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He'd painted over the gas tap and I couldn't turn it on
Some time ago, I wrote Saga, part the first of my quest to get my laptop fixed under warranty.
I'm sure everyone's avid to hear this:
Saga, Part the Second
For two months I've been playing an interesting game with Evesham. It became apparent after around three weeks that their estimate of "seven to ten days" before the laptop was returned to me had been, er, optimistic.
There were two problems: one, they'd had to order in a part. Two, the laptop is out of statutory warranty period, so they had to clear the repair with their underwriting insurers. Both these things were known when the 7-10 day estimate was made, of course. Apparently it was mostly insurance red-tape which was taking the time; I don't see that that was really my problem, but there we were.
There is then a interval of six weeks or so which can be summarised as me emailing or phoning Evesham regularly, saying "Are we nearly there yet?" and them replying "Just round the next few corners".
Current opinion of Evesham: bad
Yesterday, my laptop landed back with me. Sure enough, the volume thumbwheel was poking neatly back out of its slot again. Like it should.
Unfortunately, I think it's meant to go round.
After considerable faffing - Windows needed reactivating, and that involved interacting with an automated phone system and typing 50-digit codes into a phone keypad - I discovered several things about the laptop:
Some "system preparation tools" to which the end-user really shouldn't be exposed had been left running.
All my software has been uninstalled, and a clean reinstall of Windows has been done - unsetting all my preferences and tinkered-with options, of course.
All my data has been removed.
Some exploration (done by a colleague, since I was scared of breaking things) revealed that the volume thumbwheel could be turned if you jam your fingernail into one of the ridges and force it round. I'm reluctant to do this much, since it does involve excessive force, and I don't want the damn thing to come off again. Particularly not when the laptop is nearly out of warranty now.
Another phone call to Evesham. The guy on the other end didn't seem all that surprised, or sorry. But my laptop will be picked up again tomorrow, and put on some sort of "priority" ticket in the hopes it won't be so long this time.
Current opinion of Evesham: really quite bad
Current plan: get my laptop back in a working condition, then play hell with their customer services department.
I'm sure everyone's avid to hear this:
Saga, Part the Second
For two months I've been playing an interesting game with Evesham. It became apparent after around three weeks that their estimate of "seven to ten days" before the laptop was returned to me had been, er, optimistic.
There were two problems: one, they'd had to order in a part. Two, the laptop is out of statutory warranty period, so they had to clear the repair with their underwriting insurers. Both these things were known when the 7-10 day estimate was made, of course. Apparently it was mostly insurance red-tape which was taking the time; I don't see that that was really my problem, but there we were.
There is then a interval of six weeks or so which can be summarised as me emailing or phoning Evesham regularly, saying "Are we nearly there yet?" and them replying "Just round the next few corners".
Current opinion of Evesham: bad
Yesterday, my laptop landed back with me. Sure enough, the volume thumbwheel was poking neatly back out of its slot again. Like it should.
Unfortunately, I think it's meant to go round.
After considerable faffing - Windows needed reactivating, and that involved interacting with an automated phone system and typing 50-digit codes into a phone keypad - I discovered several things about the laptop:
Some "system preparation tools" to which the end-user really shouldn't be exposed had been left running.
All my software has been uninstalled, and a clean reinstall of Windows has been done - unsetting all my preferences and tinkered-with options, of course.
All my data has been removed.
Some exploration (done by a colleague, since I was scared of breaking things) revealed that the volume thumbwheel could be turned if you jam your fingernail into one of the ridges and force it round. I'm reluctant to do this much, since it does involve excessive force, and I don't want the damn thing to come off again. Particularly not when the laptop is nearly out of warranty now.
Another phone call to Evesham. The guy on the other end didn't seem all that surprised, or sorry. But my laptop will be picked up again tomorrow, and put on some sort of "priority" ticket in the hopes it won't be so long this time.
Current opinion of Evesham: really quite bad
Current plan: get my laptop back in a working condition, then play hell with their customer services department.
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Eep! Please tell me you'd copied it all beforehand! Otherwise I shan't be able to sleep tonight!
I really should do a back-up of the-book-of-my-thesis, actually...
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But I still think it's shoddy of them not to warn people it's a risk.
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Good god, that's appalling. The whole "we've wiped your machine" is almost to be expected, but they should have warned you that they might do so.
But saying 7-10 days, when the actuallity is 7-10 weeks is absolutely awful.
When I sent mine back to Acer, for USB problems, they had it back to me inside 2 weeks. And there was a new keyboard fault. So I returned it the same day, and they had it back to me within a week. This is abysmal.
I'd be tempted to see exactly what you can claim on their insurance (since they brought it up!)
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But, but WHY? Techs making work for themselves?!! Were they bored?
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Actually - the people on the phone said they were replacing the motherboard. The actual chit in with the latop said it had been repaired which is not the same thing. I could understand needing a BIOS update if the motherboard was replaced. Less convinced about the rest though.
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Essentially, re-ran the installation software, possibly using more up-to-date versions than you previously had installed (and bringing the versions up is a good idea if you're as crap at doing so as most windows-at-home users).
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Or, used an imaging tool like Ghost to lay down the factory default configuration with Windows, Device Drivers, and software pre-configured.
Which is a standard step to overcome OS problems... BUT NOT a standard step to fix a mechanical problem.
either it is part of a horribly inefficient SOP, or perhaps they don't even repair "your" laptop... they just intend to replace any laptop with any problems with a reconditioned unit (the availability of which might be effecting your "repair" time).... Anything about the Case that let's you know it's your original?
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Which probably doesn't bring the versions up to date, thus negating the possible advantage highlighted by
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Novell Zenworks for instance, lets you edit the registry of the image as it lays on your storage device. It also provides for a concept called an "add on image".
You put your OS, Device Drivers, and Stock applications on the main image, with a registry queue to run whatever happens to appear in directory XYZ.
then you have an add on image that is a compilation of all the most recent patches, security fixes, etc. It lays this down in directory XYZ.
So, on first reboot after imaging, all the updates are automatically applied. You can easily change, replace, and update the small add on image. It's hardware independent, so you don't necessarily need one such add on for each hardware set, just for each OS.
Do most companies do this?
... Of course not.
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PC check M/B, MEM, CPU - PASSED. BSOD appears to be SW related.
Does anyone have any idea what a SW is ?
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We checked a bunch of obvious hardware possibilites, and din't find a problem. Not having found a hardware problem we have to assume that the crashes (Blue Screen of Death) is SoftWare related.
i.e. not bad ram or CPU, or Motherboard... but something cockeyed about windows... thus the need to re-image.
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(Apologies if this comment arrives twice, am trying to work out whether my webmail supports reply-by-mail)
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In fairness to Evesham, it's not quite as daft as that.
Once the volume wheel had come unsoldered from motherboard, and was hanging about inside the case, I did start seeing random crashes and other weird behaviour. I was thinking that it was just because something had left loose contacts on the board which were fritzing and generally acting mad.
I did put a written description of the problems in with my laptop, including this, so they may have decided to do all this as a precautionary measure. Can't blame them for thoroughness, really.
Anything about the Case that let's you know it's your original?
Yup, it is. The stickers are all peeling off in the same way, and there's a couple of scratches I recognise. Oh, and it's got my name and address on it, too :)
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I'm currently boycotting Evesham for spamming. Your tales of woe make this easier.
However, this does leave me with the slight problem that I'm vaguely looking at getting a new PC somewhat soon, and there seem to be very few decent system builders left. About the only two I've found are Mesh and Alienware.
Does anyone have any other suggestions?
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Dell are just about OK (and are one I might have to consider in a pinch), but historically at least have tended to use non-standard parts (like power supplies) which can make upgrading awkward. They also are a bit limited in the configurations they offer, for instance they usually are Intel only.
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Hmm, I had previously rejected them as their systems didn't look very customisable. However, on closer inspection they are not as bad as I had initially thought. I'll have to look into them further.
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Yeah, they are clearly overpriced. That is the main reason I was asking for recommendations, as otherwise I would just buy from Alienware and be done with it. :)
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It's a shame though: the actual machine itself is rather nice. Though clearly the support sucks ;)
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(Sure, there might be some unforseen incompatability somewhere, but it's not a proper Windows install without at least one inexplicable glitch! :)
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It's just that I now feel I've had quite enough of odd hardware incompatibilities (see my old lj entry about the mysteriously failing memory). Thus, if I can find a company that will build a system with the parts I want then I can let them do the integration.
I think I should post an entry in my LJ about this rather than taking up more space in
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Nah, all these comments make me look dead popular :)
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Order a bunch a parts and throw them together yourself!!
though, typically I start with a bare bones case / MB / processor combo.
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www.ebuyer.co.uk is a supplier I recommend if ever you go this route.
I have just built a couple of no-frills machines (XP2400 CPU, 256MB memory, DVD-ROM drive, 80GB hard drives) for just over £400 inc VAT each - which included TFT monitors and Windows XP licences. You could do it for £300 if you substitute a CRT monitor, and less than £250 if you also transfer an existing Windows licence.