Okay, so I can’t be mad at the Toshiba helpline gentleman - it was under international warrenty warranty (thank you previous computer owner - for both the added info and the spellcheckin’), so he would not have necessarily been looking at a page with blinking lights saying "AMERICAN COMPUTER…AMERICAN COMPUTER".
Good customer service all around!
Those who know me are well aware of the fact that though I may *seem* to know what I’m doing when I’m on this little silver and black machine, at the very core, I’m useless. When everything’s going well, I can impress people with how fast I type and a bunch of quirky interesting sites that only true geeks would know about…or so they think.
But then something goes wrong.
And my world falls apart and I feel like I’ve lost a limb. That sounds so horrible that I’m that dependent on this technology but it’s where I do my work, where my school work is stored and how I spend a good chunk of my free time. So…when my "in house" tech support (aka - the marvelous and kind tech-guru Adam) can’t solve it, I feel utterly helpless.
I checked the Toshiba site first, to see if they could direct me to a place to get this thing fixed. But that rant has already been documented. So, my computer made it’s way to their recommended service center two days ago. Feeling confident and self assured in my independence and wily skills at getting things done, I waited patiently for their call yesterday. Nothin. So, this morning I waited patiently still. Ah hah! 10am rolls around and a young man’s voice is on the other line.
"I’m sorry to tell you, but we can’t do anything because this is an American model and we only service Canadian Toshibas."
I’m sorry…WHAT?
Yes, that’s right, this *is* an important piece of information that was missed not once, but twice. Once by the lady at their reception (who was very nice, but obviously new and probably thinking the same thing as me "what the heck difference does it make??") and once by the man on the Toshiba helpline. I have less understanding for him. He pulled up my warrenty warranty information. He is on the helpline. But, again…not to hold a grudge, I’d let bygones be bygones. As long as they weren’t going to make me pay that $50 consult fee (two days to tell me you can’t do anything - I don’t think so).
I prepared myself ALL morning. I’m pretty laidback and I don’t really like to fight, especially with strangers who have my computer in the back. But this was one of those things where I knew I’d have to stand up and not budge. Well…turns out I didn’t have to. The manager was very nice and very apologetic. Not even a mention of the standard fee, and only a request to get the reference number to her for the phone call I had with Toshiba. W-H-E-W!!
The new place was actually only 5 units down. So, I walked my poor broken machine over there. In less than fifteen minutes I was out the door with a new power cord and sense of loyalty towards this young man who fixed my laptop up in no time. Turns out my big fears about motherboard issues and ridiculously unbelievable costs didn’t happen either. The powercord was busted, and the computer is dirty on the inside (big surprise, my cats looove to lay by it because it’s warm). Less than $100 to fix and I was on my way.
So, there are a lot of horror stories out there about greedy, terrible computer technicians who take advantage of the fact that us no-nothings are illiterate and don’t know the difference. I’m really pleased (and RELIEVED!) that my story is different and my computer/wallet are okay.
