Text 2156, 120 rader
Skriven 2005-01-25 21:14:50 av Ellen K. (1:379/45)
   Kommentar till text 2129 av Antti Kurenniemi (1:379/45)
Ärende: Re: The Thinkpad Blues
==============================
From: Ellen K. <72322.enno.esspeayem.1016@compuserve.com>

Only vaguely related to your post, on my last trip I had a Gateway laptop
(instead of the Dell they gave me for the previous one) and it's the first
laptop keyboard I could actually type on.  No idea what the exact difference is
but it was a welcome relief.

On Mon, 24 Jan 2005 14:06:22 +0200, "Antti Kurenniemi"
<antti@anttik.com> wrote in message <41f4e51d@w3.nls.net>:

>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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