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Iomega

This, after reading My Mac's letter to editor and Iomega's response...

Recently, I had three of ten brand new Zip disks purchased from your factory create clicking on two Zip drives, this after I'd used them to store data. I called, sent the three in for replacement and of the three replacements, one is now unusable because of "Click Death." Unfortunately, the data on it is invaluable and not backed up since it was used as a back up in the first place.

Question: Do you have any service to extricate the data on such disks?

Before that, I had to replace a three-week-old Zip drive because of the clicking. These last couple of weeks now I notice my external Zip drive is starting to click, apparently catching this affliction from the aforementioned now-unusable Zip disk. Assuming that your warrantee is only one year, that drive is not under warrantee. However, it seems to me that you ought to replace it, as it is a defect caused by recent defective Zip disks.

Please respond.

Frank Kaiser
Member and SIG leader, Miami Gold Coast Mac Users Group

More from Frank...

I have had two Zip drives die of the clicks, both replaced by APS, the manufacturer of one of my Macs. When I saw your reply to the letter to the editor about contacting Iomega, I did so at once as I still have an external Zip drive that can't be used because of the clicks but is out of Warrantee. You conveniently had an email address listed so I used that.

The reply from Iomega was to send the drive back immediately for a new one. Great! But it was Iomega Europe. They can't deal with the US. And my now three emails to Iomega US have gone unanswered.

So much for their wanting to do what's right. I'd call them but they charge something like $25 just to answer. Since they're an advertiser of yours, can you get them to help me?

Thanks.
Frank Kaiser
frank@gopix.com

I received more than ten emails from My Mac readers on this topic alone: Iomega Zip drive owners who have an out of warranty drive.

If you read "A Few Words" this month, you will know I, too, now have a bad Zip drive. And like Frank, my drive is also out of warranty. And since Iomega in NOT one of our advertisers, I did what many of you did: I contacted Iomega.

I first talked to Becky in the customer service department. She was unable to help me, so she turned me over to Lloyd in the Tech help department. (It's a free call if it turns out you have a bad drive.) He, too, was unhelpful. After waiting close to five minutes for him to restart his computer twice, he was able to determine my drive is defective (duh!). He then sent me back to customer service to see what they could do for me.

What can they do? They will "Allow" me to send back my drive, which they will replace. For $79.99 of course. It will also be a remanufactured drive, not a new one, and will only carry a 120-day warranty. When asked how much it would cost to simply fix my relatively new drive, they said $79.99.

I would ask Iomega to think about what kind of company they want people to think of them as. One who stands up for faulty products, willing to "make right" with customers who were the first to buy a new product and take a chance, or one who only wants more money and cares not for it's customers. As it stands, Iomega, you seem to want to be the later. I could understand if this was a relatively rare occurrence, but from the email I have received, it is not. And now you want these customers to send you even MORE money?

So what is Iomega's policy now? Buy a new drive or suffer. Well, guess what, Iomega? How many of these customers who took a chance on you before will be willing to do so again? How many of these customers will warn others away from your products?

Bring Back Software Links!

I have been meaning to email you for a while about your decision to take your software links off your site. I used these links constantly. They were the BEST collection of Mac software available on the web. If I ever needed to find some piece of software I always went to My Mac first. If it weren't in your collection of stuff it would usually take Me 30 - 60 minutes to find what I was looking for.

So I plead with you to please bring back those programs if not just links to where I can get them. If you decide not to that's fine of course, I understand that putting downloads on a website takes a lot of bandwidth. I would like to thank you for the times you did have it up. You have no idea how much time it saved me.

Thanks again,
Mark Armstrong
mark.armstrong@arch.gatech.edu

Thanks for the kind words, Mark. The problem was that our links section was simply too large for us to handle. We had so many links that it would have taken days to verify that all links were working, up-to-date, and current. It was simply too much for us to handle.

The other reason was that we found a service that provided the same thing, but did a better job of it. Applelinks was our answer for a links page, and we "joined" with them in our "linking" endeavors.

In the future, however, we do hope to have a software referral page, where you will find easy access to the best shareware/freeware products for your Mac. At the moment, we list ten or so on our home page, and when time permits, we will add even more.

Mousing Around

I'd be careful before pushing that product too hard it may come back to haunt you. (3M Mouse Pad, Nemo Memo issue #35, March 1998)

I bought one about a year and a half ago when the first came out. At first, like you, I was amazed at the feel of the surface, etc. Then after a while (Within two months) the center area of the pad stretched just from moving the mouse around. Effectively I ended up with ripples in the middle of the pad, which made it unusable.

Since I bought it in Edmonton and I live in Saskatoon and had no reason to go back soon, I gave up on returning it. Instead I tried gluing it to the surface of one of those cheap thin freebie pads which eventually where slick and stop working. Unfortunately in didn't last and I threw the whole thing out.

Cheers,
Marc
marc@qcc.sk.ca

I have a suggestion for those who are tired of mousing around. The Calcomp Drawing Slate II 4x5 is being sold at a couple of the mail order houses for about $50.00. These 4x5 drawing tablets are great replacements for a mouse. I first bought one when excessive use over time was causing me a lot of hand pain. Since using a drawing pad I have never had this problem again.

The use of the tablet or pad takes about a week of getting use to, for some people. I recommend that you do not revert to a mouse at all during the first couple of weeks.

The Drawing Slate II is not as nice as the Ultra Slate, Wacom, or my favorite, the Hitachi Art Pad; but it is still very good, and a steal at $50.00. I own and use all of these tablets and use them on various computers (Mac and PC).

As you have, I have also found the 3M mouse pad to be a great mouse pad.

Roger Harris rogre@swbell.net

On Nemo...

Tim Robertson is the Publisher of My Mac, and unless otherwise noted answers all the e-mail on this page.

e-mail:
Tim Robertson - publisher@mymac.com
Russ Walkowich - editor@mymac.com

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