RE: Do not buy a Compaq

From: Grant Collingwood (GrantCollingwood_at_discussions.microsoft.com)
Date: 01/08/05 

Date: Sat, 8 Jan 2005 03:19:01 -0800

Great story Kevin. I could picture exactly what you went through, and would
say that your words echo many people out there.
Grant.

"Kevin" wrote:

> Just a quick post about a hilarious experience I recently had with Compaq.
> My office bought me a new desktop a couple of weeks before Christmas.
> That's the good news. The bad news is that it is a Compaq. A Presario 6000
> series, to be precise. It had Windows XP Home Edition SP2 installed and the
> usual overload of crap that companies like Compaq and Gateway seem to
> delight in offering the public.
>
> The unit arrived, I hooked it up, turned on the power and it sat there.
> Disk spinning, fans blowing and absolutely nothing happening. I called tech
> support at Compaq. I actually got through in about two or three minutes. I
> was now speaking with a tech in Bangalore, India. I could hear what seemed
> to be people cooking dinner in the background. I read off the serial number
> and was informed that my system would be out of warranty in two days! Yes,
> two days. Out of a one year warranty my "brand new" system had two days
> left. This thing had been sitting on a shelf somewhere for over a year
> since it had been built.
>
> This could only get better, so I pointed out that we had purchased the unit
> within the last two weeks. Yes, I was told, my warranty was definitely
> going to expire in two days. If I would only fax Compaq the receipt for the
> unit, my warranty problems would be solved. Now onto the matter at hand. I
> could barely contain myself during a fit of the giggles over the phone.
>
> I explained that the machine was getting power but nothing was happening.
> Yes, the monitor was plugged into the back of the computer. Yes, the
> monitor was working. Yes, the little lights were on. No, nothing was
> happening. No video, no keyboard or mouse response. Yes, the keyboard and
> mouse were plugged into the computer. Would I mind opening the unit up and
> looking inside? Sure, I can do that.
>
> The technician had me twist, grab, wiggle, move, remove and reinsert
> everything not nailed down to the motherboard inside the guts of that PC.
> When I removed and reseated the RAM sticks, magic happened! Video and a
> mouse response. Loose RAM, the tech observed. Problem fixed, thank you for
> calling Compaq.
>
> The next day, I got into the office and started the machine up. Nothing. I
> hit the reset button and it booted up to the desktop and froze instantly.
> No mouse or keyboard response and Ctrl-Alt-Del did nothing. On the fourth
> or fifth reboot, it came up and stayed up the rest of the day. For a week
> it would freeze on initial boot up, freeze at some point during the boot
> process, freeze at shutdown, freeze at random and just plain freeze. I
> called Compaq technical support again.
>
> Hey, what do you know, I got Bangalore, again! Oh Boy! After confirming
> that my warranty was now a full year I was ready to get my problem taken
> care of. I explained about the previous call, the tech had no information,
> other than the fact that my warranty was a full year. I ran him through the
> first call, hitting only the high spots, and he said he knew what was wrong.
> I would need to format the hard drive and reinstall Windows. Which I can do
> by using the set of CD's I burned of the operating system image as Compaq
> does not include a Windows disk. The hidden partition contains all that
> information and in conjunction with the disks I had burned, I could now fix
> my computer. Was I ready to proceed?
>
> Hell no! I stopped the guy right there and we went over the essentials of
> my problem. During this, the computer froze. When I reminded him of the
> fact that it had arrived with an obvious hardware problem he said that I
> would have to send it in to get it fixed as the Presario 6000 model we had
> purchased did not have the option of having a local technician come to my
> office to fix it. He arranged to send me a pre-paid shipping box and I sent
> the PC in for service. Ten days later, I got it back.
>
> I plugged everything in, turned it on and was greeted by the Windows Welcome
> Screen and logon. I never set up my systems to use this and I didn't set
> this one up to use it. Surprise! I can't logon because I don't have proper
> "privileges"! On a reboot, I was able to catch the window that showed the
> ASP.NET Administrator user had denied me the use of my computer. I had not
> installed the .NET updates prior to shipping the machine off for service.
> The techs that replaced the RAM sticks (bad RAM) had installed every update
> known to man on the computer. For some reason, Windows decided that I no
> longer had the right to use my own machine, so denied me a logon.
>
> I called Compaq technical support. By golly, I got Bangalore! My lucky
> day! This time, I got a technician that had evidently just mastered
> English. But his name was . . . wait for it . . . Hadji. Yes, Hadji. As
> in Jonny Quest! He was very nearly impossible to understand. I read off my
> case number and he had no information other than the fact that my warranty
> was one year. I carefully explained the problem with the logon and what I
> had found as the cause. He knew exactly what my problem was from my
> description and was I ready to format the hard drive and reinstall the
> operating system and applications? This was the only way to fix my
> predicament. Again, hell no!
>
> I reminded him of the fact that I knew that those .NET Framework updates had
> screwed up my system and I wanted it fixed and I knew it could be done
> without formatting the hard drive. He said the updates were a Windows issue
> and I would have to contact them for support of their operating system. I
> explained to him that Microsoft will not support OEM installations of their
> operating system. He asked me if I was sure my computer had an OEM version
> of Windows on it. I couldn't believe it! I asked him if he knew that when
> a company like Compaq installs their version of the Windows operating system
> that Microsoft will not support it. He didn't know that. He would have to
> ask someone, could I hold? Sure, why not, I'm talking to some guy halfway
> around the world who doesn't know that he has the same name as a 1960's
> cartoon icon and also doesn't know his company must provide the support for
> the operating systems on their computers. Why wouldn't I hold?
>
> Hadji comes back and by gosh, he can fix my logon problem without a format.
> Two words. System Restore. Of course, I will have to pick a restore point
> before the idiots that serviced my computer got their hands on it. That
> means downloading and reinstalling about twenty critical updates, with the
> exception of anything to do with .NET or .ASP or .NET Framework.
>
> Of course, it works and I can use my computer now. Since my workplace is on
> a dialup connection I spend a full day downloading and installing the
> updates.
>
> Whatever you buy, for your personal computing needs, do not purchase a
> Compaq product!
>
>
>