Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
I've posted before that I had a good experience with getting support from Gateway.
My Gateway Laptop - one that I use pretty much exclusively for running projectors in classrooms and reading comics I've downloaded (one of the few good applications for a 16:9 display!) has had minor display issues.
I had a couple issues that I *thought* might've been Vista-related, times when the lamp on the screen just did not come on. The only times I saw them were under Vista, so I thought it was something wonky with the OS.
About a month ago I started seeing regular "strobing" on the display, regardless of OS, and a couple more bouts of "no picture."
Last Friday I finally decided I wanted to send it back. It had become annoying.
So I hopped into their online support center, a java-based IM-application.
I had to confirm my name, address and the serial number of the laptop four times, but my support request of "My screen flickers a lot and sometimes doesn't come on. I would like an RMA." eventually got to the right support area and led, with almost no troubleshooting, to an RMA. Took about 15 minutes; other than an accidental (I think) transfer to a desktop display support guy, it was pretty hassle-free.
And they shipped me a shipping container that arrived this morning.
Spiffy.
My other recent laptop adventure: Trying to buy five Latitude notebooks from Dell Small Business, over the phone. I was helping a decidedly non-technical person named Rifzal (a Bangladeshi immigrant) get his new business started. Rifzal saw there was a 0%-for-two-years financing offer on Dell's web site, which was how the adventure started. Call this toll-free number to apply for financing. So we called.
Except, no one at Dell knew what we were talking about. And ironically, all the Dell salesdroids were Americans, so I had the sheer, hilarious joy of listening to the Dell phone reps pass Rifzal around like a hot potato because they couldn't understand his accent.
Between Rifzal and myself, we spent over four man-hours on the phone trying to find out how to get Dell's 0% finanancing. Eventually, I did speak to someone who indicated that the qualifications for it included at least three years in business, but my communications included reciting the specific URL for the financing offer to at least nine other people, let alone what poor Rifzal was doing.
We then found out that, over the time we spent, the price on the notebook we wanted had changed.
After that, we spent another hour trying to recreate the precise pricing we'd had before, from Dell's web site. Even with an "E-value code", it simply was not possible to get within $150 of what we'd seen before.
In the end, we decided to buy five HP business notebooks instead.
My Gateway Laptop - one that I use pretty much exclusively for running projectors in classrooms and reading comics I've downloaded (one of the few good applications for a 16:9 display!) has had minor display issues.
I had a couple issues that I *thought* might've been Vista-related, times when the lamp on the screen just did not come on. The only times I saw them were under Vista, so I thought it was something wonky with the OS.
About a month ago I started seeing regular "strobing" on the display, regardless of OS, and a couple more bouts of "no picture."
Last Friday I finally decided I wanted to send it back. It had become annoying.
So I hopped into their online support center, a java-based IM-application.
I had to confirm my name, address and the serial number of the laptop four times, but my support request of "My screen flickers a lot and sometimes doesn't come on. I would like an RMA." eventually got to the right support area and led, with almost no troubleshooting, to an RMA. Took about 15 minutes; other than an accidental (I think) transfer to a desktop display support guy, it was pretty hassle-free.
And they shipped me a shipping container that arrived this morning.
Spiffy.
My other recent laptop adventure: Trying to buy five Latitude notebooks from Dell Small Business, over the phone. I was helping a decidedly non-technical person named Rifzal (a Bangladeshi immigrant) get his new business started. Rifzal saw there was a 0%-for-two-years financing offer on Dell's web site, which was how the adventure started. Call this toll-free number to apply for financing. So we called.
Except, no one at Dell knew what we were talking about. And ironically, all the Dell salesdroids were Americans, so I had the sheer, hilarious joy of listening to the Dell phone reps pass Rifzal around like a hot potato because they couldn't understand his accent.
Between Rifzal and myself, we spent over four man-hours on the phone trying to find out how to get Dell's 0% finanancing. Eventually, I did speak to someone who indicated that the qualifications for it included at least three years in business, but my communications included reciting the specific URL for the financing offer to at least nine other people, let alone what poor Rifzal was doing.
We then found out that, over the time we spent, the price on the notebook we wanted had changed.
After that, we spent another hour trying to recreate the precise pricing we'd had before, from Dell's web site. Even with an "E-value code", it simply was not possible to get within $150 of what we'd seen before.
In the end, we decided to buy five HP business notebooks instead.
wneddnce: 
