In a message dated 10/9/2006 7:48:20 A.M. Central Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
>I think the problem is that the IBM mainframe division has never >really liked dealing with small, maybe because a lot of the support >costs are the same regardless of size of shop. I suspect they really >don't know how to handle small in many cases and there are IBM sales >organizations that would much rather deal with i or p series. Anecdotal evidence: In 1996 I ordered a P/390 from IBM. I was told that since my one-man business did not have an established track record with IBM's accounts receivable department, I would have to pay the full amount before they would ship the system to me. I called the salesman and left a msg on his tape recorder - where do I mail the check and what is the exact amount? After about a week with no reply from him I called his tape recorder and left another message, screaming things like "Your company is still way too large. A lot more of you need to be downsized, perhaps starting with you. Where in the hell do I send this check?" I finally talked with someone on the bottom of the food chain in the shipping department who told me "Send the check to the return address on the shipping label inside the box we ship it in. We're shipping it now. No worries." Too large. Wrong focus. Small customers be damned. I never received a call back from the sales jerk. When it arrived I had the JES2 WAITING FOR WORK message in 30 minutes after I started unpacking it. And I was following the instructions very slowly and deliberately. An excellent product. A ***[expletive deleted]*** sales force. Bill Fairchild ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
