I decided to share my last few months with all about my computer and all of my recent encounters with MS as it has happened.
It all started about last December right after Christmas. I live in the sticks as we say in Arkileland and do not have DSL service by my phone provider so I use satellite internet service and with the recent upgrade that HughesNet has done have very fast service and other than the service being higher than local DSL and sometimes it being interrupted by bad weather I am very happy with it.
But one of the downfalls of being in the country also is interrupted electrical service and that was the very thing that started me on this long fiasco so to speak.
I was actually on the forum and the power went off and back on in just seconds. Of course I use a good surge protector and I waited a spell and turned my good old faithful HP with W7 back on and when starting up the usual screen came up with the message that the computer hadn't been properly turned off and to hit any key to start Windows normally.
Long story short after over 5 hours and lots of frustration I discovered that the image screen was totally erased, gone, kaput! Most systems are divided into 3 partitions, main ram, image and recovery and without the image part you can't login or get to your files, etc, nothing even in safe mode or through the back door at least if you don't know how and after working with MS yesterday very few of their techs even have a clue either?
So I made the decision of time for a new computer, done my usual online shopping on the wife's computer, made my choice and got on the phone and bought what I wanted with new flat screen and lots of extended warranty, even said I'll go with the new Windows 8 with Internet Explorer 10. I could have bought W7 still but I figured since my stepson liked his W8 on his new laptop I got him for Christmas why not? Man am I still asking myself why I did this? It's very clear that W8 was made for people who like lots of apps and for laptops, it is not good on a desktop.
After only days of use my problems with 8 came to surface and most of the problems can be traced to registry issues that MS is slowly working out. IMO they released it before it was fully debugged and even MS techs are pulling their hair out. The registry issues center around the computer not working with programs take Java for instance. I am still working on the new V5 conversion and building the new forum layout and without Java you'll not do much with a Proboards forum. Some of the Java script was at least on my computer coming up as a Trojan and driving Windows Defender which I use as my antivirus nuts!
Add update problems, IE freezes and crashes to all of this and it equals a lot of time trying to solve these problems or a lot of time on the phone with HP and MS and I have done both including a long miserable day yesterday on the phone. The update problems in January led to a virus because Defender couldn't update, shut down without my knowing it and thus the call to MS.
Of course not only is the computer under warranty but so is the programming which if you don't know is two totally different things, so far the computer is performing perfectly, it's the W8 that has the issues. After a long day with the MS tech on the phone this story takes a now very funny twist.
The tech that day had to ask me to go to Walmart and get a large enough Cd to totally backup my computer which I have also on two external hard drives and then he totally cleaned the system out back to a day one start up. He made changes and done several things in the registry that not only solved the problems but made the program work better. Again the MS people know what is wrong and if you're tough enough to stay with it they can correct these problems.
All the time we were on the phone and waiting for this to do that and such he asked me about the issues with my old computer. I fully explained it to him in detail and he said the computer could be fixed and that all the files and such could be saved. Now that was music to my ears so the first question of course was, how much? The computer was long out of even any extended warranty and after we got my new computer back online and all my files and such back in he said this is what I can do for you.
He proceeded to tell me that it could be fixed on the one time tech support fix for $99 plus tax which also gives you a
day warranty, or a one year tech support fix for $149 plus tax or he could make me a deal on 3 PC's for one year for $179 plus tax. This meant any issues anything that was needed at all for one full year and on any 3 PC's in my home including my crashed W7 HP computer. I also have a old Compaq with issues so I thought hey this will give a me a old computer for the grandkids to fool with too so out came my credit card.
I write EVERYTHING down and I was given a order number and of course a case number for the work done on the new computer that day. I told him I would call back on another day on my old computers because I had had enough for that day and he informed me that I had 365 days to do so. He even while he had control of my computer put a icon in the right top corner of my screen with my membership ID for this service name and contact number. Done deal right?
Wrong!
Yesterday was a long cool rainy day and I thought OK quit dreading this computer thing and git er done! Pulled out all my notes, etc. pulled offline my new system and put my old HP back online and called the toll free number the man gave me. After all the waits etc finally hooked up with a tech and what happened next is almost unbelievable.
After telling him what was going on and what I needed he paused and said let him look up my old case number and what I thought was my one year warranty claim. Next man that came on the line was a upper level supervisor and after over one hour of telling him what I wanted and what I had bought I was informed that no such case number existed and that they had no record of me buying anything from MS! Not only that they informed me there was no such thing as a one year 3PC tech support help and they almost treated me like I was some lunatic calling them with a crazy story.
Now needless to say I got HOT! I told the man that not only did I buy what I said, I had a member ID number given to me by the tech and I could prove the charges of a total with tax of $187.66 to MS on my credit card statement that was on the month of February. After telling him that he asked if I had that statement and I told him to give me 5 minutes and I quickly opened my files and produced the statement with a charge reference number to MS for the exact amount that I told him I had authorized!
After a moment of silence the man asked me the story behind how all of that had happened. Oh I also forgot to mention that when the tech helped fix the problems with my new computer he also created me a complete W8 download Cd with a good working download key.
The MS supervisor asked me for that key and after telling him that he said it was indeed a good key and that I could use that disc to install W8 on any computer I wanted including a old XP system! Now this story even gets crazier! His attitude changed from being a person who thought I was crazy to a person who was wanting for this to be cleared up at all cost and I knew this immediately.
He asked if we could get my customer service on my credit card company on the phone on a 3 way call and after giving him the number he called and set this up. after about 45 minutes on the phone he clearly informed my customer rep that MS would be issuing a full refund of the charges of $187.66 and apologized to me numerous times for this happening!
Now this call started at about 9:50 a.m. my time. It was now noon and I still hadn't done a thing to my crashed computer. The gentleman then proceeded to put a what is called upper level tech on the phone and we went to work. He informed me that the work performed whether they could or could not fix it wouldn't cost me a dime!
After over an hour of the tech working with me to try to get in the back door of this computer he decided that the only way we even had a chance of fixing it was to put the W7 upgrade Cd in and go from there. This was originally a Vista setup that I upgrade to W7 when it came out. So far Vista is the only program that IMO is worse than W8, bring Vista in my house and you'll be asked to leave!
He told me to cross my fingers and on we went. Now also know that his upgrade was bought in 09 so I figured the key was long ago no good anymore but again I keep everything when it comes to computers. He activated the key again and started to work.
After all the smoke cleared I'm happy to say my old HP is up and functional, and even better! after getting the image back the tech was able to connect to it online and the supervisor directed him to go through it top to bottom and he said he made some improvements on it that would speed it up and he was right.
I don't know what happened on that day in January on their end, I can only speculate? This started at again around 9:50 a.m. and ended last night at around 8:40 p.m. I also received a call this morning at 8:00 to check to make sure all was well and that I was happy with the service, even after all the frustration I had to give the tech people a rating of 10.
So here's what I ended up with after all this frustration:
So far a good working W8 system, it's been running nicely, no crashes and the updates are doing fine.
A fully functional with a authorized download key W8 upgrade CD
A fully functional with a authorized download key W7 upgrade CD
Also I failed to mention that for my trouble they with a reference number gave me a one year tech help warranty on my old computer.
A full refund to my credit card and my card company called me giving me the credit refund reference number to verify this.
All of this headache cost me $0 and a lot of time.
Now to upgrade my old XP? W7 or W8? Gonna have to wait for another rainy day for that! ;D
JR
day warranty, or a one year tech support fix for $149 plus tax or he could make me a deal on 3 PC's for one year for $179 plus tax. This meant any issues anything that was needed at all for one full year and on any 3 PC's in my home including my crashed W7 HP computer. I also have a old Compaq with issues so I thought hey this will give a me a old computer for the grandkids to fool with too so out came my credit card. 