This morning I phoned the original supplier of the computer. A human voice responded with a cheery greeting, not one of those metallic, automated artificial AI (Artificial Ignorance) robot things which depends on electricity for its lifeblood.
Nope a real genyooine person, so I told him I had a problem
with a computer which his company supplied. He asked what was wrong and I
explained and we both agreed it sounded like a simple replacement job. He asked
if it was still under warranty and I said he’d have to check because I was
unsure, so he asked when I bought it, and I told him in 2006.
There was a short silence then a bit of a chuckle (can a machine respond in a similar manner?) so he said bring it in. Half an hour later I was sprachling up the stairs (they are on the first floor) with a desktop machine and plonked it down on the counter whereupon the boss came out to see me. The very chap who had built this very same machine to my spec way back in 2006 (and who has built each machine I have bought since then!) and he had a laugh too – this machine is older than quite a few of his staff!
So we had a chat and a giggle and he reckons he has a twin monitor card in stock that will fit – once he blows the dust off it. I told him I was only concerned about the twin hard drives with the foties and whatever he thought should be done, just do it, even if it meant replacing the two hard drives in a new desktop case with all the ancillary gubbins. To hang with the expense I need those foties!!
He reckoned there was no need to go to such expense, a change of card should do the trick.
I left the place with a spring in my step thinking wasn’t it nice dealing with humans and actually talking to the chap who built the machine all those years ago in his one-window, one-man shop at the top of Motherwell (now in bigger premises at the foot of Motherwell). Having purchased laptops from those electrical monstrosities in town centres and retail parks in the past and having to deal with their ‘knowledgeable’ staff I find this local approach and response so refreshing.
When a problem raises its ugly head, isn’t it easier to return an item in person to local premises rather than parcelling the thing up in the original packaging which is lying dusty in the loft, and then contacting a parcel delivery company and all the cairry-oan that goes with dealing with remote establishments and their dis-interested phone staff. And that’s after having listened to all the pre-recorded messages, warnings, advisories and various options. Bah humbug.
Anyway, later that afternoon, got the call, it’s ready come and collect. Unfortunately my frazzle levels were rather high (babysitting the four year old whirlwind) so I said I’d pop over in the morning. Arrived there to be greeted by the boss and who showed me the old faulty graphics card which had been replaced by an even better one (now I can run three monitors if I want!), installed the drivers and checked them out, and had changed the BIOS battery as well.
Then came the bill – 65 quid. I nearly said “Is that all?” There’s a lot to be said for buying local, especially when you get service like that. If you’re in Lanarkshire, Fix-PC is the name, they’re a lovely bunch.
Anyway, crisis averted, it’s back to sorting and selecting pics for the next book.
