Maxtor v Quantum

Lowkey

mornin' all,

Here's an odd tale of a hardware purchasing adventure that I had at the weekend. Soz to all if this is off topic but somehow I see it as being relavant (bit like Pilgrims Progress to religion).

Rang the shop Wednesday to see if they had Quantum Fireball 40GB HDs in stock - not today sez geezer A but we'll call you. He took my number.

I rang again on Sunday on the off chance that they forgotten to ring me - good news sez geezer B we have them in. Went into town on a bus. (85p Clontarf to City Centre.. it was a Sunday)

At the shop the guy points to the shelf and says there ya go but all I could see was Maxtors. So I picked one up and asked 'this is a Quantum Fireball'? He said 'Yes'. Note: I have a witness - the missus was with me for her sins.

'But is says Maxtor?'. 'They are the same - if you take the label off they are exactly the same underneath'. 'So it's made by the same factory and just labelled differently?' 'Well do you want to buy it or not?'

So I reply 'will you give me my money back if I find out this is not a Quantum?'

This is where it got ugly. He snarled 'I'm selling you this as a Maxtor'. 'So it's not a Quantum?' sez I. 'It's a Maxtor' he says.

I turned to my missus and asked 'are you confused?'. She replied wearily 'yes'.

I pointed out that I had specifically asked for Quantum and had rung before etc etc

Yer man then went on to explain about 'badge re-engineering' like I had just crawled out of the womb. Yeah all very well and good sez I but I rang and you said Quantum... I don't care if you think they are rubbish or exactly the same as a bar of soap - I said Quantum and you said YES!! Grrrrr.

I explained again how I'd visited their website and they are listed separately so what was he talking about? By now there was a queue of about 4 or 5 peeps behind me... the missus had to go outside out of pure frustration.

So he sat down and said 'well let's take a look at the website then.' WHAT? No please don't I just want to buy the stuff and go. He insisted and after a minute or two said 'oh yeah, you're right - well anyway they are the same'... Badge re-engineering... blah-de-blah... I KNOW!

This is where it gets funny. He then turns to me and says 'well I can sell you a Quantum if you like'.

Dumbfounded.... dumbstuck!

He had them all the time behind the counter!!

All shocked and stuff I handed over my credit card and bought the Quantum.

OK.. question is: Am I mad, is he mad or is the world just mad?

LK.

jaarius

he got yer money didnt he?:D

badge re-engineering? (i clearly have just crawled out of the womb)

jaz?

leeroybrown

Sounds very strange. At least you got your quantum (much more reliable drives). Maybe he was trying to get rid of his stock of Maxtors or something.

BTW, Not realy anything to do with HW Tweaking.

Lowkey

re. hardware tweaking all true lads all true... it's just plain hardware... so think of it as a warning regarding h/w purchases

however the shop in question is mentioned on these boards

Oh yeah... the shop is questions is...

IT Direct.

http://www.itdirect.ie/category.asp?cat=harddrive

LK.

po0k

Quantum are owned by Maxtor.

AFAIK maxtor have kept the name on cos the Quantum are a seperate line to the Maxtors, like Lexus and a Toyota I think....

JustHalf

Maxtor purchased Quantum's Hard Drive business a while ago.

Gerry

He was basically saying to you that there is no difference between the two drives.

Itdirect don't keep very much stock, its possible he was keeping the quantum drives for someone else, and wanted to flog the maxtor to you. Most of the time people don't care about brands, and just get sold whatever make of drive is around.

Of course the drives are different, I doubt he actually believes they are the same drive, if he does he is greatly mistaken.

On the other hand, to go into any pc shop in Ireland and expect good advice is plainly naive. Most of them are talking through their hats, making it up as they go along.

If the drive said maxtor on it, it obviously wasn't a quantum fireball 40 plus as, which is what you were looking for. Of course he's going to sell you a maxtor drive as a maxtor.

And I don't work for itdirect.

yellum

Merged 2 threads about the same thing into one.

DM