The agony...

[mix-hyenataur.livejournal.com]

I want to cry for my recently deceased laptop.

I bought it used a year ago, then the power/speaker cable went out. Meh, I thought, since I never used either. HP had another button that turned it on as well, and i used headphones. (Everyone was charging $40 for a ribbon cable. Screw it)

Eventually I got fed up with partitions screwing with me, and when i got it back from my friend who had to unlock it for me and back up my data, I sold it.

A week later, I got this call from the buyer.

It's broken.
What is?
The laptop.
Uh... what's wrong?
It's missing USB drivers.
How?! I mean... uh... they all were working when I was there, showing it to you with my flash drive.
Well, I was trying to hook up my printer, and it showed in Device Manager that it couldnt be found.
Oh, so just install the printer drivers, duh.
Well, I installed the software, but it didnt work.
No, just find the drivers from google and inst...
*ignoring me* Well, now it won't reboot.
Wha? Why?
Because I reinstalled the OS.
Wait... you reinstalled the OS because you couldnt find drivers for your printer?
Yes. I used a Dell CD. (on the HP) It got up halfway (prolly to the serial #) and stopped.
...this is stupid.
Can you come fix it?
First off, you gave me $50 less than your offer, now you want a OS install? No.

...then i spent 10 mins battling it out because he thought i wanted him to install ME, not XP, instead of what I was saying MCE, since it had a key for it.

I told him I wasn't going to help him, and that I felt sorry for my laptop, and hung up.

Comments

[soldierx.livejournal.com]

Oh dear god that is too funny. Been there far too many times.

[jecook]

Did the sale have any clauses or mutual agreements that you would provide post sale support?

If not, your legal answer is "wow, sucks to be you." ;)

[lihan161051.livejournal.com]

I suppose someday i might sell one of my lesser-used machines, to help pay for a cheap box I can run Linux on.

But is it wrong to gleefully anticipate getting a call like this, when I can finally be totally, brutally honest with the idiot calling me for support when someone *isn't* monitoring my call waiting for an excuse to tell me to be nice? I agree with the previous commenter, "sucks to be you" practically leaps out of its chair shouting "ME!! MEEE!!" to be the first phrase out of my mouth. (Especially since the fine print will basically say that the buyer is buying as is, and the machine isn't even warranted to be fit for any particular purpose, even as a boat anchor/paperweight. Which is pretty much what must be done these days when selling a used machine.)

These kinds of calls are almost as much fun as the people who use the pirated software they find on machines they buy used (that the previous owner forgot to remove before selling the thing), and then throw a tantrum when they end up having to reinstall the software for whatever reason, and of course don't have the original install discs or serial numbers. When they call the manufacturer of the computer demanding reimbursement and threatening legal action when their "business critical" workflows depend on that software they lost, that gets even funnier. (It's a CLM, however, to laugh out loud when talking to such a customer..)

[lihan161051.livejournal.com]

(Never mind that he's supposed to have his own Windows disc and serial to *legally* be using Windows according to the EULA, and if he's trying to install from a different machine's OEM CD, he is even *farther* SOL than he would be otherwise..)

[ravenofdreams.livejournal.com]

This is why I almost never sell my old computers. I just feel too bad about putting my faithful machines in the hands of people like that....

[preserver3.livejournal.com]

I always knew there was a reason I shouldn't show a n00b how to reinstall their operating system...

Here is the allegorical evidence.

[sigurther.livejournal.com]

When doing work for friends/family and giving away old computers, I run by the philosophy of "It works now, so whatever you do once I leave the house is your responsibility."

Alternatively, the fact that some people just can't accept this is the reason I quit fixing computers on the side.

"Okay, computer's fixed, everything's running. Do whatever it is you normally do so we can both see that it works."
*does*
"Very good, taking my payment and have a nice day!"
*several days to a week passes*
"I did X and now Y Z and Tau aren't working!"
"..."
"You need to come fix this since you were the last person who touched this computer and are thus responsible for every problem that ever happens to it again for all eternity!!!!"
"..."
Rinse, repeat, two to n times.
*changes phone number*

[mix-hyenataur.livejournal.com]

I did a tech job recently, and i keep getting called about how their internet is now being slow and shitty, and how it wont pull up some of her web pages at work.

Low and behold she's using IE8

When I exclaimly ask her "Why?!" when she has firefox open as well, she tells me that her friend asked her to install it to see something cool.

When I ask if I can at least roll back to IE7, since her websites clearly state that they can't work with 8, she says she doesn't want to. Really now, what does IE8 have to offer that's so important? It's still in Beta!

I just got bitched out by her boss last night, in a tone of "We don't want you here" because "Her internet is slow, but mine is fine". I tried explaining it to him again, that she is only having problems using IE8 but has no problems using Firefox, and that he is using IE7.

Damn them.

Damn them all to hell.

[sigurther.livejournal.com]

It's hilarious you should mention that. I was going to relate a similar story, but felt that it was superfluous. Glad I'm not the only one who's been through this. I've been using Firefox for so long, I didn't even realize IE was up to 8.

"Firefox is smaller, quicker, and protects against popups!"
"But I like Explooooorrerrrrr! And My daughter doesn't want to
learn how to use a new browser!"
"..." *dies a little inside*

So, if your daughter had a fucking 92 Kia, and I offered her a 2008 Mclaren F1, she wouldn't want it because she'd have to learn to use stick over automatic?

[mix-hyenataur.livejournal.com]

I know people who quote "don't want to learn automatic over stick!"

Well fuck, my world just died.

[mix-hyenataur.livejournal.com]

the only reason i stopped using FF, was because it kept lagging when i saved files