Hi Mike, These stories constitute constructive criticism and I need to hear every one of them. I appreciate your being polite about it.
Again, the time frame you specified was during the transition from The Complete Mac to MacTown and that transition didn't happen overnight. The store finalized the change in ownership in April, 2002. Effective March 2003, Mark Henderson and I will formalize our partnership in running the store. It will only get better. Guaranteed! I appreciate your willingness to give us the benefit of the doubt by coming in to the store to meet me. I'll be happy to convey current store and service philosophies with anyone and encourage those who have had bad past experiences to come in and meet me. Mark and I do represent current operating philosophy and I believe you will find it to be radically different than in years past. Your scanner problems were strictly an Epson issue but it sound like someone should have conveyed lack of OS X support at the time you purchased it. Probably a salesman's fault. Even Jaguar didn't fix that issue. Epson now has beta drivers that I believe work well now (Anne Cartwright should attest to that fact). Also, problems dealing with the "elementary" crowd are things of the past. That's why I'm there in addition to Mark Henderson and Mike Wilson. I think you'll sense a radical attitude change and that change comes from the top. It will stay that way! We don't pride ourselves in talking over people's heads! Also, consider this: we have a staff of excellent technicians including myself (on a good day!). What makes us unusual is our techs wear many hats. They're often found out on the showroom floor servicing customer's needs (answer questions) and selling products. These are young, very sharp and knowledgeable kids. Some of the best technicians around! I believe you'll agree it is not common to find a technician who can talk and relate to you in addition to fixing your equipment problems. Because they're young, they still make mistakes. Maybe they're not as polite or patient as they should be on occasion. They will learn given time. Think back to the last time a technician at CompUSA, Circuit City or Best Buys came out from the service department to assist you. It doesn't happen! We keep an open door policy to allow our customers easy access to whomever they need to talk to whether it be sales, management or service. Our biggest problem is being understaffed and that will be cured with time and money. That will change but not overnight. Because of that, we can guarantee you good personal service but it may not always happen as quickly as you would like. Try and be patient and work with us. We won't let you down! And thanks for letting me rant too! Ward Oldham, MacDude MacTown 1041 Bardstown Road Louisville, KY 40204 502-485-1243 ward at mactown.us On Saturday, January 11, 2003, at 02:56 AM, Mike Watkins wrote: > Ward; > > I, too, wanted to do business with my friendly local Mac dealer. So, > after much looking at catalogs and listening to my Mac user friends, I > ordered my first-ever computer from Mark H. at The Complete Mac. There > were several delays in the store's receiving the merchandise; > eventually the computer itself was shipped to me from Indianapolis > (the new owners). > > I then went into MacTown to pick up the other pieces I had ordered. > I bought the new top-of-the-line iMac, pus an Epson Perfection 2450 > Scanner, an Epson Stylus Photo 890, an extra 512MB of memory, a book > about OS X, and a few other little things like a Norton System Works > package.This was over a period of a few weeks during March and April, > 2002. I later even took a class there in beginning with OS X, which > was also postponed for many weeks. Everything was wonderful while I > was making purchases.....then all I could get from MacTown were pretty > much brush-offs. My scanner wasn't able to be used except on the > Classic mode until a couple of months ago, when I broke down and > upgraded to Jaguar (there was a driver for that). My printer wouldn't > work except in Classic, though I got a driver for that much more > quickly. When I called Mac Town about the uselessness of my Epson > machines on OS X, I was just told that they would work fine/ that > Epson didn't know what they were talking about. Mark even told me that > he had the same machine (I believe that was the scanner) and his > worked great. There were no other directions, suggestions, etc. to be > had. I had been warned that I would not get much tech support from The > Complete Mac... my friends were right on that score. I feel some > resentment that I was allowed to spend that much money and received so > little follow-up service. My confidence level in MacTown is zilch. > > > Therefore, when I bought copies of Jaguar for myself and my Daughter, > when I've bought epson ink cartridges, a power strip, papers, more > computer books, phone-jack filters, CD's, Jewel Cases, or whatever, I > have gone elsewhere. I also ordered the i-Photo, Illustrator, and > InDesign > package from a catalog. If I go to any further classes (which I should > do) I anticipate going to Ivy Tech. So, Ward, I'm one of those > disgruntled customers you folks need to win back. You made a start > with the free CD about "Getting Started with OS X". And I enjoyed our > short chat. I don't know what I would have done to make any headway > without the able assistance of Jerry Yeager. I agree with Bill Holt > that you need to have people who are able to deal with the elementary > crowd, of which I am a member. We're not stupid; we're just starting > from square one.... there's a lot to learn! > > Thanks for letting me rant. I hope those days will soon be history. > > Mike > > > > | The next meeting of the Louisville Computer Society will > | be January 28. The LCS Web page is <http://www.kymac.org>. > > | The next meeting of the Louisville Computer Society will | be January 28. The LCS Web page is <http://www.kymac.org>.
