[Info-vax] Hopelessly Pathetic Hardware Parts

[David Froble]

JF Mezei wrote:
> I tried to get a replacement power supply for my Mac Pro computer. Apple
> would not sell one to me. I would have to bring it to te Apple place of
> worship, get  a "Genius" to look into it (which woudl take a few days),
> and then they would schedule a repair date and cost.
> 
> Turns out that Apple refuses to sell the power supply as a part even
> though the Mac Pro was designed to be modular.
> 
> What was suggested is that I use Apple's competitor, Mr Google to find
> shops that sell the power supply I needed. So I did and I got the power
> supply shipped and was able to replace it without having to bring my
> computer to an Apple place of Worship and leave it there for many days.
> 
> 
> So Mr Vaxman, perhaps in your case, you should have bought those spare
> parts (mounting brancets and screws) from a 3rd party ?
> 
> Is it possible that HP prefers people to buy such parts from 3rd parties
> instead of directly from HP ?

I sell some aircraft parts from time to time.  As part of the service to 
customers, I sell hardware also, bolts, nuts, and such.  If I was 
selling them all day long in huge quantities, yeah, it would be a good 
business.  Selling a few once a month is a royal PITA.

It gets worse.  The guy I dealt with at the mfg passed away recently. 
Now all of a sudden I get a quote for a price higher than I can purchase 
retail, this from the bolt mfg, and me an OEM who expects OEM pricing. 
For what?  $10 - $20 per month in sales?  I'm getting real close to 
telling customers to shop for hardware elsewhere.  I'll provide just 
that which I mfg.

So what does all that off topic stuff mean?  I'm guessing that HP is 
happy to sell notebooks of which they have a warehouse full.  I'm also 
guessing that there are very few sales of individual screws, bolts, etc. 
  So, by offering them, they are indeed creating a problem for themselves.

Perhaps a better thing to do would to include specs with the notebooks 
specifying the size of the various hardware you might need, and perhaps 
a few sources, and stick to selling notebooks, which is really all they 
want to do.