Some resellers stop selling eMacs due to display issue

Another fairly large Macintosh reseller has chimed in on the previously reported eMac "raster shift" display issue, taking the additional step of ceasing sale of the consumer/education all-in-one units because service costs are too high, and customer relationships are being ruined by product failure rates:

"After replacing 30 percent of the PAV boards in units I have sold and having to travel 50 miles to repair another (we're AASP Certified), I have made the decision to no longer sell or recommend eMacs to customers.

"On the inside, in my opinion, the design and workmanship are obviously poor on the PAV - which is a 'one piece' unit with the power supply, video board and monitor all in one. Heavy, bulky, awkward, and generally a pain to replace."

We continue to receive differing percentage reports on return rates, some as high as 60 percent, and others as low as 15 percent. A Vancouver-based retailer writes:

"To this date I have had to repair 11 eMacs with the video issue. Out of those 11, 4 of them had to be re fixed cause the replacement part was defective. To this date our store (we have three locations) has sold 63 eMacs. That is about 18 percent that have failed."

The "raster shift" problem causes the bottom third or half of the screen to go black, with the rest of image shifting upward and out of the top boundary of the display. Serious static also accompanies the problem, rendering the viewable part of the screen virtually useless.

Raster shifting has caused a number of readers to take their systems in for repair, with similar results from the newly replaced components.

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