It is if you you deal with some of the channel partners who don't have a
clue, much less proper training and certified HP3000 personnel.

Ron Burnett wrote:

> A little horror story for your Monday morning delectation.
>
> Some will recall my message a couple of months or so ago,
> concerning our need to acquire an HP3000/928 for Y2K
> renovation and testing.
>
> It took the local HP office nearly two weeks (13 days to be
> exact) to effectively respond to requests for information and
> quotations.  And then the response was essentially 'You're
> not a sufficiently important customer for us to service
> directly.  You'll have to go to one of our channel partners.'
>
> I was sourcing the machine for a health care network that
> turns over around $300 million a year.  And this was the first
> time in around 15 years that I haven't been able to get
> pre-sales consultation, quotations, and place an order with
> a preferred supplier!
>
> Well, nevermind all that, I don't particularly care where the
> machine comes from, so we duly did our homework on configuration
> and placed the order with a recommended 'channel partner'.
>
> And the machine finally arrived--two weeks later than the
> agreed-on delivery date, missing half its ordered memory,
> missing a front panel for the HA disc rack, missing its
> UPS, and most important of all, missing the specified and
> quoted IMAGE/SQL.
>
> Connecting it to the network proved to be a frustrating
> experience.  The ID panel on the back of the CPU had been
> scavenged from an HP9000, thus it had a fixed metal tab
> covering the UPS port, and exposing a supplementary
> AUI and RJ45 network connector.  The AUI port on the
> console lan card was dead.  After much fiddling around,
> and a repeat visit from the installing engineer, it was
> discovered that the console lan card was internally jumpered
> to use the BNC port (which by that time had a neat terminator
> on it).  We got that setting back to addressing the correct
> AUI port, then started to load IMAGE/SQL.
>
> The DAT tape drive delivered with the system threw a fit
> and caused repeated system failures.  We'll have that replaced
> in the next day or so.
>
> Meanwhile, the front panel for the HA rack arrived .... missing
> its mounting bracket.
>
> Then the UPS arrived .... not entirely useful since the port
> on the CPU is neatly covered by the aforementioned immovable
> metal tab.  (Well, I guess I could take into the engineering
> workshop next door and cut it off.  But should I have to do that
> sort of thing?)
>
> We're three weeks late and thundering down the track toward
> 31 December 1999.  I'd like to believe HP cares about the HP3000 and
> its customers.  But experience is proving it harder and harder to
> hold that opinion.
>
> Is this typical of other subscribers to HP3000-L?
>
> Ron Burnett
> [log in to unmask]



--
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* Paul Edwards                   HP 3000 Certified Consultant *
* Paul Edwards & Associates               1506 Estates Way    *
* Phone: (972) 242-6660                   Carrollton TX 75006 *
* Email: [log in to unmask]                 Fax: (972) 446-9022 *
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