Life in General!

Bloody Computers!

The Indecisive Eejit55 Comments

Laptop Overload - Smiffer

I got a new computer. I really needed it, mine, bless it’s little cotton socks was starting the slow decline to …… actually it was just slow. It had got to the stage where I had to turn it on (hey big boy, wanna have some fun…) before I went to the shower so it would be alive and kicking by the time I got back. I can’t complain however, we’ve been together just over 6 years and managed fine bar a few little hiccups.

I’ve been looking for ages, but being the indecisive eejit that I am, I never committed to anything, always holding off in case something better came along, which it never did.

Last week I saw that a large retailer of all things technological was having an after Christmas sale which had a PC with the spec I wanted at a fairly decent price. I know at this point you’re (Lee) screaming, why a PC and not a laptop, well that’s a whole other kettle of fish for a different day.

So the Fathership and I headed out on my day off last Tuesday to go and visit said large retailer of all things technological with the intention of purchasing the PC. I’m the brains to operate the machine, the Fathership is the bankroll, it is after all what I use to do his bookwork on, the blogging in between is our little secret ;)

So we walk in and this gentleman comes over and asks what we’re interested in and I point to the PC. He asked me what I’m going to use it for and I felt like telling him it was none of his business, but I said bookwork, surfing the web etc and he then says let me call someone else over. So this wee lad, which is a Northern Irish saying for someone who can’t manage to pull their pants all the way up, comes over and again asks me what I’m going to use it for, to which I repeated my previous answer. He then tells me that I don’t need a computer of that spec and that something less will do. I was getting right royally pissed off at this stage, even more so when he says and you need to get a recovery disc created, it’s usually £60 but we’ll do it for £45, but you’ll have to leave the PC with us and collect it tomorrow. He then continues on about how with Windows 10 it’s changed and it has to be done by specialists etc. I’m thinking I’m pretty sure I know how to do it, but he’s making me doubt myself.

steamgirl

So I asked him, as calmly as I could manage at this point if I could do what was required myself and he informed me that with the introduction of Windows 10 everything was different now and software was needed to extract the information. So I a little less calmly told him that this was something that they should perhaps say on their website as it might have stopped me driving the 25 miles just to find out about this extra cost.

Why was I annoyed, mainly because I had finally made a decision about something and this little dork was trying to talk me out of it. He again mentioned a PC of a lesser spec and said it would do and I said but you don’t have any, they cost the same as this one which is better spec.  I then informed him that he had succeeded in putting me off and that I would have to think about it as I marched off, well as much as my alien leg would allow.

On the way out we were stopped by the original guy who had spoken to us and he asked if we were any further on and I informed him that no we were not, his assistant had only served to put me off my purchase. I mentioned the recovery disc and said I was fairly sure I could manage it myself to which he replied in an extremely arrogant tone well if you think you’re smart enough to do it there is no problem is there, and then to add insult to injury tried to sell me the fecking care plan as well. You have to believe me when I say I am not big on violence, but I wanted to head butt his smug face right at that very second. Instead I left loudly proclaiming that if I was a mystery shopper I would fail this store for losing sales.

I was raging and anyone who knows me will tell you that I am not the best at speaking out in those situations, so that lets you know how bad it must have been.

Fast forward to Sunday and an alternative PC I had been looking at, cheaper and less spec disappeared from the other website I was watching and after assistance from my friends and further negotiation with the Fathership we decided to go and get the damn PC after all. This time however we went to a different store. We walked up to the counter and ordered it, the girl asked if we would like extended warranty to be on the safe side to which we replied no. She went to collect the PC and the Fathership told me to ask her about the recovery disc just out of curiosity. She came back and we paid and as we’re leaving I happened to mention about the recovery disc, no problem she says, when you set up the PC it will give you the option, just put in a memory stick and create one yourself.

We left, I looked at the Fathership and the Fathership looked at me and we both just shrugged our shoulders. He knows nothing about PC’s, but he even he realised that the difference between the two shops was like night and day. Clearly the first one was only concerned about his commission.

Now however a new kind of stress begins as I try to back everything up and swap over. I can’t wait to be able to have more than 3 pages open with music playing in the background, I just can’t be arsed with this middle bit.

With me luck!

55 thoughts on “Bloody Computers!”

  1. Wow, that first store sounds horrid. Or at least the employees were. I would’ve told them where to stick that recovery disc. And Windows 10 is the simplest version of all Windows prior to.

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  2. You may be an indecisive eejit, but your a smart one – I hate stores like the first one you went to. Store like that are the main reason I buy 90% of my technology on line.

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  3. Nothing pisses me off more than knowing that there are moron sales people that take advantage of customers they “think” aren’t worthy of their intelligence or precious time they’ve invested in you rather than sending junk shots on snap chat. I was in retail for several years and never over or under sold a computer to someone. I took the time to answer their questions, explain things they were confused about, and NEVER patronized or condescended to them. Case in point, my parents purchased a new flat screen television and the idiot salesman sold them a $65 Monster HDMI cable when a $10 one would have done the job just fine. I went back to the store, asked to speak to the manager and forced him to take the cable back and give me the $10 one for free. I calmly scolded him for hiring idiot salesman that preyed upon unsuspecting customers because they didn’t know any better. A tip, setup a cloud storage account (OneDrive, Google Drive, etc) and throw everything up from your old machine. Install the same app on the new machine and just let it copy in the background. Depending on how much you have, it shouldn’t take more than a few hours.

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    • Thanks for the tip reference the back up, will remember that. I’m all sorted, had a passport drive, fired everything onto it, just have to back up Office and I’m good to go.
      I agree with your sentiments, they should never assume people know nothing. When I bought my last PC, the same kinda thing happened in believe it or not the same store. Then I had more time to invest in technology and I knew my stuff. The guy asked me if I was taking the piss because I seemed to know more than he did, well doesn’t that just say a lot was my reply…twat!

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    • For the guy with the good retail/respectful customer sense, why recommend a “cloud?” I don’t trust any online storage more than a hard copy in my own user hands. I am impressed you got the HDMI cable for free after arguing the flawed sales tactic. But, I suppose, any angry customer could get away with that if people perceived him/her a threat like a bank robber. I used to work for a store that did the same. They’d give away stuff just to keep a customer from making a scene. But, the customer was just being cunning. They knew making a scene would get their way. And, knowing that much, I was mad at the store AND the cunning customer. If it was up to me, I would have stuck it to that customer somehow. It would not have been the first time someone was banned from a store.

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      • Lol each to his own. I like the idea of the cloud. Discs get lost or destoyed so it’s always a good idea to have it somewhere else. It’s proved invaluable for me on my phone when I’d have to change to many times.
        If someone had stiffed my Dad for $65 I’d have been back too, that’s bad craic and just greed lol

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      • The idea might be whimsical or inspiring. But, if the experience of trusting or looking to the brains of a store doesn’t teach you anything, I’d say it is sound advice to be wary of trusting anyone with anything you hold dear/valuable. So, why trust a locker if someone can pick the lock? Why trust a representative of a company with your vital info? Within reason, I guess, we must make some concessions to keep things moving. But, with those concessions come risk. I prefer to take fewer risks if I can properly manage things myself…which we all should do instead of giving into to paid/costly convenience. Besides, since when is any computer program or machine flawless? Who wants more flawed memory? We are capable of that ourselves. And, humans run the machines? (for now). [I am really worried if/when the machines start thinking for themselves.]

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      • There’s risk in everything. On my PC i have nothing that valuable anyway lol Is it any different that putting your thoughts online in a blog, those are the most valuable things I have I’d say.

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      • Well, then why get recovery disks or storage, at all? I personally value my creations more. On that note, I probably should never have used a computer, at all. I’d be better off without it if the world wasn’t bending us all that way (with or without Beckham).

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      • If you can’t trust anything or if everything is a risk, then I guess recovery disks are, too.

        I’m just gonna zip it and let you do whatever lest I sound like a poking ninny. I get the feeling we had this chat before. But, I haven’t known you six years.

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      • No way. Disagreeing is no fun. If there is any fun in it, then it’s a subconscious thing. Consciously, I find people who disagree often annoying. I put up with a guy who had to be my opposite for 11 years in school. We were about as close as you get to the worst of Republican vs. Democrat or Jedi vs. Sith. The only thing we were missing was pistols at twenty paces or light sabers. He relished in opposing me, just to get me worked up. So did many bullies/bigger kids.

        When did you buy the laptop? Didn’t you say you had that six years?

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  4. I tried to buy a washing machine from (what I suspect is) the same store. They talked to me like I was too dim to know what I wanted. When I asked if there was any literature available so I could check the programmes etc, they said no – even though I had seen it inside the machine! I stomped off in a huff, pausing only to thump the stupid ‘How was our service today? ‘button by the exit. Unfortunately the option I wanted to leave wasn’t there! I bought my machine in the shop that is never knowingly undersold, and got a free warranty as well!

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    • It appears to be all about money with that particular store (if we’re taking about the same one, if not they seem similar). They would rather sell you that little something extra, when the reality was in my case that they lost the sale altogether.

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  6. I don’t shop at any of those electronic gadget superstores for this very reason…. I don’t like to be assaulted by a gang of ruthless wolves looking to make their next commission. I like to do my shopping without assistance…

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  7. I’m feeling your pain, they don’t teach selling etiquette anymore and what happened to the customer is always right. I’ve had multiple encounters with arrogant salesmen (never women) who figure grey-haired people could not possibly know what they want, Apple Stores are the worst. As for Windows 10 and a recovery disk if I can do it – I’m imagining I have a few decades on you – then trust me you will “smash it”. When the smoke settles I wish you much happiness and a wonderful bonding time with your new computer. I’m imagining you will have a little ceremony to bid the failing computer a happy afterlife. Linda :)

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    • I’m really hoping I can do the whole recovery disc thing, if not then my shannagins were all fro nothing lol
      I knew on the day I was right, I just didn’t have confidence in myself, perhaps if I had of it would have saved us that second trip lol

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  8. This is why I buy my computers from Dell Outlet. They’re brand new, hundreds of pounds off (usually because there’s a tiny scratch on the case round the back) and most importantly I don’t have to talk to shop idiots.
    With all this talk of pointless support and charging a fortune to do simple stuff you can do yourself, I’m pretty sure I know which shop you went to first :-)

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    • lol it’s not really that hard to guess the store is it.
      I did however want a Dell but had a bit of a task with them too. Found one on there I liked about 6 months ago and tried to order it. When completing the form I tried every way humanly possible to enter the contact number, no joy. Tried live support, closed, despite the fact it was an hour before closing time, same with phone line. Eventually i resorted to e-mailing them only to be told the next day it had gone out of stock! Ragin lol

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    • Ach I know. I have it on my wee baby laptop, not looking forward to that, but it’s already built in so hopefully will be stable enough. I remember when I got Vista, I spent about 3 hours making it look like Windows 98. I am a girl of simple screens lol

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  11. What Eejits made the software MORE difficult to make recovery disks? That’s retarded. I was surprised when I learned I could have made my own disks versus doling out $30 for a set. [On that note, I think 45-60 royal pounds or whatever is getting hosed.]

    The first guy sent in the younger guy simply because the older guy was looking to lick boots while the younger guy was more of the “geek squad” variety that has lots of technical info but less of the business sense/diplomacy. The first guy could have just handled the transaction, but he kindly? hoped the younger guy could be more informative before an erroneous purchase was made and returned.

    But, then to go from one guy to the other and back to the first who tries to pass off a “care plan,” as well? Yea, I’d be itching to throw a few punches myself. Jerks.

    A memory stick as a recovery disk? And, the lil geek at the first store didn’t know this was possible? I’d be inclined to avoid that first store from now on or go back and give them a piece of my mind. It sounds like neither Mr Care Plan nor Mr Geek Squad knew the full/necessary amount of fair info. They both sold you incomplete packages…which has been my usual experience and may be chalked up to human nature. Maybe everyone is just a puzzle piece. And, you trust the one that feels right in your grasp.

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    • I don’t think anyone made the software more difficult, it would appear that was just something they were telling me to extract more money. I’m cautious when it’s someone else’s money.
      The first guy referred the second guy because he was from the computer section, he looked none to pleased when I told him I had been put of the purchase on my way out.
      Hopefully they will learn from their bad experiences.

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      • If it was a ruse to get more money, that would put one strike on my “I will not shop here, again” list. Three such strikes, and I can live without that place. Unless it’s the only tech store in my area…which then would lead to some crucial moral war.

        No, they will not learn…unless they still have souls. I worked with my share of robots. Some just do as they are programmed.

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      • If it came down to that one store, I’d probably get really angry, forceful and demand service from other employees. If I have to pick my battles, I’d rather not deal with the two losers you did. And, if they were the only help, God help us all!

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  12. How frustrating! The last time we bought a laptop from HH Gregg, they wanted quite a bit of money to “optimize” my computer for me. This meant they’d start up the computer and remove a few unnecessary programs. What a racket!

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  13. Hooray for a new PC, Juls! And I’m with you on the desktop v. laptop issue……somehow I just can’t seem to get past the whole desktop thing myself. I’ve avoided the whole Windows 10 thing so far here…..have the update if I want it, but I’m still struggling with Windows 8….I’m not great with change as you know. BTW…had similar experience in MD when I had to take my computer in for repair….the shop made me CRAZY with their inadequate and all-knowing customer service attitudes and I stormed out before I hurt someone! Even my mild-mannered, uber-polite husband raised his voice! Ah, these machines…they’ll be the death of us one way or another, I’m sure. But for now, just enjoy…..you’ll be cruising at new speeds and we probably won’t be able to keep up with all your posts!

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    • Thank you, I’m looking forward to getting it going. I love this one, but bless it, it’s just getting to slow :(
      Go all out and get Windows 10, to be honest there is little difference between it and 8 that I could see, when I changed my laptop over and you’d be better learning on the new one rather than having to go back again and iron out more quirks in the system lol

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  14. That first shop had a “Bloke” thing going on. They didn’t like the idea that you, a mere woman, might know as much/more than they did. They probably had some staff commission thing going on with the one they tried to push on you. I really don’t like it either when shops try to extract more money by bamboozlement. Good luck with getting to grips with your new toy!

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Entertain the Eejit!