Thursday, May 29, 2008

A New Kind Of Computer Hell


After dropping a not-so-cool $300 to squeeze more years of life out of my Dell computer, I find myself unable to print. I’m forwarding word documents to various email address so that I can print what I need to at work.


What led me to this computer hell? Buying a Dell again after my first one turned out to be such a piece of shit. I have any number of excuses: my girlfriend at the time may have had a discount, they were cheaper than anyone else and I convinced myself, like an abused wife, that things would be different this time around.


Though I understand that Dell is not alone in this regard, but Dell will refuse to help you with technical problems now if your computer is “out of warranty” unless you agree to pay them $39. I was desperate enough for help with my last computer a few years ago that I actually paid this money, though it was only $30 back then. Once they had my money, they transferred me to technical assistance where I was on hold for so long that I hung up and tried to call again. I was not able to get through, ever. I tried to call to get my money back, after I ended up fixing the problem with the help of some friends, and I was told they had no record of my paying $30 (funny, my bank had a record of the money I sent them).


I refused to be taken by Dell a fourth time, so I wound up paying NY Computer Express $300 to fix my computer. Dell’s technical assistance would have been no use anyway; I needed a new power supply. My computer runs fine now, except that I can’t seem to get my printer working again. I got it working last week, but now it doesn’t print anything. If you have a clue as to what could fix this, send it to me.