Monday, February 27, 2006
Random thought for today...
If they had used instant oatmeal on the shuttle, that tile would NEVER have come off....
Sunday, February 26, 2006
Ahhhhh... conspicuous consumerism.... **drool**
I have met my hypocrisy and its name is shopping...
I have always thought of myself as a logical person... I plan things - this means if I need something, I figure out how to afford and obtain it. If I WANT something, I think about it for a LONG time, weighing the wants against the needs... usually, I end up not getting things, not because I do not want them, but because I am a cheapskate who has a very hard time parting with money and when it comes time to purchase things, I 'just say no" sometimes to a fault...
I sometimes laugh a little at people who buy just to have... not people who spend money and buy nice things... that is not the same thing... but people who buy JUST to own...
Until today... after today, I will never laugh again, for I have seen the pleasure in consumerism...
I have to admit to a bit of shame over it... I should not be feeling this pleasure from buying things... I can see where it could become addictive... the power, the pleasure in walking into a store and saying ... "I will buy this and this and this.... " about things I do not technically NEED, but that I want... to not worry over the price.. to not say "that is the one I want, but this one is cheaper, more logical and by all means the more practical choice...'... to not say I would really like 6 towels, but do I REALLY need them, when I could make do with 4?
Could I have used that money for other things? Hell yes... but for once, instead of being 100esponsible, I choose to be 5/6ths responsible and 1/6 irresponsible... and you know what?
It really feels good... it REALLY feels good.
So now I have 6 towels that actually match! And a kitchen runner... and a new bathmat, that I really did not NEED but it sure looks great...
And my major indulgence? (shhhhhh... do not tell anyone, but I actually own a new tv... and it is AWESOME)
Now I just need to figure out how to NOT want to indulge like this all the time... it is going to be hard to go back to being a penny pinching...
Oh yeah... and the septic system is fixed! WHOOT!!!!!!!
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
Scales
So... while enjoying watching the clan shop for a new coffee maker, my magpie-eye catches sight of a really nifty scale.I have been thinking about that scale for several days, so apparently, I need to buy it. I went on Fry's and can not find it listed under the brand I THOUGHT it was so I go web browsing to see what I can find... I found a talking scale ... it talks ... I would step-up onto it and it would VERBALLY tell me I am fat. Who in the world (excluding blind people of course) needs THAT in their lives? There is just something so very wrong about that concept.The only up side is that you would avoid that early morning "Ok... I am standing naked on this scale... I will flip the light on quickly to see what it reads.. I really do not want to do this... *stall stall* ... ok.. freezing now... " issue. But the alternative? I would be starting every day hearing "Yes... you are fat... now please get off me... you are squishing my contacts."*sigh*
Saturday, February 18, 2006
Cold outside, warm inside...
One of the best things about winter weather is being outside in the cold just long enough to really appreciate the warm when you come in...
It occurs to me that this is really no different in our hearts... the chill of being alone makes the warm of friends so much more enjoyable...
Cold outside and warm in...
Really... does it get much better than this?
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
Do I HAVE too?!?!?
Ok... fair is fair...
I bitched about all the frustration, so now it is only fair that when they let something that was MY fault slide, I mention it too... I am doing this, not because I think anyone wants to hear more about my dellhell, but because... well... fair is fair...
Several days after I packed up the Dell and got it sent on its way, I noticed that the power strip I had pulled from the TV set-up to use for the computer, was still running from the wall, across the floor and into the middle of the room... this is a great example that if I step over something enough, my mind no longer sees that it is present.... which basically explains how my house can get as messy as it (often) does...but that is off the subject...
So my eyes naturally FOLLOW said power strip to the centre of the room... NOT to behind the couch, or under the table or into another room.... no... to the CENTRE of the room! And low and behold! What do I see!?!?
The POWER CORD FOR THE DELL... plugged in.... with the other end going ... yeap... nowhere!
After scrambling my brain looking for a way to get mad at Dell for this, I come to the conclusion that this one is all on me... of course it is the weekend so I can not do anything about it and in my illness yesterday, I forgot...
So today driving home I called Dell ... the phone tree from hell lead my directly to a live person! No hold! (Yes kiddies... I think you all better start preparing for the Apocalypse) where a very nice young man ("Mike") spent 20 minutes looking up things on the computer to tell me that there is no need for me to send it back, the issue has been dealt with...
I do feel really bad because right after I said "Wow.. thank you very much" and he started to say something, my cell phone dropped the call... why my phone insists on dropping calls to Dell every time I am being nice, I do not know...
That is one of the most irritating things about their phone system... I knew that there was no way if I called back that I would get ahold of "Mike" to apologize for my phone hanging up on him...
Oh well...
So there it is... fair is fair...
Tuesday, February 07, 2006
Ding Dong, the Wicked Dell is Dead
or (in the spirit of Rocky and Bullwinkle)
I have entered the Den of the Dell and have emerged victorious … the Dell dragon has been vanquished.
or
I am bitch, hear me roar!
Monday –
So I get on the road for my hour long commute and do something I never do… dial up my cell phone. I call the Dell …20 minutes later, after the phone-tree-from-hell and some horrid on-hold music, I speak to their first line of defense.
After telling my sad tale of woe (and angry frustration) she informs me that she can not authorize a return after the return limit, which is “As you know.. 21-days.” “Thank you, have a nice day. Is there anything else I can help you with?”
I ask to speak to her supervisor… “Certainly… please hold the line and I will connect you to my manager… his name is ‘Mike’ … after 3 more minutes on hold, I hear “The extension 000000 is not a valid extension….<>”
Several deep breaths later, another trip through the phone-tree-from-hell and another 20-minute wait, I get BACK to the first line of defense, this time named ‘Judy’. “Hello Judy… after 20-minutes on hold, telling my whole story, supposedly getting transferred to a supervisor named ‘Mike’ but instead getting cut off, I AGAIN waited 20-minutes to get back to you. Please see that I am transferred to a ‘Mike’ the manager and please make certain I do not get cut off this time” … “I do not know of this ‘Mike’ but I will certainly transfer you to my supervisor… please hold the line…”
5-minutes later, I get ‘Samantha’. I have to give ‘Samantha’ credit for sitting quietly while I vented at her, before she informed me she could not help me… BUT she would request a ‘call-back’ from ‘corporate’… she <> that someone one would call within 24-hours. I asked for a direct number in case no one did, but she informed me I did not need it because someone would DEFINITELY call in 24-hours… unfortunately I could not insist because I had been on the phone so long that my battery ran out and I had reached the end of my 1-hour commute.
Fade to next day… more than 25-hours later…
SURPRISE!!!!!!! … (wait for it) …No call!!!!!!!!
So, back on the road (this time to a very interesting short course on pesticide effects on humans and wildlife), I figure I have another 1-hour commute so what the hell… so I plug in my phone to the charger and … say it will me: dial Dell, navigate the phone-tree-from-hell and wait, finally getting through AGAIN to the first line of defense… I then line it all out AGAIN, starting with “I am VERY angry and frustrated, quite frankly about ½ of a call away from calling the Attny. Generals Consumer Fraud Division. I was told I would get a call back from ‘corporate’ within 24-hours and as of now, more than 25-hours later, have not received that call-back. I want my issue dealt with.”
She asked what the problem is…
(if you already read the two 'grrrrrrr' posts, you might want to skip the next part...)
Me: “So glad you asked… #1) Prior to buying this computer, I spoke with your representative to determine if the system was sufficient to run the USB device we were ALSO buying THROUGH YOU. I was told it was. We ordered the computer (we will not even go into the issues with THAT)… when the computer was received, the USB ports would not work properly. Tech support insisted over and over that the problem was NOT the computer but the devices (even though SEVERAL other computers had no problem with the devices). For two weeks, I did EVERYTHING tech support said to do at a GREAT time expense to myself. 4-hour diagnostics, resetting the computer software to fac. Spec 3 times (resulting in having to do XP updates, Dell updates, device driver updates, application activation and registrations a total of 4 times!). If I had wanted to do a month of tech support, I would have built the damn thing myself!
Tec service continued to tell me right up to day 21 that it was not the computer, but what we were trying to DO with the computer. Then, days 22-24, trying to call tech services resulted in long waits, getting cut off, getting transferred to the wrong divisions and ultimately being told that the system was down, could I please call back in 3-4 hours (which would have been midnight my time). In the meanwhile, because the graphics package they sold with the computer, WHICH they said was sufficient was NOT sufficient, I buy at my expense a graphics card that can handle the device only to find out that THERE IS NOT A SLOT TO INSTALL IT IN…
Day 25, trying to call Customer service to get the piece of shit returned, resulted in finding out that Customer service is CLOSED on Sunday. So, back to live chat with tech support who tells me, BASED ON THE SAME INFORMATION THEY HAD BEFORE, that the Motherboard is bad and needs to be replaced. They will do that. “No… I want to return it” “Sorry mam but it has been more than 21 days… all we can do is repair it.” “Will that fix the problem with needing to install the graphics card?” “Yes mam” “How? You are going to upgrade the mother board?” “No mam… it will be the same motherboard” “So how is that going to help the problem that I can not upgrade the graphics card?” “You have to get a PCI graphics card” … “How do I return this unit?” (even I know that PCI graphics cards suck)… “You will have to contact customer service when they are open” (that would be Day 26).
Back to today:
I end my recitation with “This does not even BEGIN to address my extreme embarrassment from, after spending a year convincing this senior citizen that he should get a computer, this fiasco happens when I am the one who suggest a Dell so that he would have a problem free experience. Instead, he now wants NOTHING to do with computer technology and feels that you have stolen his $800 and I can not blame him. I am sure that the Attny. General’s Consumer Fraud Division will be VERY interested to hear that Dell is taking advantage of a 70-year old man.”
At this point, the representative (remember: this is a person from the 1st line of defense which position yesterday was not able to authorize a return after 21-days) asks me to “Please hold the line” while she gets a return authorization number for me…
Two questions:
Am I being paranoid feeling that:
1) They intentionally jerked me around for two weeks, KNOWING there was a problem with the system, until the time to return was past?
2) Customer Service has a planned routine:
a. Make the customer go through the phone-tree-from-hell and 20-minute ‘hold’ hoping some people will decide it is not worth it at that point.
b. If the person DOES get through, tell them you can not help… Some people will accept your authority and go away.
c. If the person insists, pretend to send them to manager and cut them off… some people will be daunted by knowing they would have to do Step 1 again, and decide it is not worth it.
d. Of they DO call back, transfer to a ‘manager’ who says “I can not help, but I will (pretend) to put in a request for corporate to call you back.. I ASSURE you/guarantee they will call in 24-hours”… once again, some people will say screw it and just accept the repair when there is no call in 24-hours.
e. If the person DOES call back the next day, give in.
Really… am I paranoid?
Sunday, February 05, 2006
grrrrrrrr Part Deux
Ok.. may I just say... FUCK DELL ... and THANK YOU ANDY ...
Having gotten that out and up front, I will now vent...mostly because I can not get ahold of customer no-support until tomorrow and I am pissed off NOW...
Basic back story (for details see "grrrrrrrrrr" post earlier):
Spent over a year convincing a senior citizen that technology is not evil and bad and that he should get a good computer. I finally hooked him in with the concept of being able to take VHS and make DVD's out of them.... he is facinated by this...
So I suggest a Dell because I figure that is the easiest way for him to go... plug in, works right out of the box... no prob. So I research and find a good one for him... I check with Dell to be sure that this system can handle the Dazzle vid. capture device we are ALSO buying through Dell. No problem... so we buy the thing.
It gets there, we get it set-up, get all the registrations, activations, updates, etc. done only to find that the USB ports do not consistently recognize the USB devices... long story, but I tried EVERYTHING to get this thing to work...
To make matters worse, when the computer DOES deign to recognize the device as a dazzle, the audio protion of the capture works, but the audio gives just a green screen.
So I get in contact with Dell who tells me to do an extended diagnostic and if nothing is wrong to restore the soft ware to factory spec...
Done... have to do ALL of the registering, activations, updates, etc. again, but ok... taken care of ... EXACTALLY the same problems... Andy tries to help and manages to (bairly) keep me from setting fire to it... but alas, no joy...
All of the sudden the USB ports seem to be working ok, so I figure I accidentally did something that fixed the problem... ok..on to the vid part... we buy a new vid card (and a wireless internet card so I do not have to sit on my neighbors floor anymore) and go to install. THERE IS NO SLOT FOR THE CARD!!!!!!!!! Apparently you can only use PCI cards ... and even I know that PCI graphic cards are not a great idea...
And by the way? Now ALL USB ports are wonky... at least the keyboard worked before but NOT ANY MORE.
So.. new plan... return this peice of shit and build one...
So I go to try to figure out how to return it... apparently you have to call Customer No-Service but they are not in today... and apparently I only had 21 days to return the thing (today is day 24) ... so by attempting to work with them to get this thing working right, I missed the easy send back window...
So I get on-line with customer support and explain I want to send it back... they want detail AGAIN as to what the problem is... I sent them the transcripts from PAST chats with them and they come back that it is a motherboard problem and they will replace it. And tell me this will take care of ALL problems, vid included...
I clarify that and they say I have to get a PCI graphics card... My answer: Tell me how to send this thing back.
Apperently I have to call customer service for that... :::bashes head on counter:::
Fuck Dell... and I hope they do internet searches for the phrase "FUCK DELL" so that someone there reads this....
Not only have I been terribly embarressed by this whole thing, since I am the one who told him to get a Dell, but I am sure any tenuous relationship to technology he might have developed from a GOOD experience is now dashed...
So... just to sum up...
FUCK DELL .... and THANK YOU ANDY...
Friday, February 03, 2006
Why is it... Current mood: crappy
I wish someone could come up with a good reason that everytime I get into a 'happy' place in my life, someone or something decides they need to shit in my litter box...
I will just keep reminding myself that I am content and that nothing external can change that if I do not want it to...
I have to say, though that I am MUCH better at saying "No" and the occasional "Fuck off" (<--- that really does sound better in english) than I used to be... too bad that I have not yet mastered the art of not feeling guilty for doing it....
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