I think I mentioned some time ago that my Sam failed in a big way a couple of days after I received it.
It blew a hole in the Real Time Clock chip, along with smoke and flames. I am in Australia and obviously a long way from Italy, so I was reluctant to send it back if it could be fixed here.
After some emailed discussion with ACube, they sent me a replacement chip, which was installed for me by a man with the appropriate soldering equiment (and good eyesight). Sadly, it didn't fix the board. Although I was then able to switch it on and off, the lights came on but no one was home. The serial bus showed that the CPU was running OK, but it complained that the I2C bus was unable to talk to the memory card. Since the I2C bus also talks to the RTC, it was time to send it back to ACube.

I posted it on the Thursday before Good Friday. Although some time was spent in Customs at each end, I am glad to say that a package arrived from Italy this morning, with a brand new Sam in it. They didn't just fix my old 533 MHz board and send it back, they sent me a brand new one with a 600 MHz CPU, at no charge.

I can't praise these people enough. Their after-sales service is superb.
Anyone who hasn't yet bought a Sam from them, go and order one now, we all owe it to them.

Thanks, ACube !

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@tonyw

Sweet!

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@tonyw

Actually that is the level of service we all should EXPECT for such a purchase from any vendor.If the SAM was a $59.95 item ,then it would have been newsworthy support.

@tonyw

Excellent!


@BigC

Maybe that's what we SHOULD expect, but sadly in the Amiga market we hear a lot of unpleasant things. It's good to hear about good experiences so that we can feel more confident about the companies that support our small market. Without these "good news" posts, some of us would be a lot more reluctant to part with our money.

@BigC

Quote:

BigC wrote: @tonyw Actually that is the level of service we all should EXPECT for such a purchase from any vendor.If the SAM was a $59.95 item ,then it would have been newsworthy support.

True. Nevertheless, a company that actually meets those expectations deserves some credit. Too many companies have poor after sales service.

Hans

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@Hans

The old Commodore corporation had a poor reputation from some people yet I found their service superb when my A500 had a power issue.They fixed it,paid shipping both ways, and all in less than a week!

It's difficult to justify spending $700 or so on yet ANOTHER computer when what I have appears to do the job as far as anyone else can see

I really want a flex800.

@BigC

Quote:

BigC wrote: @Hans The old Commodore corporation had a poor reputation from some people yet I found their service superb when my A500 had a power issue.They fixed it,paid shipping both ways, and all in less than a week!

With bigger companies it is sometimes a matter of being lucky with who takes your call or reads your email. Having someone at the other end who knows what they are doing makes a huge difference.

Hans

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@tonyw

Good to hear you are back on the air.
I have a similar story with regard to one of the two boards I bought.

The first one arrived promptly after buying it, all the way
to the land of OZ as well, after spending a weekend in customs.

However, it failed to power up on arrival, even though I can't
imagine that an untested board could have possibly been shipped,
(which I was assured by ACube that it was definately tested too).

So, i'm quite convinced it was probably zapped by the paranoid
customs fascists in their nuclear powered, chook frying damn
X-ray machine that could see through more than Superman,
and generates more ionising radiation than Chernobul,
just to see if i'm concealing a pack of illicit Marlborough fags.

However I have yet to check the second one, "Summer folies special"
I hope it arrived without being "pre-cremated".
I guess I should stick some juice into it and see if it's ok....

(":?

And I might add, ACube sent a brand new one straight away,
no questions asked and at no charge either.

Brilliant service from these guys.

Last edited by colinw on 01-May-2009 at 05:55 AM.
Last edited by colinw on 01-May-2009 at 05:52 AM.

@colinw

Too right.

Many companies would have hidden behind some excuse like "We didn't supply the power supply (or case/mouse/keyboard/disk drive), therefore we suspect that it's your own fault and we will charge you for it."

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@tonyw Quote:

I can't praise these people enough. Their after-sales service is superb. Anyone who hasn't yet bought a Sam from them, go and order one now, we all owe it to them.

IMHO that great after-sales service is partly why the Sam440 costs a bit more than some people might like. If Troika actually manage to produce something we can buy (!), and it is significantly cheaper than the Sam440, then I suspect one of the first things to go will be decent after-sales service (even Eyetech didn't allow enough for that when they sold their more expensive AmigaOnes).

Last edited by ChrisH on 01-May-2009 at 08:05 AM.
Last edited by ChrisH on 01-May-2009 at 08:02 AM.

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@BigC

Quote:

BigC wrote: @tonyw Actually that is the level of service we all should EXPECT for such a purchase from any vendor

Actually, replacing the board for free after a repair attempt by a third party is going above and beyond what most vendors would do.

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Quote:

Actually, replacing the board for free after a repair attempt by a third party is going above and beyond what most vendors would do.

Well, asking you to debug the board using a serial port and tell the support where it crashes is way beyond what most support centers would ask... It is their work to find out the problem, surely not yours.

That being said, this is just normal behaviour for a 600Euro product...

Last edited by Leo on 01-May-2009 at 09:31 AM.

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@xeron

Quote:

Actually, replacing the board for free after a repair attempt by a third party is going above and beyond what most vendors would do.

Yes but tonyw talked to ACube before doing that, so it was agreed.

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@Hans

Quote:

True. Nevertheless, a company that actually meets those expectations deserves some credit. Too many companies have poor after sales service.

This what you should do when you send some thing to service.

1) Use a postal service whit tracking number, if package gets lost thats not there problem.
2) Never say it was your fault, thats going to cust you.
3) Water damage is never covered by warranty
4) Physical damage is never covered by warranty.
5) Damages cased by nature lightning and thunder never coved by warranty.

So what is covered by warranty? Only faults because products broke during normal working conditions, some companies offer service contracts to cover case 2,3,4 and 5.

Last edited by NutsAboutAmiga on 01-May-2009 at 09:58 AM.

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@colinw

Quote:

And I might add, ACube sent a brand new one straight away, no questions asked and at no charge either.

This is some thing thats not normally done, often this requires a service agreement.

Last edited by NutsAboutAmiga on 01-May-2009 at 10:24 AM.

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@NutsAboutAmiga

Quote:

This is some thing thats not normally done, often this requires a service agreement.

Or simply that the company follows the general warranty rules within EU.

@tonyw

Good to hear it works that smoothly.
Compared with the support for AmigaOne it definetly seems Acube has learned how to maintain good PR.

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Quote:

tonyw wrote: I think I mentioned some time ago that my Sam failed in a big way a couple of days after I received it. It blew a hole in the Real Time Clock chip, along with smoke and flames. I am in Australia and obviously a long way from Italy, so I was reluctant to send it back if it could be fixed here.

Eek... that sounds very familiar.

Think everyone knows now, I also blew up my A1200, which was my doing- a misplaced ATX lead.

So, I'm now in the slow process of rebuilding the A1200, or rather having Amigakit rebuild it. If it all works out I'll take my hat off to them too.

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@Leo

Can't feel you're posting this just for the sake of it. Normal behaviour or not, given the Amiga recent history of warranties and problems I think it was nice of this guy to post his own experience and encouraging to other potential customers.

Stop trying to be dismissive yeah?

Regards,
Rude!

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@Leo

Quote:

Leo wrote: Quote: Actually, replacing the board for free after a repair attempt by a third party is going above and beyond what most vendors would do. Well, asking you to debug the board using a serial port and tell the support where it crashes is way beyond what most support centers would ask... It is their work to find out the problem, surely not yours. That being said, this is just normal behaviour for a 600Euro product...

Tony didn't say that they asked him to debug the board using the serial port. However, ACube happen to know that Tony is capable of doing so, so that wouldn't be strange.

Hans

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@tomazkid

Quote:

tomazkid wrote: @NutsAboutAmiga Quote: This is some thing thats not normally done, often this requires a service agreement. Or simply that the company follows the general warranty rules within EU.

ACube is not required to replace it, only get it repaired.

Motorola has service agreement called “Advanced Exchange”, where you get broken stuff replaced whit no question asked.

Maybe your think about DOA, DOA requires the product returned whit 30 days of sale to end customer.

Last edited by NutsAboutAmiga on 01-May-2009 at 11:27 AM.

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