On Wed, 1 Mar 2000 11:27:51 +1300, you wrote:

>> The problem for New Zealanders wanting to get Nat Semi
>
>The positon with NS at the moment is -- Avnet  are the "official"
>rep for NS, they also do Microchip, Motorola, OKI, Seiko, and many
>other of the larger mftrs. If you aren't an account holder you have to
>deal with a company called Spectron. NS used to be done by
>Hardie Technologies (HarTech) until they folded and their agencies
>were grabbed by other reps around town, such as Avnet. I used to
>deal with HarTech a lot, as they also had Microchip. I switched to
>Microchip (1) because I got fed up with non-flash Mot parts and (2)
>got fed up with the system at Avnet. HarTech were always helpful,
>like Philips, and I could get samples no trouble. However, I can't say
>the same for Avnet. They're much more company-orientated and
>quite frankly they're not interested in small buyers. 
Same in the UK - I had to talk them into accepting my order for
UKP2,000 on a cash-with order basis!
> If you think I'm bagging
>Avnet in particular, spot on. No, I don't like their sales policies or
>being dicked around by them carrying out said policies.
I would never use Avnet except as a last resort - they're hopeless -
the mountain of paperwork that arose from a couple of faulty returned
items was unbelievable ! An assembly subcontractor I know that buys
huge amounts of components will only deal with Avnet as a very last
resort!