Monday, September 15, 2008

Dell - Part Two

So after my previous post, I waited several hours and called back the international US telephone number. I pressed 3 for Europe again and waited for someone to help me. But this time, when someone answered, I asked if I was talking to someone in the international service group.

The answer was no.

Makes no sense whatsoever.

I filled this guy in on my situation and he gave me a number in Switzerland to call. Makes a little bit more sense.

When I got off the phone I realized the number he had given me had too many numbers. Darn. So I get on Dell.com, switched the country to Switzerland, and tried to wade through the German to find a contact number. Actually, it was much easier than I expected. The German words I needed were very close to the English (contact/kontact) and it didn't take me long to find a number. I should have started there.

I called the number and was delighted to hear that there was an English option. Definitely something new in my three months here. So I pressed the button for English, pressed a bunch of other buttons to answer a handful of other questions, and waited.

The woman who answered spoke German to greet me.

What. the. hell.

So I asked her if she spoke English and she replied that she did, with a tone that suggested she was annoyed that I asked. Whatever, that is why I pressed the English option! (German classes start on Thursday.)

I explained my problem to her and she said she would send a new charger out to me. Then she asked for my address.

My street is a very long word. And, while spelling it out to her, we got confused. I realized that it is difficult spelling out words here when the you lack common ground for 'a as in apple' etc.

Somehow, we managed. After five tries.

I received my charger on Friday. My computer is up and running. Last night it shut down on me again though. So, same problem still. I'm really not looking forward to calling back. But I apparently have until February 2009, 'cause that is when my warranty runs out. Just so I know.

5 comments:

De Campo said...

I had a similar problem with a Dell model a few months back. I ended up having to replace a heat sensor which was the cause of the problem.

Even though it’s under warranty, I suggest finding a laptop repair shop. Better yet, find someone who works in IT and see if they can fix it (this isn’t a hard fix).

If that fails, just hang a sign outside your place that reads “StarWars Convention”. Sooner or later a geek will stop by who can help you.

Anonymous said...

Brendan...your hystical !
I hope, where ever you are, you are well and happy.

Great job hanging in there Megs.

Take care all,
Mom

Anonymous said...

meg-good to see you're back up and running and can provide me with breaks throughout the day.

danke shoen!

ps-did i spell that right?

Anonymous said...

hey, my boyfriend had a similar problem like yours with his computers. he also kept changing the cables and it would work for a while but then stop charging. turns out his computer overheated and that broke the cables. he handed it in to a repar shop and they got it fixed, I think they replaced part of the computer, because of the overheating problem. hope that helps

mrsmac said...

ohhh, great news about a fix for the problem. but one question- if someone other than dell fixes it, doesn't that void my warranty?