I had a Dell laptop of mine sent out for repair under my warranty, and it got back after a couple of weeks with a little note saying that they didn't have the hard drive to replace the broken one, but that one would be on its way in a few days and that I should install it myself when it arrives.
I wondered why they simply didn't wait for the delivery of the hard drive at the repair place and install it themselves, but the drive did arrive in just a few days, so I called up the 800 number they gave me to see if they could guide me through the entire process.
I got the Dell automated recordings, which asked a series of questions until it finally said that it was sorry, but that it couldn't provide me with free support because my warranty had run out. However, they said that there was support that they would charge me for if I wanted to pull out my credit card.
My warranty hadn't run out, they were just reading my home phone number and matching it up with another computer I had where the warranty had run out. So there was no way to get thru to the technical support for which I had paid on my home phone.
"Ok," I thought, "I'll call them on my cell phone."
I call them on my cell phone and after a series of menu choices they say that they are connecting me to technical support and that I should wait for just a few minutes. So I wait. And wait. And wait some more. Finally, after 25 minutes a technician comes on and after a few questions apologizes because he does not give technical support on laptops, but only desktop computers.
So the guy promises me that he'll transfer me to technical support for laptops. I have visions of the connection being lost on my cell phone which is low on its battery charge, but I can't call on my home phone because Dell won't put me thru to technical support because it thinks my warranty has expired.
Having no choice, I wait again on my cell phone, and after only about 5 minutes a guy comes on the phone and says that he does give support for laptops.
"Alright," I think, "progress!" Ha.
He shows me how to replace the hard drive, which was very easy to do. Unfortunately, however, there was no operating system installed so I was going to have to install Windows XP. He promised to stay on the line and help me thru it.
Well, I'm getting really annoyed at this point, because after 20 years of dealing with PC's, I've got a pretty good idea of what is about to happen, and I let him know exactly what that is.
"I'm not installing the software. You have someone from Dell do it. All that will happen is that I will be on the phone with you for an hour and we'll try to install the software, but something mysterious will happen for which you have no explanation, and we'll try a bunch of times to get around it, but we won't be able to, and Dell will have to take care of it anyway."
Dell Guy tells me that my warranty does not cover Dell installing software, and that I shouldn't worry, it won't be too bad.
This is beginning to sound like a trip to the dentist. But I've got the guy on the phone, so I said okay, and off we go to give it a try.
I get the Win XP CD into the laptop, press some keys, and the installation begins. And after five minutes the screen goes completely dark. Not blank, but dark, as in no power dark. Yet the brick on the power cord has its green light on, and the power light on the laptop is on as well.
Dell Guy tells me to turn off the computer and try again. I try again, and after five minutes the screen goes dark again. Well, we spend about 15 minutes trying various things, including going into the computer bios and messing with the settings, but nothing works.
Dell Guy is amazed. "It happened just like you said," he exclaims with a bit of wonder in his voice.
"Yea, well, after 20 years dealing with this stuff, you develop an instinct for what probably is going to happen," I replied.
But I felt bad for him, and so told him that it wasn't his fault and I appreciated him trying. I didn't want to burst his bubble entirely. He might have some Kafka moment, think all of life is meaningless, tell his girlfriend that he changed his mind about getting married and then go off to some cave and meditate for the rest of his life. And then his girlfriend would hunt me down and kill me. So my being nice to him was really in my own best interest.
As predicted, he told me that a Dell technician will have to stop by and fix the problem.
Why is it that being smart does not always mean being better off?
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