Hi George,

it took me awhile to replay to your message but yesterday I had an
experience that maybe you find interesting when you decide the next time who
you consider a customer.

15 years ago I bought a photo-camera from Minolta at a little store in NYC.
Last sunday I took some pictures and after developing them I decide, that it
would be nice to have a flash for that "old" camera.
So, Monday I called Minolta by their 800-# and surprise,
I was considered a customer (even so I had not bought from them in 15 yrs)
I got help and recommondation
Yes, after not purchasing something from Minolta in 15 years I was still
considered a customer and got help.
Guess what, I don't even have a support contract with them and their
warranty is long exceeded.
Today I am ordering a flash for a 15 year old camera and that flash is not
even made by Minolta but still recommended.

They didn't even tell me, that I should buy a new digital camera from them.
Guess what brand my next camera will be if I am going to buy one?

100% SURE NOT HP

The other points in your mail I'll not even touch because I wouldn't want to
to lower myself to the level of some people.

Happy Holidays

On Mon, 3 Dec 2001 21:46:30 -0600, george c stachnik <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:

>
>
>Whether or not Winston's quote is an understatement depends on how you
>define the word "customer".  Several of the emails that I received via
>Carly's mailbox came from software vendors that sell applications or
>tools for the HP e3000.  A few referred quite proudly to the fact that
>they have customers who run old SPL versions of their products on HP3000
>series 70s.  These are machines that HP hasn't sold or supported in
>nearly 15 years.  Are these people "customers?"   I'm no business major,
>but in my book, a "customer" is a person who buys something from you.
>If these people are buying support from thse software vendors, then they
>are certainly customers OF THAT SOFTWARE VENDOR.  But regardless of
>their protestations of loyalty, you can't really call them HP customers
>any longer.  You'd have to include all the people that are using
>obsolete, unsupported or 2nd-hand hardware purchased from and supported
>by brokers to call Winston's quote an "understatement."
>
>I'm proud to be associated with a platform with the longevity and upward
>compatibility of the HP e3000.  I'm proud to be associated with a
>business that has allowed these people to be able to run their
>businesses in such a cost effective manner for so many years.  But I
>must point out that customers such as these are part of the reason why
>HP has been forced into making this decision.  There's nothing wrong
>with what they've done.  They've made business decisions.  That's what
>you do when you're in business.  But when people boast in one breath
>about how loyal they've been to HP, but in the next breath go on to say
>that they are using an HP e3000 model that hasn't been sold or supported
>in five, ten or even fifteen years  (one email that I received even
>boasted about the great price he got from a broker!) then the problem
>begins to become clear.
>

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