Computer on Caffeine Break

[Brian Kent]

I decided to give my computer a coffee break. On Saturday I emptied about 12 ounces of coffee with half and half into my Macbook Pro laptop. Luckily I have Best Buy's "Black Tie" service plan that covers accidents. And luckily I use that "Time Machine" feature that backs up the computer every 30 minutes. So it's all good. I get some new parts or a new computer…



…in two to four weeks.


They said they have to say "2 to 4 weeks" just in case, but that it will actually be sooner. I am writing on my wife's computer to let you know I am going through Sawmill Creek withdrawls!


I'll see you all soon. Sniff!



Brian:(

[Steve DiMasi]

My old Macbook Pro was a wino! My cat jumped on my desk (they are not supposed to be up there) and spilled a large glass of red wine right into the keyboard. I saw it happening but couldn't stop it. It made a sizzling noise, then a pop and it shut down.

I quickly opened up the case and pulled out the hard drive. I use Time Machine too, but it was nice to be able to just pop the drive into the new one. I sold the rest of the wine soaked laptop on the bay for parts since the screen was OK. My service plan had expired, so selling it for scrap helped a little.

I now keep an arm-length radius around my laptop as a drink-free zone! Oh, and the cats are no longer allowed in the office. The dog is OK though!

I feel for you having to wait, but it's a great excuse to upgrade!

[Brian Kent]

Replying on former employee's old laptop:

There's a good chance that they will replace instead of repair, which would give me a couple of incremental improvements and add a couple of years to the life of the computer.

[Walter Plummer]

Hope they come through for you. Please let us know how it turns out. I am luke warm on the big blue store. I would like to think they are improving customer service. Good luck, Walt

[Larry Frank]

I have a rider policy on my home owners insurance that covers my computer stuff against all perils and no deductible. There are so many things that your home policy does not really cover. It is not very expensive and well worth it. I used it a couple of years ago when a car cut off a power pole nearby and fried two of my hard drives.

[Jerome Stanek]

Most likely they will try to fix it. they worked on one of mine and it was tied up for 6 months going back and forth for one problem after another. they fixed the first problem but when I tried it in the store they messed up the touch pad so it had to go back then when I got it back it had all kinds of errors and had to go back again this was like two months now they had it and I still hadn't got to try it at home. Three more months and I finally got to take it home only to find that it wasn't reading all my ram. took it back and they had it another month and were going to keep it longer when I really started to complain. Finally I did get a new one.

[Phil Thien]

I had a customer w/ a Sony notebook and a BB warranty. The video was bad, and she took it to BB. They said it was fine. I told her to take it back, and demonstrate the problem to someone else. They also said it was fine.

I took it in, explained the problem, they said "that's not a hardware problem." I had Sony on my cell phone, handed the BB tech the phone, and the Sony tech said "the motherboard is defective, it needs to be replaced."

They (BB) did the swap, but all the screwing around did take a considerable amount of time and effort.

I know the salespeople use the "we'll replace it" hook line for selling the warranty, but my experience is that they will do everything in their power to fix it.

[Brian Kent]

I am naively clinging to the hope and expectation that I will be utterly surprised by the speed of the repair or replacement, the friendliness of every contact, and the 100% competency of all that they do. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

On the other hand, it's been only 3 days but I am going crazy without my computer.