Tuesday, October 14, 2008

fixing things . . .

The other day Nolan was closing one of the windows I had open on the laptop to pull an image to the front. When I closed a couple of the programs, the computer froze. "No big deal" I thought, in that I have shut the computer down on many occasions using the ctrl/alt/delete trick. This time, the computer went into the DOS mode and gave me some options. Of course I chose the easiest, fastest option. That was the F1 key. The computer flashed a couple of times then gave me a rectangular blue field asking for a password. "WHAT" went on I my head as well as a few "not so nice words". I tried several different passwords that I thought might work, but in the back of my mind, knew that I was not going to get anywhere with my futile attempts.

I called Toshiba help center and Mujibar answered. That's not his real name. :) He mentioned that my warranty was expired and there would be a $35. fee for helping me with the issue. He stressed that if he walked me through the whole process that he would charge me. So after a few minutes, noting that if he did not go through the whole process with me and actually fix it that I would not pay him, I agreed to the help and the fee. By question number two, he referred me to the nearest Toshiba Service Center. 1 1/2 HOURS AWAY!

I called and left a message and I got no response, So this morning, I called and talked with James, the service technician. Helpful young man . . . the kind of people I like to work with. I told him the situation and he said that it was an easy fix and would only take 15 minutes. Knowing that I did not want to drive for 3 hours to have something fixed that would only take minutes, I asked him to walk me through the process on the phone, and that I would pay him for his time and expertise. Long story shorter, he emailed me the directions, I tried it a couple of times, and it didn't work. I called him back and he said he would walk me through it over the phone. I got my Mcguiver equipment (foil and a paper clip) and jump started the Bios avoiding the password issue. I love times like this. I love asking people to help me and having them just help. I love not having to do the traditional 'bring it in' things. I love getting things fixed and it not costing me anything but time. I asked for his full name and the store address because I am sending him a Starbucks gift card!

1 comment:

Patrick said...

Garth--

I felt similarly after talking to a guy in CA (imagine that) who sells third seats for SUVs. He didn't have anything for a van, which is what I was after, but he still spent 10 minutes on the phone walking me through the process of installing a new bench seat in my van.

Noah and I got it done this week over a couple of days. I now have a new seat in the van and saved big money not having to buy a new vehicle.

It's great when people are helpful when they don't have to be.