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OT: Online hardware stores: conclusion
A few people asked me to summarize the responses I received regarding my
quest for a good-enough online hardware stores.
This will probably not interest most technical people, but if you're a
concerned consumer you might want to read on. Warning: this e-mail is
completely off-topic and has nothing to do with Linux (except for the fact
that I buy my hardware for Linux machines).
I've been purchasing from Plonter the last few years, but their quality of
service simply dropped recently, so I started looking for a new store.
Excelnet was out of the question, due to the fact their service is far below
ground level (not to mention hardware quality and replacement policy).
I asked for recommendations on this list, and got two responses: aluf.co.il
and omc.co.il. Omc looked very good from the outside, so I bought what I
needed from them. That was two weeks ago. Since all I order was one (1)
memory chip, I called to see what's taking them so long.
Apparantely, they sent out the shipment a week ago, but the shipment company
didn't deliver it yet.
I won't give you the gory details, but a short discussion with the shipment
company turned up the following information:
1. The didn't think about shipping it until I called (although they probably
would have got around to shipping it in a few days). Reminder: This is about
a week after they received the shipment for delivery.
2. They don't ship to Or-Yehuda, that's too far (?). <- There are no typos
in that sentence. The place is Or-yehuda, and they can't ship there because
'it's too far'.
3. They can't ship it during off-work hours (combine that with (2), and the
conclusion is that if you work in Or Yehuda you'll never get the shipment)
4. They are willing to do the huge gesture of coming on Friday, *between 8
and 12* (no, I'm not confusing them with the phone company). They can't give
an exact time, but it will probably be between 8 and 12.
Needless to say OMC didn't give a damn about this. After all, they were
already paid, so why should they care?
Bottom Line:
Maybe my standards are set a bit high (like expecting to receive a fair
service), but I'm not going to buy at OMC again. If someone here on the list
knows a *good* online hardware store, I'll be more than happy to hear about
it and try it out.
One indication for a good company (IMO) is that waiting on the phone line
for service should be equal or less to the time spent waiting on the phone
for the marketing department.
The good things about this experience is that suddenly low-tech companies
like the postal service and Bezeq seem really good :-)
If there are any people from online hardware store on this list I would be
happy to hear from you why I can't find one decent online store in the holy
land.
- Aviram
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