga. I pointed out the full page ad 
in the latest Amigaworld and she said they thought they were going to market 
Amiga software, but they were not able to make it happen. I mentioned that it 
was a thrid-party software product, not a Commodore product, so she put me on 
hold for another 5 minutes and then came back and said that they dont have 
Aegis Animator/Images in stock, but that they would have it in a couple of 
weeks. I said "so long".

The next day I called BE AMIGA or whatever its called in California and they 
are shipping me the software UPS 2nd day air. I should have it in a day or 
so....

jim

    It's GO AMIGA. The phone number is 800-BE AMIGA I just recieved AMIGA
    software from them in less than a week. The prices are good too. I
    bought 10 SONY 2DD disks for $29. Some other prices are:
    FLOW 		$84		ONLINE		$49
    MUSIC STUDIO	$45		ANALYZE		$69
    VIP			$149		BBC PC		$69
    ...					...
    
     ... .   .   RICH
    
    
 
    

I received my order of AEGIS/ANIMATOR and a mousepad within a few days.
These people seem like a reputable outfit....

jim

    Anybody had any dealings with Northeastern Software (ad on p. 93
    of July/August AmigaWorld)?
    
    -Larry

    Northeastern Software has been advertising for about 2 years in
    Macintosh magazines.  I have heard nothing but bad things about
    them... orders that never come or come months late, false promises
    made on the phone, etc.  Some people in the BCS's Mac User's Group
    were thinking of starting a lawsuit.  I wouldn't have anything to
    do with them.
    
    Mark Herdeg
    

Northeastern Software was okay last week when I bought TxEd 
from them.  They said the order would take at least a week; the 
package arrived in three days.  No complaints.  I do not mean 
to promote this company, but my one experience with them was 
positive.

The operator was quite honest about having precious little 
software--and NO hardware--for the Amiga.  I could hear the 
sympathy in her voice.  I asked about other products advertised,
particularly Turbo Pascal and A-Time.  No, they won't be 
released "for a month or so yet."  I asked pointedly why they 
were listed in the ad at all.  She checked and replied that 
they really did intend to carry them but that the products were 
not released yet.  

Still, they batted .333 on what I wanted, and 1.000 on what I 
ordered.  

I should add that I called GO-AMIGA the next day with much the 
same requests.  They didn't have these mystery products either,
despite their advertising.  I asked the same questions, got the
same answers. 

Advertising what you don't have is not a thrillingly good 
business practice, but it's common enough.  The problem may lie
more with the non-producers of the vaporware than with the
dealers and distributors.  If I were a dealer, I would be
desperate for products to sell to hordes of even more desperate
software-starved users.  

A last note: Northeastern's ads say that they answer the phone 
until 11 PM.  After getting a busy signal all day, I called at
10 PM, got through right away.  Service with a smile and a yawn.

Remember, no endorsement implied.  But no lawsuits, either, as 
the previous note implied.

rick

    
    I have to think that these vaporware sellers can't be at fault.
    After all, they spend countless thousands of dollars taking out
    ads for their products in magazines specific to the Amiga.  How
    would they be able to do that if it weren't on speculation that
    the vaporware they advertise would come in some day.
    
    brian

    Re: .6
    
    How about a review of TxEd?
    

    A lot oa MAC owners have been complaining about Northeastern's
    practices too.  Maybe they have 'wised' up and changed their act.
    I have been VERY pleased with Go Amiga.  If they don't have a product,
    they will tell you when they will have it.  They will tell you when
    to expect delivery on orders, and will give you factual info on
    back orders.
    
    Randy
      

        For the benefit of my Canadian compatriots and as point of
        interest to the rest of the AMIGA world (the whole wide world not
        the magazine World), I thought you would like to hear of my
        experience with ordering from GO Amiga.
        
        On Friday August 1st, I phoned GO Amiga (their Customer service
        number as you can't call a U.S. 800 number from Canada) and
        placed my order for DELUXE VIDEO and the DPaint data disk.
        
        This morning, Thursday August 14th, 8:00 a.m., a box containing
        my ordered software was delivered at my door by Canada Post -
        making the total turn around less than 2 weeks.  
        
        Other bits of information of interest are:
        - on the Invoice, the Order Date is quoted as 08/03/86 (the
          Monday after I phoned, which I can accept, given I called late
          on the previous Friday).  
        - the Invoice Date is quoted as 08/04/86.  
        - the parcel was Post Marked 8/8/86.
        
        I have dealt with mail order houses in the U.S. before (TENEX and
        another, whose name escapes me, during my TI-99 days) and must
        say that GO Amiga's response was excellent (comparable to TENEX
        who were exceptionally fast in my opinion).  A couple of weeks is
        pretty good when you consider that both the U.S. Mail and Canada
        Post systems were involved (what a deadly combination), and an
        International border was crossed [a thought - is AMIGA software
        being considered in the free trade talks???].  
        
        Given this positive experience, GO Amiga will be hearing a lot
        from me in the future. 
        
        Art Gosling - Kanata

I see that GO Amiga adds also claim to have hardware available.  Anyone have 
information on how reliable they would be for ordering say a system and 
monitor?  Is there any special concern on hardware warantees this way.  (I am 
thinking of the problems one gets into with cameras, though I guess there 
shouldn't be a problem with grey market Amigas.)  How would warantee service 
be handled?  Are there service centers or would it be necessary to ship it if 
you don't have a local dealer?

	Paul