:: anne in the attic ::

Create Your Own Countdown

:: Sunday, September 30, 2007 ::

So I was browsing Dell's website today, trolling for laptops, as I'm sort of in the market for one. I was checking out their new Vostro, and was configuring one with my specs to see if the power I needed for film editing could come in under my budget. [Very close, and you can still get the Vostro with the XP OS, which is important.] When I hit tech support, which has reached scandalous proportions in the pay-for-services commodities, I laughed out loud when I read the "Dell Recommended" level of tech support. Click on the photo to enlarge it.

Okay, so, A: WTF? The "Gold" level of support is "North American-based"...?!! So that means all you dumb slobs who cheap out at the silver level [or less] get to talk to some bastard in India who barely speaks English and just wants to hang up on you? No, get the "Gold" support so you can talk to some bastard in North America who barely speaks English and just wants to steal your bandwidth! Hilarious. Oh yeah, and "fast access to advanced technicians," as opposed to what? The snail-paced access to moronic technicians we're used to? What a deal!

And [in the tradition of the Car Talk guys], 2: When did initial [say, 30-days initial set-up and basic troubleshooting] support become an extra? Dell really has hit rock-bottom in the service department. I remember talking to the guy who was tricking out my specs for the studio XPS desktop [just in under $3,000]-- he didn't seem to give a shit, assumed I knew nothing about what I wanted my computer for, and was quite rude about it. Oh, and he got it wrong, overcharged me... long story, another day, but in the end I had to replace a component and I never got my $250 rebate, either. Evil advertising. But I have my machine, and although it has a ghost or two, it functions pretty much spot-on, considering how much I ask of it. But back to support. I didn't get any. I called twice [and after navigating the auto-menus and asking a couple of config questions, got put on hold for 20 minutes or so each time, after the tech says in that deadpan thousand-yard voice that really is rhetorical anyway-- "Can I put you on hold" and before you can answer "ye--" there's music piping into your ear], went online [where they send you an automated email response from a menu of things that are close-but-no-cigar], and finally rendered myself enough of a solution to live with what I had going on or fix it later through research. I guess that's what they hope for anyway-- somebody who is resourceful enough not to bug them about anything. They ship you a hunk of metal and plastic, they get your money, and it's sayonara, sister.

So this truth in advertising made me laugh sardonically and I had to share the irony. It's just been that kind of a week. I've been laying low, getting a lot of small projects done. I miss Demonoid for now, but I have enough to do without them as a temptation, and I'm sure they'll be back soon [here's hoping]. Dad and his wife are headed up from California for a visit the end of this week, and I've done a lot of tidying [moving piles, filing records, categorizing CDs & DVDs,... folding laundry!!]. Work is really picking up-- October is one of our heaviest times. And the rain is back-- the 5-day forecast says all week. Good times.

:: Anne 5:25 PM [smartass remarks] ::
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