Like you probably know, a few months ago Livingston
announced the new Portmaster PM3 access server. I
first heard about it at some newsgroup. At the time
we were (and still are) expanding out Internet service,
and had actually already ordered a new Ascend router for
that purpose. Ascend had a very good ISP deal at that time.
Well, after hearing about this new PM3, I went to their
WWW site, and read about it, and got really excited about
it. After all, it seems like a great product, just what we
had been looking for. They also had their ISP prices in WWW,
both for T1/T2 US models and E1/E2 European models. The price
was really good, 45% off of the list price. It was extreamely
good. I asked Livingston about it, and got an email confirmation
about it; "yes, that is the price, also European E1/E2 models,
want one?"
We wanted, we cancelled the Ascend order, and decided to wait,
invest a little bit more to the analog lines while waiting for
the PM3. Everything looked fine, except our Ascend rep. wasnīt
really "happy".
Then, before they even have shipped the PM3, they decided
"Hey, we decided not to sell it to you, just to US. Sorry."
???
WHAT?? They publicly announced their ISP program and prices,
and even confirmed it by email. And then just decided not to
sell it afterall. I donīt know about US, but here in Finland
we call that cheating. Yeah, GREAT marketing, but still cheating.
When I first wanted to know about their decision, I was told to
contact the sales office, if they could come up with something
reasonable. Well, one sales person claims they have never
published any European E1/E2 ISP prices (not true), and another
claims that the European ISP program has similar prices (not true).
I just got the "ISP offer" from the local dealer, let see
how similar the prices are. Example PM3-E2 with 20 modems.
I have compared them in Finnish marks, including s&h, customs,
etc. ($1 = 4.6fim)
US List US ISP Local ISP
====================================
94.000fim 51.000fim 84.000fim
So, instead of 51.000fim which they already comfirmed to us,
they now tell it was just a joke, you have to pay 33.000fim
($7200) more. Plus we have wasted two months, have lost the
good Ascend deal, wasted another $1000 visiting the Paris
InterOp just to see and order the PM3.
So what do you people think about this? Am I unreasonable
when I feel cheated, and think that Livingstons ethics and
moral sucks?
Who ever manages this mailing list, please feel free to
forward this to Livingston top guns too. Iīd really want
to hear their comment too.
regards Jukka