I would like to buy an upgrade
My contact with Dell support today left me bewildered. Here is a company that understands the online model of sales. Great techniques to convince a potential buyer that their model really does exist. Fast, free shipping. Quality product. And then, the bump in the road.
I didn’t realize that for just a few dollars more, I could unlock the soul of my new media machine. The sound quality is great, but for one more checkmark I could have nirvana in a nutshell. I didn’t know the difference. Actually, I did, but I assumed that any firm with such great sales techniques would have a way for me to add to my little pot of gold.
Not so; I chatted, with Vishnu and Aditi. I called using VOIP and spoke with some anonymous guy in the parts department. I Googled and scanned and checked out the Creative end of things. Even though I simply want to pay a little bit more for activation software, my path is blocked. You see, Dell doesn’t do the small stuff very well.
Perhaps, eventually, I’ll stumble across the magic part number that will allow somebody at a help desk to actually help me. Until then, I’ll pretend to enjoy the sound quality of the MP3 or Real audio file. I’ll suffer, aware that there is something better (if only I had ordered it originally, before the invoice was engraved in stone and filed at the bottom of a mineshaft.)
The federal government has decided that ships at sea don’t need to be replenished. Off you go, swabbies; call if you find a way to return to the pier. Citing budget difficulties, the program promised less than two years ago to build new supply ships has been cancelled. In a typical way, the press release came out on a Friday evening, after everyone was sailing away on the pleasant sea of a weekend. Nobody around to notice that this brand of government is just as incompetent as any other brand, with an oily patina. Oil that the ships won’t receive.
… Many hours later, while looking for something unrelated, I found the part number for the second hard drive caddy assembly [341-7101], at only $11. This was much less than the cost cited in certain forum articles, so I called back to Dell with my trusty Skype account. This time, George not only ordered my caddy, but he found the elusive software update for $21. My order in in the system, and my obsessive nature has come through once again.
