Tech Support HELL

I think youre confused. We techs are allowed to bitch about lesser techs, you know.

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I am confused about why it is necessary to mail your laptop in for something as simple as getting a new battery to begin with.

;)

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spooforbrains.livejournal.com

Why did the laptop need to go back anyway? Why couldn't they just ... oh, I dunno, replace the /battery/?

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tpajaz.livejournal.com

Which is precisely what I just did.

I am confused, but only by your reply.

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They did. But I dont think she sent it "back" so much as to a service centre staffed by idiots who maintain a "we will wipe your shit LOL" policy for no good reason.

Id heard of these centres before, but Id thought theyd all died out by now.

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she is a user. *shrugs*

Maybe it was one of those recall jobs? Im not really sure.

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dreamatdrew

WTF?
Send laptop in.... to replace a battery?
WTFeth, I say?

Please tell me it was a CMOS battery, and not, ya know, the battery that AT MOST takes a screwdriver for a single obvious screw and a finger to release?

Dammit, now I have a headache....

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I assume so. That, or it was a warranty thing on the normal battery and the service centre were dicks. She didnt ask me before she did it!

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laptop-mechanic.livejournal.com

Maybe they found a problem with the HDD while it was in for service? But if they wiped it, then they should have put the default loadout back on it. Sending it back empty was dumb.

But yeah, when we send in machines to the depot we get told the same thing. Which is why we try to do everything we can in house.

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o ic wut u did thir

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Guessing it was the internal battery. Which can be a bitch to get to if you aren't familiar. Most Powerbooks and all Macbooks have an internal standby battery that is great because you can change main batteries and not shut down even if you aren't connected to AC. I'd have to follow a schematic to do that one.

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nem0.livejournal.com

I don't give props to Dell, like, ever, but after they sent a lemon of a laptop, their depot return instructions included, "DO NOT SEND YOUR HARD DRIVE. REMOVE IT, OR WE MIGHT DO SOMETHING STUPID, LIKE NUKE IT FROM ORBIT. WE CAN DO THAT, YOU KNOW." Good on them.

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I am becoming more and more enamoured of Dell. Their monitors, for example, are incredible.

This, unfortunately, was an Acer.

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Ah that would make sense, and be very much like Apple to do that (I grew up with a mac, I love them, but they haven't put out any decent hardware for me to justify getting one for myself for years).

;)

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Ah, there goes the Macintosh theory.
Dell were the first to come out with a 1600x1200 resolution laptop screen. And I used mine until I had to take the thing apart every single day and put it back together to work, but that was the work an inexperienced monkey with a screwdriver could do in 30 minutes. Why oh why did they discontinue it?

;)

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http://users.livejournal.com/hub_/

Even the idiots as IBM / Thinkpad / Lenovo didn't need that. Ok it took them 6 week to replace a *DEAD* battery (so dead that unplugging the laptop switched it off).

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Eh, I have a G4 Powerbook that serves me well. It's actually my primary computer despite its age and having much faster desktops. I just like using it better. I think function follows form when it comes to actually using technology, and they don't do it that bad.

Besides, I can always remote into the desktops. :)

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Its ri-goddamned-diculous, is what it is.

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ravenofdreams.livejournal.com

Laptop repair centers are inexplicable. Don't even get me started on my six-month fight with Dell to try and get a HD replaced. (At one point, they sent it back to me having replaced every part BUT the failing HD.)
This is why I work happily for a little company now. Data loss incidents in last year: 0.

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canray.livejournal.com

Are you kidding?

COCKROACHES will be removed from the face of the Earth before those places are!

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ravenofdreams.livejournal.com

LOVE your icon! LOVE!

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canray.livejournal.com

Because an inexperienced monkey with a screwdriver could do it.

You can't make money on service calls that way, now, can you?

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Thanks! I made it myself - it's stealable with credit.

;)

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I thought it was mostly the phone companies that made money from that.

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kenbrody.livejournal.com

"SOP".

We had that happen with my wife's laptop (we fix our own desktop systems, but laptops require special hardware) when the DVD drawer snapped off. Not only did they wipe and reinstall, but they even "helped" up by reconfiguring the system the way they thought we'd want. (New workgroup name, new login name, new network settings, etc. etc. etc.)

All for a simple "replace the DVD".

Of course, they did offer to make a backup for us -- for a fee. (We already had a backup, and it never occurred to us that a DVD replacement would involve an HD wipe.) We figure the wipe-and-reinstall is sort of like a "protection" racket. "If you ever want to see your data again, pay us this exorbitant fee, and we'll 'protect' it."

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curmudgn

Exactly. There's never been a portable CMOS battery made that I really LIKED having to replace. Some models, you've practically got to strip the system to the mobo to get at it. It's no fun for geeks, and no job for end users to attempt at all.

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curmudgn

That wasn't Dell, if so. That was Solectron, about whom I can't think of enough derogatory things to say.

Moral: Buy onsite repair contracts, people! That way the onsite tech is right there in front of you, if you need to stop him from Doing Something Ineffably Stewpud.

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jjjiii

They should make hard drives in laptops hot-pluggable deals that you can remove easily, so that when you have to send them in for repair you can just pop it out and not have to go through that bullshit when they return it to you.

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dreamatdrew

Ya know, kinda the same boat here.
I currently have 3 systems running at Chez Ogre
1) a PB G3 (Bronze) - Secondary fun/Primary GeekWork
2) G3B&W - Primary, lots more HD & Bigger Screen
3) Server-class IBM bigblackboxofdoom - fileserver, a couple games, and video conversion. About the only time it's NOT being used by remote is when the B&W and PB are chugging like mad doing something.

*pets the lappy* must love the olde-skewl macs....

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dreamatdrew

The only time I've seen a CMOS (or equiv) battery in a portable that was easy to replace was the PBG3 line. I'm not completely sure on the WallStreet model, but on Lombard/Pismo, you pop up the KB, yank the right-side bay drive, and oh look, there it is. Screwdriver? We don't need no stinkin screwdriver...

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dreamatdrew

IBM Corp service actually ASKS you if you're going to be sending the HD in if you send a lappy in for repairs (for values of repair that rather obviously do not revolve around the HD). One of the few things IBM ever did to/for me that I appreciated.

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Not all facilities do that. We always used to warn people to back it up, but we always asked if this was a problem if we did it and recorded it in the notes. If it was a problem we could tell the repair center to contact them if a wipe was needed, and the customer could say don't wipe it, send it back to me with that part unrepaired.

GW changes service depots like most people change their shorts, so it's always the smart thing to back it up anyway or pull the drive (I prefer the latter, because service depots seem to think that "Your hard disk drive is for porn...")

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