Re: RANT - Buying online from Maxims Website From Hell

From: Rolavine (rolavine_at_aol.com)
Date: 11/24/04 

Date: 24 Nov 2004 01:39:53 GMT

>From: Boris Mohar borism_-void-_@sympatico.ca
>Date: 11/23/04 2:11 PM Pacific Standard Time
>
> This website from hell does not reflect the rest the company. It has to be
>most un intuitive HTML construct on Internet.
>
>Small example - I entered quantity of 25 pc for two items in the order basket
>and submitted it. After some lengthy pondering it came back with the first
>item quantity reset to 1pc. I tried to change it back to 25 and did not
>succeed until I changed the delivery date by one day. (the item was in stock)
>Last time it happened, I missed it and actually got one chip delivered to
>me. After finally convincing the beast that I really want 25 pc of each I
>proceeded with the order, submitted my Visa number and got the following
>message after a lengthy pause:
>
>Internal Server Error
>The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable
>to complete your request.
>Please contact the server administrator, ecomaxim@maximhq.com and inform them
>of the time the error occurred, and anything you might have done that may
>have caused the error.
>More information about this error may be available in the server error log.
>
>"anything you might have done that may have caused the error" is the part
>that pisses me off. This happened twice today. It was admitted to me by
>several of Maxim staff that the online buying server is quirky and that they
>are working on it. That was more that two years ago.
>
>After informing them of my woes I got an email saying:
>
>"We apologize for the error. Does the credit card billing address and
>shipping address match? If not, they need to match."
>
>I use only one address but I fail to see why I could not have different
>billing and shipping address.
>
>Of curse when it all gets resolved they will ship by UPS, but that is another
>story.
>
> Does anyone else share similar experience?
>
I got through this a few years ago, had to buy a tube of 50 of a tiny charge
pump RS232 chip because I had a client that decided to be the engineer on a
couple of parts (God I hate that!). The parts got caught in customs as they
came in from Malyasia (not that the web site told me that) and then they
arrived DHL a week late.

I love Digi Key and worship that place! My only problem with them is that they
manage to never have the cheapest part in stock, and that voilates my M.O. as a
cheap ***!

Rocky