I have shopped from OWC for years. About two years ago, after purchasing some memory for a G4 iBook, my wife and I ran into trouble. It was disheartening, and very frustrating. We had to do some serious round and round with OWC. I have to say though, Larry stepped up and handled everything himself personally. And to our satisfaction. Until today, I'd never seen a photo of him. Wasn't what I pictured in my mind, but then again, who is?

We still shop with OWC, and I still recommend the company to all my friends and colleagues.

It's a company of people with class. Thanks for the story about them.

About two years ago, I ran into trouble with a product from OWC and the customer service was so dissatisfactory, that I hadn't shopped there again until late last year.

I got a Mercury Elite RAID, which failed in the first month of usage. We'll see how their "support" holds up this time, but my expectations are significantly lower than they used to be.

Seems like Mr. Martellaro forgot to put the tag "Commentary" on this piece, BTW.

I have been a customer for many years and now buy parts for my business and in those years any problem I had were taken care of promptly and some above and beyond. Being a small business I appreciate the attention and pricing that OWC offers and I instill that into my own business where the customer/employees come first and my business excels! We should all learn by example, keep up the good work OWC!

Dan Millet
Owner of iPodFixIt.com

I've also been a customer for years. I have had a couple of customer satisfaction issues over that time, but they have handled everything as I expect a leading company to do. They're never the lowest price in town, but they are reasonable. The best part is that they are a great reference to help answer the question: Do I buy a new mac, or upgrade my current one? People often ask me that question, I send them there to figure it out for themselves.

One thing I would like to ask Larry is: What the heck is up with this product?
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Motorola/CACHE256M500PK/
They've been listed on the site for.. I don't even know... foverever? Is it a joke? It must be by now. Either that or there is some strange accounting issue that prevents them from actually disposing of them and writing them off.

I've stopped buying memory from OWC.

Although the company has been good about replacing bad sticks, I have received too many marginal units from them. That's especially frustrating because it's not always clear that the problem lies with bad or out-of-spec memory.

I now only deal with memory suppliers that provide reliable, in-spec memory the first time, every time.

Yes, I thought OWC was great in terms of memory initially. Now I see they are probably only good for good optical drives, hard drives and hard drive cases. I've received several bad reports about their RAM, which is disheartening since I convinced my mother to buy RAM from them when they were good.

They are the only place I know that ships reliably high quality optical drives compatible with all of Apple's optical burning solutions.

Edited, to remove the comment about operating systems as it no longer applies.

I've been shopping with them for years. Only ever had one problem - with a Sonnet Tempo Trio and my weird (although at the time, stock) Beige G3 tower. With Larry's help, we figured out (NO help from Sonnet - never again will I purchase anything from them. ) that there were a small subset of late production G3 towers the card just wouldn't work in.

I happily steer folks to them, and use their products in my own machines.

Just to add my 2c worth- people often only comment on this type of story to say that the product they bought from this company (or any other) failed them in some way... it is human nature not to comment when things go as expected. I work in a research facility, we buy all our RAM from OWC, have done for about eight years now. All the extra RAM in my home machines has also come from OWC. I have never had a problem with any of their RAM in all this time- which is the reason that the next batch of RAM will come from them too!

First the Apple OS Versions:

We have not offered any non-Retail Apple OS Versions for over a year now. When we did, they were clearly advertised as being the gray system discs - they fully licensed and legal - and fully compatible with the same systems the standard retail OS version supported. The versions offered non-retail were also versions that were no longer available in retail. Although many customers found the availability of prior OS versions a nice service, we did choose to cease offerings as some customers - despite extremely clear descriptions that even had pictures of the discs - had different expectations. One of the main issues had to do with extra software typically found on these discs which was not normally included with the Apple OS - which we did NOT advertise/list as part of the product - that couldn't be used, but because was there was an issue ranged. Anyway - to avoid the rare, but often publicized complaint on the grey 'oem' disc OS versions - we fully discontinued those offerings.

---

As for memory - few other memory providers to anywhere near the testing and proactive quality control planning that OWC does on Mac memory upgrades. We have a lab with every Mac model that we offer memory for. We don't just hope that memory that passed some 2 second factory short test is fully correct, we maintain full testing in house to ensure it as well as now fully control line testing parameters at our manufacturing sites.

All of our memory for Apple Computers (same applies that in terms of use in non-Apples) meets or exceeds Apple's specification requirements as well as those set forth buy JEDEC. We we use premium components through and through to ensure our customers receive the best quality product possible.

We also offer Techworks, Micron Original, Samsung Original, and Netlist brand modules for customers that have specific preferences/etc. A point of interest - the fail rates on our modules are fewer 5 per thousand, which is comparable or better than the same fail rates experienced on the 'Premium' Factory original modules. And mind you, this fail rate includes modules which may have failed related to a handling event vs. and true defect/bad device.

OWC memory is backed with a Lifetime Advance Replacement warranty. It does neither us nor our customer any good if a module fails. But in such case, we advance out a new module at our expense so any down time inconvenience is not extended by the time it takes for the module of issue to be come back to us. Further, should there be a DOA issue with any memory we ship - again, new product is advanced and we issue a return shipping label to take back the DOA with zero expense to our customer.

there's the quirk or two with Mac memory and we've got such fully documented and make sure our customers get product that won't be an issue. For example... certain PowerMac G4 Mirrored Drive Door Macs have a memory controller that doesn't like a certain major brand chip die - it's a very small percentage, but it was nerve racking as there was nothing out of spec or wrong with modules not working - we now exclude that brand (Infineon/Qimondo) from our part numbers which could be used in that model.

And my favorite... the bus sluing PowerBook G4 AL Models 1.0/1.25GHZ and some 1.33GHz... There are only a couple RIGHT ways to build a module + Specific memory die revs which can be used. When the machines first came out, Micron was A-OK... then a die rev was updated (years ago) and since then NO MICRON based module works in those computers (the aren't the only ones....)... We have TWO part numbers in our system... a universal part number that works with ALL the Powerbook G4 AL models and a lower cost module that we specifically offer for the 1.5GHz PowerBook G4 models and later. The universal part costs more... and 99% of the returns of the non-universal part number are because customers chose the lower cost part because the specs look identical and think it's some rip off that the other universal part is listed for more vs. there actually being a difference.

Anyway - we live, breath, know Mac Memory. And customers new, repeat, and referred add tens of thousands of our memory modules to their Macs each month.

First the Apple OS Versions:

We have not offered any non-Retail Apple OS Versions for over a year now. When we did, they were clearly advertised as being the gray system discs - they fully licensed and legal - and fully compatible with the same systems the standard retail OS version supported. The versions offered non-retail were also versions that were no longer available in retail. Although many customers found the availability of prior OS versions a nice service, we did choose to cease offerings as some customers - despite extremely clear descriptions that even had pictures of the discs - had different expectations. One of the main issues had to do with extra software typically found on these discs which was not normally included with the Apple OS - which we did NOT advertise/list as part of the product - that couldn't be used, but because was there was an issue ranged. Anyway - to avoid the rare, but often publicized complaint on the grey 'oem' disc OS versions - we fully discontinued those offerings.

---

As for memory - few other memory providers to anywhere near the testing and proactive quality control planning that OWC does on Mac memory upgrades. We have a lab with every Mac model that we offer memory for. We don't just hope that memory that passed some 2 second factory short test is fully correct, we maintain full testing in house to ensure it as well as now fully control line testing parameters at our manufacturing sites.

All of our memory for Apple Computers (same applies that in terms of use in non-Apples) meets or exceeds Apple's specification requirements as well as those set forth buy JEDEC. We we use premium components through and through to ensure our customers receive the best quality product possible.

We also offer Techworks, Micron Original, Samsung Original, and Netlist brand modules for customers that have specific preferences/etc. A point of interest - the fail rates on our modules are fewer 5 per thousand, which is comparable or better than the same fail rates experienced on the 'Premium' Factory original modules. And mind you, this fail rate includes modules which may have failed related to a handling event vs. and true defect/bad device.

OWC memory is backed with a Lifetime Advance Replacement warranty. It does neither us nor our customer any good if a module fails. But in such case, we advance out a new module at our expense so any down time inconvenience is not extended by the time it takes for the module of issue to be come back to us. Further, should there be a DOA issue with any memory we ship - again, new product is advanced and we issue a return shipping label to take back the DOA with zero expense to our customer.

there's the quirk or two with Mac memory and we've got such fully documented and make sure our customers get product that won't be an issue. For example... certain PowerMac G4 Mirrored Drive Door Macs have a memory controller that doesn't like a certain major brand chip die - it's a very small percentage, but it was nerve racking as there was nothing out of spec or wrong with modules not working - we now exclude that brand (Infineon/Qimondo) from our part numbers which could be used in that model.

And my favorite... the bus sluing PowerBook G4 AL Models 1.0/1.25GHZ and some 1.33GHz... There are only a couple RIGHT ways to build a module + Specific memory die revs which can be used. When the machines first came out, Micron was A-OK... then a die rev was updated (years ago) and since then NO MICRON based module works in those computers (the aren't the only ones....)... We have TWO part numbers in our system... a universal part number that works with ALL the Powerbook G4 AL models and a lower cost module that we specifically offer for the 1.5GHz PowerBook G4 models and later. The universal part costs more... and 99% of the returns of the non-universal part number are because customers chose the lower cost part because the specs look identical and think it's some rip off that the other universal part is listed for more vs. there actually being a difference.

Anyway - we live, breath, know Mac Memory. And customers new, repeat, and referred add tens of thousands of our memory modules to their Macs each month.

I can't comment on RAM because I have always bought that from the The Chip Merchant here in San Diego. I can always walk in and get a replacement. However, I have been a customer there since my Apple II days and have not yet had a bad product.

Otherwise OWC is where I buy hard drives, internal and external, replacement power bricks for MacBooks, MacBook batteries and all sorts of hardware.

I have a miniStack 2 external drive set up for TimeMachine and am thinking getting another. It also serves as FireWire and USB hub.

A few years ago I received the wrong item; OWC straightened out the problem and was a happy customer.

They are a good business with which to do business.

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OWCLarry wrote:

Anyway - we live, breath, know Mac Memory. And customers new, repeat, and referred add tens of thousands of our memory modules to their Macs each month.

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brett_x wrote:

C'mon Larry.. enlighten me. What's up with this:
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Motorola/CACHE256M500PK/

Quote

Sir Harry Flashman wrote:

Quote

brett_x wrote:

C'mon Larry.. enlighten me. What's up with this:
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Motorola/CACHE256M500PK/

It is not being used anymore and it is taking a few cubic feet of storage space out in the garage. I really should take it to recycling, but I might need the floppy drive some day

There are actually those still dropping these into 61/71/8100s.. and hey - if you have one with your software, etc (OS 8.5, 7.x, whatever OS) still working and never added it - it's night and day the difference it makes. Sometimes it's better to spend $0.99 than to buy a new Mac when the Mac you got is working great and no reason to replace what's not broke.

Really though - we turned about 10,000 into Christmas ornaments we gave away about 4 years ago - thinking about turning the several thousand we still have left into Key Chains. Recycling them is less friendly than that as no components of any today value on the board and really would just be safe disposal vs. reuse of significant recovered material. It's always better to find a use for something vs. turning it in for 'proper disposal' or recycling. I applaud Apple's old computer disposal program as it results in the proper disposal of systems that would end up in a landfill unsafely... but - at the same time, it's also got some self-interest as it also results in some fewer hand me downs/used systems kept in use for others. There are people all over the world that would love to have systems people here may consider long over due for the junk yard.

Anyway - how's that for answering?

Quote

brett_x wrote:

Quote

Sir Harry Flashman wrote:

Quote

brett_x wrote:

C'mon Larry.. enlighten me. What's up with this:
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Motorola/CACHE256M500PK/

It is not being used anymore and it is taking a few cubic feet of storage space out in the garage. I really should take it to recycling, but I might need the floppy drive some day

Does yours have a l L2 cache card? If not, I know where you can get a deal on a 500 pack of them....

Quote

Anonymous wrote:
There are actually those still dropping these into 61/71/8100s.. and hey - if you have one with your software, etc (OS 8.5, 7.x, whatever OS) still working and never added it - it's night and day the difference it makes. Sometimes it's better to spend $0.99 than to buy a new Mac when the Mac you got is working great and no reason to replace what's not broke.

Really though - we turned about 10,000 into Christmas ornaments we gave away about 4 years ago - thinking about turning the several thousand we still have left into Key Chains. Recycling them is less friendly than that as no components of any today value on the board and really would just be safe disposal vs. reuse of significant recovered material. It's always better to find a use for something vs. turning it in for 'proper disposal' or recycling. I applaud Apple's old computer disposal program as it results in the proper disposal of systems that would end up in a landfill unsafely... but - at the same time, it's also got some self-interest as it also results in some fewer hand me downs/used systems kept in use for others. There are people all over the world that would love to have systems people here may consider long over due for the junk yard.

Anyway - how's that for answering?

Quote

brett_x wrote:

Quote

Sir Harry Flashman wrote:

Quote

brett_x wrote:

C'mon Larry.. enlighten me. What's up with this:
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Motorola/CACHE256M500PK/

It is not being used anymore and it is taking a few cubic feet of storage space out in the garage. I really should take it to recycling, but I might need the floppy drive some day

Does yours have a l L2 cache card? If not, I know where you can get a deal on a 500 pack of them....

I did business with OWC for a few years, but stopped early last year after they sold me an ATA-6 drive that ended up being incompatible with my Lombard PB, even though they and Hitachi claim it is compatible. Initially, when it didn't work, OWC told me I had a defective drive, and that I had to deal with Hitachi. I went one replacement round with Hitachi and when it didn't work either, I figured there was an incompatibility issue. A little net search turned up that there is a general incompatibility with Lombard PBs and ATA-6 drives, but by the time I found this out it and requested a return to OWC, OWC flatly refused. A month or so later, OWC reconsidered their position, and offered to give me store credit, but by then it was too late. Should have thought of that the first time I asked, before I wasted months of down time.

Actually - there is no issue with ATA/6 hard drives and the PowerBook G3 Lombard... The same is true with the Wallstreet G3s as well, although some of the early high capacity (in their day they were highest capacity) had magnets that interfered with a sleep circuit in the Walltreet - there were some solutions to that. Anyway - that's all long past now too with today's modern drives.

There is no issue with the ATA/6 drives as they are fully backwards compatible. We sell stuff that works and we know how to support the stuff we sell... within 30 days, we also replace defective hard drives with brand new right off the shelf.. after 30 days it's Manufacturer warranty - but within 30 days we'd never send a customer to the manufacturer for a replacement unit, not how we work - and that's no different today than 10 years ago.

Feel free to e-mail me with more details - always seek to make sure all is right when opportunity to do so is there.

Quote

Anonymous wrote:
I did business with OWC for a few years, but stopped early last year after they sold me an ATA-6 drive that ended up being incompatible with my Lombard PB, even though they and Hitachi claim it is compatible. Initially, when it didn't work, OWC told me I had a defective drive, and that I had to deal with Hitachi. I went one replacement round with Hitachi and when it didn't work either, I figured there was an incompatibility issue. A little net search turned up that there is a general incompatibility with Lombard PBs and ATA-6 drives, but by the time I found this out it and requested a return to OWC, OWC flatly refused. A month or so later, OWC reconsidered their position, and offered to give me store credit, but by then it was too late. Should have thought of that the first time I asked, before I wasted months of down time.

My humble apologies for not keeping up with your offerings, but the last time I looked the OEM of 10.4, 10.3, and 10.2 were there. Now I see they are gone.

And it is interesting to note the bus slewing issue.
Wish you could have more to say to Apple about that, so at least Apple could make a support exchange repair program for those models:

http://www.apple.com/support/exchange_repair/

There continue to be many complaints regarding memory not being recognized on the Aluminum Powerbooks all over Apple Discussions and elsewhere that are not covered by the existing program. Perhaps this bus slewing issue was the issue all along. Do you have any documentation I can point users to about how certain RAM is not good for those Mac models?

Well, there are a few people who would disagree with you on the compatibility issue - even Hitachi admitted that there was an issue with some ATA-2 controllers not properly "clipping" back ATA-6 drives to 33MB/sec operation. Hitachi even tried modifying the firmware of my replacement drive to work at 33MB/sec, to no avail. So - two "bad" Hitachi drives, yet the original 4GB Toshiba still works fine, and I recently "upgraded" to an old used IBM 6GB, which installed Panther flawlessly, and works flawlessly to this day. Hmmmm.....

Regarding your statement on your company policy, let me assure you that I was not extended that policy, and I can send you copies of email between myself and Jason, Colleen, and Ben in your customer service dept. Feel free to email me - my yahoo id is bfhaley.

Quote

OWCLarry wrote:
Actually - there is no issue with ATA/6 hard drives and the PowerBook G3 Lombard... The same is true with the Wallstreet G3s as well, although some of the early high capacity (in their day they were highest capacity) had magnets that interfered with a sleep circuit in the Walltreet - there were some solutions to that. Anyway - that's all long past now too with today's modern drives.

There is no issue with the ATA/6 drives as they are fully backwards compatible. We sell stuff that works and we know how to support the stuff we sell... within 30 days, we also replace defective hard drives with brand new right off the shelf.. after 30 days it's Manufacturer warranty - but within 30 days we'd never send a customer to the manufacturer for a replacement unit, not how we work - and that's no different today than 10 years ago.

Feel free to e-mail me with more details - always seek to make sure all is right when opportunity to do so is there.

Quote

Anonymous wrote:
I did business with OWC for a few years, but stopped early last year after they sold me an ATA-6 drive that ended up being incompatible with my Lombard PB, even though they and Hitachi claim it is compatible. Initially, when it didn't work, OWC told me I had a defective drive, and that I had to deal with Hitachi. I went one replacement round with Hitachi and when it didn't work either, I figured there was an incompatibility issue. A little net search turned up that there is a general incompatibility with Lombard PBs and ATA-6 drives, but by the time I found this out it and requested a return to OWC, OWC flatly refused. A month or so later, OWC reconsidered their position, and offered to give me store credit, but by then it was too late. Should have thought of that the first time I asked, before I wasted months of down time.

I have used OWC's services for a couple of years-buying RAM at extremely good prices for my old iMac G5 and my new Intel 24" aluminium Imac.The memory functioned perfectly and I re-iterate-EXTREMELY low priced!
I have also purchased 2 Mercury Elite Pro HD's -a 500GB for Time Machine
backups and 750GB for media storage and streaming-really impressed with the speed and quality of these drives.
Dealing with OWC is a pleasant,painless way to do business,their delivery is super fast as well.
I wholeheartedly recommend them to any prospective customer.
My congratulations to Larry-you run a fantastic company

I have had nothing but positive experiences when dealing with OWC. Their tech support people are excellent.

I have never had a problem with any of the RAM I have purchased from them, and would not hesitate to purchase more in the future. I would also feel 100% confident in recommending them to others.

Another note about memory: There are a lot of "brands" out there, but there are only so many RAM manufactures in the world to meet that demand. Getting a different "brand" of memory does not necessarily mean you are getting it from a different production line and that it is somehow "better". For example - Apple charges a whopping $1500.00 for 8GB of RAM for the Mac Pro on a BTO! With Apple Care on the system, that memory is covered for a max of three years. For all we know, OWC branded memory could be made on those exact same production lines and is 1/4 the cost(!), not to mention having a lifetime guarantee (how can you go wrong knowing you have a lifetime guarantee?). Just knowing they offer that guarantee instills confidence in me buying it, because it shows that they absolutely stand behind it. Also, I'm sure they don't want returns any more than you want to have to return it if it is indeed defective.

hort story that explains why I keep shopping at OWC. Bought a battery for a G4 12" and ran it for about a year...metal began peeling away from the battery. Wrote OWC asking where I might find the metal that covers the battery. Heard back from OWC Larry himself...telling me that he was shipping me a new battery and to just put the old one in the box and send it back. That's customer service.

Now OWC is on the Virginia state contract and I use them for every purchase I make for our university. Haven't had one bad piece of memory yet and I've ordered probably 20 different orders...so I guess these memory problems reported in the comments are a random event.

I have shopped at OWC for many years, back when it had another name which I've now forgotten. I have rarely had any trouble with items purchased there, and when I did they promptly replaced it (like an eSATA card of the OWC branding). I have purchased several hard drives and enclosures there, and like the price and enclosures. Shipping has always been very prompt. I recommend them.

Last summer I purchased a NewerTech Ministack from OWC. It failed after two months. I sent it back and they repaired it, and were nice enough to include a great big scratch on the surface of the case that wasn't there when I sent it in for the repair.

The thing failed again less than a month later. I asked for a refund, and they refused as it was "past their 30 day refund period". I asked for a different product in its place, I even offered to pay any price difference. They refused. They said they would replace the external drive with a "refurbished unit".

Excuse me? I bought the damn thing brand f***ing new and it fails twice and they're not going to replace it with a new unit?

Newegg's prices on memory and drives are at least 10% lower than OWC's.

OWC ripped me off and I will NEVER buy from them again, and I always tell everyone I know that they should NEVER buy anything from OWC, EVER.

NewEgg may be cheaper, but:

1. The RAM you get is not necessarily to spec. Leading to kernel panics. The warranty is provided by the third party manufacturer, not by the seller.

2. The hard drives you get may not have the right firmware, leading to instant data loss.

As for your problem, it may have been a shipping mess up. I would have put them through on a shipping claim. A scratch on the case like that is not normal, and sounds like a forklift got into the package from the shipper. This has happened before in the case of UPS with a one of a kind work of art.

We have ample documentation as well as very easy demonstration. I do believe Apple does also have the same. In fact, I know Apple does.

Most issues people have are because they buy a module that is not specifically listed to be compatible wit their exact model. Assumptions are made by the general Apple specifications.

Simple solution - buy from a company that is familiar with the systems and can guarantee compatibility. The memory req for those machines is for all of them, it's not random or just a percentage in the case of those AL 1.0GHz/1.25GHz models.

The memory module needs to be able to support and operate correctly during the voltage drop that occurs in a energy economy mode those Powerbooks employed. That's a combination of the correct memory module design as well as memory devices that support it.

Quote

gopher wrote:
My humble apologies for not keeping up with your offerings, but the last time I looked the OEM of 10.4, 10.3, and 10.2 were there. Now I see they are gone.

And it is interesting to note the bus slewing issue.
Wish you could have more to say to Apple about that, so at least Apple could make a support exchange repair program for those models:

http://www.apple.com/support/exchange_repair/

There continue to be many complaints regarding memory not being recognized on the Aluminum Powerbooks all over Apple Discussions and elsewhere that are not covered by the existing program. Perhaps this bus slewing issue was the issue all along. Do you have any documentation I can point users to about how certain RAM is not good for those Mac models?

Please give me credit for knowing to buy RAM that is properly specked for my machine. I've never bought RAM for any computer, Mac or PC that I've owned, that wasn't exactly to the spec required. I've never had a problem with correct spec RAM that wasn't itself defective, which has only happened to me on PC systems I've owned.

As for drives without the proper firmware, the drive wouldn't even be formattable so there would be no way to lose data. Don't try to tell me that it will happen, because I have personally seen this thing happen before; if the firmware in the drive wasn't compatible with the version of Mac OS I was using, the OS wouldn't even allow the drive to mount, let alone be formatted.

Further, when I shipped the drive back to OWC for the repair after the first failure, I made sure to ship it securely. Besides, I've been inside UPS shipping facilities and they don't use forklifts to unload and transport packages, they use conveyor belt systems and roller ramps.

You can try to explain OWC's blatant thievery by implying that I'm stupid and don't know how to buy memory or drives, or their crappy repair services on careless shipping and handling, but your claims don't hold water. You should be ashamed of yourself for saying my problem with OWC is because I am stupid, because that is exactly what you're doing.

OWC is not a trustworthy company, they DO NOT stand behind their products, and they blatantly steal from people who are unfortunate enough to purchase from them. It is that simple.

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Guest wrote:
Further, when I shipped the drive back to OWC for the repair after the first failure, I made sure to ship it securely. Besides, I've been inside UPS shipping facilities and they don't use forklifts to unload and transport packages, they use conveyor belt systems and roller ramps.

The issue is the enclosure's bridge board. That is what failed the first time. The second time something in the fan housing started making a grinding noise and when I opened it up I found shredded pieces of plastic from inside the housing around the fan assembly and a badly damaged fan.

According to this article, that very product, the enclosure, is under the rubric of OWC. Their product failed, and they refused to replace it with another new one or provide a refund. That is total bullshit.

Thieves and liars. Nothing more.

Quote

Guest wrote:
The issue is the enclosure's bridge board. That is what failed the first time. The second time something in the fan housing started making a grinding noise and when I opened it up I found shredded pieces of plastic from inside the housing around the fan assembly and a badly damaged fan.

We have never refused our warranty - I am more than happy to personally review whatever transpired if you can e-mail me the serial number of the product, account number or sales document purchased with, email used for purchase or name and phone - any one piece of data can use to locate/verify the transaction and retrieve the communications regarding it.

this is not how we operate and our customers know this. Whatever went wrong here, I am more than happy to see about correcting it with no strings attached. Assuming there is something you want resolved, you've got my personal commitment to do so. email owc@macsales.com please.

We back our 0GB 'do it yourself kits' with a 1yr Warranty and our full solutions with a 2 year warranty. It costs our customers as well as us when there is ever an RMA requirement and we put first priority in minimizing any customer hassle with such.

Concerning the shreaded plastic with the fan - the miniStack has no fan - it has a horizontally mounted blower. By design, it can be set to auto (default) or a low/med/high manual setting - with Auto, it only turns on if the temperature requires it as the passive cooling is typically more than adequate depending on the ambient room temperature. I've honestly never seen one self destruct, but such would still be covered under warranty.

Based on the times referenced, I'd expect the unit is out of warranty now - but we retain the communications and notes and I will find out what happened. Even if you no longer have the unit, if one of my reps erred in their handling - I will make it right and worth your time in terms of e-mailing.

OWC Larry

Quote

Guest wrote:
The issue is the enclosure's bridge board. That is what failed the first time. The second time something in the fan housing started making a grinding noise and when I opened it up I found shredded pieces of plastic from inside the housing around the fan assembly and a badly damaged fan.

According to this article, that very product, the enclosure, is under the rubric of OWC. Their product failed, and they refused to replace it with another new one or provide a refund. That is total bullshit.

Thieves and liars. Nothing more.

I've been pleased with my OWC business dealings. I once had an issue with a drive I purchased; I called and described the issue and, when it was clear the product was not right, they promptly sent a replacement - which, as I recall, arrived on a Saturday. Thanks, Larry and OWC!

I appreciate such customer service - especially these days where, with all the corporate outsourcing, we increasingly get connected to not-so-skilled overseas workers with thick accents (like calling Netgear today), often get asked a series of tech support questions from a script, and are, far too often, made to jump through all sorts of hoops to get something resolved.

> OWC's new building will have… roof sun collectors and optic fiber to bring in outside light, advanced geo-thermal HVAC, and a recyclable water system.

Very cool stuff! We can hope that huge companies like Apple start talking about - and, more importantly, implementing - these kinds of sensible green features. I haven't yet heard any such talk from Apple about their new campus ( - and I've been searching the web and making some inquiries about this. Kudos to OWC for their leadership!

> new building will be LEED Gold certified, perhaps platinum... standard for environmentally friendly, Green buildings, is seldom achieved because they're at least an order of magnitude more expensive to build

From http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/real_estate/article/0,1299,DRMN_414_5303315,00.html

"Typically, a gold-level LEED building costs 1.8 percent more, or an additional $3 to $5 per square foot, to construct, according to the nonprofit Alliance for Sustainable Colorado... typically uses 37 percent less energy and 42 percent less water than a conventional building"

I've been buying from OWC since they began. Hard disks, cases, ata cards, memory, batteries, and some firewire cases. Got a bad stick of memory once. Larry straightened it out, what else you want? Great tech videos on their site too. No wonder they are selling 54 million in stuff.

I don't know what LEED Gold points that Senator is talking about, but I can tell you sure as heck that it costs a significantly more than 1.8% extra... more like 20% at the low side.. and as we pursued additional points our cost was more along the lines of 30% additional which has us possibly reaching the platinum level. Now - maybe he's talking government buildings... those already built over budget using tax payer dollars... But EVERYONE would be doing LEED Gold buildings if the cost difference was only 1.8%.

Now - we did what we did cause it's responsible and it makes solid long term sense. We're here for the long term and certainly it is a win win to be reducing our water waste as well as conserving energy with the design of our new building.

When doing a building that follows the LEED reqs - materials have to be locally sourced. This increases costs for some materials, despite shorter distances travelled - but reduces carbon emissions from the transportation. The wall panels, the flooring, the glues and seals used throughout the building have to be non-emitting in terms of various organics and well, fumes as well as low or zero-impact in terms of chemicals used in their production - not the norm out there and a premium to buy. The heating/cooling system, going geo-thermal adds HUGE efficiency - the up front cost of a Geothermal system vs. conventional added about 6-7% additional cost to project by itself. From an engineering stand point, every pipe turn and routing, every air duct, is scrutinized for it's placement and angles as these things all have efficiency that impact and add up.

Long term, from a cost recovery stand point - this is the right way to build. Cost expended up front is recovered by savings in energy expenditures that also reduce carbon consumption and conserve resources.

Maybe there was a misquote of that Senator got his statement wrong... It may be possible to reach basic LEED Certification (got LEED Certified, LEED Silver, LEED Gold, LEED Platinum) for the small difference -

But no way to reach Gold for that. LOL! Get someone out ther that's familiar with building to comment on that. I'd also argue that the cost rises for a larger building project vs. a smaller as the sophistication of the systems increase.

And hey - we also elected to install a paver parking lot with limestone substrate under it vs. a traditional asphalt lot. This eliminates the waste and carbon emissions from regular re-sealing such needs + provides an efficient water handling system in lieu of a water collection system that only serves to concentrate the bad stuff cars leave behind vs. breaking it down and rendering it harmless via natural means.

It's nice to see articles like the one you link to out there which make this seem so easy. The person who obviously never did a project himself. Always great when people who have no real world experience are given the spotlight.

There is one thing the government can do that would significantly increase building projects of the kind we are doing. In additional the the the standard conventional cost loan requirement, provide a zero down loan that is backed and bank regulation allowed with the government for the additional cost of the Green design and feature costs.

If a conventional building would cost 100,000 and it's another $25,000 to design and implement green in that building - on the conventional building, the business already has to but down 20% ($20,000) - if there is support so they don't have to also put another $25,000 out of pocket by allowing that to be a full loan - that will really help. Why? Because in most regions building appraise based on similar buildings in the area by the kind of space. You don't get extra appraised value for the green investment because to the bank and appraiser 1000sf of office is 1000sf of office space. So - even if you are spending the extra 25K to go green, it may still appraise at 100K - which means you've got to put $45K down instead of just 20K... more than DOUBLING the initial cash out of pocket. That's what stops most businesses from building Green - among other things. The government doesn't need to pay for those green enhancements - but needs to make it easier for businesses to get financing so they can choose that path. Over time, it will be the norm and appraised values will come into parity with green costs.

If you're in for the long term, green is the only way to go. It's either spend it up front, or spend it every year in a way that does harm as well as eventually exceeds the cost saved by not being green.

---

Apple is an interesting company. To me, the whole non user swappable battery direction is extremely non-green in addition to being non-user friendly. We'll see i guess.

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TreehuggerDoug wrote:
> OWC's new building will have… roof sun collectors and optic fiber to bring in outside light, advanced geo-thermal HVAC, and a recyclable water system.

Very cool stuff! We can hope that huge companies like Apple start talking about - and, more importantly, implementing - these kinds of sensible green features. I haven't yet heard any such talk from Apple about their new campus ( - and I've been searching the web and making some inquiries about this. Kudos to OWC for their leadership!

> new building will be LEED Gold certified, perhaps platinum... standard for environmentally friendly, Green buildings, is seldom achieved because they're at least an order of magnitude more expensive to build

From http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/real_estate/article/0,1299,DRMN_414_5303315,00.html

"Typically, a gold-level LEED building costs 1.8 percent more, or an additional $3 to $5 per square foot, to construct, according to the nonprofit Alliance for Sustainable Colorado... typically uses 37 percent less energy and 42 percent less water than a conventional building"

Okay....

First of all, let me say that I am very, very impressed and pleased to hear that OWC's new facilities will be LEED certified. This is cutting-edge environmental stewardship on their part and makes me rethink my personal "boycott" of OWC for the last five or six years. I only wish Apple would show this kind of corporate responsibility.

Why the boycott? Years ago, I bought a Mercury Elite firewire drive from Macsales/OWC... this was around the time that Panther, I think, came out... or whatever version of Mac OS X it was that had the bug that fried Oxford 911 chipset drives if you left your firewire drive attached during the upgrade. Anyway, OWC posted a firmware update and recommended that all owners of their affected drives flash the firmware with this update. I did, and my drive stopped working. It made weird, "panting" noises, and the only way I could get it to mount was to reapply the firmware update each time! I went around and around with OWC tech support on this and they refused to take any responsibility for the mess. The best offer I got from them was free shipping if I bought a new drive. "Nice." This left a pretty bad taste in my mouth. It's the kind of thing that makes you think, "Why not take care of a customer to the tune of 100 bucks and keep them happy?"

I did recently buy a Newer Tech high-capacity replacement battery for my wife's iBook and again, was impressed that they include free shipping and battery recycling for your old battery.

I had a problem with one of their drives. I emailed customer service. Left a message with Larry. Know one seems to care once they have deducted payment from my credit card.No satisfaction. The second drive that replaced the first one still is inconsistant. I go elsewhere now. But since they haven't replied to satisfying me---I thought I would make a statement here. Buyer beware. It might be a drive that doesnt work, manuafacturers fault---but OWC will still charge you for restocking!

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Anonymous wrote:
I had a problem with one of their drives. I emailed customer service. Left a message with Larry. Know one seems to care once they have deducted payment from my credit card.No satisfaction. The second drive that replaced the first one still is inconsistant. I go elsewhere now. But since they haven't replied to satisfying me---I thought I would make a statement here. Buyer beware. It might be a drive that doesnt work, manuafacturers fault---but OWC will still charge you for restocking!

Yesterday was my second attempt to buy product (a simple hard drive) on your web site. NEVER AGAIN!
The last time I ordered (the website said ship today) I requested overnight priority, waited and when my product didn't arrive I contacted your customer service. The answer was that it was not in stock and the system hadn't been updated when I placed my order. Order Cancelled Larry!

Yesterday, I contacted customer service on live chat. I asked them to check if the hard drive was available. Yes, says Allan Bitteman (I may have misspelled), order now and it will ship today.
So I ordered. Got an email saying the product had shipped (with no tracking number). Went down to receiving today and guess what... no package.
I called customer service (45 minute wait to get a human on the phone Larry). Gee they said, we should have contacted you. Problem on the order, no contact, not shipped, WTF LARRY. ORDER CANCELLED.
Just in case you care. Customer service rep Dave Jones. Supervisor (that was too busy to come to the phone) Ben Priest. Order number SO-6145195.

Please people, to not support this level of incompetence.

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Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:
I had a problem with one of their drives. I emailed customer service. Left a message with Larry. Know one seems to care once they have deducted payment from my credit card.No satisfaction. The second drive that replaced the first one still is inconsistant. I go elsewhere now. But since they haven't replied to satisfying me---I thought I would make a statement here. Buyer beware. It might be a drive that doesnt work, manuafacturers fault---but OWC will still charge you for restocking!

If you don't login, OWC has no way of responding to you. Sounds like you like to hit and run people with negative commentary. Take off the cowardly look, and login so we can see your face. Otherwise no one will take you seriously.

Just for the record, in case anyone's keeping score, I've never had a problem with OWC. I like their website, and especially the feature of tailoring the menu options to the specific Mac of interest. I don't buy everything from them by any means, I shop around, but I have had no beefs with them. In fact, their tech support even gave me advice to help troubleshoot RAM that I purchased elsewhere.

Tough to beat that kind of service.

I bought stuff from OWC (by mail order) when they were selling Apple II gear!

I've been purchasing Mac memory from OWC for many years, including two GBs of RAM for my new Core 2 Duo iMac (expecting delivery tomorrow). I never had a single problem. I do compare prices with other vendors, but OWC usually has the lowest or close to lowest prices, and if it's close, I go with OWC because of trust and familiarity. And their sales people are amazingly knowledgeable.

I was also a Newer Technology customer before OWC bought the company. It's great seeing the Newer Technology name on cool products again.

- Ken

Actually I have got a very bad experience with Other World Computing because I ordered two 1-giga RAM for my Mac Book but instead they sent me one 2-giga RAM that I can't use on that computer. I asked to replace and they told me that I had to pay for all the mail expences (even if the error was made by them, not by me!) and also the stuff should be there in 1 month from the purchase. But meanwhile the month was almost passed, so I asked by email if it was possible to receive the replacement even if my 2-giga would have been arrived there late, but they never replied my email.