After the delay for my wife’s new laptop, we received a telephone call from a real, live Dell customer service representative (from “Dell Canada”…weird, that) who called to tell us the laptop would ship the following morning. Okay. That is fine. I feel better in spite of the delay. The laptop is built and will be shipped the next morning.
The next morning (this past Tuesday) my wife checked Dell’s website to find out if the laptop had, indeed, been shipped. Much to her surprise (and chagrin) the laptop was delayed. A note was added to our account informing us that according to FCC guidelines we must called Dell to affirm the order. If we did not, the order must automatically be canceled. I am not sure how a laptop that has already been built (according to the Dell rep who called) and is ready to be shipped is delayed from shipping, so I called Dell’s tech support to ask why.
I was assured the problem was not due to back orders on parts. The rep stopped just short of saying Dell was just slow. (Seriously.) The conversation ended with the rep indicating the laptop was now scheduled to ship on 18 March. Fine. We would have the laptop nearly a month after ordering it, but we would have it.
Later that day my wife discovered that the order had been canceled. The Dell support rep I called told me I canceled the order. I assured him I did not. Too bad, however. A canceled order that is mistakenly canceled (by Dell) cannot be uncanceled.
I bought my wife an HP laptop from Best Buy. It runs Vista.
I just threw up in my mouth a little.
I need to shower.
* * *
God help us, and mea culpa. I keep finding new reminders of how the world makes no sense at all. A part of me wants to blame the attitude of Dell about Linux, which behind the scenes is still rather casual. They don’t admit it, but the net result of their actions seem to point there. How can they keep refusing money for it? Even they know it works better.
Sorry about the Vista. In my new job contracted to the local VA Hospital helping low-vision veterans with computers, we officially refuse to run Vista on anything. My mom IMs me often whining about how Vista on her laptop frustrates her in her business.
— Ed Hurst Mar 13, 09:48 PM #
My wife asked me if I would install Linux on it for her. Sadly, doing so will void the warranty (what, like the hard drive is more likely to fail because of Linux?). After the warranty period, however, Linux. By then the system will probably be so overrun with spyware and viruses that a reinstall is necessary, anyway.
— jtr Mar 14, 02:09 PM #