Thursday 17 November 2011

Tech Lack Of Support

The scene: SpaceSquid arrives at the PC World help desk, his desktop stack clutched in his slightly effeminate hands.

Friendly Assistant #1: Can I help you, sir?

SpaceSquid: Yes.  I paid you guys to transfer my data to a new hard drive, and the CD drive wasn't working when it came back.

FA#1: That's odd.

SS: Yes.

FA#1: It's probably a connection issue.  Or the software.

SS: ...Yes.

FA#1: I guess those are the only two options anyway.

SS: Indeed.  A haunting would be my next guess, but it's a distant third.

FA#1: Well, I'll hand you over to the tech guy.

SS: Thanks.

Friendly Assistant #2: Can I help you, sir?

SS: Yes.  As I was saying, you guys were kind enough to transfer my data to a new hard drive not long ago, but the CD drive no longer works.

FA#2: Oh.

SS: ...Yes.  And I was wondering if you could fix it?

FA#2: Well, we're not allowed to do that kind of thing in-store anymore.  We'll have to send it away.

SS: Really?

FA#2: 'Fraid so.  Should take about a week, cost fifty quid.

SS: Fifty quid?

FA#2: Fifty quid.

SS: I'm finding it hard to understand why you expect me to pay for a repair that only became necessary after you got your hands on my PC.

FA#2: Well, do you have an agreement with us.

SS: Meaning?

FA#2: Do you pay us every month?

SS: No.

FA#2: Then it's not our responsibility.

SS: It's not your responsibility to do the job you say you'll do after I give you money?

FA#2: That wasn't the job you paid for.  You paid for the hard drive.

SS: Yes, because the CD drive was working when I gave it to you!  How is "Don't break anything" not implicit?

FA#2: I'm saying we did the hard drive job.  Think of it like in a garage.  You come in, pay us to fix a wheel, we fix a wheel.  But then you want your suspension fixed: that's a new job.

SS:  Fine.  If this a garage, then this is what happened:  I came in, paid you to fix a wheel, and whilst you were fixing the wheel, you set the car on fire.  And now you want me to pay to borrow a hose.

This goes on for some time, and ends in stalemate.  No money changes hands, but I still can't access by back-up CDs or listen to "Ashes & Fire".  Balls.

5 comments:

Tomsk said...

Is there any sign that the CD drive has power? My money would be on them having to unplug it to get the old hard drive out and then forgetting to plug it back in again when they put the new one in.

Chris said...

If its still broke next time you're near the NE, bring it round our place and I can either fix it for you, or I've got a spare DVD drive you can have.

SpaceSquid said...

The tray opens and closes, that's all I can tell you. Device Manager is adamant that it doesn't exist. I can't find anything unplugged within the casing, though, and both of the cables currently plugged to the drive are in properly.

Thanks for the offer, Chris - it may well come to that. Grumpy emails to PC World HQ might be the next step, though.

Gooder said...

Bet you miss having live-in support! I'd have down the hard drive transfer for a pint an all!

A very annoying situation that tho' and unless you can prove they stopped the CD drive working I sadly suspect you won't get far. They'll just argue something else broke it after they gave it back to you.

And the internet is you friend ; http://uk.search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=A7x9QXr_kcZOEyEAf.1LBQx.?ei=UTF-8&fr=yfp-t-702-s&p=cd+drive+not+recognized&SpellState=&fr2=sp-qrw-corr-top

A number of fairly straight forward fixes listed there

BigHead said...

My strategy with Pc World people has always been to shout at them until they give me what I want. If they think you might be a Formal Complaint sort of person they usually back down. Also, it helps to look like a nerd.