A tale of a frozen family

Seriously… when did their customer service dive straight into the toilet???

I dropped off my laptop on 2/18. They told me it would be back by 3/4. I called on 3/3 (since I was going to be in the city anyway… it would have been great to not have to make another 120 mile round trip if by chance it was back). They inform me that they had to send it to HP (I broke part of my keyboard) and that it would be 4-6 weeks *sigh*

I decide to call, to see how much longer it’s going to be (annoyed in general that my beloved laptop has been gone so long). They tell me it’s there… I can pick it up. It’s been there for over a week, and evidently they don’t find it necessary to CALL people anymore… but I digress.

I go to pick it up. The geek says “did you bring it with a power adapter?” Well yes… because you guys MAKE us bring in the power adapter. I don’t have a choice in the matter… you demand it. Well… they somehow “misplaced” my power adapter and he tells me “I can have HP mail you one”. ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? I tell him NO. He has a store full of HP laptops… he can find a power adapter. I told him to open a freaking box and take one out of there.. they can put it back on the shelf when HP sends THEM another power adapter. Or, they could take one off one of their floor model laptops and put it back when HP sends them a replacement. He tells me “but we won’t be able to use that computer at all if we do that”. REALLY????? You mean, you’d be able to use it as much as I can use MY LAPTOP… right???? I asked him to explain to me how my use of my computer is so much more insignificant than their floor model.

Long story short… he calls a manager… they open a box and give me a power adapter.

Next on the agenda was me asking him if they fixed the electrical connection (something I had mentioned in passing that I wanted them to look at). He says “yes, they replaced it”. and I say “did they replace the broken part on the keyboard… or???” and he says “they were suppose to fix the keyboard???” I tried to gain some level of composure and I told him quite calmly, that if my keyboard was not fixed… the broken keyboard that I brought the computer in for over a month ago… that he would see a whole other dimension of pissed off, that he had likely never witnessed before. (I had been standing at the geek counter for an hour at this point, my patience… was GONE). The poor kid was sweating bullets. He plugs in my computer, fires it up and starts to play with the keyboard… it worked…. I thought he was going to faint with relief. Poor kid. Evidently they just neglected to make any notation that they actually fixed it.

So I get the laptop home, plug in my *new* power adapter and discover that my computer is freakishly sluggish… like 1980s model sluggish and I have no sound.  I’m a bit upset by this, because this was NOT a problem it had when it went in.   So I call Geek Squad back again, they tell me that I have to again bring my computer back in so they can look at it.   I remind them that it’s a 120 mile round trip from my house to their store and gas is 4 dollars a gallon right now… I asked them to do the math.  At any rate… long story short, I took my laptop back to them the next day.

The new geek at the counter (it’s not considered in bad taste to call them a geek when the company is Geek Squad…right? OK good)  so anyway, the GEEK at the counter says that he wants to run a virus scan on my machine and to please come back in 20 minutes.  I figure no biggy…. the offspring needed a hair cut, and they had a walk in cutting place in the mall.  So, we get the kiddo all glammed up with her hair cut and return to the counter.  The geek says “we are going to need to run diagnostics on your machine.  I’ll let you know what we find and I’ll call you if we have to ship it out again”.  Imagine my surprise when 4 days go by and I’ve not heard a word from them.

Sooooo… I call my lovely geeks back and ask the status on my computer.  They tell me that they had to ship it off, but they didn’t document why, and that it would be back in 4-6 weeks.  *sigh*

I then… get a phone call, about 3 weeks later.  The new geek says “um yes… your computer is here and well.. um… we need your operating system discs so we can restore everything”.  I say “WHAT DID YOU DO??????” they say “we replaced your hard drive”.  EXCUSE ME????  so I say “you DID back everything up… RIGHT????”  DEAD SILENCE.  A few moments go by and then a sheepish “no ma’am”.   Remember that whole other dimension of pissed off that I spoke of before… well I got there… REALLY QUICK.  I told them that they needed to have a manager call me PRONTO.

So!  The manager calls me back and apologizes profusely for losing all of my data/files/LIFE on my computer and they have put in an urgent ticket to their service center to find my old hard drive and pull all of my data off of it.   He will also get the discs from HP to get my operating system back on my computer so I can at least pick it up and have a functioning computer and hopefully they’ll find my files.

So I make the trek back to the city to pick up my computer.  The manager assures me that they are moving heaven and earth to find my hard drive in California and that we should be able to retrieve the data.  Hands me my computer and I’m on my way.

Now you all aren’t going to believe this!  I get my computer home, fire it up … and guess what…. no really… guess!  I know.. I know… you won’t believe this… IT HAS NO SOUND.  The very thing I took it in for… THE NEVER FIXED!  Remember that whole other dimension of pissed off I had reached before???  Who knew I could reach a WHOLE OTHER LEVEL!  I was shocked… really… I was!   At this point, hubby is seeing RED.  He picks up the phone and calls the geeks again and demands that the manager call him first thing in the morning.

So morning comes.  I know this is going to be a HUGE SHOCK to many of you… but the manager didn’t call.  Hubby is spitting nails.  He packs up my computer, my *new* power adapter and hops in the truck, headed for blood at Best Buy!  He walks in the front door and the lovely greeter at the front says “good morning!” and hubby says “get me a manager and get him now”  I can only imagine how ghost white the poor kid probably turned!   Hubby got into a pretty heated discussion with the store manager for a while and then finally got to the point where the manager understood our frustration.   They made an agreement that they would work on my computer THERE and get it back to new and if they couldn’t, they would give me a new laptop.   They also confirmed that they weren’t able to find my hard drive… so everything from that computer (THOUSANDS of hours of research and bookmarks )GONE.. but I digress. 

A couple of hours later we get the call.   We’ll be getting a new laptop.  So hubby goes back and they rifle through what’s available for us, etc.  Hubby picked a computer I’m very happy with.  It’s nothing like my old one (much smaller, lighter, etc. and is better suited for what I’m doing now, since I’m not working anymore).   They load everything up and give us an additional store credit for going through such a miserable experience with them.

I will have to say, at the end of the day, I appreciate the service we received from Best Buy.  They really stepped up to the plate and made a very very very bad situation much better.  I still however, am leery of EVER sending ANYTHING to Geek Squad for repair EVER EVER EVER again!  I’m still under the impression that my four year old couldn’t have screwed up my computer as bad as they did… and for what??? to fix a freaking mouse!

Sorry for the long break there folks.  A lot has gone on over the last month or so.   I went back to work on the third of March.  By the 6th of March I no longer had feeling in my left arm.   I left it alone for several weeks chalking it up to a pinched nerve.  When the feeling (or there lack of) traveled down into my hand and fingers, I decided maybe I should have the doctor check it out.     I went to the doc and discovered that I have tension knots so bad that they have literally pinched off my nerve so bad that they can’t even get the reflexes in that arm to fire.  We had a long discussion about stress and the toll it’s taking on my body.

Hubby and I had several long heart to hearts about the situation, called upon our loved ones to get their opinions and just about everybody had the same thing to say… “quit!  it’s not worth it”.  Hubby’s business is booming and I’m so happy about that, but I was terrified to give up our steady paycheck…. but we decided in the long run, a big paycheck does you no good if you are dead.  It does my daughter no good if I’m not around to see her grow up and I’ve seen way too many people die from the effects of stress… so I took the leap of faith and my last day is tomorrow! YIKES and WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOO!!!!!

 SOOOOOO with that being said, you can expect me to be blabbering my big mouth here on a regular occasion again.  I have so many things saved up to talk about that have gone on over the last month.  I have a million or so pictures of the offspring to share, war stories with computer stores, more crazy Alaska activities that have transpired since my absence… basically I have a lot to say!  (I know those who KNOW me are saying “yeah, what else is new?? and I still love you anyway )

So… with that, I’ll shut up for today and I’ll be back with more stuff tomorrow!

Okay… I know… tacky.. but sooo fitting!

I came across this today… Rubber girl

I think I heard thinks snap, crackle and pop on me just watching this girl. FREAKY!!!

I have so much catching up to do! My cold turned into the plague and I literally spent 4 days in bed. I’m starting to feel marginally human again, so I’m hoping to unload the camera and get up with all the posts I’ve promised folks!

I suspect it will take me a couple of days to get everything done (that dang thing called a job really gets in the way of my fun!). So to all my loyal peeps…. I promise to deliver!

I am back to work this week and completely drained by the end of the day. This whole working thing is hard to get used to again.

I’m working on the “tid bit Tuesday” and it will be a great one, but it probably won’t happen until next week.

Sorry to my few “peeps” that come to check it out. I promise I’ll make it a good one!

I’ve not been blogging much this week because my laptop is in a sad sad state. It was gracefully dropped off at Geeksquad yesterday and will be in intensive care for a couple of weeks.

Shall we take a moment of silence and send healing thoughts to the poor soul.

And in the meantime… it really sucks! My laptop is my lifeline!

I am sick….

First thing yesterday morning, Em barfed :(  Bless her heart… the first explosion was all over the living room carpet.  She ran with me to the bathroom and I tried to teach her the art of praying to the porcelain god.  She got *most* of it in the toilet LOL   It felt very strange to hold my daughters hair back so she could vomit.  Brings back WAYYYY to many college party memories LOL.

Needless to say… I started feeling horrible yesterday afternoon.  My stomach gurgled all day and I thought for sure I was next.  KNOCK ON WOOD that hasn’t happened, but I do feel like I’ve been run over by a truck and my head is POUNDING.   With a stroke of luck, that new doctor that I made an appointment with to interview… that appointment is tomorrow.  Looks like she can treat me while I get to know her. LOL

Anyway, I’m going to bed!

I decided since I have so much time on my hands these days.. this would be a creative way to share our every day, mundane life, with the folks that we kinda like :)  and even share a few pics of our spawn.