On Sat, Jan 02, 1999 at 02:15:11PM -0800, Gerhard Fiedler wrote:
> At 07:21 01/02/99 -0500, Bob Drzyzgula wrote:
> >Myself, like Ben, I generally go for the vendor who has
> >their prices online, or at least one who can give me
> >a quick, straight answer over the phone with a minimum
> >of fuss.
>
> i don't like prices over the phone at all, because often i have some choice
> of technically viable options (after all, there are quite a couple of, say,
> inductor mf out there, and any inductors which fit my needs might get into
> the design), and i don't want to spend the time to call them all up. so i
> go out and see and take the ones for which i can get an overview of the
> prices of their different product lines. and i often work after hours...
> (which is even easier being on the west coast)

Generally, I agree, but sometimes it just doesn't
work out.  A few months ago, i needed some crimp-to-wire
connectors for use in a RAID subsystem. We were using CMD
SCSI-to-SCSI RAID controllers, and they had a two-pin
shrouded latching header on the back for attachment of
a 6V lead-acid battery.  I'd spent time off and on over
weeks looking all over for matching connectors and came up
empty. I finally got the part number from CMD; it turned
out to be an oddball 2.5mm (not 2.54mm) Berg part (if they
wern't such good controllers... grrrr). No distributer
carried them in stock (CMD threw one in the box with
each controller, but I needed the crimp tool and spares)
or even listed them a catalog. So I called my Allied
representative, who did the rest of the legwork. It turned
out they needed to be special-ordered striaght from Berg
(in ridiculous quantities, but in this case the resulting
lifetime supply, including tooling, added only 0.5% to the
overall cost of one year's build of our RAID subsystems)
and she got pricing & delivery information on the contacts,
housings and tools within about three days.

I *never* mind having to call Allied on the phone; given
what they have online, it is usually only the truely
obscure part or special quantity-based pricing that one
needs to do so for, and at least the two reps I've been
assigned have always been happy to work their tails off to
get the info I need without even the littlest hint of sales
pressure coming back my way. (I also order from Digi-key,
NuHorizons, Bell Microproducts, Marshall & Future and have
had similar experiences -- Digi-key in particular can be
amazing sometimes.)


--Bob

--
============================================================
Bob Drzyzgula                             It's not a problem
bob@drzyzgula.org                until something bad happens
============================================================