The good part of my weekend
I went bowling Friday night, during one game not only did I get a turkey (three strikes in a row for those of you that don't bowl) but I got my personal best high score - 161. Quite proud of that. Then today I went to Arena Bowl XIX and watched the Colorado Crush beat the Georgia Force. (No I am not talking in code - for those that don't know what the hell I am talking about - Arena Bowl is the Super Bowl for the Arena Football League - you know that violent form of football where the field is half the normal size, there are no sidelines, and it is played indoors.) I went to Nordstrom Rack and picked up two dress shirts for dirt cheap and then I found out that Nordstrom gift certificates never expire.
But the best thing is that I FINALLY got my wireless internet working. Do you understand what that means? I no longer have to crouch in the corner trying desparately not to tug the cord too hard so that I stay connected, bending my neck at an angle which would give anyone a headache within 10 minutes. I can relax on my couch and type away. Or even better - I can crawl into bed and write a novel. (That is probably what I will do next weekend!!) This has been the saga from hell. My computer was a lovely Christmas gift from my dad. Well when he bought it he requested that it be set up for wireless internet. Well I got it home and waited to see what kind of specials that they would have for internet access.
Finally in January, I signed up for cable internet. Shortly afterwards, I decide it is time to get wireless (see above for the reason). I took my smiling naive self to Best Buy to try and figure out what I would need to make that happen. So I came home with a fancy wireless router. Set it up, configure it, whole nine yards. Nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch. No response other than that annoying "A network cable is unplugged message". So I get frustrated and put the damn thing away. Try it again a week later, thinking that it was just user error. Nope still nothing.
So I pick up the phone and call Gateway. (Side note - don't ever buy a Gateway. They suck). I explain my problem and the tech tells me that I just need to reinstall the drivers. He emails me everything that I need. So I proceed with it. Still nothing but that stupid unplugged cable message. Well, fed up, I bring the stupid computer to my friendly IT guys at work. They take one look and tell me that my computer was never configured for wireless internet access. The PC card (?) isn't there. So I call Gateway again. Finally I talk to an intelligent human being who confirms everything that my IT guy told me. So he gives me the number for customer svce. and tells me that I need to call during normal business hours and that they would help straighten everything out.
As soon as I can, I call customer svc. The (snotty) woman I talked to says that I had 15 days from the day I got the computer to report any problems like that. Huh? So there is nothing that they can do. So the fact that the missing peice was paid for and requested means nothing. I am PISSED. So I ask for a manager, barely controlling my seething rage. She asks why. WHY?!?!?! Calmly I respond that I am unhappy and since she isn't doing anything to help, I want to talk to a manager or supervisor. She puts me on hold for about 20 minutes (assuming that I would hang up). When she gets back on the phone, and the steam is pouring from my ears, she says that she talked to her supervisor and he agreed with her. Ok at this point I am fuming, but of course since the customer service is only open while I am at work, I have to control my temper. So instead of screaming at the idiot who answered the phone, I slammed my reciever down. And walked away from my desk. I was livid.
So, you are probably thinking that I called back and got the whole thing straightened out, etc. You would be wrong. I just bought an external PC card and configured it so it would work with my router. This took me approximately 3 long tedious hours. But they were well worth it if it means never having to speak with customer service at Gateway ever again.
But the best thing is that I FINALLY got my wireless internet working. Do you understand what that means? I no longer have to crouch in the corner trying desparately not to tug the cord too hard so that I stay connected, bending my neck at an angle which would give anyone a headache within 10 minutes. I can relax on my couch and type away. Or even better - I can crawl into bed and write a novel. (That is probably what I will do next weekend!!) This has been the saga from hell. My computer was a lovely Christmas gift from my dad. Well when he bought it he requested that it be set up for wireless internet. Well I got it home and waited to see what kind of specials that they would have for internet access.
Finally in January, I signed up for cable internet. Shortly afterwards, I decide it is time to get wireless (see above for the reason). I took my smiling naive self to Best Buy to try and figure out what I would need to make that happen. So I came home with a fancy wireless router. Set it up, configure it, whole nine yards. Nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch. No response other than that annoying "A network cable is unplugged message". So I get frustrated and put the damn thing away. Try it again a week later, thinking that it was just user error. Nope still nothing.
So I pick up the phone and call Gateway. (Side note - don't ever buy a Gateway. They suck). I explain my problem and the tech tells me that I just need to reinstall the drivers. He emails me everything that I need. So I proceed with it. Still nothing but that stupid unplugged cable message. Well, fed up, I bring the stupid computer to my friendly IT guys at work. They take one look and tell me that my computer was never configured for wireless internet access. The PC card (?) isn't there. So I call Gateway again. Finally I talk to an intelligent human being who confirms everything that my IT guy told me. So he gives me the number for customer svce. and tells me that I need to call during normal business hours and that they would help straighten everything out.
As soon as I can, I call customer svc. The (snotty) woman I talked to says that I had 15 days from the day I got the computer to report any problems like that. Huh? So there is nothing that they can do. So the fact that the missing peice was paid for and requested means nothing. I am PISSED. So I ask for a manager, barely controlling my seething rage. She asks why. WHY?!?!?! Calmly I respond that I am unhappy and since she isn't doing anything to help, I want to talk to a manager or supervisor. She puts me on hold for about 20 minutes (assuming that I would hang up). When she gets back on the phone, and the steam is pouring from my ears, she says that she talked to her supervisor and he agreed with her. Ok at this point I am fuming, but of course since the customer service is only open while I am at work, I have to control my temper. So instead of screaming at the idiot who answered the phone, I slammed my reciever down. And walked away from my desk. I was livid.
So, you are probably thinking that I called back and got the whole thing straightened out, etc. You would be wrong. I just bought an external PC card and configured it so it would work with my router. This took me approximately 3 long tedious hours. But they were well worth it if it means never having to speak with customer service at Gateway ever again.
posted by Shannon @ 10:01 PM
1 Comments:
At 5:32 AM,
Vikki m said…
About the bowling... I think bowling is actually all about the foot action. You know, those people whose foot goes up and behind them when they roll the ball. They are always good bowlers. I'm convinced that as soon as I can get the hang of that, I will be fantastic.
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