Enough already with the computers!

United States
February 27, 2012 6:30am CST
First, my desktop began to freeze or fall behind when I tried to type my stories. "That's okay," says I, "for there is a laptop to fill in the gaps." Eventually, the desktop went to a tech for repair. In a short time, he announced, "Madam, it's no use. This machine cannot be resusitated. I shall attempt to save what information possible. Be aware, there are no guarantees." He did manage to save my work and for that I am forever grateful. Looking under techies that sell computers, I found a company highly recommended by several people for their reworked units. After several days, I opted for a cpu without screen. Surprised at the high cost for a reworked machine, I found it to be in line with stores offering reworked ones. The order was placed. Meanwhile, back at my desk, the laptop began to lag, longer and longer. I tried clearing old files, getting rid of cookies, history, etc., with no luck whatsoever. By now, I was frantic. If I cannot write for several days in a row, it's most difficult to get back into the rhythm. At the last moment of liveliness for the laptop, the new desktop arrived. Hallelujah! My writing was saved! Except, right off the bat, I discovered there was no word processing program included in this computer. Strike One. Trying to add a program was blocked by some malfunction in the system. Strike Two. It seemed to be good for little more than game playing. Strike Three. Even playing games, it blacked out for long seconds. Strike Four and that was three more than I usually gave. I wrote to the company telling them of the problems. Immediately, they sent me an RMA (Returned Materials Authorization)and a label paying for the return of the machine to them. I cheered and swore this must be a heavenly company. Off went the machine...a $268 disaster to be repaired or replaced...or so I thought. My laptop, had been looked at by my son. How he did it I do not know, but he brought the little darling back to life. No hesitations, no lags, just wondrous holding of my work. Give me another Hallelujah! A note arrived from the desktop company. Congratulations, we are refunding your payment of $139 as the machine can not be repaired. Huh? $139? What happened to the $268? I called them. "You didn't return the 24" screen," says they. "I didn't order a 24" screen. I ordered the cpu," says I. "Well, our records show you got the screen, too." says they. "I didn't need a screen. I have a perfectly good one; that's why I ordered only the cpu," insists I. I pull up the records on their site. Sure enough they have decided I ordered and got a 24" screen, except no such screen ever arrived. After much arguing, and their insisting they would pay if I put in a police report, which I refused to do because I am always home when packages arrive and the nice delivery man knocks on our door to hand them to me. I also live way off any main thoroughfare, so it is highly unlikely that a passerby grabbed it and ran, even if I should not happen to be home. Lesson learned. When a package arrives, look at the delivery slip to see what you REALLY are supposed to receive. Insist that you sign for any package - which was not the case here. Not expecting but one package, I had no reason to look for a second one, but that does nothing to solve the problem. So, I lost a screen I never received, half the money I paid initially to the company, and there was no attempt to repair the unit they shipped to me in the first place. Never will I buy reworked equipment again. This was the second time and the second time burned. The first time was a small television for the bedroom that ended up breaking in every few minutes to tell me the show was blocked for various ages. That vendor refused outright to take it back. Twice burned, many times shy, I say. What has been your experience with reworked equipment orders. Have they worked for you? Did they have problems?
4 responses
28 Feb 12
Computers and any technology can be a difficult experience for anyone. It's frustrating for even someone who knows enough to really work with a computer to not be able to do something because of hardware or OS problems. If you really want fast, I would boot linux (Probably Linux Mint 12, it's one of the easiest to use). It uses much less memory than windows/mac OS, but in turn is a bit harder to use (Get used to using ctrl + alt + t). If you are looking for a good computer and not getting ripped off by companies who ship you screens that you don't need, take a stab at building your own. I had the worst laptop I've ever seen in my life. Single Core, outdated model that I got on sale at best buy because they were discontinuing it. It was terrible slow, and didn't have enough memory to do many of the basic functions (Mainly Programming, web-surfing, and gaming) that I needed it for. I spent $600 of my christmas money on a new tower, motherboard, memory, and I/O devices (Keyboard, Mice, MIDI stuff), and built the best computer I've ever seen. If it was sold at a retail store, it would be worth well over $2000 dollars. Sure it was a lot of work, but in the end I got more than what I paid for, and it did _Exactly_ what I wanted it to do. :)
• United States
28 Feb 12
Thank you for a great idea. Unfortunately, most money these days is going to pay for doctors, hospitals, and medications for my husband. But I see no reason why I can't buy a piece or two at a time and eventually have enough to build something that might work. Hugs, Maggie
29 Feb 12
If you even needed $600, I would be surprised. For simply writing and fast internet speed, you would only need about $200-$300. Several of my friends built almost the same computer I did (all at the same time, was kind of a group project :P), we all spent around $600-$700, and at the end of those few weeks we all add top of the line gaming desktop comupters. But if you did want to buy it a piece at a time, that's the nice thing about desktops: You can take them apart and switch pieces really easily.
• India
28 Feb 12
Hello friend! Its really horrible. Actual i never facing any problem like that.
• United States
28 Feb 12
Not everyone can be as 'lucky' as me. lol. Thank you, sourabharoy1992, for taking part in this conversation. Hugs, Maggie
@erjnsimon (1191)
• Makati, Philippines
27 Feb 12
just to suggest, you must change your sytem unit. Buying another one is better than upgrading its parts . . . Sometimes, when the computer hangs/freeze, it must be check up for damage. And also try to avoid opening many applications at the same time.
• United States
27 Feb 12
Thank you, erjnsimon, for some excellent advice. I am now saving for a new system that, with any luck, will last three or four years. Hugs, Maggie
• United States
28 Feb 12
My wife took her laptop to Best Buy's Geek Squad(FYI, they are completely and utterly moronic and useless) because she had a warranty from them due to her father buying it there. She took it there because it alerted her that failure of her hard drive is imminent. She walks up to the counter they ask her what her problem is she tells them and they asked her how do you know this. Eventually they take it for repairs and do absolutely nothing to fix it but upgrade her memory. For some reason when they tried to restore the OS with the recovery disk they claim it had errors and couldn't do anything else. My wife wasted a whole month of time without her laptop just to end up sending it to HP and letting them do it she just had to pay for the cost of expedited shipping. Best Buy is a terrible store avoid them like a plague.
• United States
28 Feb 12
How terrible! I often wonder if anyone tests these folks to see if they know a hard drive from software. I have a feeling they don't and that's why the work is often sub par. Hugs, Maggie