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My laptop came back today and still doesn’t work. It did work for a few minutes. Enough to lull me into nice feelings towards Dell. They did the work in a hurry and got it back to me in speedy time, but it still doesn’t work.I once again had a long call to Dell tech support while a very polite person handled me with kid gloves. “thank you for patiently waiting miss polly” - I’ve heard that phrase about 50 times in the past 10 days.When they said they’d send a technician to fix it, I momentarily thought hooray! But then the “let me set your expectations” phrase came out. Another one that I’ve heard too much of.

It seems that the next day repair service I purchased means 2-3 business days. I do realize that at 8 pm on a Wednesday, next day would probably mean Friday. But 2-3 business days was turning into next Monday - a full 2 weeks after the initial problems.

Not happy, I asked for the supervisor. After another “thank you for patiently waiting” there was no supervisor to be found. The technician (who truly was polite through this whole thing) then managed to turn the 2-3 days into “I assure you your computer will be working by the end of the day on Friday”.

What annoys me, is that I had to get angry to get the next day service that I paid for. I’ve had Dell computers for years, ever since I moved from a Mac to a PC. And the tech support and next-day repair service used to be quite good. What’s happened?

Do I hear a Mac beckoning me back into the fold???

I try to avoid ranting here on my blog, but this whole laptop mess has me needing to do some venting.

Some suggestions for Dell Tech Support:

- When a customer says they have their computer manual right in front of them, pay attention! They ignored me. There was a diagram in the book that showed exactly what they were trying to explain. One of the covers they wanted me to remove popped off with my fingernail, the other with the key tag from the gym. Ok, so I should have opened the book myself, but I was rather deep into screwdrivers and trying to hold the phone at the same time. Mind you, TWO tech support people ignored my “I have the manual” statement.

- Train people to give directions in multiple ways. They kept repeating directions in the same words. That doesn’t help when someone obviously doesn’t understand. Ultimately it led to my breaking parts of the computer case.

- When I asked why the next day service that I paid for was going to take 3-5 days, the same statement was repeated “You have next day coverage, but the parts will be 3-5 days” No further explanation of why the parts would take so long. Where they manufacturing the parts? Just tell me why! It’s all about that be transparent thang…

- Don’t change your tune. When I insisted on further explanation of the next day service question, the answer came back with “oh by the way - since you dropped the computer, it’s not really covered by next day service, you’ll have to ship it back to us”.

- Accommodate your customers’ travel schedules. I have a laptop because I travel extensively. I was on the road for the week. But the box for returning the computer to them could only be shipped to my home address, delaying the return by 4 days. Had they shipped the box to my hotel, the computer would be repaired and on it’s way back to me by now.

What went right?

- The return box was perfect. Easy to understand instructions. Return shipping went smoothly. It’s at Dell now.

- Despite my frustrations with the tech support, both women were polite and tried to be helpful. I know they were just doing what they were supposed to do and no doubt they were following scripts that were imposed on them.

- Dell said they that my coverage does include all repairs. I hope they’re right.

As a result, I’m left without a travel computer and need to leave on another trip. I’ll be digging out the ancient dusty laptop that doesn’t have my broadband access card and no room for all my applications and files.

Looking forward to attending this event next week:

Washington, Wikipedia and Web 3.0: What is the Future of the Web? On June 11, 2008, leading authorities on the World Wide Web will gather at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute for an old-fashioned debate with a social media twist. The questions for discussion will be shaped and selected by the collective wisdom of Web users from around the world.

After delivering a keynote address, Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the Web, will join a panel of experts from academia and industry for a public discussion about the Web’s future.

(more…)

Food for Thought is an innovative one day learning program for campus staff at RIT:

A full day of learning sessions on a variety of topics that range from application-specific workshops,
to explorations of technology trends, to how-to instruction,
as well as some uniquely fun diversions are being planned.

Participants can pick from 24 workshops scheduled throughout the day. The day also include lunchtime brown bag sessions, lightning talks and an ‘Extra Helpings’ one-on-one help service. What an impressive program.

Read all the details about how the event came about and how it was implemented in Janie Hermann’s interview with RIT’s Jon Jiras on the Library Garden blog. Another program idea to think about stealing! Thanks to Janie and Jon for sharing all this information.

I haven’t downloaded this software yet, plan to try it later today. I’ve been using the SnagIt for screen captures for years and also use FireShot (free plugin for Firefox). But this TNT Screen Capture may have some additional features worth checking out. And it’s free for today only.

Create screen shots that look better than the original screen.
Posted: 07 May 2008 02:00 AM CDTCreate dazzling graphics on the fly with TNT Screen Capture! While you capture it, TNT enhances your screen shot and applies a professional, photorealistic touch.

And despite its many features, it is so simple to use that you can’t do wrong. 3 different screen capture modes cover everything from application interfaces to popup menus. What makes TNT stand out from the myriads of capture tools available, is the quality of the built-in image filters and add-ons. TNT Screen Capture is a very versatile tool, helpful in many situations. What you can do with this software is only limited by your own imagination.

Giveaway of the Day sometimes has some great software freebies. It’s worth checking every day - they have both an RSS feed and email alert option.

We’re having a great and productive day here at Nioga Library System in Lockport NY. We’ve spent the morning sharing ideas about using 2.0 tools in libraries. Everyone shared what they’ve been doing in their libraries, their successes and challenges. Suggestions and ideas have been flying like rapid fire. Lots of the ideas are (or will be soon…) on the class wiki page.

After all the idea sharing, everyone outlined what project they want to work on this afternoon. In some cases this turned out to be something different than they had planned on doing when they arrived. All are real world projects that they’ll be able to use back in their libraries and communities.

And since I brought toys to play with, Lorraine decided to test out my Flip video cam. Here’s her quick test video. We’re having fun and getting some boot fashion tips too!