Fun with Best Buy and my Jornada

[Presto]

Dudes, Just buy Dells.

*Totally couldn't resist.*

Based on my experience with Dell, however, they're the best when it comes to honoring warranties. I've had tech guys replace the motherboard/cpu in my laptop twice at no charge to me, since it was covered under their on-site next-business-day warranty. They burned out due to a faulty power cable.

Haven't had any problem with my Axim either. Ordered one for my fiancee last week, which is supposed to arrive today. It'll have the new PXA255 chip too, so it'll be interesting to compare the two and see how much of a speed increase it gets.

No Best Buy horror stories here, but I did have a delightful experience at Staples not too long ago. Bought an HP photosmart printer, but the printer cartridges weren't in the box. They had been stolen. (And really, it was a way stupid design by HP to have the cartridges placed right above the cut-out carrying handle. Just tearing the cardboard upward a little exposes them.) The guys at Staples did an outstanding job giving me a new one. It was just unfortunate I had to bring the whole thing back, since I had already set it up.

-John

[Tachion]

My whole problem with Best Buy is the fact that they did not tell me that I needed to buy a warranty or they wouldn't repair it. I even asked to see this policy in writing and they said that it wasn't in writing.

And to the person that said he worked at Best Buy: I told them I was willing to pay for it. He said even if he sent it to their repair shop in Baltimore, I think it was, that they would not accept it because I didn't purchase the plan.

Seriously though, I am just as pissed at Compaq as I am at Best Buy but I have had more than my fair share of issues with Best Buy and only this one issue with Compaq.

[sponge]

I'm pretty sure it's just my luck, but I don't like Dell too much anymore. Recently bought one of those Wal-Mart PCs, and once I saw the BIOS in it, Dell's was horribly crippled in comparison. Plus the stories of disabling processor upgrades via the BIOS, though I can't confirm those.

Something that REALLY annoyed me though was a call to tech support. I'd bought a Radeon 9500 which required aux power. Plug in the card, and the PC doesn't turn on - just a blinking orange light on the front. Their website found nothing at all. So I call them up, and ask "what does this orange light mean?" He then had me ask if it was plugged in, switch plugs, blah blah blah. I had since then taken the card out, so I said something to the effect of "it's working right now, however when I install a new video card, I get that light, and would just like to know what it means" He simply ignored that, and went on with checking the god damn cords and outlets.

20 minutes later, I find out the power supply isn't large enough to handle that card. Into the Wal-Mart PC it went.

On an Athlon XP 1800+, upgraded to a Radeon 9500, with 512MB DDR, I get TWICE the framerate in Q3, and games like BF1942 and C&C Generals are playable at full detail. Total cost, $400 for the PC, $120 for the video card (IIRC) and $70 for the RAM.

The Dell, P4 1.6GHz, 256MB RAM, Ge3 TI200 gets 30-40 FPS.

That performance jump just doesn't seem right, espeically for the price difference of $500 or so.

--

By the way, the Wal-Mart PCs are very nice machines. Had to get the mobo replaced because the AGP port was fried, but I was talking to someone within 20 seconds of calling, and he was very knowledgable, and within 30 minutes, there was a replacement motherboard being sent out. The actual PCs are Microtel.

[Presto]

[damian]

[(TSC)Bender]

[sponge]

[Guest]

Umm... Normally Dells use Intel motherboards, and those are definatly not the cheapest there are. Intel doesnt alow overclocking on most of its boards since overclocking has and never will be an advertized feature of a processor.

As for the tech support call, I dont expect them to help every person who cant install thier own video card. Even though everyone thinks they can do it, its not often as easy as it looks, talk to a professional.

[sponge]

I don't either. So if you would have actually read my post, I asked what does one simple blinking light means not why doesn't my video card work

Installed it in the Athlon, and it worked perfectly.

No way I'm talking to a professional - I don't know any personally and I'm not paying to be raped up the ass by their costs.

[David Horn]

[James S]

[David Horn]

Oh, no, it's a full warranty. As long as the problem is due to a manufacturing or materials defect, the retailer and/or manufacturer is duty bound by law to replace and repair the product free of charge.

Also, you are entitled to a full refund if the problem occurs within 30 days, and a no questions asked refund within 15 days, though most shops do 30 days.

Doesn't cover accidental damage, obviously.

[James S]

That's what's so great about the American Express Blue credit card. It covers accidental damage up to $50,000 for the life of the product. Also, if the retailer won't accept a return then American Express will "buy" it from you for the full price that you spent on it. I suggest getting a Blue card (if you live in America, of course) to use for all large or iffy purchases. They'll eat all fraudulant charges, too.