[Coco] torn on getting a coco...

[Michael Robinson]

On Sun, 2008-12-14 at 19:27 -0600, Mark Marlette wrote:
> First off I would like to thank everyone for the kind words of our 
> business. I can only recall one other unhappy customer in over 10 
> years of business.
> 
> Michael,
> 
> I can see from your 360k disk drive comment that you really have NO 
> idea of what some of the others have already commented on, supply and 
> demand. These drives ARE VERY hard to procure. You can still get them 
> for $49-$125 from other sources. I could give you some links so that 
> you could go tell them their pricing is too high as well. I do have 
> DSDD drives but do not sell them bare anymore. You can buy a disk 
> drive system which has the SSDD drive upgraded to DSDD. Save us both 
> some time, these are heavy, shipping would be more than $20 as I had 
> to pay to have the drives shipped in and then made to be function(if 
> needed), so we don't want to repeat this thread again.......
> 
> I could have not included the service fee of $10 or 12 minutes to 
> install and test the 512k. Most customers see the value. I wouldn't 
> expect your time to be free, nor should you.
> 
> I already explained the $20 fee for double shipping. Go see what it 
> costs to have over 1200lbs of CoCo items shipped to a dock via 
> freight lines. Then add the cost of current shipping rates. All items 
> indicated on the web page + S/H. S=Shipping, H=Handling(PayPal fee). 
> Break all of this down in the S/H and it is hardly out of line.
> 
> This would be a good opportunity for you to start your CoCo5 project. 
> Please keep us posted on your progress.
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Mark
> Cloud-9

I am not asking you for a 360k drive Mark.  I've already looked 
into it myself and it is nonsense to spend over $200 for a disk 
drive IMO.  A 1.44 meg floppy drive on the other hand can probably 
be shipped and sold for around $20.  Too bad there's no simple way 
to use a 1.44 meg drive. Worse than the inability to use a 1.44 meg
drive, the media is getting just as hard to come by.  That leaves
the SVD disk drive, but it doesn't have 360k of memory so it can't
replace a 360k floppy drive.

I suppose between supply and demand issues and weight, I shouldn't
be surprised that 360k drives cost so much.  For $100+, it makes
more sense to upgrade the plans for the semi virtual diskette drive
than anything else.  Cloud-9 should recognize the difference between
what people want to pay for a disk drive and what disk drives of this
era cost.  It should also be aware of the media shortage issue.  With
that in mind, I suggest you find another medium to distribute software
on.  It was a mistake to try a drivewire disk, but I didn't know I 
could get a rom pak instead so I didn't ask for one up front.  I didn't
know that Cloud-9 carries joysticks either when I made the comment
that it doesn't.  Last time I checked the web site, there was no
indication that Cloud-9 carries additional products.

Wanna hurt your business Mark?  Keep this up.  I may have complained
when I shouldn't have this round and before, but it doesn't have to
go on like this unless you continue to hold a grudge.  I will keep
countering you for a while at least because I am sick of your tone.