That Computer Again

Well, it's back, in all it's splendid glory. Yes, that's my computer I'm talking about. It's sitting somewhere in this house closed up, cold, unused, dead and lifeless. Basically, as normal as ever.

I did find a snazzy computer bag for it at a discount price. That's nice.

The smart Geek (ie., the dude with Geek Squad at Best Buy) informed us that the real problem with my computer is that the new ram (or would it be Ram? Or RAM????) that we put in when we first bought the computer is not compatible to the mother board. He assured us that the ram is fine and the mother board is fine but they are not compatible to each other.

You may notice that I italicized 4 words in the above paragraph. For those of you that didn't notice, go ahead: re-read the whole sentence just to know what I mean.

For the rest of you that are still reading, that ram was installed per Best Buy's suggestion/recommendation and included in the purchase of that computer. Basically, what I'm saying is that when Toby asked what ram we could get to "upgrade" the computer to a higher gigabyte/speed/power/performance (whatever), they pointed to a package and said, "Here. We'll put this in for you." And now they blame us. And will charge us to re-purchase the original ram.

The nice people they are, they offered to put it in for free but from what I hear from a reliable source, slipping a ram in a computer is similar to injecting a memory card in your PC box. So, we'll handle it from here, thank you very much.

Even my non-computer savvy sister-in-law who so kindly stood in line for hours (well, not quite but almost) just to pick up my computer on her trip into to town the other day, offered to re-insert the ram for me. I honestly trust her more than the Geeks in that Squad at this point.

That service plan at Best Buy isn't bringing us much service. After one long stay at the computer clinic, hard drive wiped, screened cleaned and full analysis and diagnosis made then shipped across creation and finally landing back in our laps, the computer didn't work. Why didn't they check the ram then?

After another even longer stay at the computer clinic, the computer comes home with a repaired bottom (yeah... it had been cracked but that was how I could tell it apart from any other computer), no wiped hard drive, no replaced motherboard (like they told us they'd probably do) and still functioning wrong, it's back in our laps. And they say, "Oh, the problem with your computer all this time is that the ram is too big for it." So, tell me why it had to sit in their warehouse for weeks??? They obviously weren't doing anything to it all that time.

And guess who is required to fix it after all the "professional help" that was supposed to fix it? Not them and their service plan Geeks. Why couldn't they just slip a ram in while it was at the computer junk yard? I mean really, is it THAT big of a deal compared to replacing the motherboard like they thought they would do?

So, they wrote down the garbled and gibbered numbers that should be on the new ram we install. They couldn't sell it to me because they didn't carry it in the store. (not like I really want to buy anything more from them for that computer...) The place of purchase they recommended was a website online. (where else is a website?) But, Toby's computer blitzed out and our house was honestly computer-less for 24 hours. And there was no way we could get mine "fixed" since our internet access was the link to the missing piece for my computer and that was gone thanks to two faulty, Best Buy computers that wouldn't turn on. It was at that point that I got that nice computer bag. It looks really nice, all filled out with a nice, closed up lap top inside it.

Turns out that Toby's computer has a glitch in it that needs to be repaired. But as long as you don't do any irrational thing to it like close the lid without hibernating it (or did he tell me it was "sleeping" it?) or pull the chord out while in use, or the electricity goes off unexpectedly, etc., you're fine. I'm on that computer now.

Toby on the other hand, decided to purchase a desk top computer because these laptops seem to have traditional hiatuses that make it very inconvenient/impossible for him with his business work. So, now we have a desk top and two back up laptops... if you can call that one in that nice computer bag a back up computer.

Not to make this into a rant or anything but just to get the word out, if anyone googles "Best Buy's computer service is the best" I hope they come to my blog and get the rest of the story.