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COMTRADE 1995 ARCHIVE

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This file is filled with individuals' opinions and experiences with the Comtrade computer mail-order company, which sells a wide line of computers and products. The most recent experiences are at the beginning of this file.

If you have bought from them and have not yet made your contribution to this list, simply fill out this form about your experiences with Comtrade and they will be added to the beginning of this file. Thank you and Good luck!

Date - Wed, 27 Dec 1995
From - kgowen@efn.org

My old computer crapped out last year, so I leafed through Computer Shopper looking for a new one. I did some price comparisons, and it came down to Comtrade vs. Gateway. I chose Comtrade (slight break on price) but even though everything they sold me worked OK, if I had to do it over again, I'd spend the extra buck and go with Gateway.

As I said, *every* component in the unit they sold me (484-sx33, 4 meg RAM, 340 meg IDE drive, 2X cd-rom drive, VGA monitor) works fine. But it all feels so *cheap*. The cabinet, the keyboard, the mouse, all feel like they each cost 3 cents. We're talking bottom drawer here. The mouse was so bad I threw it away. I've since since Gateway merchandise, and all of them seem to be solid, well-built units.

Also, a minor gripe, there's no PS-2 style mouse port on the unit I bought, so not only did I have to buy a real mouse, but I had to buy an extra serial card for it because I didn't want to be stuck with no external serial ports.

Even though I've had no trouble with this unit, it feels so cheap that it makes me feel all "squishy" inside when I use it, like it'll fall apart any day now. I know that's not real scientific, but that's how I feel.

As I said, next time, it'll be Gateway.

Date - Wed, 20 Dec 1995
From - Prasad NSB (pn28@andrew.cmu.edu) Thanks for your great service. Here is a narration of my experience with Comtrade.

"I bought a Comtrade Multimedia MPEG DreamMachine 4X (90 MHz) in the last week of September '95. My computer was delivered in about two weeks (I placed one call to Comtrade in between since I was expecting it to take only a week and was asked to call back if I didn't get it in another week). The total price of the system came to $2095 (including $75 for S&H). I opted for 8 MB of RAM instead of 16 MB which reduced the price by $250 and went in for a 28.8k modem instead of the base 14.4k for an additional $75.

My experiences were similar to those of Phil Lochner.

Everything worked right out of the box and I didn't have to send back any component. I sent them a fax as to why I couldn't install the Diamond Windows driver which they didn't reply to. And just like the other Comtrade customers, I was not been able to reach their Technical Service by telephone. I gave up for a couple of months since there were no operational problems without the Windows driver. Finally, after a couple of months I sent them another fax using rather strong language and received a satisfactory reply after a couple of days.

As far as performance goes, it didn't do too well on Winstone 96 which I obtained from Ziff-Davis. I was a little surprised because the reviews in PC Magazine indicated it to be a good performer. But then, those machines were tested with 16 MB of RAM and not 8 MB which is what I have. All in all, I am satisfied with the computer. Their technical service can definitely improve but hopefully, I won't need to call them.

Date - Wed, 20 Dec 1995
From - Mark_Solomon@mm.cobb.ziff.com

I bought a 486-33DX from Comtrade back in 1992. I've had problems with my system and had to return the system once, and get a replacement monitor but only because I found my original invoice. They claimed then that the only means they have of giving you the service they require is by giving them your invoice number. The service was OK because my unit was under warrantee.

Question: Why do they need my invoice number if the serial number of the machine is on the back of the machine? Anyone remotely familiar with a database (hopefully a computer sales company) knows that you can associate an invoice with a serial number to provide a customer lookup. Maybe it's that real companies use real databases(you may be able add to this list).

We'll this is December 20, 1995 and I've bought a 486 66-DX2 Intel CPU to replace the original DX-33 chip. I call Comptrade for some information on my machine's motherboard, and guess what? They need the invoice number and can't help me with out it. (Still using that database huh?--bloody likely). Anyway I told them that I bought the machine from them and expected the information I needed from them(Rhrrr!!!). They said they'd call me back (suprise--they never have). So, until I buy another computer, I'm left with an expensive CPU I can't use and a computer company I can't trust--go figure.

Date - Wed, 15 Nov 1995
From - moschaef@mailbox.syr.edu

Leaving for college to become a computer engineer, my father and I decided to purchase a new system. After raking through Computer Shopper, I stumbled upon Comtrade. The prices were good and the promises of good performance seemed to good to be true. In June I ordered the Hyperspeed P100. I hooked it up with a 28.8, wavetable soundcard, 1.3 gig drive... I thought I was set. Well, nearly two weeks later, after the expected due date, I recieved the machine. After turning it on I learned that I had a bad meg of video ram. I made the call to the service techs and they sent me the part in a few days. I was very upset with some of the accessories though. The keyboard was tiny, the mouse was unusable and the speakers were laughable.

About two months later at college, my motherboards keyboard interface craped out on me. My computer was rendered unusable, but the techs assurred me that a technician would be out quickly to replace the motherboard. To make a long story short, that happened almost 6 weeks and 10's of hours of phone time to 18008994508 getting there answering machine. When the service tech came, he opened up the computer and laughed. He said that the configuration of the 64-bit Pentium on a 32-bit interface was not only considered insane, but that this was the first time he had ever seen it.

Well, that's not where my troubles ended. I purchased Win95 about a month and a half after I recieved the computer. I find out that my motherboard is not compatible. Later calls told me that not only was my mother board not compatible, but neither was my sound card or CD rom.

Basically I got screwed. I Thought I was buying top of the line. Instead I got last years computer with a a pentium. You'd be better off paying the extra money for a system that works than one that just promises to.

Date - Wed, 15 Nov 1995
From - Josh Vaughn (JV8816@cnsvax.albany.edu)

Today after class (I'm a university student in Upstate NY) a few of us were discussing PC's and mail-order vendors when I happened to mention I bought a Comtrade and was real happy with it...and that's when I heard about this FAQ. I went out on the web and hunted it down and needless to say I'm somewhat surprised that so many people have had so many poor experiences.

I purchased my Lightning 4x 486DX2-66 in December of '94 and it arrived just after Christmas. The only problem I had was that the mouse was not functioning in Windows: I called my sales rep (Tyson) and he was very quick to help me reset a switch on the bottom of the mouse which set it straight. Other than that the system has worked flawlessly and is noticably faster in both DOS and Windows apps than other similar 486 systems I have seen. I installed a Soundblaster AWE32 Value Edition with no compatability problems whatsoever; also upgraded to Win95 w/out a hitch.

If I had to voice any complaints they would only be the following: the mouse and keyboard are cheap components but they work fine; the 14.4 modem is a generic and has been a hassle to configure with some comm programs but I managed to work it out; and I did notice that the few times I tried to call TS to find out more about the modem it was either consistantly busy or I was left to an answering machine, so I gave up and just worked around it.

Just one more thing: I *have* noticed an intermittent buzzing coming from the inside of the case from time to time, and I chalked this up to my computer being slightly off level on my desktop (which I corrected) and/or a loose screw in the fan. But after reading the horror stories about the fans in here I'm not so sure...and wouldn't you know it, my 1 year warranty is almost up!

My theory is that in order to sell fast systems at the prices they do they skimp on some of the non-critical (ie mouse, keyboard, modem) components that are not directly related to the performance (read: speed) of the system. The bottom line is that the system works exceptionally well for everything I use it for and small problems and computing go hand-in-hand: I never expected every little thing to be perfect right out of the box. So far so good...

Date - Tue, 14 Nov 1995
From - MacGyver75@aol.com

Well, I to bought a Comtrade Multimedia 4xMPEG "Dream Machine" and so far I have not had any problems. I am scared that something WILL happen, though.

At the time, I spent $2600 on this P100 and thought I got a good deal. With any luck, things will continue to go well,seeing as this is my first computer.. However, I did find that Comtrade SUCKS on its customer service. I was given such a runaround there that I would NEVER buy from them again-but what do they care? They already got me the first time.I would NOT recomend buying from them to ANYONE!!!!! Even my worst enemies. I am so disappointed in the way I was treated(which is much a longer story than I have time for now) that I would be interested in having a class-action suit filled against them. I know that there is something illegal going on there, and I would love to have it proved. If anyone ever requires my assitance in this matter feel free to reach me here at MACGYVER75 @aol.com or email me at: jrose@odin.cbu.edu

Thanks for all your help and compilation of this wonderful file!

Date - Wed, 8 Nov 1995
From - amm80215@mis.finchcms.edu

I have an older COMTRADE system, the EISA/VLB 486/66 DX2 with the G486HVL motherboard. I am submitting this primarily to let people know what hell they will have when trying to upgrade!

Problem #1) When the system arrived, the CTX monitor went bad within a month. I was sent a replacement, but I had to pay the $75 shipping on the defective unit, and the replacement arrived with cosmetic damage suggestive of it possibly being a USED unit (I have no way to prove this).

Problem #2) As others have mentioned, the system has 8MB, but it is supplied as eight 1MB SIMMs in two banks of four -- the minimum upgrade is to buy four 4MB SIMMs, since the motherboard will not accept 2MB SIMMs (ouch!)

Problem #3) The supplied Actix video card is WAY substandard. 3A) When a window in WIN 3.11 is re-sized, the card leaves "ghost" images of the window borders. Note this does NOT occur in WIN95. 3B) Several high-end DOS games caused a clicking noise whenever the mouse was moved -- this was solved with an alternate video driver (It's freeware - if you need a copy, please do not hesitate to E-Mail me).

Problem #4) Whenever I use my LANcard (to play DOOM, DESCENT, etc...) I lose my EISA CMOS settings. This is only an annoyance, but still...

************************************************************************
Problem #5) The G486HVL motherboard does *** NOT *** accept the P63 or 
the DX4/100 overdrive chips.  At this point, I am too frustrated to even 
TRY the P83!
************************************************************************

In summary:
After putting in a lot of work to fix things that should have been right in the first place, I am now stuck with a decent system that I cannot upgrade. I do plan to keep it as a file server, since that is the one place where the system does truly shine!

Date - Sun, 29 Oct 95
From - Paul Hruska (Paul_Hruska@msn.com)

I just purchased a 120mhz box from Comtrade and so far all is well.

My previous computer was a Dell 100mhz Dimension which I was unhappy with and returned. Here are the particulars...

COMTRADE                                DELL
120 mhz                         100 mhz
16 meg                          16 meg EDO
256 pipeline burst              256 pipeline burst
1gig Quantam Fireball           1gig Quantam Fireball
Diamond Stealth 2meg Vram       #9 GXE Pro 2meg Dram
6x CDROM                                4x CDROM
Socket 7                                Socket 5

$2225                                   $2150


Shipped in 4 Days                       Shipped in 2 weeks

The Comtrade system I have now is everything I expected it to be. The mini tower is a bit smaller than the Dell and it's casing is metal, instead of the plastic Dell uses. It worked right out of the box, just like the Dell. It's amazing that I placed the order one night and four days later I have the computer on my desk up and running. I know I'm not going to get the customer support that a company like Dell can offer but I never liked the maze of phone calls Dell puts you through in the first place.

The sales staff at Comtrade was top notch, I talked with Terrence and Jason. They NEVER pressured me into buying something I didn't want, nor did they ever try to cut a conversation short.

When I dealt with Dell it seemed like they were VERY eager to get me off the phone so they could answer the next phone call. I don't know how many times my conversations with them started off with "are you buying a system today?, if not let me send you a catalog.". Thats not good service in my book.

The only thing I've noticed with the Comtrade is that they don't cut their ribbon cables down very much. So I've got a little ribbon to weed through when I want to install a new tape drive etc.. Other than that everything looks clean.

Date - Sat, 30 Sep 1995
From - bennes@rpi.edu

Well, I was going to go to college in the fall of '94 , so my father and I sat down to decide what kind of computer I'd like to have. We were looking through PC Magazine, and Comtrade had a good system for a good price. Well. We ordered it, and it arrived no problem. It was one of the multimedia setups, with a ProAudio Spectrum 16, a Mitsumi 2x CDROM, 8 megs ram, and 400 meg hard drive. When I plugged it in, I noticed the cdrom wasn't working, so, being the computer minded individual I was, I opened the case and looked inside. Well, the cdrom wasn't plugged in; the power cable had "fallen out".

Ok, it was a shipping problem, bounced around, no problem. So I plugged it in and it went. Reading your list, now I'm not so sure.

Everything was going great. The PAS16 isn't ]the best of cards, but it did what I wanted it to... The manuals were very lax in how to configure the card; I didn't know that I wasn't getting 16 bit sound until someone at college told me that I had it set up wrong... Something about high and low DMAs...

Winter 94, the monitor started "flickering" and the top of the monitor got real warm. I have a MAG MX15F monitor , running off of a Cirrus Logic GD5434 PCI card. Well, no problem. Just turn it off when I'm not using it, which is most of the time, and it goes away for a week or so. Then my computer started making this odd humming noise. Then one day, my mouse stopped working. First it just started to lose tracking, then one day it just up and died. Well, maybe it was my problem, I said to myself. So I went to CompUSA and bought a $10 mouse. No problem. Christmas break. I take my computer home, 5 hours sitting in the back of the car. I turn it on when I get home, and I hear this funny rumbling sound in the case. I open it up, and its the chip cooling fan.

Oh, it must have been all the bumps on the ride home, since the fan blades were loose. I pushed them back in, and the noise went away. For a while. Now I hear it all the time; the power supply fan runs ok, and the chip fan still runs, but there's this soft rum-a-rum-a-rum sound...

After all that, I still haven't gone to Comtrade to report a problem. I believe my warrenty has expired anyway, so there's nothing I can do.

As for adding hardware, when I bought my computer, it came with one 3.5 floppy drive. When I wanted to add a 5+1/4, there weren't enough power cables inside, so I needed to go to Radio Shack to buy some splitters. Since then I've also added a tape backup and a 1.2 Gig drive with no problems.

Then again, the manuals were a bit skimpy, but who reads the manuals anyway?

I'm still not happy with their policy to not give out OS disks (when I turned on my computer, there were disk images of DOS and Windows sitting on the hard drive)

I'm satisfied with my computer, but if I ever need to buy a new computer in the future, I'm looking somewhere else.

-- Scott
root@mindwerks.stu.rpi.edu <-- my Comtrade PCI 486 DX2/66

Date - Tue, 12 Sep 1995
From - lestrade@Ra.MsState.Edu

I bought a P90 from Comtrade and it was delivered on Aug. 29, 1994. I also bought a P133 from them and it was delivered on Aug. 6, 1995. Before that I bought a 486/66 also from them. All in all, i have been a `good' customer because i liked their prices. Well, you get what you pay for.

I sent them a fax on aug 25, 95 telling them that the 1-gig fujitsu drive from the 1994 P90 was acting a little flaky. I wasn't sure if it was the power supply or the drive or the new controller card.... (If you want an exercise in futility, try getting through to their tech support on their 800 line! (800-899-4508) I wasted days trying to get through to see if they got the fax!)

Finally on Sept. 2 the drive completely died. I called them and asked could I send it back. They said they would get back to me. (Keep in mind tat the 1-yr warranty was up on aug 29, but the first fax complaining of a problem reached them 4 days earlier on 25th.) They finally called back on the 7th of sept saying that no, it was out of warranty. Maybe I am old-fashioned, but in the spirit of warranties, I would think they would take the drive back.

Meanwhile, my new p133 is already showing signs of flakiness. (and it is out of the 30-day money back guaranty :-( ) The new eide drive sometimes boots up and sometimes doesn't.

My other complaints about them are the components that they choose to put in their systems. They seem cheaper to me. (e.g. a non-standard scsi adapter that is difficult to find drivers for. This is probably their way of cutting corners.)

I will never buy another computer from them again!

Date - Fri, 8 Sep 1995
From - Phil Lochner (decker@mail-e1a.megaweb.com)

Here's an addition to your helpful Comtrade FAQ.. I'll have to follow it up in a few days (hopefully!)..

I purchased their Multimedia 4x Dream Machine from them on August 28th, 1995. The salesperson (Byron) was knowledgable and friendly, and seemed to know his stuff when I drilled him for specific information. It's a 100mhz Pentium, with sound card, 15" flat screen, 16mb of RAM, 1 gig hard drive, WFW3.11, DOS 6.22, and Windows 95. The purchase was originally supposed to happen on the previous Saturday (August 26th), but when I called at 7:42 PM EST, I was told that all the salespersons already left. Must be nice to clock out 20 minutes before it's time to go home.

Total came to $2320 after shipping, excluding the 14.4k modem. I was going to get an additional $50 knocked off the price by allowing them not to include Windows or DOS' disks and manuals (although they come preinstalled on the hard drive), but after much confusing run around regarding getting Windows 95 with the system, I decided I just better spend the $50 and get both the disks and manuals for both operating systems. After chatting with him on some other issues not regarding the sale (I guess I'm just friendly), I asked him how they sell their computers cheaply, but received just the standard 'We buy our supplies in bulk so we can offer the discounts to you, the consumer' line.

Unfortunately, I've not been able to compare the performance as it has yet to be delivered. If it does not arrive today, it'll be 2 weeks Monday, and I was informed that the computer would be shipped on the 30th. Hopefully, I will have a positive follow up letter shortly.

Date - Thu, 14 Sep 1995
The following is the follow up to the previous message regarding Comtrade.

The computer did not show up until Tuesday. After calling the company on Monday, I was told that it would show up 'definately by Friday'. It is unclear whether or not it is a UPS problem or a shipping problem, as I received three different dates from the service representatives about when it was shipped.

One of the first things I noticed about the system is that it did not come with DOS 6.2 and Windows 3.11 as promised, but rather with just the Windows 95 installation CD-ROM, and Windows 95 was preinstalled and preconfigured. They automatically preconfigured the Diamond GO-95 monitor selector to prevent interlaced Windows 95 screens at the higher resolutions (something which took me a few phone calls to fix up when I installed 95 on my work computer), and the autoexec, config, and registry all checked out OK.

The system runs great. It's a bit tough to compare without DOS 6.2 or WFW, but it screams for a 100mhz machine. The Diamond video card is nice, although the Top Gun MPEG disk I ordered was on back order (and I have yet to call to find out when I'll get it). The Spectre monitor is also nice, and offers programmable resolutions, pincushion, and rotation controls.

Sound card is acceptable, and the included Hi-TEX speakers are also OK. Note that an A/C adapter is NOT included with the speakers, but the machine was preset so that Windows and DOS games run at a loud enough volume anyway. The 4x CD-ROM is an IDE drive (so no, they did not include a SCSI card with the computer), and the 1.08 gig hard drive is nice and quick.

The keyboard is OK, although a bit mushy for my standards. One big problem I noticed was the included mouse... very sticky and flimsy buttons. Fortunately, I had an extra Microsoft mouse which works great.

On the inside, the motherboard is as promised: 4 PCI and 4 ISA. The COM ports and LPT port have external docking slots, which take up the back access bay for two of the PCI slots. Fortunately, it looks possible to take out these slots and mount them into the case itself (which has the unpunched-out holes). Three SIMM banks are on the motherboard, and my 16 MB machine came equipped with a single 16MB SIMM. All manuals except the 3 1/2" disk drive and hard disk were included.

All in all, the system performs up to standards, and the only downside I saw was the slipshod mouse and the lack of knowledge by the salespeople on exactly when the system would show up. I'd recommend them to a friend, but inform them that PCI-card upgrades may require a bit more than just sliding the card in.

Date - Thu, 07 Sep 95
From - "T.E. Allen" (tallen@bigtex.ci.dallas.tx.us)

On Tuesday September 5, 1995 at about 9:00pm (cst) I called the Comtrade 1-800 number to enquire about a system. After about 2 rings a female answered who then transferred me to a sales rep. He politely stated he would call back soon. About 15 minutes later he called me back and asked what he could do for me. I asked about the HyperSpeed MultiMedia system and he seemed to know what he was talking about. I then told him I would call back soon to order. He gave me his name (Tyson, ext. 133). The next day around 10:00am (cst) I called back and he was there. I ordered a Hyperspeed Multimedia system and dropped the monitor and upgraded to a 28.8 modem and a Triton motherboard. He stated it would be about two weeks before I would get it because they have a mandatory 72 hr burn in. My entire session with the sales reps have been ok so far. They have not tried to sell me anything I did not want and seemed computer literate.

Once it arrives I will then notify you what my experiences are.

Date - Tue, 5 Sep 95
From - snelson@skidmore.EDU

A couple months back I bought a Comtrade Sound WinNote notebook computer to travel overseas with. So far everything works great. It's very fast (for a DX4-75 notebook), and I've had no problems adding peripherals on to it, including modems, CD-ROM drives, a Zip Drive, and a few other odds and ends.

However, their tech-support is not good. Nor is it bad, for that matter, as it absolutely DOES NOT EXIST. I called Comtrade to find out about a few things concerning using my computer in Europe, and to find out why there were no DOS or Windows disks supplied with my computer. I was told that the number I called (the one in all their advertisements) was strictly a sales number, and that I should call their customer support line. The sales people, as always, were very polite.

Then I tried calling customer service. No answer. After calling back the sales line to check the number, I called again, but this time let the phone ring 20 times. Finally a machine picked up and told me no one was there and that I should call back during regular business hours, though it did not tell me what "regular business hours" were, besides which it was 11:00 am their time. I tried calling back a few more times that day and through the rest of the week, but eventually got the info I needed of the portables newsgroup. I stil have not received my Windows or DOS disks, and have decided not to pursue that issue as I have the disks from my desktop computer. However, I have called Comtrade Customer Support many times since I've owned my laptop to find out why they were not shipped with my computer, and I've yet to get them to even pick up the phone. No matter what time I call, it never seems to be during "regular business hours."

Comtrade's prices are good, but I'd be hard-pressed to buy from them again. Of all the computer companies I've ever dealt with, in fact of all the companies I've ever dealt with at all, Comtrade's post-purchase support is the absolute worst.

Date - Thu, 31 Aug 95
From - "D. Kersh" (douglask@primenet.com)

I Didn't buy from comtrade! Thank goodness. I live about five miles from their new address but was fearful of the problems I had heard about.

I had almost bought from them but changed my mind. When I canceled my order I first got a rude female operator who then put me on hold-hoping I would go away. With persistence I called back and was able to speak to the sales rep-maker of stories-who cancelled my order. (The operator had been told me only the-My-sales rep could cancel the order no one else. I was bothered, what if this person took a day off, I would be in trouble!) After all the trouble, I wondered what would happen if I decided to return a system or had any type of problem?

I will buy a machine but not from these slick ad, quick talking small(ish) type mail order houses. There are many. I've visited some and they usually are not interested in seeing a walk-in nor in helping sell a machine!!

Date - Sun, 30 Jul 1995
From - "Jon C. Sayer" (jcs3c@bif.che.virginia.edu)

Here is my experience buying Comtrade computers for our engineering lab.

I first purchased a 486DX33 and was rather pleased with it, it had no problems, so I decided to order more from them. This was about 1 year ago, so I don't remember all the details.

I then ordered a 486DX4/100 from them. It arrived with the floppy cable still folded with a rubberband loose in the machine. Obviously this computer had not been properly tested/burnt in. This was a simple enough fix. However the monitor simply stopped working after a few weeks and I called to have it replaced. I was able to get through to tech support pretty fast. I cannot remember if they had to receive the broken monitor before shipping the new one. I do remember that the monitor was shipped to another department at UVA with someone elses name on it (someone who had purchased a computer from them a few years before). I finally got a call from them after 2 weeks telling me where it was. After one week I had started calling them but NEVER got through their busy signal even though I would call at all hours. It seems the other department had called them and asked why they had this monitor sitting there and eventually Comtrade got around to informing me where it was.

At this point I had already had an order in for a DX2/66. I don't remember specifically what was wrong with it when it arrived, but there were several problems. I was NEVER able to get through to there tech support to correct the problem and eventually had to fix all the problems myself. Since I never was able to get through to even complain to them, I filed a complain with the University recommending that we no longer deal with Comtrade and sent a copy of it to their Customer Service manager. I never heard back from them.

As far as their computers go, they were capable machines, but not extraordinary. The minitowers had a power button that you pushed in a long way and would normally get stuck on the way back out. If you did not notice it was stuck, the computer would be in a quasi-ON state where a good bump to the computer would release the power button and the computer would turn off. Not quality hardware, IMO.

I would definately recommend staying away from Comtrade. Other companies offer similar products at similar prices and cannot possibly be as inept at customer service as Comtrade is.

Date - Thu, 27 Jul 95
From - "The WorkPlace Inc." (wkplace@pcnet.com)

I bought 5 systems from Comtrade in 1993 and 1994. They had very good price and all equipment (2 386DX-40, 2 486DX-33 and 1 486DX2-66) worked well (and still working well).

No hardware/software problems were encountered, so I didn't have to call tech support.

Date - Sat, 08 Jul 95
From - Michael Lax (lazarus@bga.com)

I purhcased a Comtrade system [486/66 EISA/LB with 16mb RAM, 545mb SCSI2 HD, 15" monitor, Speedstar Pro video] on September 14, 1993. It arrived several days late, despite paying $110 for 2nd day air shipping. I'd also asked it be shipped to my work address, but they shipped to my home address instead (fortunately someone was home). Not a great start.

Although I'm hardly a newbie, I did not think to check the source of the insides of my PC. Silly me, I assumed you got what you paid for and was told was there. It appeard to have everything it was supposed to and it all seemed to work well. And coming from a 286, this new machine smoked.

About 2 months later I tried to install a scanner with no success. I called EVERYONE - only Comtrade NEVER answered any of my calls or faxes. I also discovered that for several months their BBS *did not work*. The number they gave simply did not work. I finally gave up on installing the scanner and recently gave it away. I'd already installed an internal CDROM drive and a sound card. I know how to track down DMAs & IRQs. Comtrade tech support apparently did NOT.

About 6 months after I'd bought the machine I started noticing the monitor was giving me fits. It would just go off - I'd flick the switch a couple times and everything would be fine. I contacted Comtrade SEVERAL times about this; finally, about a week later when the monitor totally went out, they told me they did not warrant the monitor. CTX was about as reliable as Comtrade. They told me they'd pick up my monitor on a certain day - they did not. They told me my new monitor would be to me two or three days after that. It took TWO WEEKS.

At the exact same time my keyboard went out; given the repeated complaints, even from 'fans' of Comtrade, about this, I'm not surprised. Still, 'you get what you pay for' should not mean disposable components. The price was good, but not THAT good. I even had problems - some serious - getting the keyboard replaced. It took three phone calls. And I forget already how long it actually took for them to send it - longer than they'd said.

About a month later my power supply started making a racket - the fan was going. Again, a half dozen calls & faxes. This time I'm told they will not fix this because I did not return the keyboard. WHAT! No one EVER told me I needed to return the keyboard. I can understand returning a monitor - but a $10 keyboard? I had done with the keyboard what I *should* have done when I got the computer - thrown it away. And what the HELL does this have to do with living up to their warranty?

People have said the machines are good and the service sucks. I wonder about this - three components, within 6 months of purchase, all fail. This is a HOME PC, not a business computer. I use it a lot, but not 9 or 10 hours a day! I keep wondering how long my $3500 investment - which I expected to last several years - is really going to last.

As for their service, I do not buy "they're a growing company" tripe. They've had *plenty* of time to grow, and this hardly explains their lying. "Express shipping" -- sorry, to *me* and the shipping industry, that means OVERNIGHT - or at the absolute minimum two day air. NOT UPS GROUND. It also means parts go out the SAME DAY, not three or four days later. Technical support? HAH! I never even got CUSTOMER support. I've had several traps that I cannot explain - thankfully not too regularly. Comtrade never even bothered acknowledging them. Of all the problems I've had - and there have been several - I only talked to a human once or twice, and NEVER got any help at all. People complained about Gateway's busy lines and difficulty getting into tech support - but I never heard anyone complaining about it once they GOT THERE. Comtrade could give a s***. After a while, especially after their refusal to honor what little warranty they give, I filed a complaint with the Attorney General - both Texas and California. One of their responses - which was a TOTAL LIE went as follows:

The Attorney General has notified us that we can seek legal action against you for filing mutiliple false claims.

If you continue to file the same claim over and over again we will have no other choice.

Except the AG does not GIVE legal advice. Nor was I filing false claims, nor was I filing the same claim over and over again. I called the AG's office and asked if they'd told them this and was told they had not.

I'd warn anyone even *looking* at a Comtrade to stay away from them as if they were the Black Plague. Their machines are okay, but not great; fast machines at good prices can be found ANYWHERE. And the service isn't bad - that would suggest some level of service EXISTED.

If anyone else believes as I do that Comtrade needs to be held accountable for their lies and misrepresentation, please send me email (lazarus@bga.com).

Date - Fri, 30 Jun 1995
From - "Christopher L. Williams" (psy2clw@cabell.vcu.edu)

I ordered a 486/33 from Comtrade three years ago and I must say that overall I have been pretty disappointed with the machine I received and the support provided. First of all, the machine wouldn't work out of the box, parts had come loose during shipping, which I guess isn't totally their fault (but if they had put it together well, it wouldn't have come apart), and I had to call technical support to find out what was wrong and how to fix it. Since then I have had many interesting problems. For some reason I can't use anything on Com2. Everytime I try and setup anything for Com2, the machine refuses to boot . I have nothing that I know of setup to com2, and I have tried everything I, and everyone I have to, to fix it.

The inside of the machine is a mess with cables and junk everywhere. I added a second harddisk to my machine and I had to remove both floppy disks just so I could install it, that was no fun. If I wanted to add ram or even try and put in an overdrive processor, I would have to remove the motherboard, because those slots are seriously blocked and imppossible to get to.

I was pleased when I ordered my machine because I thought I had gotten a really good deal, but I have since seen computers that friends have ordered from other mail-order companies, such as Gateway, and their machines arrived in pristine condition, set up to fully exploit every ounce of speed those machines had. This was in sharp contrast to my machine from Comtrade, for which I spent considerable time fine-tuning the machine just so it would run Windows smoothly.

Overall, based on my experiences and the write-ups I have seen in PC-World, I would have a difficult time ever reccommending Comtrade to anyone who wasn't an enemy.

Date - Wed, 21 Jun 1995
From - "Kurt A. Schramer" (kasosaka@gol.com)

I purchased a Comtrade HyperMedia system in Dec of 94, and I had a very irritating buzzing noise ever since. It has steadily gotten worse, although it doesn't seem to affect performance.

Last night I finished my full back up, and today I took off my cover to investigate the noise more closely. When I first started using my current news reader, I came across your Comtrade file, it had been updated since reading it earlier, and a lot of the complaints were about fan noise and Not drive noise, which is what I first thought it was. So since then I just wondered, but then recently my friend suggested I physically take a look under the hood, so I just did and I'm still not sure what is what. But I can see the component that's making the noise.

According to my Comtrade book, the fan is together with the power supply, and to confirm this, air is blowing out of the rear of the power supply. The C drive is with the other drives in the drive bay area right? Well there is a small device directly mounted on top of (a processor?) on the mother board that is spinning and making the noise. It looks like a little generator more than a fan, and I felt no air coming from it. It says SOCKET to the right of it, and it seems to be on top of something. The mother board is sitting vertically. Could this be some kind of special fan for the Pentium chip? It is about 2 inches by 2 inches.

It has a red and black set of wires going to a plug with other wires so there is no way I can unplug it that I can see.

Comments about this noise and repair options would be greatly appreciated.

BTW, I also found the service at Comtrade horrible, since this is a consistent complaint, isn't there anything that can be done? Has Comtrade read your file? [Editor's note: Not that I know of. -JMG]

Date - Thu, 15 Jun 1995
From - jkinner@wsnet.com

After a tragic power storm claimed the life of my old computer, I began to look a new system. I had a 486dx40 and now that I had a perfect opportunity, I wanted to upgrade big time. I scanned the Computer Shopper and cam,e out with two finalists, Gateway 2000 and Comtrade. After comparing ths systems, it was obvious that while I had heard legends of Gateway, Comtrade gave the bigger bang for the buck. I decided on the MultiMedia HyperSpeed system.. I got a p90, 16m ram, 1.3 gig HD, 4x cd, stealth 64 w/2m dram, 28.8, GameWave sound card, 15" monitor, the works.. $2665 + shipping.

The system arrived about 4 days later, which was 2 days ahead of schedule. It set it up immediatly and turned it on.. as it booted i noticed an error somewhere near the sound card initialization from the autoexec file. I figured maybe an IRQ needed to be set or something and blew it off for then. Next I loaded windows and recieved 3 error messages about my cdrom and soundcard. Then I became a little more worried. I tinkered around withthe drivers and after an hour of tweaking, I gave up upon seeing "NO ORCHID SOUND CARD IS CONNECTED." I opened the case to find a neatly packed system.. I located the sound card and after only a second I located the error: The sound card wasn't plugged in. It was just sitting on top of the socket. I found this to be quite a relief, though a bit perturbed by this slight overlook in the "burning in" process. After throwing the system back together, everything worked great. The only regret I have about this system, ironically, is the sound card. It will only play adlib music in stereo. Everything else is played in mono. While this situation may be adequate for most people, I am an avid gamer and found a lack of stereo disappointing.

All in all, I love my system, it is increidbly fast and smoothly running. I found the price to be very low and the quality to be extrordinary. I called TS twice about my sound card and was helped after only 2 rings both times. While he suggested that the error was only an IRQ conflict, he was knowable and fast in response. I would recommend to everyone a Comtrade system!

Oh yeah.. one other problem.. the mouse (which is great) has an unsheilded cord which plays havoc with my cordless phone. (But I can live with that) :)

Date - Thu, 15 Jun 1995
From - Wallace Hendricks (wally@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu)

Three years ago, I purchased a 486 DX 50 EISA machine from COMTRADE. Two months before the warranty expired, the motherboard failed. It took me two days of constant phoning to get through to their technical support. When I finally got through, they told me to send the machine to them.

After they had the machine for three months, I became concerned and again spent two days constantly dialing. When I finally got through, the technical person told me that they could not duplicate my problem. He said that they would try for a couple of more days and get back to me. After two more days, I phoned them back. They now indicated that they were having a difficult time finding a replacement motherboard.

They indicated that they wanted to replace the motherboard with a non-EISA motherboard. They also indicated that they could not guarantee compatibility with my components. For example, I had originally paid a sizable upgrade to purchase a very fast, EISA caching controler. I told them that this was unacceptable and that they had to make me at least whole. If they could not find an appropriate replacement then they needed to upgrade the machine.

Two days later, I received my machine. It was very slow. I checked it and found that I now had a 486 DX 25! No way. I phoned them again (it took a day) and sent back the machine. This time, the machine came back in a week.

My machine is now back to a 486 DX 50. It is still much slower because the controler card with the new motherboard is much slower than the original caching controler. The original controler also had the parallel and serial ports so they gave me an IO card. The IO card must have been the cheapest available: the COM ports use very old 8250 chips! I had to replace the IO card to use a decent modem, but I got tired of trying to get COMTRADE.

I also purchased a 486 DX 66 from COMTRADE for my RA. It came with a strange combination of chips to make up 4 MEG that could not be upgraded. She had 4 1 MEG chips that she wanted to use to upgrade the machine. I tried to call COMTRADE to get them to replace the 4 MEG in the machine with 4 MEG that could be upgraded. They told me that they would send the chips and I should send back the other chips. When I got the chips, they charged me $200 and gave me credit for $35 for the return! After a great deal of hassle and intervention from VISA, COMTRADE credited me for the difference.

In my opinion, COMTRADE makes good machines. But they are trying to get every ounce of profit that they can from you. If anything goes wrong, be aware that they will try to put it to you. It is almost impossible to deal with their technical support. They will try to cheat you if they can. If you aren't a well informed consumer, I would stay away from them period. If you are a well informed consumer who likes to play the lottery, then take your shot. As for me, I will spend the extra $500 to get a comparable machine from Dell and take my chances with them.

Date - Wed, 3 May 1995
From - Bryan (bryan@eskimo.com)

I bought my first 486-66 computer from Comtrade about three years ago or so. The only problem I had was that the CMOS lost it's settings for the hard drive. I called Tech Support, got promptly answered and I was up and running in about ten minutes.

I recently upgraded and got a Comtrade P90, 16 MB of RAM, Seagate 850 MB drive, Diamond Stealth 2 MB DRAM card. I have had no problems with the system thus far save one: I purchased a 4 MB VRAM Velocity 64 STB video card which the motherboard doesn seem to like. (It just beeps at me 8 times, which means "the video card is loose"). However, the video card isn't loose and I know it works because I've installed it in another machine. On the other hand, this isn't really a Comtrade problem just yet-- I've got some other video cards I'm going to try plugging in to see if they work. If they have the problem as well, it may be related to a BIOS/OPTI chipset bug regarding S3968 video accelerators, but I'm still looking into this. If anyone knows about this, please mail me at bryan@eskimo.com! If there is a BIOS or Flash BIOS update I can get to correct it (I've heard of some, but haven't found any yet), please let me know where I can get it!

Anyway, despite my initial struggle to transplant a CD ROM drive, sound card and secondary hard drive from the old system to the new (none of which was Comtrade's problem, though some documentation on the Seagate hard drive would have saved me the trouble of downloading it so I could configure the slave drive), I have had no problems. I was somewhat disappointed in the PCI/VLB/ISA motherboard, but on the other hand I didn't ask them about the motherboard when I ordered so I can't really fault them for that. I would have also liked to see an integrated 16550 UArt instead of having to order it special and ending up with an extra slot being used up by an IO card. Again, however, this isn't really Comtrade's problem. I should have asked.

To Sum UP: Overall, I've had good experiences with Comtrade, and I've recommended them to several friends who were also happy with their machines. . Despite talk of performance sacrifices with PCI/VLB motherboards, I'm happy with it, and doubt the supposed performance hit will be overly evident. (The review I read about this was with a different motherboard anyway.) The two times I talked to tech support they were friendly and relatively quick. Since I work in tech support, I know the ropes and that you can't call a 1-800 number and not expect to wait -- just try calling Gateway sometime !! Admittedly, I'm sure they can improve, and I'm sure some people have had bad experiences, but I've been pretty happy.

Date - Fri, 07 Apr 1995
From - Tom Geiger (bakereng.com!TGEIGER@bakereng.com)

My experience with Comtrade has been a little bit rocky.

I purchased a Comtrade 90 MHz Pentium PCI system with 16 meg RAM, Diamond Stealth Video with 2 meg DRAM, 730 meg HD, quad speed cd-rom, Orchid Soundwave32, 15" CTX 1562GM monitor, 14400 fax modem, and mini-tower case. The purchase was made in November 1994 and arrived on the date promised.

The computer worked right out of the box, but the system seems to be shabbily built. I have never been able to set up the CTX monitor correctly with the video card. This Diamond Stealth Incontrol tools do not list this monitor in the setup for the drivers and you have to configure the monitor yourself. If I switch out of Window and run a dos program I always have to play with the monitor controls to resize the display. And then resize it when I get back into Windows. And God forbid I load a program in that changes the threed.vbx file. The Diamond stealth tools won't work and the system hangs. I have reloaded the video drivers three or four times already.

When I had this problem, I tried to call technical support to no avail. No one would answer the phone or I would be put on hold for long periods of time. I had to start faxing my questions in and even then the fax number would be busy or not answer for long periods of time.

The system is very noisy. This was compounded by the fan in the power supply going bad and making a commotion. After several tries at phone calls and faxes, I finally got through (via fax) and Comtrade did replace my power supply (I installed it).

The system does not come with original disks for DOS or Windows for Workgroups and you are forced to make your own backup copies from the files stored on your computers hard drive.

The system came with little extras. The only software, other than essential drivers, that I received was a CD-ROM containing US Atlas, World Atlas, Mavis Beacon, and Chessmaster, Delrina FaxPro Lite, and Comit Lite.

The modem is a no name barely Hayes compatible clone which I have only been able to get to work with the software included in the package (Comit for Windows Lite). And Comit Lite is barely usable.

Even though the above problems seem minor (such as the mini-tower case which has a fake 3.5" drive to cover the unused 3.5" drive bay in the front of the case), they all add up. I just don't have any confidence in the system or Comtrade. I bought the system because it had gotten good performance reviews in PCMAG and Computer Shopper. Had I known more about the company and my system, I would have bought elsewhere, even if I had to spend more money.

I guess that you could sum up my comments by saying that Comtrade does not give you that "warm fuzzy feeling". The market being what it is, the "warm fuzzy feeling" adds up to a lot.

Date - Wed, 29 Mar 1995
From - Edward Cuccaro (ercst2+@pitt.edu)

Two years ago I purchased a Comtrade system And every time I ran windows I would get chronic GPF's. Comtrade insisted that Windows was installed improperly and treated me as if I were an idiot. They had me perform no less than 10 low level formats of the HD and had me reinstall windows no less than 15 times. Finally my computer began locking up or rebooting for no reason at all while running a windows session. After six months of misery with my then new $2400 nightmare Comtrade decided to send a new motherboard and a repair person to take care of the problem. 2 weeks later the MB arrived. I was somewhat disturbed to see that the MB was used. When the man installed the MB the computer would not get past himem.sys line in autoexec.bat. Another format from cmos and new installation of dos the system locked up on himem the first time. At that point I had to return the computer to Comtrade. 1 Month after I returned the system to comtrade and 8 months after I purchased the system I got it back. A look inside the box revealed a brand new MB. I haven't had a problem since but the first 8 months were pure hell and misery. On the bright side, I learned all too well the value of backing up irreplacable data. Even though my problem was correctedI was very dissatisfied with the service and lack of curtisy recieved. It will be a cold day in hell before I even look at another Comtrade advertisement let alone consider purchasing one of thier systems.

Date - Tue, 3 Jan 95
From - Blair Martin (blair@hal.com)

My experience with Comtrade has had its ups and downs. I will relate the whole story.

In August of 1994 I decided to buy a Comtrade PCI Best Buy P5/66. I made this decision based on price/performance. Every review I could find of their Pentium systems was very favorable performance-wise. And a thourough scanning of Computer Shopper revealed that they had some of the most competitive prices.

The system arrived only a day later that was initially projected by the salesman. Unfortunately, I had made some unwise assumptions about what I ordered. My system came with a) a PCI/VLB motherboard and b) the OPTI chipset. Both of these are a drag on performance. Since all of the reviews I had read had PCI/ISA boards with Intel chipsets I had assumed the system I ordered would too. My fault. The good news is that when I talked to tech support they promptly shipped me the "upgrade" free of charge.

Now the problem began. The system with the new motherboard worked quite well with one exception. The video performance (as measured by several benchmarks and game frame counters) was almost a third as fast as I was expecting given what I had read in reviews (eg. my PC Bench 8.0 video score was about 2500 versus the the 6500 I saw in a review of a nearly identical system). After tweaking the BIOS settings I got the performance to an acceptable level but these setting caused the system to hang after it had been running for about 15 minutes (it appeared to be a heat problem). Well, numerous calls to tech support and the Comtrade BBS didn't help at all. Ultimately, they all came to the conclusion that there was nothing wrong with my system and that I had nothing to complain about. Well, eventually I just said "to hell with this", called TS, and lied and said my system was hanging regardless of BIOS settings. I asked for a new motherboard. About five days later I got it and everything is running fine, regardless of how I configure the BIOS. Video speeds are as fast as I had initially hoped for.

My main complaint comes down to this. Getting through to tech support is a f---ing pain in the butt. Usually, the line rings about 20 times before answering with a message saying all personnel are busy, please call back. And when you finally get through, plan on being put on hold for a minimum of 45 minutes. The TS people themselves were reasonably helpful/knowledgeable but I'm a little peeved that I had to call so many times and ultimately lie to get what I wanted.

I have heard quite a few nightmare stories about Comtrade but I don't classify mine as such. The system was a good deal and it does perform well. It all comes down to getting a bargain while sacrificing accessible support.