Text 2129, 111 rader
Skriven 2005-01-24 14:06:22 av Antti Kurenniemi (1:379/45)
   Kommentar till text 1916 av Frank Haber (1:379/45)
Ärende: Re: The Thinkpad Blues
==============================
From: "Antti Kurenniemi" <antti@anttik.com>

Hola!


For what it's worth, after about a week with my new thinkpad T42 I am not
impressed in anything except the mechanical feeling of this machine, and
probably would not buy another one. The IBM provided software is just crap (and
there's a LOT of it by default!), and their service just plain sucks here. I'm
having trouble getting the BlueTooth to wake up (hint hint: candy for anyone
who knows how it's done) and I haven't been able to get anyone on the phone who
has any clue.

And I HATE that they don't put the Windows -key on the keyboard! I didn't
realize that at first, but that alone would most likely have prevented me from
buying this computer; I've grown to use it so much that it actually took me a
while to figure out how to turn the system off with the mouse <g>.


Antti Kurenniemi

"Frank Haber" <frhaber@N0SPMrcn.com> wrote in message
news:41e6a88f$1@w3.nls.net...
>A little story of "overnight IBM service," heavily edited, on why IBM maybe
> didn't make much money in the PC business.
>
> A good client gives me his son's new T42, and asks me to check it out, set
> it
> up, and beat on it for a while.  A privilege, right?  It's a great
> machine,
> and besides how can I turn down a guy who lets me borrow a vacation home
> and
> swim in his pool, as well as giving me money?
>
> A day into my gleeful fiddling, the wireless mini-PCI fails.  No prob,
> right?
> It's brand new - send me a new one, IBM.  Problem one - dad has sat on the
> unopened box for 34 days.  Blue's guidelines are "full replacement up to
> 30
> days."  34 doesn't cut it, but please see our Ombudsman department
> (Customer
> Advocates).  That's cute, say I, they have someone on my side.  Prob is,
> they
> don't have another of this T42 variant 4011 out of 5666 choices in the
> pipeline.  Back to level one service.
>
> I draw a lady (in Atlanta, thank goodness) who insists that I undo SP2 ON
> THE
> PHONE, then won't escalate until I do a NUKE REINSTALL from the service
> partition.  Since the (standard Intel B/G) mini-PCI isn't even seen by the
> DOS
> diagnostics, that doesn't help, as I expected.  But the idiot has just
> required that I undo a day's work, so replace is now roughly equal to
> repair,
> in my eyes.  I pursue both paths.
>
> Of course, the son has law and grad school apps and job stuff that
> requires a
> laptop NOW.  I gussy up his antique 266 with 96MB of RAM, and that problem
> gets a Band-Aid.
>
> It's now 48 hours later, and IBM has decided I *must* return the machine
> to KY
> for repair.  Waitaminit, says I.  I've found disassembly directions for
> the
> casing on IBM's site, and I ask for the part.  "Sorry," level 2 says, "Our
> guidelines for the 15" model prohibit customer installation for that
> part."
> OK, we ship.
>
> I meekly ask, "Are we sure they have the part?"  Level 2 says, "We have no
> way
> of knowing that, sir, but it's a monster facility, right at the airport,
> and
> I'm sure...."  Yeah, yeah.
>
> OK,  say I, give me the address and I'll overnight it in your original
> packing.  "Oh, no," say they, "you must wait for our standard, pre-paid,
> pre-addressed all-leather return packaging, and ship in that.  That's how
> we
> do it."  I'm wise now, and ask whether they can send this magic box to me,
> instead of to the owner across town.  Nope, of course.  I make
> arrangements to
> return the machine.  The owner gets the box and ships.
>
> Two days later, he gets a call from the repair site.  "I'm sorry, sir - we
> don't have the part.  It comes from China, and we don't have an arrival
> date
> for the next batch.  I'm giving you over to our Customer Advocacy
> Department."
> Now, of course, we meet their guidelines.  They scrounge.
>
> Three days after this, they find a machine.  At this point, neither the
> owner
> nor I cares whether it's a refurb, but it appears new when it arrives.
> Everything works, and I deliver a set-up and well thrashed machine 13 days
> after this all begins.
>
> There's more, but my fingers are tired.  Everyone at IBM was just stellar,
> except for the first (Ms. Format) support person.  They just had a book to
> go
> by.  Sigh.
>
>
> --
>
> -Frank
>

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