DRF, NYRA and OTB

[andicap]

OK, Belmont is taking Arlington Park simulcast today, but is the N.Y. edition of the DRF carrying AP PPs today?
Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

The reason I presume? OTB is taking Calder and not Arlington.

Again, the fan takes it up the you know what.

[Tom]

I f ever there was an organization in need of a complete re-staffing it it DRF. They are absolutely user-unfriendly.

If Steve Crist was the savior of the bettor as he would lead us to believe, he would do some quality control checking on his own.

Steve, baby-if you read this boad, try calling your customer dis-service department and get a civil answer, or better yet, a helful answer. If the person who answers the phone speaks English, put them to the test as if you were an actual customer.
Ohm yeahm better eat dinner before you call-you will proabably be on hold for a little while.
Tom

[Larry Hamilton]

Something to think about: If the track has a customer service department, then they probably need it------often.

On the other hand, if you did it right in the first place, customer service aint necessary because the customer is at the top of all your business thoughts.

[Tim]

I'm confused. I believe all the Simulcast Editions had the PP's for AP, BEL, MTH and HOL. Thats 3 of the 4 NYRA simulcast signals plus the live track. If your vendor is selling the NY 3-track edition, it's probably going to have BEL, MTH and one other track. Thats the normal everyday content and it wouldn't change. I believe NYRA just started taking the simulcast signal from AP on July 11. Of course, I could be wrong.

Where you also looking for the 4th NYRA simulcast signal to be in a print edition? I didn't see the No. Cal Fair track, Solano(Vellejo) PP's in any of the editions available at my simulcast location. Why don't you complain about that.

[andicap]

Do they still print the simulcast edition? I remember when they had the "AM" and "PM" editions and the AM/PM editions had tons of PPs (but few articles.)

I was presuming the DRF (which had four tracks, the others were Calder and Finger Lakes -- NYC OTB was taking Calder) was catering to OTB here.
Where's Marc when you really need him? I was hoping the subject line would draw him in.

[tanda]

That is why I buy my PPs on-line. You get what you want and only what you want. I use BRIS. Of course, DRF allows you to customize your form on-line. After all, there is no PP configuration that will satisfy everybody.

Although, I agree that DRF's customer service stinks.

[Tim]

andicap,

I still see the AM, PM and one called the National Simulcast Edition on sale at Sports Haven. I don't know if they are published every day, the posters from Vegas would know. I follow eight circuits so the DRF Online Formulator downloads are what I use. At $2.30 a day for access to unlimited pp's it's the best buy I can find.

Tim

[andicap]

My problem with DRF forumulator is all the ink I use up. I used to get my printer cartridges free (ah, the good old days) but no more. I tried using one of the syringes and refilling my cartridge myself, but it doesn't really work very well.
So I buy the form and use software someone built for me to print out a few pages of pace figures. I like to see BRIS and Beyer figs BTW because if I see an anomoly in one against the other my antenna goes up.

[Marc At DRF]

"I f ever there was an organization in need of a complete re-staffing it it DRF. They are absolutely user-unfriendly. "

I dunno, I have mixed feelings. I'm not thrilled with our outsourced customer service arm at times, but I also wonder if the sophisticated requests from people who frequent this board aren't part of the problem. Not that somebody at DRF shouldn't be able to answer your questions. So here's the deal-- if ANYBODY who frequents this board has questions, e-mail me at mattenb@drf.com, and I'll gladly help you out. I oversee internet marketing (not customer service), but I use the online product voraciously and if I don't knwo the answers I know the people who do, most of the time.

As for why AP wasn't in the print edition, I'll try to find out. But toner complaints aside, you really should be taking advantage of the online PPs...

[andicap]

You seen the price of those cartridges?

[Marc At DRF]

My wife just got a new computer for home through her job and it came with a CRAPPY printer-- I know, it's expensive to replace cartridges on those things. Isn't the situation better with a laser printer? I'm thinking about getting a better printer.

Also, I'm lucky to work in a professional environment where nobody gets mad if I print out PPs from work. Which is of course no help to you. Though I suspect I am not alone.

[Larry Hamilton]

there is nothing as inconsist as the price of ink or cartridges in either laser or ink jet thingees...you cant win, in fact after a couple years, the damned ink cost more than the printer...it is almost cost effective to throw the damn thing out when it runs out of ink and get a new one.

[karlskorner]

Got tired of paying $13.95 for ink jet cartridges that last 5 days printing 40-50 pages a day including a set of PP's

Went out an bought an Epson LQ-570 24 pin Dot Matix ($269.00) that is an absolute work horse. In draft mode it knocks out a set of PP's in about 7 minutes or less.

The ribbons cost me $1.70 from a local mail order house and last anywhere from 10 days to 2 weeks.

Karl

[GR1@HTR]

BVM (Best Value for da Money)

http://www.shopping.hp.com/cgi-bin/hpdirect/shopping/scripts/product_detail/which_product_detail.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@10030692 16.0995315294@@@@&BV_EngineID=gallhejghfjbfdmckgcfjgcgmj.0&product_code=C4224A-ABA888&page=Others

[Larry Hamilton]

clever hehehehe infected member

[Dave Schwartz]

Karl,

It is amazing to me that more people don't consider the cost-per-page when the buy a printer. I recall a review someplace a couple of years ago where the net cost per page (including ink & paper) for some of the HP stuff was almost 40 cents per page!

The Epson's have been famous for the lowest cost per page among ink jets for years.

As a general rule, if the colors aren't separate (total of 4 cartridges), the cost per page will go through the roof simply because when one color goes out they all have to be replaced.

Even at (say) 4 cents per page (cheap paper, high output laser) that means that each track's PPs costs almost $1.50 per day!


Regards,
Dave Schwartz

[andicap]

Here's why I bought an H-P Dave. For a few years I had been getting free print cartridges through my jobs. Earlier this year I was laid off in one of those media consolidation deals. End of print cartridges.
Funny thing. I got two new b&W cartridges this morning at an Office Max and they gave me a free case of bottled water! Now that's a strange promotion. Does using a printer make you thirsty?

[karlskorner]

Dave:

I figure it costs me about $1.15 per day to buy BRIS PP's and print out a full set of PP's plus other stuff I take to the track. I ain't cheap, but I sure didn't get to where I am today being foolish.

Karl

[andicap]

What is a "remanufactured" cartridge? One that was empty but refilled. They have them there fairly cheaply at inkjet.com

BTW, I ordered inkjets for a decent price from 2for1inkjets.com and they never came. (company has been saying for 8 weeks they are backordered. It's not like an HP 932c is an unusual machine!) Still fighting with my credit card company to get rid of the damn charge.

[GR1@HTR]

http://www.zdnet.com/computershopper/

[SAL]

On the subject of printers, I bought a used HP Laserjet III for less than a hundred dollars over a year ago. It's pretty big, but it prints a set of PP's in about 5 minutes, and a remanufactured toner cartridge goes for about $30 on eBay. One full toner cartridge prints over a thousand pages easy before replacement is needed. It only prints in B/W, but as far as price per page you can't beat it.