I know this may sound ridiculous, but my laptop has still not been repaired. When the technician came last time and failed to repair my laptop, he said that he would order a new motherboard for me, but I didn’t receive any contact from Dell about it, so I decided to chat with them to make sure that it was done. Here are some interesting excerpts from my chat conversation that took almost one hour to finish.

(05:34:17PM) Adam: Could you check to make sure that a motherboard was properly ordered for my system? A technician came to replace an LCD about two weeks ago but we realized that my laptop’s display problem was not a problem with the LCD, and he said that he would order a new motherboard so we could replace that, but I don’t think he did.

After waiting several minutes of waiting and verifying what machine I had, the support technician said:

(05:44:02PM) Saurabh: Adam, I apologize the dispatch for the motherboard has not been created. Please donot worry I will make the dispatch for the LCD and the motherboard now so that you donot face any issues.

(05:44:16PM) Adam: No, I don’t need another LCD. I already got a new LCD and got it replaced, but that wasn’t the problem. I just need a new motherboard, and possibly the cable that connects the upper screen area to the motherboard.

After another several minutes, we verified my address and phone number, and the chat support representative put in the request for a technician to come repair my laptop again. After getting that set up, I asked another question:

(05:51:32PM) Adam: I have one more question. This is the seventh or eighth time I’ve contacted chat support about this problem, and a technician has already been to my apartment twice before to attempt to fix this problem, so this is clearly a recurring problem. What is your return policy on products that have problems like this? Would I be able to get a Dell store credit so I can purchase an entirely different machine if this third repair still does not fully resolve the problem?

This is where mass chaos began. Instead of answering my question, he did everything possible to avoid it.

(05:54:07PM) Saurabh: Adam, I sincerely apologize for the past inconvenience. Please donot worry and be assured the issue will be fixed this time by the parts replacement. We will send all the required parts through the technician so that you donot face any issues further.

(05:54:40PM) Adam: I know, but in the case that this third repair still does not resolve the problem, would a return or exchange for a different Dell machine be an option?

(05:58:16PM) Saurabh: Adam, we will make sure that the correct parts are sent to you for the replacement so that you donot face any issues further. You will not have to come back again for the same issue.

(05:58:32PM) Adam: … You’re not answering my question. The first representative that I talked with for the first repair said the same thing that you’re saying now.

(06:06:15PM) Saurabh: Adam, we cannot promise the system exchange right now till the parts replacement are done to fix the issue but please donot worry the issue will be fixed after the parts replacement

(06:07:11PM) Adam: First of all, stop saying that the issue will be fixed after the replacement, because we all expected it to be fixed after the first repair but it didn’t work, and now we’re on the third repair. What are the conditions that make a product refund or exchange an option?

(06:17:31PM) Saurabh: I apologize for the delay. I really understand your concerns and apologize for the inconveniences caused to you. Please donot worry we will make sure that the system is fixed this time and if in case you face nay issues we will surely do the needful.

This is where I gave up on him.

(06:17:57PM) Adam: Are you even reading my questions, or are you just using canned responses and sending me random answers?

(06:18:17PM) Adam: The stuff you say is completely irrelevant to what I ask about 80% of the time. If you don’t know the answer, you could’ve just said “I don’t know” about 20 minutes ago and we could’ve all saved time.

(06:18:47PM) Adam: This is ridiculous, you’re wasting my life.

(06:18:56PM) Adam: Thanks for setting up the appointment for me, no thanks for not answering my questions.

(06:19:03PM) Adam: Have a nice day.

(06:19:05PM) Session Ended

So Far in 2011…

Number of Taco Bell tacos eaten: 10

Number of times I did my own laundry: 1

For those of you that don’t live in the United States of America (or for those Americans that live under a rock), the NFL Superbowl was on today, the Green Bay Packers vs. Pittsburgh Steelers. As you may or may not know, I’m currently a student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, which is the home state of the Green Bay Packers.

Sure, it’s awesome and all that a local football team went to the Superbowl, the largest American football event in the nation. And sure, it’s awesome that they ended up winning. But the only problem is, Madison residents are too dedicated to American football that everyone went outside and started clogging up the streets.

If you don’t know already, I work at the Badger Herald, the newspaper for the University of Wisconsin-Madison. We publish an issue on Monday, which means I have to go to work on Sunday night. Because the Badger Herald office is about 1.4 miles (2.2 kilometers) away from my apartment, I take the bus. If you’ve been keeping up with my YouTube vlogs lately, you know that I have tons of issues with getting to and back from the office, and with buses in general.

The bus system in Madison is also particularly unreliable, especially the free bus routes. I try my best to take paid bus routes because I have a bus pass that lets me ride all Madison Metro routes for free. The only problem is, sometimes the times don’t work out very well and I end up having to take the free routes.

These free routes are usually very off time – they can be ten minutes early one round, then suddenly be fifteen minutes late the next round. I had set a personal record for waiting for the bus a few months back, where I had to wait about 32 minutes for the bus to come. I had a feeling that the bus just skipped a round because it was too late or something. Today, I beat my personal record.

Remember the American football fanatics I mentioned a while ago? These fanatics flooded the streets and clogged up a very important street called State St. Just about every bus route that I take that leads to the office passes through State St. I wasn’t there to witness it myself, but apparently, State St. was so packed that people could barely get through, let alone vehicles or buses.

I had no idea this was the case and waited for the bus, expecting it to be on time.

Forty-three minutes later, the bus came.

The bus route that I was waiting for is essentially a bus that goes around repeatedly in a circle for several hours, with each round (or “circle”) taking 30 minutes to complete. My having to wait 43 minutes implies that the bus must have randomly just given up on a route.

I can sort of picture the bus driver looking at the crowd in State St., sighing with a depressed look on his face, and just stopping the bus to wait for people to go away.

But the story doesn’t end there.

Even while I’m at the office, I constantly check the Madison Metro website in case there are emergency route terminations. I noticed that the last round for the bus route I was riding was at 11:46 PM, which is two hours earlier than the normal last round. I suspected that they just decided to end the routes early because of the massive crowd in State St., so I quickly packed everything up and left work early so I could catch the bus back to my apartment.

On the way back, I noticed that State St. was almost entirely empty of football fans. When I got back to my apartment, I checked the website and noticed that the remainder of the rounds were put back in service.

Apparently they thought it would be a good idea to update the website ten minutes after I left.

So Far in 2011…

Number of Taco Bell tacos eaten: 10

Number of times I did my own laundry: 1

Due to the recent massive snowstorm, even a city as well-prepared as Madison, WI called for a snow day, which means I have no classes tomorrow.

You may or may not know already that I work for the Badger Herald; the Editor-at-Large and I decided to create the first ever front-page web feature for the snow day.

She claimed that having a dynamic home page for the Badger Herald has been her dream since she started working for the Badger Herald, and me being the relatively new Web Director (the previous one graduated university last semester), I decided to go for it.

And we succeeded.

With the help of our Editor-at-Large’s ideas and planning, and some coding assistance from my Associate Web Director, we managed to pull off a decent front-page web feature.

If you’re interested in seeing it, you can go to the Badger Herald’s website today. You only have one day to see it, seeing as it’s a one-day feature for a one-day event.

UPDATE: For everyone that missed it, I made the archive of the feature home page public. It can now be seen at http://badgerherald.com/index/2011/02/02/. The main home page is now back to normal.

(On a slightly related note, if you’re interested in advertising with the Badger Herald, check out our page with online advertising information, including traffic, available ad sizes, and pricing.)

So Far in 2011…

Number of Taco Bell tacos eaten: 10

Number of times I did my own laundry: 0

Thanks.

(If you don’t know what this blog post is about, then think of the one day of the year that I would have to say “Thanks” so much that I just put the word in my blog.)

So Far in 2011…

Number of Taco Bell tacos eaten: 10

Number of times I did my own laundry: 0

Part 3 of my quest to get my laptop fixed is here.

The same technician that came last time to replace my motherboard, screen connectors, and display came again. He recognized me and my laptop from the previous repair session, and was slightly surprised that the laptop was malfunctioning again.

He replaced my LCD, and nothing happened.

My laptop is still broken.

What I thought was a problem with the LCD was apparently actually not at all related to the LCD, and might either be a partially damaged cable, or a partially damaged motherboard. I say partially damaged cable because the webcam still works fine, and the webcam uses the same cable as the LCD to connect to the base of the computer. I say partially damaged motherboard because everything else seems to be working fine.

So now I have to go through the dreaded Dell support chat again to schedule another appointment to get a new motherboard…

So Far in 2011…

Number of Taco Bell tacos eaten: 8

Number of times I did my own laundry: 0

For those of you keeping up with my quest in attempt to get my laptop fixed, I have an update.

I used the Dell chat support on the Dell website to request warranty repair for my website last week. If you read the blog post from January 15, 2011, you know that I had issues with the technician dialing the wrong number and not being able to reach me. At the end of that blog post, I explained that I had to reconnect to chat again just to make sure that the proper number was entered into their system.

I ended that chat with “I will be very disappointed if the technician dials my home number again.”

Guess what they did?

They called my home number again.

The technician, who is not directly employed by Dell but is paid by Dell to fix Dell computers that are under warranty, apparently did not even receive my cell phone number. After telling Dell chat support multiple times to forward my cell phone number and not my home phone number to the technician, Dell chat support did absolutely nothing.

So the technician called my home phone, and like usual, nobody was available to answer the phone. He left an incomplete message, did not leave a call back number, and now I have to contact Dell support again to rearrange the technician to come fix my laptop.

Again.

So Far in 2011…

Number of Taco Bell tacos eaten: 8

Number of times I did my own laundry: 0