Thanks for voting!This is Alison’s 4th post in our Customer Blogger series. Read her previous post here.
Back in 2007, the laptop I had from college died. The screen went out, although the rest of the computer was fine. At that point, replacing the screen would cost more than simply buying a new computer. I tried to be resourceful by connecting the laptop to a monitor—it worked okay, but it was not, of course, very mobile or convenient.
This was an issue. I am trying to get published and make my living as a writer. To squeeze in writing time, I took my laptop with me to write on breaks and over lunch. Needless to say, it is incredibly difficult to tote around a desktop computer.
So, a laptop was needed.
I waited until tax return time and when I got my money back from Uncle Sam, Bear and I headed out to the local electronics mega-mart to find a good deal. There was a laptop that had the kind of memory and storage that I wanted at the price that was just right. Bear (who knows much, much more than I do about computers) determined that it would meet my word processing and internet surfing needs, so we bought it.
I paid for the super mega warranty because it covered spills, drops, etc. I am not the most, shall we say, graceful of people to walk this earth, so this seemed like a wise investment.
We paid cash for the computer and walked out with the certainty that even if Harvey knocked over a glass of water on it (as he did with another computer back in the day—an incident that we do not talk about in my household if I want Harvey to survive the day) we would be good.
Now, this computer came with Windows Vista. Not to get into that debate, but the computer barely has enough power to run the program. It is slow. It has to think a lot. Sometimes Word freezes. Sometimes Firefox freezes. iTunes kind of hates my computer, and the computer hates it back. It’s annoying, but I’ve gotten used to it.
Bear DESPISES it.
The other problem is that the plug to the stupid thing is poorly designed. The original plug stopped working about a year in. The replacement plug lasted two weeks and had to be replaced again. All in all, I replaced the plug five times.
FIVE TIMES.
It got close to the end of the warranty and I could tell that the plug was going again. So I called.
The warranty ran out six days before.
Oops.
I asked if there was anything they could do. The new plug was less than a year old—didn’t it have its own warranty? Nope. Turns out they were only supposed to replace the plug once over the life of the computer, thus I had gotten special treatment already. There was nothing, the customer service rep told me, he could do. I could re-up my warranty for almost $300 (which could buy me a new Netbook, btw) or I could buy a replacement cord for $80.
That’s right, folks. The cord costs $80.
I took a few minutes to throw a pity party for myself, during which I wrote a letter to the electronics store CEO regarding his customer service policies. Then I decided to look for alternate ways to get a power cord.
Amazon.com was my savior. I was able to find a plug specifically for my computer, not a generic multi-purpose cord like the store offered, AND I was able to find it for $7.49.
Yep. $7.49. Less than one-tenth of the mega-store cost.
AND if we ordered $25 or more, we got free shipping. Bear told me to order four. So, in the end, I paid roughly $30 for four cords.
Man, I love the internet.
The lesson here? You need to search. This is not Tombstone, AZ, circa 1870. We have more than just the general store and shipping is faster than the Pony Express. You can find just about anything you want on the internet and if you look hard enough, you can find it for close to the price that you want.
If you don’t know how to scour the internet for deals, find the nearest 12-year-old and ask him or her to help you out. There are 3-year-olds who can work an iPad. Don’t underestimate the munchkins.
I could have chosen to buy a different laptop but I didn’t. Because of that choice I had to deal with replacement parts, extremely specific warranties and bad customer service. But because there are so many choices out there, I was able to find a better way to solve my problem, and my wallet thanks me for that.
Tags: Alison, Customer Bloggers
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The internet can really be a life saver! I’m glad your story had a happy ending. Your computer seems to be a lemon! Did you receive a reply from the company? Good luck with your writing!
@Esther - I think the computer is riding the edge of lemon territory. It works, just not as well as it could or should. The plug part- that I would consider a lemon.
I did receive a reply from the company. They apologized for my “bad customer experience” and sent me a $25 gift card towards the purchase of a new power cord. The fact the the power cord costs $80 through them made the gesture feel kind of… empty even though I could see that they were trying to keep my business without making any exceptions to their policies. They **have** lost my business- this was just the last straw on a very large pile- so we spent the card on a new flash drive for Bear and a new pair of headphones for me and declared them the last purchases we would ever make there.
Thanks for the good wishes re: writing. I’ve been in a bit of a funk lately and haven’t got the words on the page as often as I should have but I’m working on changing that.
Thanks again for your comments!
NEVER buy cords at major retailors! It’s always a rip off. When looking for a good HDMI cable to connect my TV to my computer the large chains had them for $40-80 dollars! Cost online? $3.49
I’m with you I LOVE the internet for shopping. I just spend the last hour buying 6 birthday gifts. Do you know how much time that would have taken had I went shopping at the mall? Not to mention having to go out in 90+ degree weather and use gas to drive there.
Great save Alison!
Get a copy of Ubuntu (www.ubuntu.com) or another linux os… it will run much much faster and you will not have all the problems. Trust me, its easy to use.
I bought a brand-new, somewhat state-of-the-art computer one time in my life (about 10 years ago), and soon regretted it because it depreciated in value and capability faster than a new car.
For me, it works to buy “last year’s model” new or used from an independent computer dealer. However, I know that some “techies” discourage buying used, and that some people’s work requires the latest processor speed and supersized RAM.
If you’re comfortable buying used and don’t need state of the art for your home office, you will save money and help prevent e-waste.
@Steve - That is a lesson that I have now learned and won’t soon forget! I find myself going to the internet more and more, simply because of all the options to choose from.
@Nancy - I know, right? Shopping online is so fantastic because you can do it in your jammies AND they send everything to you, sometimes it’s even already wrapped! Yes, there can be a cost for shipping but I have to say, the time and gas saved by not having to drive around more than makes up for it. Also, I don’t know about you, but dealing with all the people at the mall or the big box stories just grates on me- I’m an anti-social shopper.
@Brian - Thanks for the links, Brian. My only concern is this- I love the Microsoft Office Suite and haven’t found any open source software that I felt as comfortable working with. Do you have any suggestions for programs that would world with the two operating systems that you rec’d?
@acanthus - I’m torn on the buying used idea. My mother just had an issue with a virus that had so infected and damaged her computer that she needed to replace the entire hard drive. Now, I’m not saying that this is true about all sellers of used items but I have had bad luck with used equipment in the past and I would hate to spend any money on something that could end up having a similar issue that my mom’s computer had.
Plus buying used tends to not have the kind of protection plans available that buying new offers- as much as I think that warranty plans can be a scam, I know that I have had some good experiences with them. The laptop in question needed a motherboard replacement at one point and it would have been stupidly expensive had I not had the super duper warranty.
I’ll keep this in mind, though. My past experience has taught me that I can’t plan for computer disasters. Thanks for the suggestion!
I’m glad everything worked out for you! Customer service reps can be a pain to deal with but you found an alternative that saved you time and money. Kudos to you!
Good job. I have five thoughts that you may enjoy.
I buy everything, >everything<, with a credit card that doubles the warranty for free, up to a maximum of one additional year, but never for more than 6 years total. Never pay cash for warranty things.
Pay off the card at each month. I NEVER carry a balance at those loan shark rates they charge, but I get the free warranty extension. LOTS of my toys have died right after the factory warrant expires. Funny coincidence, huh.
I used to buy all rebuilt car parts and never or very seldom had any troubles at all. Saved a ton of money.
And I bought my first computer as a Factory Reconditioned Laptop/Lemon. It had an intermittent problem that I lost about 2 months of my life out of the next 4 proving that it was not MY errors, but the laptop. They took it back many times and once they had it in their shop for 3 weeks.
They finally escalated me to a “Senior Level Support Guy” within a week or two, he gave me a brand new, virgin, newer model, fancier computer in exchange for my lemon. But, I got to keep the grey hair given me by the Lemon. As a result of that one, but very long and painful experiment, I am afraid of reconditioned electronics, especially laptop computers.
My last set of laptops. (I always buy 2, because I travel to remote places and you must have a computer to troubleshoot a computer.) My last set was from a major brand that used to have a perfect reputation, but they were both trouble every few months. That whole model line was bad. Over the 5 years I had them. (They were state of the art when new and still better that nearly any when I usually replace at 3 years.)
But during those 5 years with two computers, I had (under warranty, but a hassle) 3 LCD replacements, 3 motherboards, 3 video cards, 3 broken hinges, bad keyboards, and lots more hassles. The reviews of their new laptops are that they are also unreliable, so I will not buy a laptop form them until I hear good stuff for 3 years.
Do some homework on reputation and then pray. Nothing is certain, but some companies are just not making good choices on quality.
The ‘World As You Know It’ will come to an end tomorrow.
It always has, especially in the last 50 years. Things change, 8 track tapes, brick cell phones, wonderful computer companies come and go. Keep your ear to ground. No, make that keep your ear to the Internet, but any 12 year old nut case can make a good web site. So, expect the unexpected. Do the best you can and improvise the rest.
@Ernest – Thanks so much!
@David and Janet – I hear what you’re saying about the credit cards. I’m familiar with the various additional protections that you get when purchasing with them. I just have a problem controlling my credit card spending. I always say that I will pay it off right away and then something comes up and I don’t.
Now, when I buy my next new computer, I will use a credit card for exactly the reasons that you specified but I will have to be completely prepared to make the credit card payment the second the transaction clears. If that won’t be possible, then I won’t be making the purchase.
I worry about the lemon factor when buy used computers. I have had enough issues with brand new computers that I would hate to risk even more issues with used.
I try to stay flexible and I try to keep an eye out for new technology. I’m like most people and I don’t like change but I think we’re in an interesting place right now where a lot of the change is simply fine tuning the tech that we already have available. Many older (and by that, I mean 3-5 years old) computers can still function on the web. As long as my laptop can run youtube, hulu and iTunes, I’m all set.
But I am starting to make my wishlist for a new computer- what I would have if I could afford anything. Once we get out of this unemployment mess, I’m gonna start saving for something new and shiny.
Thanks for all the advice- I appreciate it!