At our Users Group meeting for four months, I would report on the status of the Millennia K Disk Drive Interface that I had ordered from Ramex International Ltd., 48945 Van Dyke Rd., Utica, Michigan, 48087, for $200. The first meeting I reported that I had ordered the interface and had sent a letter with the money order telling Ramex that I wanted to use my Tandon 100-2A as the first drive (double-density, double-sided). If the interface would not work and the software could not come set to run on this drive, then I instructed them to refund my money. I also reported on the phone call that I had made just the day before. The person I talked to at Ramex read my letter back to me over the phone, and said that there was no problem, and that they were going to ship between 12 and 15 drives and interfaces that Friday. They informed me that I was number 13 on the list.
The next meeting (one month later), I reported that I had received nothing and had heard nothing. At the third meeting, I reported and showed an interface manual that was shipped to me. I also reported calling Ramex again, and of being assured that my interface would be mailed that Friday. Tim Woods of Time Designs Magazine also reported talking with Ramex, and related that they had told him that they were building my interface at that time. Also, the interface manual that I had received said nothing about having to have a quad-density drive as the first drive.
The fourth meeting I reported that I had finally received my interface, but had sent it back. The interface had come uncased with a letter saying that Ramex had not received all of it’s cases for the interfaces from the manufacturer, and had sent it anyway, so I could use it…and would be sending the case later. I looked for, but did not find the drive cable with my order. Also, the drive software was on a double-sided, double-density disc, but had been formatted to quad-density!?! I called Ramex to find out why this happened and was told that the system was set up on quad-density because “they wanted to only sell the complete package (drive + interface),” and that they “made more money on the drive than they did on the interface”. They also said that I could return the interface for a full refund, and that they had “lots of back orders to fill”.
(Editor’s Note: if anyone has a similar experience with this or any other dealer, please drop us a line at TIME DESIGNS, describing your problem.)