The Dell computer saga continues! My monitor is still periodically going black on me. All it says is Auto Detect going to Power Save and then the screen is black.
Manish, my top level resolution friend from India, called me last Thursday and I told him truthfully that I did not have a problem that day and so he closed the problem ticket. You guessed it! Come Friday the problem was back. My good friend Manish assured me on Thursday that if the problem should recur all I had to do was e-mail him or call him and he gave me his direct e-mail address and direct phone number, complete with extension. So I sent Manish an e-mail informing him that the problem had indeed recurred. Almost immediately I received an e-mail telling me that the trouble ticket had been closed and I could call for technical assistance. Oh joy! I could now go through the hell of talking to lots of other people who could not speak fluent English!
Monday morning I was greeted by a black monitor. I swapped out the monitor and experienced the same problem so I know it isn’t the monitor. Finally after several phone calls and two e-mails my good friend Manish gets around to calling me. I wonder what would happen it it hadn’t been escalated to the third tier resolution area? I might hear from someone in a month I guess.
So Manish connected to my computer remotely and he decided in all his wisdom that I needed an updated video driver. I asked him why and he said well the one you have is from April 2007. Ok…that sounded reasonable so he proceeds to download a new driver which takes a little over a half hour. So , I guess Manish didn’t want to lose any time in HIS place of employment so he told me he would call me back after the driver was downloaded.
After the down load was finished I discovered that good old Manish (third tier guru) had made me sit for a little over a half hour while he downloaded an updated driver for Windows Vista. What a shame – I have Windows XP. An hour later Manish calls back and I ask him “Manish are you aware that you downloaded a driver for Windows Vista?” ” Oh no!” Manish says. “How did that happen?” One would think that he wasn’t the one who found it on the Dell Website and downloaded he was so shocked.
So now, in all his wisdom Manish decides we must download yet another driver update, but he says to me “this one will not take so long.” Twenty minutes later Manish attempts to install the driver. After many tries, he finally has installed the driver. Guess what? It was the very same version as what I already had! These good people in tier three really know what they’re doing. I hope Mr. Dell pays them well!
So now Manish tells me that he is going to place a service call but that I must hold for two minutes. Sure, why not, I haven’t accomplished anything thus far without a computer anyway. Then Manish comes back on the line and tells me that he must try something else. So then I have to unplug the cable from the monitor and then re attach it. Then he tells me that he is going to place a service request, but that I had to hold on for a minute. I said I thought you did that the last time. Well, he says, I will do it now and someone will be out to replace your video card in two to three business days. I said no, I cannot wait three days – I paid for next day service and that is what I expect. Manish tells me very patiently that it probably will be tomorrow but that he cannot commit to that.
We went through this song and dance three times before Manish finally DID set up a service call and still would not commit to next day service. He then informed me that I would be receiving a refurbished video card. I said I beg your pardon, but I just paid you almost two thousand dollars for a brand new computer and you are going to give me a refurbished part??? I want a new part! Manish explained to me as if I were a small child throwing a tantrum that it isn’t used, but once they open the part they have to refer to it as refurbished. Hmmmm…..I guess the good folks in India don’t know that in the English language we call that a new part that has been opened. Refurbished must mean something entirely different in India I guess.
I still had not heard from the service technician who is supposed to call me and tell me when he/she is coming to replace the video card by five o’clock today. Anyone care to make a bet whether he/she will arrive tomorrow?
I wonder how Mr. Dell would feel if he paid me almost two thousand dollars and then an extra three hundred for extended, next day maintenance service, would feel if I told him….sorry….you are getting refurbished parts and I cannot even guarantee when you will get them installed. Or I wonder how he would have felt when I purchased his computer had I said well…..I will get the money out to you in several days….I can’t say exactly when.
If anyone out there has the capital to roll into a new business, I say give me a holler and we can start our own computer business. The only thing different in our business would be the service and I bet people wouldn’t mind paying extra for our computers if we gave them sterling service like they deserve. All this experience has taught me is that I will never put myself through this hell again. Keep your computers Mr. Dell – it simply isn’t worth the aggravation.