Okay, it's almost noon and I'm starving. I'm going to Taco Bell.

I'll email Steven when I get back and let him know you guys aren't interested so we're passing on the offer.

ita, did you see my earlier post about taking out the explicit closes?

I had not, and now have, Kristen, so I'll yank them in a little and report back here when I have.

Huh.

So Steven might be able to extend the offer. [ETA: Apparently, his reason for the deadline was the RAM prices being all over the place and him having a solid price from his supplier that had an expiration date.]

He's also willing to throw in another 512 MB of RAM and another hard drive.

This is unexpected.

ETA: Cool, ita! I just had this idea based on something that someone, Rob maybe, said about closing the connections. I'm not actually sure I can articulate it but it makes sense in my brain, if that makes you feel any better.

Kristen, please don't take offense -- Steven's been great to us, I know -- but he's starting to sound like a used car salesman.

t edited to add I mean he should just make us his best offer. I don't think we should have to haggle or threaten to walk.

he's starting to sound like a used car salesman.

Huh. I don't think so. I'd grateful he might be able to extend the offer.

Eh. I sort of suspected he might want to extend the deadline when I sent off the email. I wasn't expecting more hardware. Makes me wish FG had an extra couple of hundred dollars a month to throw around.

Thing is, I don't know that we need a bigger hard drive or memory. That wasn't the issue. I'd rather he just lower the price on his original offer. Although I realize that's not on the table.

I should probably keep quiet, but:

Kristen, please don't take offense -- Steven's been great to us, I know -- but he's starting to sound like a used car salesman.

After I saw Kristen's post, I had thought you'd actually feel happy knowing that you are apparently valued enough that he's willing to do what he can to try to make his offer more tempting.

I mean he should just make us his best offer. I don't think we should have to haggle or threaten to walk.

I don't think you are haggling or threatening, and I personally don't see that anyone's forcing you into such a situation. If you feel that way, I'm sorry, but know that that's never been our intention. You decided before the stated deadline to go elsewhere. You don't *have* to do anything but whatever is the right decision for you. All that was being asked was that you do it in enough time to allow him to work with *his* suppliers. At the time, that was his best offer. Now, apparently, he has more wiggle room. His situation has changed.

You don't have to like or choose the Fangeek/IH offer. But I really don't think there's been anything shady, sneaky, under-handed or whatever about it. I'm not offended or hurt or anything by any of the posts, but I just had to pipe up for the service that we -- and, in INCREDIBLY large part (I mean 99%) -- Kristen and Steven have provided. Our environment may not end up being the one that will suit your needs, but we've been upfront with you guys every step of the way.

How long's this offer for, Kristen?

I personally think we should go for it. It sounds a lot better than what we've got now.