Products and companies to avoid

CompuServe Incorperated.

They tried to cheat my little brother out of hundreds of dollars which he didn't have. When he and I tried to talk to them, they made up silly excuses for their incompetence and even had the nerve to lecture him for leaking his password, which he told them repeatedly that he didn't do. He did get his money back eventually because Norwest Bank, (I'll have to remember to add them to my ads) which handled his checking account and was able to retract the funds. More recently, they have demonstrated a lack of backbone in dealing with the German government, and users worldwide have suffered for it. What once was a great service has become corrupt from the top down.

IBM Corperation

This is a company which has demonstrated a consistent ineptness over the years. Although they have some very bright employees, the top management is like a drunken, blindfolded giant holding a dagger. A few years ago, a friend of mine bought OS/2 in the hopes of running a well-engineered, true multitasking, 32-bit OS. His hard drive was permanently ruined due to a bug. This by itself is understandable although it demonstrates poor quality control, as all software has some bugs. However, when he tried to contact IBM about it, they refused to return his calls, ignored his email, and left him hanging. Fortunately, the store where he had purchased his OS refunded his money for OS/2, and his hard drive was under warrenty from the manufacturer of his system, so he was able to come out even.

Computer City

I'm probably going to take them one off this list soon due to the merit that they do have, although I'll never trust ANY of their ads again. A few months ago, I recieved one of their regular mailings featuring advertisements, coupons, and special prices on items for a specific night. One product of interest to me, the now-exposed-as-a-fraud Softram, was going to be $10 for one night only. I rushed into the store and found my prize, and when I got to the checkout stand, the clerk informed me that the sale did not apply to the Windows 95 version of the product, even though the coupon plainly stated before both of our own eyes the words "All versions". He pointed out to me that in the small, thumb-sized picture of the product on the coupon, the "95" was not printed as it was on the box of the item I was trying to buy. I conceded this, and asked why the coupon had the words "All Versions", if this was not really true. He just shrugged his shoulders. I was so mad that I ran out of the store and sat in the car for a few minutes to cool down. I couldn't drive home, as my brother was with me and he was still shopping. I returned to the interior the now-more-sinister looking store, and decided that at $10 it would still be a bargain to get the old 3.1 version, and Ken could've used it on his computer. But I couldn't seem to find it anywhere. He finally asked one of the employees where it was, and was told it was out of stock! Now I'm sorry, if this is not consumer fraud, I don't know what is. But it's not worth taking somebody to court over a matter of a $10 (normally priced $30) product, unless you've got resources to waste and a mind for absolute justice everywhere. I had neither. Before we left, I told another customer of our predicament, just to see if I could find a way of getting back at them. He said nothing, and we went on our way. Now I'm considering forgiving Computer City, because they have been REALLY nice in a lot of other matters I've dealt with them on, and some friends I've talked to confirm this feeling as well. And maybe it's just as well that I didn't get Softram, or it would probably be on this list instead.