Mayflower Transit, Clark Moving and Storage, Schenectady, NY: You won't believe this one, but it's kind of long,
so please read it here.
Jim Albright, Albright Construction, Albright Plumbing and Ditching (Kingsport, TN): The tractor trailer that
moved us to Tennessee destroyed our entrance gate and collapsed two steel culvert pipes under our driveway. We hired Jim
Albright to repair the damage. He gave us an estimate of $2620, including materials. When he was finished, he presented a
final bill of $3850! He said a friend told him the job was worth that much. Apparently his integrity is worth much less. He
also left two large logs on our lawn when he left.
>
eMachines (e-Machines) My business computer suddenly died, and I needed an instant replacement. The only
machine I could get locally in a hurry was an emachine model T6520. The big problem - it will not support a second disk
drive. NO backup! From emachines tech support: "The system's BIOS has only been tested by eMachines to support only one
hard drive that was preinstalled by eMachines." Of course it took a while to get them to actually read my messages and
determine my complaint. I also find the BIOS to be flaky in other areas, including USB support. Also MUCH slower than my
older 2.2 Pentium machine, although rated at "3400+." My 2.2mhz Pentium would run the little boxes across the Win-XP-Pro
start-up screen slightly less than twice. This junker requires NINETEEN runs across, with frequent pauses.
Same OS, set up exactly the same. Emachines: Poor quality, NO service, no speed. STAY AWAY. New: Months later
they denied my rebate because the UPC symbol enclosed off the box wasn't the "right one." Huh? The DVD drive will no
longer recognize a writeable area on any disc, new or previously used. Tech support says they can't help.
Wildblue Internet Satellite Service / Rytech Systems, Knoxville area, TN: If you are contemplating satellite internet
service, please click here to read about my experience with Wildblue!
Ramsey Electronics Long ago I purchased an MP3 transmitter from them. It was advertised as being used by drive-in
theaters. The signal would actually barely reach my upstairs bedroom from the downstairs, but that was all I wanted at that time.
Since I moved, my workshop is in a building 125 feet from the house. I bought an "assembled and tested" Ramsey LPA1 FM
transmitter booster, advertised as "in use to cover some small islands." It won't reach the garage 125 feet away with
both transmitter and receiver antennas in direct line of sight of each other. Ramsey says "you must have damaged it," and
won't even admit the possibility that it might be defective nor admit that their advertising is false.
Wachovia Securities: They raised the fees on our 15-year old Command Checking account to ridiculous levels,
so I contacted them and asked them to close the account and mail us a check for the balance. That was July 29th. It
was supposed to be mailed to us from the Wachovia office in our own city. Five additional contacts later, we still
hadn't received it. Complaint filed with Securities and Exchange Commission on August 30th. On September 3rd, the check arrived
via Airborne overnight, obviously in response to the SEC complaint. The check was dated September 2nd. My final statement showed
the cash balance transfer as September 3rd. So much for all
those "check is in the mail" claims they gave me for over a month. Of course they paid no interest for that month.
Security Mutual Life Insurance Who, after the death of my wife, would not cancel a policy that she owned.
When I told them that I was not going to pay any more premiums, they said that the cash value of the policy would be applied to
the premiums until it was exhausted. In other words, "Sorry your wife died. Thanks for your money. Adios...."
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Good Guys
MSC Industrial Supply Co. (MSCdirect.com): I recently ordered a small water heater for my workshop from MSCdirect.com.
(Got tired of washing my hands with cold water.) AFTER I installed the plumbing nipples and safety valve, I noticed a large crack
in the outer case. I sent MSC an email, just to let them know about it. To my surprise, they phoned me and offered to send the part
that they would strip from another unit, or to give me a partial refund. I think 99% if the companies in the world would say,
"Too late, tough luck. Thanks for letting us know." And they would be correct. I really expected no more.
MSC is to be commended, and moved to the top of the "good companies to do business with" list.
Accurate Arms and Ammo, Schenectady, NY: whose proprietor has always treated my wife and I with respect and courtesy, answered our stupid questions, and exchanged defective merchandise without quibble.
Dillon Precision Products: In addition to my reloading equipment, I purchased a Peltor electronic ear protector. A week before we were to leave for the S&W Academy, our dog got ahold of the headset. She ate several of the plastic and foam rubber pieces. I sent a fax to Dillon explaining the problem, requesting immediate 2-day air shipment of the parts, and enclosing my credit card info. The next morning Fed-Ex delivered the pieces, along with an invoice marked "no charge!" I feel this was well above the "call of duty," considering that Dillon doesn't even manufacture this item.
Jerry Ahern - Ahern Enterprises, Inc.: I bought a custom concealment holster from Jerry for one of my handguns, and loved it. I ordered another. The second wasn't as good, so I sent Jerry a letter explaining the minor problems, and requesting that I keep it until fall (I needed it for competition), and then return it for repair. Jerry called me on the phone and said that proposal would be fine but unnecessary, because he was going to make another one for me for free. I refused the offer - the problems weren't that bad. In fact I ordered a third holster immediately. Jerry insisted on throwing in a free magazine holder.
George Smith, Evolution Gun Works (EGW): When the nationally-famous gunsmith who built my IPSC racegun went out of business (still owing me $92 for items not received), George cheerfully and competently took over the maintenance and repair of the gun, at prices much lower than I expected.
Physical Therapy Associates of Schenectady, P.C.: After my knee replacment surgery and through subsequent complications, these folks worked cheerfully and
very competently to improve my leg function. I learned a lot from them.
ESET Software: who produce the NOD32 AntiVirus system. This seems to be simply the world's best - much
better than Norton. They answered all my questions promptly (email support!). The updates are automatic and occur sometimes
several times a day - they really keep up with things. The system has also been rated best at catching new viruses and
worms that haven't yet been classified and entered in the databases. For example, Norton and McAfee missed the NetskyD worm
for several days when it first started circulating. NOD32 caught it. Support is super. I had a thorny problem for which tech
support stuck with me for over a week, via email messages. It turned out to be a problem I had inadvertently caused myself. Try
that with Norton!
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