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Sunday night, my laptop got hit by lightning. I had it on a surge protector, but it came through modem. I always unplug when a storm comes in, but I think this storm started in our yard. First strike did it, scared the dogs, interferred with satelite & stopped my heart for a few minutes.
I spent over 1/2 hour to file claim Sunday night. They tell me to call back after 7 am Monday to get adjuster info instead of waiting 2-3 days for adjuster to call me. I spent 4 hours being bounced from 1 phone to another, still not finding out even the adjuster's name.
I get irritated & call Dell to order me a new laptop, I can't afford to wait for the ins. co. I order everything & ask the guy if it can be overnighted. He tells me it can, but won't even be ready to ship til Monday/Tuesday. I explain what happened & he tells me he'll see if he can do anything.
Finally, the adjuster calls me. I tell him what happened & he tells me "oh, I don't handle computers. I'll have to transfer this to another adjuster. They should get in touch with you in next couple of days". I flip out on him. Couple hours later, this other adjuster calls me & I again go through everything. She tells me I need to find someplace that will look at it, figure out what exactly is wrong & write a letter to ins. co, complete with repair costs vs. new costs. Did I mention the ins. co expects a computer place to do all this work out of the goodness of their heart? Once I get this letter, I'm to fax it to her & in 2-3 WEEKS, the insurance company will decide IF they're going to do anything. This isn't some fly by night company, this is a hugh NATIONWIDE insurance company that we have paid premiums to faithfully for over a decade without any claims.
Tuesday, I call all the rental places in 5 counties looking for any that have a laptop I can rent. One tells me they have laptops, but they don't rent (even though 'rent') is part of their name. They lease them for a year & after the year, it's yours. By this point, work is stacking up out the wazoo & everybody & their cousin is calling for a price on a sign. It then dawns on me that I do estimates so easily because of the detailed spreadsheet I created with all sorts of categories so I don't forget anything. This spreadsheet is on my hard drive & a copy is on cd, but a cd is only a strange frisbee without a computer. I also realize how often I hit supplier's websites instead of searching for their catalog.
Wednesday afternoon, I call Dell to check progress. I had just realized I'm going out of town next Thursday, so if puter isn't shipped til Wednesday, I'm going to have problems. Dell's phone system tells me it was shipped! yippee! I get tracking #. This morning, I call fedex for tracking info & they tell me it will be delivered Friday before 3. At 4:30 today, my neighbor calls to tell me the fedex guy was lazy & dropped my puter off at her shop. YIPPEE!!!
We've had discussions recently here about suppliers not meeting basic requirements (as in sending correct materials) and I think a lot of us have become so accustomed to being thrilled when a company actually provides minimal service. Finding a company that goes above & beyond is totally awesome.
KUDOS TO THE AWESOME PEOPLE AT DELL!!!!
-------------------- Chris Welker Wildfire Signs Indiana, Pa Posts: 4254 | From: Indiana, PA | Registered: Mar 2001
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I screwed up my 2 networked Dells when I got them 3 years ago and the tech walked me thru these areas on the computers I didn't know existed . Then he said now type in this password "ZZ TOP." Low and behold the suckers started to work again. Good folks at Dell with a sense of humor to boot. -- Bill
-------------------- Bill Diaz Diaz Sign Art Pontiac IL www.diazsignart.com Posts: 2115 | From: Pontiac, IL | Registered: Dec 2001
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I can't understand why persons rely on their insurance company to send them an ajuster who works strictly for that insurance company. As a citizen, you are in control of your own destiny and both state and federal laws are there for your protection. Nothing stops you from hiring an independent insurance adjuster who works strictly for you when household insurance companies fail to live up to your expectations.
In the past, I had a small fire due to lightning which caused havoc on my part and other things got both broken and burnt. The insurance adjuster gave me a hard time and said that the company would only pay $3500. Needless to say I got roughly $18000 from the insurance company using an independent adjuster.
Next time work smarter, not harder
-------------------- HotLines Joey Madden - pinstriping since 1952 'Perfection, its what I look for and what I live for'
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Chris, Thumbs up for Dell from me too. I purchased two systems from them two years ago. They were delivered promptly, very thorough with emails to keep me posted on the progress of the order, happy customer so far. I was working on my system at the studio, was online, & a storm came though. Before I could respond, save anything & shut down, my modem stops working. I shut down & reboot & still no response from the modem. Well, I call Dell & they walked me (not computer saavy) through many tests, then aksed me questions on the visible condition of the modem. The conclusion, the modem was bad & had to be replaced. With the system I bought, I received a one year on site service agreement, & I purchased an additional two years just incase. The next day, before lunch, a technician was at my door with a modem in hand. All I had to do was point him in the direction of the computer & he took care of everything else. Thirty minutes later he was out the door & I was back in business. That service made a loyal customer out of me. Congratulations on your new Dell, I think you made a great choice. Good Luck, Jeff p.s. stop by when you're in the Pgh. area.
-------------------- Jeffrey P. Lang Olde Lang Signs Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
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Glad to hear you are up and running again. It is hard to run a business today without the help of computers. I myself need to get one of my computers replaced soon and I am going with Dell again.
BTW, thanks to Joey for the infor on insurance adjusters, I will remember that next time I have to deal with the insurance company.
Pam
-------------------- Pam Eddy Niles, MI ple@qtm.net Posts: 460 | From: Michigan | Registered: Dec 2000
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I had the same experience as you, only with a twist. I sent my computer in to Dell after lightning because it was a month old. They told me to keep the hard drive and ship it to Texas. Well, they lost it in that big complex of theirs, so they sent me an even better one at no charge. Since I had my hard drive, i installed it as a second, and it was golden. Dell Rocks!
I just took delivery on my fourth PC from Dell. Say what you will about custom built local stuff, this dude buys from Dell!
[ August 01, 2003, 07:17 AM: Message edited by: Rick Beisiegel ]
""Good judgment comes from experience; and a lot of that comes from bad judgment" - Will Rogers Posts: 3503 | From: Beautiful Newaygo, Michigan | Registered: Mar 2003
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I just went thru a simailar nightmare here over the last two days and am just getting back online.
I got cable internet and the first thing that happened when the installer rebooted the system was a virus warning. I got slammed with 2 more within an hour and had to wipe the whole sytem back to day one. TWICE!
If you are using Windows Messenger, word of warning....now that the IM is being used for spamming, there are some bugs floating around out there. I purchased the Mcafee online virus scan and it has already stopped 2 more critters from piggybacking in on the Messenger sevice. They also have some great spam killer and firewall protection, too.
Now if only this thing could learn how to make cofee..... Rapid
-------------------- Ray Rheaume Rapidfire Design 543 Brushwood Road North Haverhill, NH 03774 rapidfiredesign@hotmail.com 603-787-6803
I like my paint shaken, not stirred. Posts: 5648 | From: North Haverhill, New Hampshire | Registered: Apr 2003
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NOW get back to work! 
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