Word Tools and LaserWriter Plus
Paul H. Calamai
Has anyone yet seen Doug Clapps Word Tools from Aegis Development?
Programs Plus and Northeastern Software are both advertising this
as one of the products they carry!
Question #2: What are the pros and cons regarding leaving
the Apple LaserWriter Plus powered on at all times?
Please email responses to me and I will summarize.....Thanks.
CSNET: phcalamai%water%waterloo.csnet
ARPA: calamai@anl-mcs or na.calamai@su-score
UUCP: ... decvax!watmath!phcalamai
Bill Cox
> as one of the products they carry!
There is an article entitled "Software by Mail Frustrates Firm And Its
Clients", page 35, Wall Street Journal, November 4, 1986 (Midwest edition,
start of the second section).
It's not clear whether Northeastern is reorganizing or not; it appears that
they are doing a Chapter 11, leaving anyone who's paid them money for software
that they haven't received as a junior unsecured creditor ( == 'good luck' ).
There are several horror stories, including one school that ordered $199 worth
of merchandise in November 1985, finally (after the better business bureau
intervened) got a refund check in August 1986. The refund check bounced.
Northeastern is in Shelton, Connecticut.
From the article:
"We get two or three [complaints] at most" about other firms' ads, says
Jim Martin, publisher of PC World and Macworld computer magazines, which
will no longer carry Northeastern's ads. "We're getting 20 to 30 from
Northeastern. I would say five a month would be alarming."
[comments about FTC mail-order rules, and Northeastern's violations thereof]
Northeastern hasn't been formally charged with any wrongdoing. The
Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection says it is investigating the
company but won't comment further. And a Postal Service investigator says,
"At this point, [the complaints are] insufficient to indicate there is a fraud."...
For some customers [the decisions to drop Northeastern's advertizing]
have come too late. [customer who gave them a $1018 order in May, and has
gotten nothing] ... "I think [Northeastern's] address, 7 Trap Falls Road, is
quite appropriate," she says. "We fell into it."
from me:
I know that using a credit card gives some protection on undelivered
merchandise. The only protection would seem to be to vigorously follow up
on the Fair Credit Act protections for any company that doesn't follow the FTC
rules which require shipping within 30 days after the mailorder company
"either receives a check from a customer OR DEBITS THE CUSTOMER'S CHARGE-CARD
ACCOUNT. [emphasis added] If the merchandise isn't available, customers must
be notified within 30 days and offered a refund."
You can find about recent postings by calling your credit card issuer.
After the Fair Credit Act limits (I think they are 60 days or so after a charge)
the situation is less clear. Watch for charges for unshipped merchandise.
Complain to the Postal Inspectors, Federal Trade Commission, and Connecticut
Dept. of Consumer Protection, where appropriate. If you're screwed by a mail/
phone order company, COMPLAIN. That's the only protection for the rest of
us.
bill
--
William Cox
Computer Sciences Department
University of Wisconsin, Madison WI
bi...@crys.wisc.edu {ihnp4,seismo,allegra}!uwvax!bill
Brian Diehm
>Programs Plus and Northeastern Software are both advertising this
>as one of the products they carry!
This one is definitely in the etherealware (fumeware) category. I ordered it
from Icon Review many months ago; they responded by sending me bi-weekly
postcards saying they couldn't ship and did I want to wait or get my money back.
I finally asked for my money back when I noticed that Icon Review no longer
listed it as an available product. They didn't TELL me that fact, mind you,
they just let me figure out their definition of "delay" on my own.
You see what assurances of professionalism are implied by having a "big name"
attached to a product? This guy pontificates well about software, but when it
comes to producing it, he appears to be the rankest of amateurs. . .
-Brian Diehm
Tektronix, Inc.