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Offline bitcpyTopic starter

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Commodore USA Alive ?
« on: August 21, 2012, 05:11:33 PM »
Is Commodore USA alive or is it smoke and mirrors?
 
I've sent 2 emails to them in the past 3 weeks inquiring about products and asking for clarification on details of specs and never got a reply to either one.
 
I even sent the emails from 2 different email accounts just to make sure it didnt get lost in spam.
 
I dont get it. They have all these BUY IT NOW buttons on their website, and no one answers sales questions? They say "ship within 1 or 2 days" on some of the things I was looking at but I was skeptical to order because I didnt get a reply to my emails.
 
Has anyone here bought something from their site? Did you get your product in a reasonable timeframe?
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Offline commodorejohn

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Re: Commodore USA Alive ?
« Reply #1 on: August 21, 2012, 05:22:34 PM »
There's someone over on the Vintage Computer Forum who ordered an "Amiga Mini" at the start of the month and hasn't heard a thing back yet, even to confirm whether it shipped or not. Then again, it's not like ridiculous delays aren't SOP for them, so who knows whether this is indicative of their finally having taken the money and run.
Computers: Amiga 1200, DEC VAXStation 4000/60, DEC MicroPDP-11/73
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Offline bitcpyTopic starter

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Re: Commodore USA Alive ?
« Reply #2 on: August 21, 2012, 05:43:40 PM »
I have to say Thank you very much for the link.
 
It looks like there is more than just 1 person waiting for product. I am glad I didnt push that Buy it Now button.
 
Also, it seems that all of their products are rebadged standard cases and parts being sourced from Zotac, Wesena, and others. This is sad.
 
I was an original Amiga owner (and I use the term Amiga by itself because  the A1000 was THE Amiga.. lol) back in the 80s and when I found out that there was a Commodore USA I got excited about the prospect of a new-age Amiga. I am really dissapointed that they really havent created anything other than a new badge to put on the case.
 
 
Quote from: commodorejohn;704525
There's someone over on the Vintage Computer Forum who ordered an "Amiga Mini" at the start of the month and hasn't heard a thing back yet, even to confirm whether it shipped or not. Then again, it's not like ridiculous delays aren't SOP for them, so who knows whether this is indicative of their finally having taken the money and run.
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+ a few PCs here and there.
 

Offline lassie

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Re: Commodore USA Alive ?
« Reply #3 on: August 21, 2012, 11:37:03 PM »
It is a real shame if people do not get what they have paid for, and it is strange they dont answer when people sends email to them. Hope they starts to pick up on things
Amiga 4000 030 18 MB ram. 16 Gb HD.
Amiga 1200 030 34 MB ram. 8 Gb HD.
Amiga 1200 Tower Apollo 1240
Amiga 2000 030. 9 MB ram. 1 Gb HD.
Amiga 2000 68000 5 MB ram. 500 MB HD.
Amiga 2000 68000 9 MB ram. 1 Gb HD.
Amiga 600 4 MB ram. 4 GB HD.
Amiga 600 1 MB ram. 60 MB HD.
Amiga 500 1 MB ram.
Amiga 500 Plus
Amiga CD32
Amiga CD32
Commodore 64
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Offline kedawa

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Re: Commodore USA Alive ?
« Reply #4 on: August 22, 2012, 01:37:49 AM »
Barry should just stick to what he knows.
I for one would love to have an Amiga branded ottoman, or a Commodore computer desk.
 

Offline CritAnime

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Re: Commodore USA Alive ?
« Reply #5 on: August 24, 2012, 05:15:25 AM »
Barry responded to one person on their new forum. He blames been caught off guard with the sheel volume of units they ship, *pfft*, and also lays the blame on some guy who he has now sacked.
 
Quote
Your C64x Extreme is being shipped today. It is presently being loaded with COS Vision, and will undergo a final check before it is picked up this afternoon by USPS. You will receive an email confirmation with tracking info later today.

Your experience is just beyond what I would ever expect a customer of Commodore USA to endure, and for this I sincerely apologize. Without even offering any excuses, since there are none, there is an explanation that highlights some of the issues that we have experienced during the past year. It is unfortunate that you had to be the recipient of a perfect storm of miscommunication, horrific customer service, and a customer service issue that simply just fell through the cracks.

It has been just over one year since we began shipping, and needless to say we were totally caught off guard, and somewhat surprised as to the huge amount of orders that we received, and continue to receive on a daily basis. Thousands of orders have been processed and shipped with absolutely no problems at all. Considering the volume of shipments, there have been very, very few customer service issues that were not resolved in a timely manner. However, that is not to say that all is perfect in OZ, and there has been instances where we were less than stellar in resolving these issues, but nothing like the problem that Panna has had to go through in getting his unit returned to him in Norway.

Although it may seem to Panna that over 100 calls were made to our office, I believe that number is somewhat exaggerated due to the utter frustration he must have felt in trying to contact us without success. I will say that since our phone system is strictly VOIP ( we use two service providers; Net Talk and Voice Eclipse, both of which are acceptably reliable as far as VOIP is, we have had problems with calls coming in from various overseas locations. This could explain a part of the communications issues we have had. Additionally, we have changed and updated both our email servers over the last six months, and in the transition from POP to IMAP, we "lost/ misplaced/or simply misdirected emails that were directed to our various email accounts. That issue has been resolved. And finally, when I inquired about Panna's order status and shipping details, I was given incorrect info from our staff (who, needless to say, is no longer employed here). Put all of these conditions together,throw in a few that I haven't even included, and I can see how this horror show escalated to the point where Panna had to resort to posting his frustration here on our forum.

Let me assure all our members, customers and visitors that we are making every effort to resolve these issues. I note that a member here suggested that we hire a full time customer service rep to handle these issues, reply to customers requesting some type of email assistance etc. Luckily, there are so few of these customer service issues that a full time employee is just not warranted. We are very fortunate in this regard, since our barebones units rarely, if ever have any type of problem, other than requests for order status updates and tracking info. Additionally, our configured units enjoy an incredibly low failure rate as we only source components with the highest quality from major manufacturers and OEM suppliers.

I hope this addresses the very valid concerns that were raised here by Panna, and to those who have an interest in both our company and products.

Barry

The Forum post.
 
That post has been edited a couple of times. The thing about there been thousands of units sold was the latest addition. Personally if I had the money, burning a hole in my pockets and really bored, I would just build a much better PC with the money.

Offline commodorejohn

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Re: Commodore USA Alive ?
« Reply #6 on: August 24, 2012, 05:35:27 AM »
"Without even offering any excuses," Barry passes the buck like a pro, blaming his customer base for too many orders (right,) the customer in question for totally probably misreporting the number of calls, maybe, the phone system for probably not taking all the calls that may not have been placed, the mail server for not backing itself up of its own accord before they switched to IMAP, a nameless staffer who gave ambiguously incorrect information about something or other (like, presumably, whether or not the customer had actually placed over 100 calls,) and a few more totally unspecified reasons that are probably even better not-excuses, maybe, you don't know that they aren't! And conveniently enough, nowhere in that list is blame assigned to Barry, so he must not be at fault! And also he'd like you to know that this hardly ever happens, except for all the times when it's happened.

Incredible. Simply incredible. (And I mean that in the most fully etymological sense of the term.)

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« Last Edit: August 24, 2012, 05:47:11 AM by commodorejohn »
Computers: Amiga 1200, DEC VAXStation 4000/60, DEC MicroPDP-11/73
Synthesizers: Roland JX-10/MT-32/D-10, Oberheim Matrix-6, Yamaha DX7/FB-01, Korg MS-20 Mini, Ensoniq Mirage/SQ-80, Sequential Circuits Prophet-600, Hohner String Performer

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Offline bitcpyTopic starter

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Re: Commodore USA Alive ?
« Reply #7 on: August 24, 2012, 08:33:38 PM »
I am not sure whether to believe they are simply going through "growing pains" or they are covering up for very poor business practices.
 
In either case, I've spent a little more time looking over the 2 Amiga models that I was interested in (Mio and Mini).
 
With the Mio, they didnt even try to customize it or change it.
 
It's basically a Zotac ID70Plus that has 2 plastic stickers attached to the front and a C= logo replacing the Zotac logo on the top. See here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hqy2qAzyha8
 
For $995 in base configuration you get a copy of OpenSource Mint Linux with a "Commodore Theme" + a Zotac ID70Plus. They consider this the sequel to quite possibly the best computer that existed back in the 80s?
 
The Amiga Mini is even much worse. This time around, they only sell it as a BASE configuration which shows up as CASE & FAN for $295USD???? This is just a Wesena ITX2 with Amiga engraved on the front which can be bought for a whopping $67USD!!!
 
They removed the fully configured spec. My guess is that the Pico PSU combined with the Quad core i7 was causing alot of heat issues and power stability issues so they scrapped it.
 
http://www.shop.perfecthometheater.com/HTPC-ITX2-Black-Ultra-small-aluminum-chassis-HTPC-ITX2-B.htm;jsessionid=A1A4157FB1E4345850390B4409A044A4.qscstrfrnt06
 
Its really sad to see all of this with the Amiga specifically. I think they are tarnishing what was once a great Iconic name in the computer industry with silly antics like this.
 
The only thing I can see that they have done so far is create a custom Linux theme, include some free software that allows you to run Amiga classic applications in UAE and made some new stickers.
 
I'm all for captilalism, but, at least give it a new name and dont put AMIGA on the darn things.
 
That's my $0.02 .
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Offline kedawa

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Re: Commodore USA Alive ?
« Reply #8 on: August 24, 2012, 09:52:00 PM »
Yeah, this ******* took the laziest approach possible to get a working computer on the market, and managed to screw even that up.
The sooner the market flushes this turd, the better.
 

Offline CritAnime

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Re: Commodore USA Alive ?
« Reply #9 on: August 25, 2012, 02:37:03 AM »
Quote from: bitcpy;705029
The Amiga Mini is even much worse. This time around, they only sell it as a BASE configuration which shows up as CASE & FAN for $295USD???? This is just a Wesena ITX2 with Amiga engraved on the front which can be bought for a whopping $67USD!!!

Never noticed that. It must be a rcent change to the price guide. As the Mini page still states the hardware that comes with it. Also if you try to "configure" the case you still get the 295 price tag with or withour the engraving. Also someone on their forums pointed out the extreme config of the 64x has gone. Meaning you can now buy an over priced Atom based c64x, overpriced greatwall computers or an overpriced zotac.
« Last Edit: August 25, 2012, 02:49:18 AM by CritAnime »
 

Offline bitcpyTopic starter

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Re: Commodore USA Alive ?
« Reply #10 on: August 25, 2012, 02:52:32 AM »
Nope.. Go back and check again. They dont charge more or less for the engraving, but, if you DONT get the engraving, then you really are paying 4.5x the price for a $67 case.
 
They must have recently removed it because the mini page clearly states:
 
"Amiga Mini chassis only, for a configured unit in this form factor, see Amiga Mio".
 

Quote from: CritAnime;705083
Never noticed that. It must be a rcent change to the price guide. As the Mini page still states the hardware that comes with it. Also if you try to "configure" the case you still get the 295 price tag with or withour the engraving. Also someone on their forums pointed out the extreme config of the 64x has gone. Meaning you can now buy an over priced Atom based c64x, overpriced greatwall computers or an overpriced zotac.
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Offline CritAnime

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Re: Commodore USA Alive ?
« Reply #11 on: August 25, 2012, 03:07:02 AM »
Quote from: bitcpy;705084
Nope.. Go back and check again. They dont charge more or less for the engraving, but, if you DONT get the engraving, then you really are paying 4.5x the price for a $67 case.
 
They must have recently removed it because the mini page clearly states:
 
"Amiga Mini chassis only, for a configured unit in this form factor, see Amiga Mio".
 

Thats what i said. the price does not change no matter what you click. Along with the fact the Mini page still states the hardware it comes with but it's obviously not the case on the purchase page.
 
It's a massive ripp-off. Even the c64x internals match a zotac machine with a price tag of just under £300.

Offline bitcpyTopic starter

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Re: Commodore USA Alive ?
« Reply #12 on: August 25, 2012, 03:20:25 AM »
Ahh ok.. I understand now.. you meant on the spec page.. I didnt even notice that one.. someone was in a hurry to remove the "order" button but forgot to update the spec page. lol..
 
 
Quote from: CritAnime;705085
Thats what i said. the price does not change no matter what you click. Along with the fact the Mini page still states the hardware it comes with but it's obviously not the case on the purchase page.
 
It's a massive ripp-off. Even the c64x internals match a zotac machine with a price tag of just under £300.
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Offline cgutjahr

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Re: Commodore USA Alive ?
« Reply #13 on: August 25, 2012, 03:03:35 PM »
Quote from: CritAnime;705083
Also if you try to "configure" the case you still get the 295 price tag with or withour the engraving.

I think "without Amiga engraving" means just that - i.e. the Commodore logos still in place, but missing the Amiga logo at the front. That 'design' (cough) used to be available as the "VIC Mini", but that's not listed as a product anymore either.
 

Offline comptech

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Re: Commodore USA Alive ?
« Reply #14 on: August 27, 2012, 03:39:38 PM »
Quote from: commodorejohn;704899
"Without even offering any excuses," Barry passes the buck like a pro, blaming his customer base for too many orders (right,) the customer in question for totally probably misreporting the number of calls, maybe, the phone system for probably not taking all the calls that may not have been placed, the mail server for not backing itself up of its own accord before they switched to IMAP, a nameless staffer who gave ambiguously incorrect information about something or other (like, presumably, whether or not the customer had actually placed over 100 calls,) and a few more totally unspecified reasons that are probably even better not-excuses, maybe, you don't know that they aren't! And conveniently enough, nowhere in that list is blame assigned to Barry, so he must not be at fault! And also he'd like you to know that this hardly ever happens, except for all the times when it's happened.
 
Incredible. Simply incredible. (And I mean that in the most fully etymological sense of the term.)
 
[youtube]JFvujknrBuE[/youtube]
 
"There was an earthquake! A terrible flood! Locusts! IT WASN'T MY FAULT I SWEAR TO GOD!"

 
I tried to impart to Barry the importance of having customer service and this is the response I got:
 
http://forums.commodore.net/showthread.php?257-130-days-still-havent-got-my-C64extreme-back!/page2 (halfway down the page)
 
All it takes is 1 customer service rep (8.00 bucks an hour) to answer phone calls/emails instead of some poor schmuck who is already overloaded with his numerous other jobs.
 
It Takes Months To Find A Customer...
 
seconds to lose one