I thought I would look at the philips 89LPC924 I dropped them a line saying give me a quote for 1000 peices from a prefered supplier and heard nothing back from them

It is true that calling "Philips switchboard" usually is a losing proposition; however calling the person you know (of), whether in sales or support, works very well.
I hear it from virtually every Philips person I know "the 'general reply' group is a disaster and our website stinks".
However, when I called a Philips person (NOT "Philips switchboard") with "this person I know is making this thingy for the blind" it resulted in a donation of free chips, so they can not be all bad.

It takes stamnia to get through to Philips and pick up one name to call, but once you have done that, it is fairly easy and your "circle of friends at Philips' will grow over the years.

Does this STINK, absolutely, just letting you know, not defending Philips by any means.

It is a bitch that it is so difficult for many to get chips which, in my opinion are very good, but different blokes, different strokes.

Now, while you got what you needed in record time from Atmel, I have never had success with their support. YES, I do not use Atmel, but quite frequently have to contact them because my predecessors did.

Erik

Anyhow, Jez, you have a great weekend and FYI there is no Philips Semiconductor any more it is now "NXP" I guess they got that from Nexperia