It was a real shock yesterday when my laptop ended.
It's just a computer. I had most of the important stuff backed up. No one actually died. But it was like losing the key to your bedroom - while also suspecting your bedroom might be on fire. Sure, most of your clothes were in the laundry anyway but there were some good books there! And your bed.
As I said yesterday, as soon as it happened, Katr was all over it, finding help sites and tweeting the fine folks at Dell who are all over the Twitter. I know those folks are busy and I'm sure they tried their best - but after three Twitter handoffs and a couple of emails spread over the better part of the business day, Katr and the Dellers weren't able to come to any sort of resolution vis a vis what the hell to actually do.
In other frustrating news, the basic message we got from the Dell website was:
"We can't help you because your one year warranty has expired. You'll have to pay a fee up front to talk to Dell Support."
To that I say:
Really? Really, Dell? The laptop I bought directly from you 14 months ago goes kablooey through no fault of my own and I can't even ask you what to do about it without paying you first??
I don't feel I'm asking for much, Dell. I don't expect you to fix it for free. All I wanted to know was:
a) Given the information at hand, it seems that the motherboard blew. Do you concur?
b) Where do I take it or send it to be fixed where they won't steal my very important "the time I cracked one off in the elevator"-type data?
When Dell, the people I bought the laptop from, was unable to give me this basic info for free, I moved from the "shock" stage of grief to the "anger".
Hey Dell - did you know that you can chat online with a live geek at Geek Squad without paying a dime? After business hours? A live geek who listens to your problem, asks good questions, tries to help you for free over the chat and then gives you some options for next steps? Well, you can! And now Best Buy is fixing my computer, Dell. Not you. Will it be more expensive than I want and will I end up feeling ripped off? Probably. But at least they told me that for FREE.
(A special note to independent computer repair shops in Vancouver - I really would have preferred to take my sad computer business to you rather than to some behemoth like Best Buy. I WANT to support local business. But your "websites" - when you have your own website - do not inspire confidence. 12 year old girls have MySpace pages that look more professional than your website.)
Anyway, Dell - I really enjoyed my souped up Inspiron 1520 while it lasted. I hope it comes back to me more than a shadow of its former self. Regardless of the outcome of my Geek Squad adventure, however, I just want to confirm that, just as you ceased to be a service provider when my warranty expired, I ceased to be a future Dell customer. Good day.
Sidenote - I don't want to hear any smugness from you Macheads. Katr has a Mac, I like the PC and we need one in the house anyway for testing purposes. So zip it.
In totally unrelated news, did anyone else catch Castle last night? I'm a little alarmed by how charming I found it. I watched, of course, because I will watch anything with hometown stud Nathan Fillion on it. But where I expected to be a little underwhelmed by the predictable premise, tired procedural structure and "unlikely partnership", I totally fucking SWOONED.
I usually dislike the mischevious man-child/straight-laced career woman match up - I always want to knee the guy in the misters for being a jag-off and then berate the woman for being so humourless. But Stana Katic is utterly fucking delightful and I knew Nathan Fillion had scored when Katr said in wondering tones "Who is that guy? Why have we not seen more of him?" EXACTLY.
Sure, there's plenty to complain about - like how all the people of colour are relegated to the 'sassy co-worker' roles as usual and also how Sue Grafton didn't have any lines - but oh, the funny. I ... just forgive so much when it's funny.
Anyway, Fillion fans - fear not the Castle! I myself have accorded it the greatest honour I can bestow - setting it as a series recording on our PVR. That's love.
