Transferred from my old blog: Stupid laptop

March 2, 2004

My laptop is being a pain in the arse today. At about lunch time, just after I had finished a killer animation for a powerpoint seminar I'm giving next week, my screen went dark. This has happened about 3 times before over the last 4 months or so. I've always just shut down and started up again, and its been fine. Today, it went dark every time I switched on - impossible to get any work done. Plus that powerpoint seminar I'm giving next week - I need a laptop that works to present it on!!
I called Toshiba, and it took me about 8 phonecalls to various 1800 numbers to get through to someone who cared about my problem. Unfortunately Jonathon's English wasn't so great and we spent much more time than necessary discussing my problem. We figured out that the backlight on the LCD needs replacing. But he had no record of my warranty, and he needed me to provide proof of purchase. Panic...which country are my receipts in. Luckily I found them in my room, and I was able to provide proof of purchase. But we didn't actually achieve a solution to my problem - like how to get it repaired. He was only concerned with proof that I had legitimately purchased the computer.
I think I'll take it back to London Drugs tomorrow, where I bought it from, and leave them to deal with it, maybe even get it back by next Tuesday when I give my seminar.
Naturally, since I came home, the screen has been ok. I've managed to read all my emails, do some work and some games tonight on it. But every now and again the screen is flashing a little, threatening to go black again.

I saw the Passion of the Christ tonight. It's VERY grizzly and I spent most of the movie with my hands covering my face. I haven't made up my mind if I liked it or not yet - its hard to like images of graphic violence like that, not that I have any doubt that it was realistic to the time it was set. Anyhow. Don't really feel like going to bed yet, I think I need to watch some cartoons with fluffy bunnies or something.


March 14, 2004

Its been a while since I updated this journal thingy. One of the last things I wrote about was how the screen on my laptop kept going black. So I took it in for repair at London Drugs (the place of purchase) almost two weeks ago. After it had been in for a week, I called the friendly people at London Drugs to see how much longer it would take. Do you wonder what the answer was? They were still waiting for confirmation of the validity of my two year extended shop warranty, and so they had not started repairing my computer. I breathed deeply, and said "Ok that's fine. Thankyou".
So I called again on Friday to find out how much longer it would take. I told them my name, and what kind of computer it was. And do you wonder what the answer was? They said "Oh we don't have a computer like that here, so I think we probably sent it away for repair". He thought (but wasn't absolutely sure) that it had been sent away for repair! Right now, I choose to believe that also, because I'm not prepared for the possibility that they have lost it or accidentally sold it.
Anyway, I really miss my laptop. We have some old computers in the lab, but they're so slow!!! I've had to break the habit of checking my email 30 times a day, reading online news reports and I don't even remember how long its been since I read Erwin's blog.


March 16, 2004

Update on the laptop situation:
I called yesterday to see if my laptop was repared yet. It has been almost two weeks, so I felt sure that it must be repaired.
The guy in London Drugs said that the laptop hadn't been sent for repair yet (contrary to what I have been told in previous enquiries). He said he was holding my unrepaired laptop in his hands while I was talking to him.
The reason that it hadn't been repaired is that the competent and obliging folks at head office, where shop warranties are registered, still don't have any record of me on their system, and so they can't validate the extended warranty that I spent $209.98 on, two years ago when I bought the laptop.
What is the point of buying extended warranty, if they will deny the fact that you bought it? Well, I'm on to them..they're planning to stall on this for a year, until the extended warranty had expired!!!


March 17, 2004

Update on the laptop situation:
I spent most of yesterday on hold, trying to talk to a woman named Julie, who works at VAC services, a company that deals with warranty claims for a variety of companies, including London Drugs. It is not London Drugs that is holding up the repair of my laptop, it is Julie from VAC services. I first spoke to here two weeks ago, when my laptop LCD died. She said she had no record of extended warranty with London Drugs, and she would sort that out if I faxed here a copy of my receipt. So I did, immediately. So after two weeks London Drugs was still waiting on confirmation of my warranty before they could go ahead with repairs. I called VAC services on Monday to see what the hold up was, and was told that the fax quality of my receipt wasn't good, and I would need to send it again. I tohught Julie could have let me know that the fax quality wasn't good two weeks ago when I sent it, but she had done nothing, until I called to find out what the problem was. London Drugs said they would send the receipt to Julie for me. But two days later when there was still no action in Julie's office, I called again, and was told that I had to send the fax again because she couldn't read it - London Drugs said they had sent the fax 3 times by now! Finally I was given Julies email address (ha ha!!!), and told to try scanning the receipt and send it to her by email. So I sent a scanned copy of the receipt, and also told her exactly what I thought of the way she was doing her job. As if by magic, last night, I was told that she had received a copy of the receipt (after about 5 attempts to send it to her), and I would be in the system within two business days - why does it take that long? Why can't she put me in te system right there and then, to avoid me sending her another email. If only I could find out what her home phone number was, and then I'd just call her at 3 am until she found a way to put me on the system. Here's my next question to Julie: Why didn't she put me and my warranty on the system 2 years ago when I first bought the computer? It would have saved me an awful lot of pain these last few weeks. I just want my laptop back!!!


March 19, 2004

Update on the laptop situation:
I received two phone calls yesterday. One was from someone calling on behalf of Julie, who appears not to want to talk to me directly, and the other was from London Drugs. The person calling on behalf of Julie said that they now had my extended warranty registered on their system, two years after I bought the computer, and 16 days after I took the laptop for repair.
London Drugs called to tell me that they received the ok from Julie to go ahead and repair my laptop, and it would be shipped out for repair (God only knows where) first thing this morning.
I wonder how long it will take them to repair it, and how long they will make me wait for parts to arrive.
Anyone care to guess?


March 24, 2004

Update on the laptop situation (sigh, this is getting boring):
Today is the three week anniversary of the last time I saw my laptop. But there has been some progress. I called Alex at London Drugs yesterday to find out what was happening, and he told me that they knew exactly what the problem was with the computer, and now they are just waiting on parts. Apparently, it is a faulty board. The board that controls my screen lighting is not getting the voltage it needs, and will eventually burn out. I imagine it will take at least another another week, for parts to arrive, repairs to be made, and the computer to be shipped home to its mummy.


March 31, 2004

Update on the laptop situation:

Its been exactly 4 weeks since I took my laptop for repair. But...shock horror...I am writing this post at my desk from my computer. I was beginning to think I would never see this cute little machine again. But it came back to me. So far it seems to be behaving itself too. I'm so happy.