Ok, so anyone that has been reading my rants for a while knows I have a love/hate thing with Dell. Or, more like a hate/hate thing. Actually, I am for the most part happy with the dell systems I have to work on in my line of work. It's nice to have a standard we work with that allows me to set up one machine, grab an image, and know it will likely work just fine to deploy on the systems we buy over the next so many months, until we are forced to change what model we purchase.
But, Dell's tech support, is often a bit lacking.
So, this morning, I get a new laptop for the CFO. He's out today, so the goal is to get this setup today, so it's ready to roll when he gets in Monday morning. So, I open up the box, and pull out a nice thin laptop. Oooooh.....shiny. So, being that we haven't advanced beyond the world of XP yet at our place of work, I grab my trusty XP installation disc, and.....wait a second, where's the dvd drive?
Ok, don't panic.....certainly we wouldn't order a laptop without a drive. This must be one of those deals where the drive is an external drive, which allows the laptop to be a bit smaller to not have to have space for a drive.
So, I go back to the box, and sure enough, there's a bubble pack in there with a dvd drive. An internal dvd drive. So, I figure, they wouldn't include something that wouldn't match with the computer it is sold with, so lets find where to install this.
Well, 15 minutes later, I'm still holding this drive, and I have no place to put it. So I figure I should call trusty Dell technical support, so someone there can tell me where to put it. And that's pretty much exactly what happened. Well, not quite.....
Ok, so, the person in technical support doesn't know how to use a mic. She had her mic setup so she was speaking/breathing directly into it, so it was filled with pops and such. Plus, her levels were low, I could barely hear her. But, whatever, lets get this done. So I give my name, number, email address, backup number, go through spelling, and all that fun stuff, to find out that yes, you are right, that drive won't work with that laptop. However, technical support can only swap parts for the same part, which wouldn't help me, so she transferred me to customer care.
So, I get transferred to customer care, and that person goes through the same routine of name, number..... And then informs me, I can't help you, because this was ordered through large enterprise, I need to transfer you to large enterprise customer care. Oh boy, here we go.....
So then I get moron #3. She informs me that yes, it is the wrong dvd drive, and no, they can't do anything about it. Thank you.
WHAT
THE
FUCK!!!!!!!
Apparently, it's a refurb unit, and even though we have a warranty that lasts us 3 years, that isn't enough to simply get the right damn parts. They can only exchange the part for the same part, or they can let me return it for no credit. That was actually an option given to me, to return the drive, for no credit. Just hand it over to them and say, "here you go, you've been so great, have a free dvd drive, and I'll get nothing in return for this"
WHAT!!!!!!!!!!
THE!!!!!!!!!!
FUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!
Even if that is an option, do these people listen to themselves talk? So, really, the only option she gives when I press further is returning the full unit to order another one. But, since we buy refurbs, we have the issue of availability and what's available when, so there's no telling when another one will come up. Or if the same one will come up again and then we'll be stuck with this bad combo again. So, I was like, ok, how about we do a return of the whole thing, rebuy it, but you put the right dvd drive in it. Well, you can return the whole thing. No, how about you process the return, I keep the computer, and we swap the drive, but you do whatever paperwork you need to do to make this happen. Nope, that won't work.
So, I point out how ridiculous and silly this is, that they sell a laptop and drive together that don't work together at all, and won't do anything about it. She agreed with me....but.....her hands were tied. So I asked if there was someone there that could do more. Nope.
Since I wasn't feeling like having my supervisors walk in hearing me get heated with the Dell people again, I decided that's it, I'm ending this call, and I'll let my supervisor deal with it, since she ordered it.
But, seriously, what the fuck? Is this moronic, or what?
Friday, October 21, 2011
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Does anyone do electronics work anymore?
Ok, so I have a bit of an odd hobby. Collecting and preserving quadraphonic recordings. This hobby requires me to work with vintage stereo equipment. I can only imagine the horrors yet to come when 20 years from now someone has to find a working SACD and DVD-A player to deal with what will at that time be vintage technologies that are long gone, since these digital players are simply not built to last. But, time will tell on that one. In the meantime, I've had much luck with stereo equipment from the 70s holding up and continuing to work. But, I am always looking to get the most I can out of these old tapes and records.
And that brings us to the cd-4 quadraphonic record, also known as quadradisc in the US. It was arguably the best of the vinyl quadraphonic formats. It made the use of a high frequency carrier signal to carry 4 channels of information on a vinyl stereo format, by having a sum of the front and back on the record, and a difference signal in the carrier signal. So, to play it back properly, one uses a magic box which is a cd-4 quadraphonic disc demodulator, which takes the high frequency carrier signal, derives the difference signal from it, and uses that to separate out the front and back information to get a nice quadraphonic playback.
Simple enouigh.
Ok, maybe not, but still, one doesn't need to understand all of that in order to change out a few parts on a circuit board, but more on that later.
So, I have a nice cd-4 demodulator, the marantz cd-400. Not to be confused with the marantz cd-400B. Don't let the name fool you, B doesn't mean it's better since it is newer. It is simpler in a way, it has one less calibration knob for the end user to have to adjust to get it to work. But, due to that, it just doesn't work as well. So, stay away from the B, and go for the cd-400, when shopping for a demodulator.
Now, the marantz cd-400 isn't as nice as something like the JVC cd4-50, but it's much more affordable. Also, if one opens up the cd-400, one will find it is basically a JVC 4dd-5, housed in a different case. So, since JVC 4dd-5s are so common and affordable, a nice guy in merry old England by the name of Malcolm decided to tweak around inside of one, and find a way to improve it's performance. On it's own, it does work quite nicely, but Malcolm knew there was potential to improve. So, with a few tweaks, he found one could change out 5 capacitors to improve the power supply, and change 2 resistors for 2 trimpots to fine tune the settings a bit in order to maximize the separation. When I heard about this, I knew I had to do this. Because, due to the nature of the format, when there is bleedthrough from front to back, it is a bit distorted, which is a major annoyance for me. So, cutting down on bleedthrough = cutting down on distortion.
So, one day a while back, I went to the local fryes, and went looking for capacitors. I couldn't find the right ones. FUCK!!!! I was pissed....does no one carry a wide enough selection of capacitors? Ok, ok well....the capacitors on the power supply in the marantz actually looked pretty nice, they've held up. I think the marantz was built a bit nicer from the JVC, the JVC model actually eliminated one of these capacitors, which Malcolm recommended adding back in, the marantz actually had all 5, so....ok, ok, lets just focus on the resistors for trimpots. So, I couldn't find the exact trimpots I needed. FUCK!!!!! But, I bought something I thought would work.
Anyways, I get home and I realize....what the fuck are you doing? You idiot, you're going to ruin this hard to replace piece of equipment. Bring it to a professional.
So that brings us to this week.
So, I call this place nearby that advertises that they do TV and Stereo repair. And I ask them, if I brought you a piece of audio equipment, could you change out 5 capacitors and 2 resistors? They ask me what's wrong with it. I explain, nothing is wrong with it, I just want it to be modified to perform better. They ask, what is it? I explain it's a simple quadraphonic cd-4 disc demodulator. They ask again what is it. I explain it's a piece of audio equipment. They said, bring it in for a free estimate.
So, I brought it in today.
Well, there was a bit of a language barrier. I go up to the counter, this old guy comes up, looks at me as if he's going to understand what I say. After a few minutes of explaining, an old lady comes over and cuts me off, and asks "what's wrong with it"
I explain again, there's nothing wrong with it. Here, I have this document, complete with schematics and pictures. I just want you to make these modifications to this box.
No, we cannot do this.
But anyone that does stereo repair should be able to handle this. It's just changing a few parts.
No, my technician, he will not be able to do this.
But if your technician repairs stereos, he can handle this.
I'm not sure you could afford this, it would take him all day.
It will take him a full day to change 2 resistors and 5 capacitors?
pause......
2 resistors?
And 5 capacitors.
No, he cannot do it.
Ok, I have to ask, if you cannot handle changing out 5 capacitors and 2 resisitors, WHAT IN THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING RUNNING AN ELECTRONICS REPAIR SHOP???!!!??!!??!?!??!?!?!???!?!!!!?!?!??
SERIOUSLY???!??!??!?!!!?!!?!!???!?!!?!??!!???
If someone walked in with a dvd player that wasn't turning on, you could take the time to troubleshoot that and see if you could make it work again. Which means finding the bad parts, and then changing the bad parts.
But when someone comes in and says, no looking, no diagnosing, just change these 7 things, and here's a diagram, that's more than you can handle?
I handed them a gimmie on a silver platter. They turned it away.
WHAT
THE
FUCK!!?!???!!!?!???!?!??!?!?!????!?!?!
I mean, who the hell even takes a tv or stereo or player into a repair shop anymore? With players being so cheap, and us being a throw away society, I question how a repair shop stays in business, when they turn away simple jobs like that.
But really, I question the abilities of a technician that can't change 2 resistors and 5 capacitors.
TLDR version:
Gators is an audio nut.
He cannot handle doing simple audio work.
So, he is going to bitch about the old guy that also can't do it.
And that brings us to the cd-4 quadraphonic record, also known as quadradisc in the US. It was arguably the best of the vinyl quadraphonic formats. It made the use of a high frequency carrier signal to carry 4 channels of information on a vinyl stereo format, by having a sum of the front and back on the record, and a difference signal in the carrier signal. So, to play it back properly, one uses a magic box which is a cd-4 quadraphonic disc demodulator, which takes the high frequency carrier signal, derives the difference signal from it, and uses that to separate out the front and back information to get a nice quadraphonic playback.
Simple enouigh.
Ok, maybe not, but still, one doesn't need to understand all of that in order to change out a few parts on a circuit board, but more on that later.
So, I have a nice cd-4 demodulator, the marantz cd-400. Not to be confused with the marantz cd-400B. Don't let the name fool you, B doesn't mean it's better since it is newer. It is simpler in a way, it has one less calibration knob for the end user to have to adjust to get it to work. But, due to that, it just doesn't work as well. So, stay away from the B, and go for the cd-400, when shopping for a demodulator.
Now, the marantz cd-400 isn't as nice as something like the JVC cd4-50, but it's much more affordable. Also, if one opens up the cd-400, one will find it is basically a JVC 4dd-5, housed in a different case. So, since JVC 4dd-5s are so common and affordable, a nice guy in merry old England by the name of Malcolm decided to tweak around inside of one, and find a way to improve it's performance. On it's own, it does work quite nicely, but Malcolm knew there was potential to improve. So, with a few tweaks, he found one could change out 5 capacitors to improve the power supply, and change 2 resistors for 2 trimpots to fine tune the settings a bit in order to maximize the separation. When I heard about this, I knew I had to do this. Because, due to the nature of the format, when there is bleedthrough from front to back, it is a bit distorted, which is a major annoyance for me. So, cutting down on bleedthrough = cutting down on distortion.
So, one day a while back, I went to the local fryes, and went looking for capacitors. I couldn't find the right ones. FUCK!!!! I was pissed....does no one carry a wide enough selection of capacitors? Ok, ok well....the capacitors on the power supply in the marantz actually looked pretty nice, they've held up. I think the marantz was built a bit nicer from the JVC, the JVC model actually eliminated one of these capacitors, which Malcolm recommended adding back in, the marantz actually had all 5, so....ok, ok, lets just focus on the resistors for trimpots. So, I couldn't find the exact trimpots I needed. FUCK!!!!! But, I bought something I thought would work.
Anyways, I get home and I realize....what the fuck are you doing? You idiot, you're going to ruin this hard to replace piece of equipment. Bring it to a professional.
So that brings us to this week.
So, I call this place nearby that advertises that they do TV and Stereo repair. And I ask them, if I brought you a piece of audio equipment, could you change out 5 capacitors and 2 resistors? They ask me what's wrong with it. I explain, nothing is wrong with it, I just want it to be modified to perform better. They ask, what is it? I explain it's a simple quadraphonic cd-4 disc demodulator. They ask again what is it. I explain it's a piece of audio equipment. They said, bring it in for a free estimate.
So, I brought it in today.
Well, there was a bit of a language barrier. I go up to the counter, this old guy comes up, looks at me as if he's going to understand what I say. After a few minutes of explaining, an old lady comes over and cuts me off, and asks "what's wrong with it"
I explain again, there's nothing wrong with it. Here, I have this document, complete with schematics and pictures. I just want you to make these modifications to this box.
No, we cannot do this.
But anyone that does stereo repair should be able to handle this. It's just changing a few parts.
No, my technician, he will not be able to do this.
But if your technician repairs stereos, he can handle this.
I'm not sure you could afford this, it would take him all day.
It will take him a full day to change 2 resistors and 5 capacitors?
pause......
2 resistors?
And 5 capacitors.
No, he cannot do it.
Ok, I have to ask, if you cannot handle changing out 5 capacitors and 2 resisitors, WHAT IN THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING RUNNING AN ELECTRONICS REPAIR SHOP???!!!??!!??!?!??!?!?!???!?!!!!?!?!??
SERIOUSLY???!??!??!?!!!?!!?!!???!?!!?!??!!???
If someone walked in with a dvd player that wasn't turning on, you could take the time to troubleshoot that and see if you could make it work again. Which means finding the bad parts, and then changing the bad parts.
But when someone comes in and says, no looking, no diagnosing, just change these 7 things, and here's a diagram, that's more than you can handle?
I handed them a gimmie on a silver platter. They turned it away.
WHAT
THE
FUCK!!?!???!!!?!???!?!??!?!?!????!?!?!
I mean, who the hell even takes a tv or stereo or player into a repair shop anymore? With players being so cheap, and us being a throw away society, I question how a repair shop stays in business, when they turn away simple jobs like that.
But really, I question the abilities of a technician that can't change 2 resistors and 5 capacitors.
TLDR version:
Gators is an audio nut.
He cannot handle doing simple audio work.
So, he is going to bitch about the old guy that also can't do it.
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Is the E-Wasting business just a scam, or am I an idiot? (or maybe both)
Ok, so in this new age of technology, we are left with many new problems we never had before we had all this technology to solve our problems for us. As time makes our stuff become obsolete faster and faster, we find ourselves surrounded by obsolete crap that we can't give away. Not that that stops people from trying to give away their crap like they're giving away a hidden treasure. It used to be when people found out I was into computers, they'd be like "I've got some old computers in the basement you can have for FREE!" And next thing you know, I find myself at the local dump asking the question "whad'ya mean $25 for each monitor?" And we weren't negotiating the price I'd sell them for.
I don't take free computers anymore.
So, after dropping off $75 worth of "free" monitors in my dad's garbage on a visit home, I figured I was done dealing with this for a while. But, then comes the job. A place of business accumulates crap much faster than any individual does. And as the lowest member of the totem pole of the IT department, that leaves me responsible for the "shit" jobs that IT has, such as dealing with what to do with used toner, used batteries, and broken down or obsolete computers, monitors, printers......
Great...
So, a month or so ago, I went through our "storage" area, and stacked up 2 pallets worth of Pentium I workstations, CRT monitors, and all kinds of crap you can't give away, and thought that was the end of it. But, no....when I said "take 'em away", to the person driving the fork lift, that meant put them somewhere to be forgotten about until clearing stuff out. Which means every now and then someone that I barely understand asks me "what should I do with those pallets of computers"
My answer is usually something to the effect of "I really don't fucking care" But, since I can't say that out loud, I usually say "they need to go to e-waste"
Somehow, everyone gets the idea that I have so much free time that it should fall to me to call around and find someone that wants 2 pallets worth of stuff you can't give away. Isn't this what we have a maintenance department for? So basically me and maintenance have been playing this game of both seeing who can ignore the pallets the longest. Since I rarely set foot in the area the pallets are, I was up to the challenge.
Anyways, last week my supervisor gets a call from an e-waste place asking if we have any crap for them, because they will be in the area next week. Since she doesn't want to bother dealing with it, she forwards the voicemail to me and asks me to deal with it. I dealt with it by filing it with things I don't care about. But then she asked me "did you call about that e-waste?" I gave some line about getting to it once I dealt with all the non-obsolete computers that need to be maintained and the important stuff that actually effects our day to day operations, only I thought most of that stuff to myself. So then yesterday she's like, "they're going to be in the area tomorrow, did you call them?" So, I'm like, fine, I'll arrange the pickup, since you have made it clear you want me to call and arrange for them to stop by here and haul our crap away.
So, I make the call, and say come on by, and they call back and say "we'll be there at 10:30"
Now, to be honest, by this point in time I had long forgotten about the 2 pallets. I figured maintenance got rid of it long ago. So, I was only concerned with stuff that had accumulated since then. So, around 10 I go to start bringing a small amount of workstations and monitors over to the pick up spot, and as I get up I get a call that someone is here to see me. FUCK! They're here early. So, I go meet the guy with a cart load of stuff and comments "Sorry I don't have the stuff ready for you here, I wasn't expecting you to be here until 10:30, that being the time I was told you would be here and all" So he grabs a dolly, which is the last thing one should use to haul crt monitors, and decides to help me to cut down on the trips. At least I got some joy today, watching this guy insist on trying several times to stack 3 CRT monitors on his dolly, and fail miserably. I kept telling him "nah, stick to 2", but he had no intentions of listening to me, and kept right on dropping them every time he thought he had them stacked and tried to move.
So, we're moving stuff, and pass by someone from maintenance. "Is he going to take those pallets?" "You still have those?"
Great.....more work.....
"Yeah, go bring them over"
So, some time later, we've got his truck packed, and the pallets are done with. Job well done. Mission accomplished. And then he hands me a bill for $1,300.
WHAT
THE
FUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
No one said anything about a bill. Not to mention, that is the most overpriced e-waste ever! The last guy we had pick up stuff only charged us for printers, and it wasn't that much. But....what can I do at this point? I'm ready to pass out, I'm not going to tell him, "No, we need to unload the truck", so I sign the damn thing and send him on his way. After all, I was just doing what my supervisor asked me to do.
So now my supervisor is all pissed at me, because apparently she didn't ask me to do that. I'm like "you kept asking me to call to arrange a pick up, I assumed you checked these things before asking me to call" "No, I did not say that."
Whatever, at least the head of the department isn't pissed at me. I went to him, and he's like "we'll just have to pay it and not call them again"
But...seriously, what the fuck is up with this ewasting business? This place is running a scam, clearly. And I have a feeling they aren't the only ones doing this, otherwise they wouldn't be able to stay in business charging these prices. But, I know for a fact that I could have had this stuff picked up for next to nothing if I called around. Which leads me to believe, although I didn't ask questions since I assumed my supervisor had, that they mean to lead people into thinking they're a cheap or free business. I mean, they called us, and we're like "we're gonna be in the area, can we have your stuff?", and then I call them back and they don't even mention prices, and then after loading a truck
BAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
$1,300.00
Am I right to feel a little misled and scammed? Or am I just an idiot?
I don't take free computers anymore.
So, after dropping off $75 worth of "free" monitors in my dad's garbage on a visit home, I figured I was done dealing with this for a while. But, then comes the job. A place of business accumulates crap much faster than any individual does. And as the lowest member of the totem pole of the IT department, that leaves me responsible for the "shit" jobs that IT has, such as dealing with what to do with used toner, used batteries, and broken down or obsolete computers, monitors, printers......
Great...
So, a month or so ago, I went through our "storage" area, and stacked up 2 pallets worth of Pentium I workstations, CRT monitors, and all kinds of crap you can't give away, and thought that was the end of it. But, no....when I said "take 'em away", to the person driving the fork lift, that meant put them somewhere to be forgotten about until clearing stuff out. Which means every now and then someone that I barely understand asks me "what should I do with those pallets of computers"
My answer is usually something to the effect of "I really don't fucking care" But, since I can't say that out loud, I usually say "they need to go to e-waste"
Somehow, everyone gets the idea that I have so much free time that it should fall to me to call around and find someone that wants 2 pallets worth of stuff you can't give away. Isn't this what we have a maintenance department for? So basically me and maintenance have been playing this game of both seeing who can ignore the pallets the longest. Since I rarely set foot in the area the pallets are, I was up to the challenge.
Anyways, last week my supervisor gets a call from an e-waste place asking if we have any crap for them, because they will be in the area next week. Since she doesn't want to bother dealing with it, she forwards the voicemail to me and asks me to deal with it. I dealt with it by filing it with things I don't care about. But then she asked me "did you call about that e-waste?" I gave some line about getting to it once I dealt with all the non-obsolete computers that need to be maintained and the important stuff that actually effects our day to day operations, only I thought most of that stuff to myself. So then yesterday she's like, "they're going to be in the area tomorrow, did you call them?" So, I'm like, fine, I'll arrange the pickup, since you have made it clear you want me to call and arrange for them to stop by here and haul our crap away.
So, I make the call, and say come on by, and they call back and say "we'll be there at 10:30"
Now, to be honest, by this point in time I had long forgotten about the 2 pallets. I figured maintenance got rid of it long ago. So, I was only concerned with stuff that had accumulated since then. So, around 10 I go to start bringing a small amount of workstations and monitors over to the pick up spot, and as I get up I get a call that someone is here to see me. FUCK! They're here early. So, I go meet the guy with a cart load of stuff and comments "Sorry I don't have the stuff ready for you here, I wasn't expecting you to be here until 10:30, that being the time I was told you would be here and all" So he grabs a dolly, which is the last thing one should use to haul crt monitors, and decides to help me to cut down on the trips. At least I got some joy today, watching this guy insist on trying several times to stack 3 CRT monitors on his dolly, and fail miserably. I kept telling him "nah, stick to 2", but he had no intentions of listening to me, and kept right on dropping them every time he thought he had them stacked and tried to move.
So, we're moving stuff, and pass by someone from maintenance. "Is he going to take those pallets?" "You still have those?"
Great.....more work.....
"Yeah, go bring them over"
So, some time later, we've got his truck packed, and the pallets are done with. Job well done. Mission accomplished. And then he hands me a bill for $1,300.
WHAT
THE
FUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
No one said anything about a bill. Not to mention, that is the most overpriced e-waste ever! The last guy we had pick up stuff only charged us for printers, and it wasn't that much. But....what can I do at this point? I'm ready to pass out, I'm not going to tell him, "No, we need to unload the truck", so I sign the damn thing and send him on his way. After all, I was just doing what my supervisor asked me to do.
So now my supervisor is all pissed at me, because apparently she didn't ask me to do that. I'm like "you kept asking me to call to arrange a pick up, I assumed you checked these things before asking me to call" "No, I did not say that."
Whatever, at least the head of the department isn't pissed at me. I went to him, and he's like "we'll just have to pay it and not call them again"
But...seriously, what the fuck is up with this ewasting business? This place is running a scam, clearly. And I have a feeling they aren't the only ones doing this, otherwise they wouldn't be able to stay in business charging these prices. But, I know for a fact that I could have had this stuff picked up for next to nothing if I called around. Which leads me to believe, although I didn't ask questions since I assumed my supervisor had, that they mean to lead people into thinking they're a cheap or free business. I mean, they called us, and we're like "we're gonna be in the area, can we have your stuff?", and then I call them back and they don't even mention prices, and then after loading a truck
BAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
$1,300.00
Am I right to feel a little misled and scammed? Or am I just an idiot?
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