Sorry folks, but tonight’s post isn’t overly automotive other than the photo of the rather girly 2009 Jeep Patriot stuffed full of computer gear. No, tonights post is about the futility of consumer loyalty.
We’ve been a Dell household for more than a few years now. We currently have 2 Dell laptops and 1 desktop in the house. I even bought an extended warranty on my laptop. Now that the extended warranty has expired by a few months (natch), lappy is having some issues and Dell refuses to help.
“I’m sorry sir, but your computer is out of warranty”
Yes, I know, but it is just out. Perhaps you could arranged some sort of goodwill given that I have bought 3 machines, 1 extended warranty and am about to purchase another desktop.
“I’m sorry sir, but I cannot do that”
Who can I speak to?
“there is nobody”
Yes, because a lowly CSR in Bombay is the owner of a multinational company.
I then speak with customer relations:
“I am sorry sir, but that is a technical problem, you will have to deal with the technical department”
No, I have a problem with the way your technical department is treating me.
“I am sorry sir, but I cannot help you. You will have to deal with the technical department”
And people think the car industry is backwards!
Well Dell, I’m sorry but I have chosen to buy my new desktop from a local computer store that has been building their own packaged machines since the Eighties and understand how to treat their customers. In fact, that ailing laptop will be replaced soon too. Can you guess where it will come from?
We actually bought our first desktop (a 286 if I recall correctly) from BestByte Computers many years ago and were happy with the service and the machine. I’m not sure how we ended up with Dell, though I think it is because a number of friends had had good luck with them. From now on, we’ll be shopping locally with a retailer/assembler who appreciates our business. For now, I’m enjoying the lightning fast quad core goodness that my new machine offers.
As for the Jeep, we’re going to review this one a bit differently from our usual. As it is a girly truck and Mamma G already loves it, she is going to share her views on it as the week goes on.
8 comments ↓
Hey, I told you a million time you should get a Mac! I just sayin’….
A Mac??? I won’t even go there!
But Gary, your comment on the Jeep Patriot being a “Girly Truck” surprised me and I’m curious to see how you’ll view the vehicle after a week in it.
I had that very same unit last week (The green 09 North Edition) and was quite impressed with it. The five speed box is fun, and out on a few cottage trails it was pretty reasonable for a car -based vehicle. Fuel economy is brilliant, and although I scratched my head when the first Jeep “soft-roader” came out, I now get it…In fact, I think it’s the perfect entry level Jeep!
Don’t worry mate, Mamma G will probably put you straight on it. Mind you, I noticed that you didn’t let her review that Lexus IS-F you had, nice Hubby you are! Yeah, give her the little “Girly Jeep” (Your words) to play in, but you don’t let her loose in the real fun cars eh! I hope she buys you a Mac for Christmas, you deserve one
Hey, I run a video production centre where my mac’s work.
Hell my teams are all over the globe in the worst conditions and guess what they work with!
Only reason I have a PC? is to I can play GT Legends
BTW, those speakers are Girly.
A.
You graphics guys and your macs!
Crash…girly being completely in jest, though it certainly does feel like “Jeep Lite”. Truthfully, Mamma G picked up the truck from the fleet office and has been driving it. My first drive was actually to pick up the computer as I wasn’t sure if it would all fit in the trunk of the Mazda6.
To date, Mamma G absolutely loves the Patriot.
I’ve been Mac for years, with almost zero problems; they just run, and run, and run. And if you have the same software, it’s totally cross-platform. Anyone who says otherwise is full of s**t. We do work for those for 1000’s of government employees, all on PCs, with no problems what-so-ever.
But there are 2 good reasons for going Mac, one minor (for some), one major.
I taught a “Design Basics” class a private college, and they were all PC. It drove me nuts! I wondered, “Why is it driving me crazy to work on this machine?”
As a graphic designer (with 25 years experience), my goal is to take content and make it user-friendly and attractive; that really sums up a designer’s job. Lets face it, it’s all about our audience and their ability to be attracted to and absorb the information that is presented to them.
With that in mind, I suddenly understood why it was more difficult on the PC; it is designed by geeks, with zero attention paid to user-friendliness or standard rules of readability and usability. It is mediocre at best which, and in this day and age, is inexcusable, not to mention, inefficient.
The second (major) reason is that PC programming is relatively easy to do; geeks love this aspect of it, but it allows everyone and their dog to write viruses.
Every single person I know with a PC gets their hard-drive rebuilt every year or two because of it. Thinking of all the down time, not to mention lost files … it is not worth the hassle and stress, and again, inefficiency.
Both the PC and the Mac do exactly the same job, but the Mac will do it more easily, faster and more stress-free, that is a fact.
Cheers!
Paul
G man…I know it’s a car blog, but you started the tangent that I will now continue.
I work Win-based boxes for a living - the software I configure/customize only runs on Wintel platforms. That said, when my Win-based laptop lease is up, I’m turning it in and buying a Mac. Some really cool stuff has arrived for the masses: virtual machine software. I’ll be able to do my development work through VM, but have the stability and user friendliness of the Mac. And Microsoft, if you’re listening, I’m switching to OpenOffice so I don’t have to have your bloated code killing my machine.
And when it’s time to replace the home PC, I’m going with the iMac.
So there.
… and another thing!
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