So after four missed appointments to fix a cut cable line (the window installers accidentally cut the cable wire when they visited last week to make my bedroom windows more energy efficient) the Time Warner Cable guy really showed up this time. And within the 4 hour window I was given.

All was well until I explained I needed the programs on the Time Warner cable supplied DVR and I was hoping to keep them when he changed out the wires  (A bad experience several months resulted in the full DVR line up being erased when the cable was moved.) and he replied:  “Just Buy a VCR”.

Now mind you, I have a Sony DVDirect which is the second most amazing invention (first being DVR) so I do have the programs saved on DVD which were on the DVR but when my daughter wants to watch Classical Baby or Harold and the Purple Crayon before bedtime, it’s easier for her to just go to “list” and select the show instead of getting a DVD and putting it in.

Anyone else find it to just be a little funny for  the cable guy to tell me to just go back to using a VCR when he works for a company trying to bring us into the future with technology created to make the VCR obsolete?

Sure I still have a VCR in my apartment that can be dusted off if need be but it hasn’t been used in years because Natalie doesn’t even have a VHS tape of any of her favorite home videos. And because my TV segments are all saved on DVD and my video rentals arrive in my mailbox on DVD, it’s odd to even think about going back to using a VCR.  (Even my 83 year old grandmother relies on TiVo to record her daily soap operas!)

Thanks Time Warner Cable for starting my Monday off with a laugh.

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There, I’ve said it. Yes, I really wrote that incredibly juvenile word. In caps. That’s pretty much the jist of my opinion about Dell.  I have no love for Dell. None. Or Michael Dell for that matter.

I can’t understand how Michael Dell,  a father of four, could own a company and rest easy at night knowing other self employed parents are out there using his computers and getting the worse customer service, sales assistance and technical support known to man.  His high school aged child is probably the only student getting through writing an entire term paper without a Dell computer crashing on her.

I bought a Dell Inspiron. Even bought the Gold Technical Support service plan so some company contracted by Dell could come to my home or office and fix the laptop if anything happened. And what happened? I’ve lost a bunch of documents. I’ve had parts break. Keys fall off. Motherboards fail. Hard drives crash. I’ve cursed a bunch (mostly Dell) and now I have decided to get a new laptop since my old one isn’t worth a subway ride during holiday season, I can’t even get my laptop soon.

So the mom of three who works more hours than anyone she knows is now laptop less until September 6^th although my Latitude laptop was ordered last week.  How can you pay over $2,500 for a laptop and still have to wait a month for it?  Do they think everyone who orders from Dell has a replacement laptop hanging around for times they order from Dell and have to wait weeks before it arrives?

And don’t get me started on the crappy excuses about why it’s shipping later or why it costs so much for a laptop that’s honestly not going to last long at all. Or the fact the customer service representative offered me $150 because I would be out of a computer until September 5^th or 6^th.  What is $150 going to do for my business? My hourly rate is even more than $150.

And before you say it. I know. Shame on me for ordering a Dell when I’ve had so much trouble with my current Dell laptop. I know. Shame on me. It’s not going to happen again.  It’s not an excuse to think you could use your existing credit line while thinking the company may have better computers this time around.

When someone puts their name on a product or uses their name as their business name they really should be responsible for ever aspect of their business if they want to enjoy the success all of their customers gave them. After all, can’t customers go elsewhere?

Anyone know of a company with a fairly light laptop I should have bought instead? Email me at Victoria@SavvyMommy.com. And I’ll read all about them once my laptop finally arrives and I can check email again. The customer service rep asked me for my email address even after I told her I couldn’t get back into my laptop.

Please post the info on better computers below. 

And if you are one of the publicists for Dell who have pitched me in the past about your latest and greatest models which “would be perfect for Moms, Dads and Grads…”  clearly I’ve lost your email address and its doubtful I’ll ever include a Dell in any of my segments now. I’m fed up. And I know quite a few other self employed parents who are as well.

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