And you all thought Dogger had no idea....

[mighty_tiger_79]

i agree with smac

they are trying to get out of this very cheaply

FC - if you know someone who works at aaaannnnnnrrrrrrrrrr why didnt you go there?????

[Footy Chick]

I dont, my team leader rang his mate...

[JAS]

This is one of the very few times I wish I had a pushy man in my life

FC can sympathise with you on that one. My way round it is to take a couple of the girls to the store with me and go full on hormonal...start pleasantly and if that doesn't work whinge, bitch, moan and threaten tears...staff (especially men) seem to hate it almost as much as a threatening bloke and it's also much more effective if you make sure that other customers are within earshot.

Good luck...hope it gets sorted without too many more dramas.

Regards
JAS

[Wedgie]

Which branch of HN was it FC?
My mate might know someone there who could kick some arse.

[Westsider]

HN are ripoffs. We need a new printer at work. Epson put us onto HN Enfield. Their price was $1700. Did a quick search on the net, and an IT wholesaler in Victoria had the same printer for $1300.

[Wedgie]

HN are ripoffs. We need a new printer at work. Epson put us onto HN Enfield. Their price was $1700. Did a quick search on the net, and an IT wholesaler in Victoria had the same printer for $1300.

Pfft, retail is for suckers! (Was it Kramer that gave me that quote?)

[Psyber]

If it has Vista you shouldn't need to install anything for a printer or monitor.

Worse comes to worse and you do and the discs are stuffed you can find the drivers online easy enough or let us know what the make and type it is and we could find them.

My last 2 PCs have come from Harvey Norman and have been fantastic, haven't missed a beat, you should have let me know as I get mates rates down at Noarlunga Harvey Norman.

Provided of course they are Vista compatible models. One of the problems with Vista is that some older peripherals are not supported by Vista's innate drivers, and you can't get Vista drivers for them. Another problem is that a lot of older software won't work. That's why Dell have gone back to offering XP Pro as an option.

[Footy Chick]

If it has Vista you shouldn't need to install anything for a printer or monitor.

Worse comes to worse and you do and the discs are stuffed you can find the drivers online easy enough or let us know what the make and type it is and we could find them.

My last 2 PCs have come from Harvey Norman and have been fantastic, haven't missed a beat, you should have let me know as I get mates rates down at Noarlunga Harvey Norman.

Provided of course they are Vista compatible models. One of the problems with Vista is that some older peripherals are not supported by Vista's innate drivers, and you can't get Vista drivers for them. Another problem is that a lot of older software won't work. That's why Dell have gone back to offering XP Pro as an option.

Sorry Psyber, that went straight over my head... I'm somewhat of a blonde when it comes to this stuff.

UPDATE 2: Went back to HN (Enfield) and spoke to the acting communications manager and tried to hurry me off with this "office compare". Upon thinking I told him that I want it demonstrated to me to make sure it has what I want on it, so of he went to install it...15 mins later he comes back only to say that it wasnt compatible with Vista and they weren't aware of this, in the end, they downloaded a copy of open office and handed it to me on a blank disc.

I made it perfectly aware that I wasnt going to accept a blank disc with a burnt copy of a programmme on it, to which he replied"its not a dodgy copy, we still had to pay $99 to get this copy for you" which I was a bit dubious about. So he installed it on a computer there, seemed to look ok, tested it with my USB (downloaded a couple of files) and it all worked ok. It was 6pm by this stage (got there at 4.30pm) so I took it and he gave me a card and told him to give him a call if there were any problems.

Got home, installed ok, tried to stick my USB in.... IT WOULDNT RECOGNIZE IT!!!!!!! At first I nearly died because I thought I had just lost 12 years of footy data. tried all 4 ports... nothing.

Got to work this morning and stuck the USB into my workstation and it worked fine.....so know I dont know what the bloody hell is going on.

This is really pissing me off now...

[rod_rooster]

Got home, installed ok, tried to stick my USB in.... IT WOULDNT RECOGNIZE IT!!!!!!! At first I nearly died because I thought I had just lost 12 years of footy data. tried all 4 ports... nothing.

Got to work this morning and stuck the USB into my workstation and it worked fine.....so know I dont know what the bloody hell is going on.

You've got 12 years worth of footy data stored on a flash drive and nowhere else?

Free bit of advice. Never, and i mean never, store your only copy of data on a flash drive, floppy disk or anywhere for that matter. Keep at least 2 copies in different locations if you're interested in keeping the data safe.

[Footy Chick]

Got home, installed ok, tried to stick my USB in.... IT WOULDNT RECOGNIZE IT!!!!!!! At first I nearly died because I thought I had just lost 12 years of footy data. tried all 4 ports... nothing.

Got to work this morning and stuck the USB into my workstation and it worked fine.....so know I dont know what the bloody hell is going on.

You've got 12 years worth of footy data stored on a flash drive and nowhere else?

Free bit of advice. Never, and i mean never, store your only copy of data on a flash drive, floppy disk or anywhere for that matter. Keep at least 2 copies in different locations if you're interested in keeping the data safe.

THATS WHY I BOUGHT THE FRIGGIN COMPUTER! I cant store my footy stuff at work, so the USB has been the only place i can keep it until now.. and as it turns out, still cant use the blasted thing..

[Dissident]

USB drive should work....

Maybe check in the Manage Computer section to see if it's recognised.

Ah hold on this is Vista isn't it.... *sigh*



FC - when I come and sort it all out (please, no asterisks!) I'm really thinking of putting XP on there, etc.
I think you'd have a lot less problems :/

[Westsider]

USB drive should work....

Maybe check in the Manage Computer section to see if it's recognised.

Ah hold on this is Vista isn't it.... *sigh*



FC - when I come and sort it all out (please, no asterisks!) I'm really thinking of putting XP on there, etc.
I think you'd have a lot less problems :/

Yeh i just got a new laptop a few months ago, and the salesman was trying to tell me Vista is good... I laughed and said if he wanted the sale... it better have XP on it... havent had a problem yet... touch wood!!

If I was FC i'd get a refund and go elsewhere... **** HN!!

[Grahaml]

Rightyo, FC. The problems all started when you went to Harvey Norman to begin with. Fridge salesmen know nothing about computers. If there's an option to return for a full refund I would seriously consider it becuase quite frankly by the sounds of the problems you're having now I would worry about anything in the future.

I don't know anything about Vista I'm afraid so I can't offer any advise there.

As for not getting what you asked for, I'd push the issue with them about getting the real deal like they promised, and if they refuse tell them you'll call the ACCC. If they refuse still then actually call them. The ACCC will call them to investigate the issue and HN will probably crap themselves to the point that a couple of hundred bucks is worth losing. I'd also pursue getting unscratched disks and I would insist they courier this all out to you rather than you having to go in.

The shutting down/freezing problem you have though is the real worry. If the system is locking up for no reason at all so new then this won't just improve. If dissident can actually go and check this out though he shouldn't have much ttrouble telling you whether it's serious though.

In future, and for anyone thinking about buying a computer, I strongly recommend going to an actual computer specialist (and preferably one who does build even if they didn't actually build yours) because they do have the knowledge to help. They also tend to know what they promise and don't forget so readily!

[Kahuna]

I made it perfectly aware that I wasnt going to accept a blank disc with a burnt copy of a programmme on it, to which he replied"its not a dodgy copy, we still had to pay $99 to get this copy for you" which I was a bit dubious about.

With good reason.Open Office is free.

http://www.openoffice.org/

[Dog_ger]

FC....

If you are still having trouble and are prepared to cross town?

I will give you the address and number of my builder.

Ring him.

Explain the situation.

Let him deal with it.

You shouldn't have to do that...

Your Computer should be state of the art.

Take it back and scream...!!!

My dealer covers me for free 2.5 years after my purchace. At No Cost.

I love him...!!!

The cost to me is nothing.

[Dog_ger]

Did you end up taking it back FC...?

[Footy Chick]

FC's PC update: Spoke to Fair Trading and ACCC again. Was advised that due to HN having implied that word and excel was with the package, I can send them a letter in writing to rescind the contract. The man at fair trading was also nice enough to send to a rescind contract form. which I filled out and wrote an accompanying letter explaining how I have come to wanting to return the goods.

I have to hand this in within 7 days and give them 10 days to reply as to whether they will refund me. So I went down there again to give them one more chance to give me what I wanted. Ended up a yelling match and when I threatened to go to "today tonight" he basically said go your hardest because they wont want to know about it because the network would stand to lose a hefty amount of advertising dollar.... WHAT CRAP. Telstra would spend a heap more than HN and TT oust them all the time... still tried to tell me that office cost $99 to download too... he wouldnt let me speak to the store manager so I handed the letter to him (on recommendation from fair trading) and he wouldnt take it without me handing back the hard drive to look at the USB ports. I told him that I didnt have to, but I am required to return it within a reasonable period of time. I also faxed the letter to HN head office in Homebush.

On the way home I bought a new USB and tested it out...it worked in all the ports... POO..

[smac]

LOL at the last bit, FC.

Stick to your guns, don't say anything except what is in the letter from this point forward. Good luck.

[Footy Chick]

Dear Sir

I am writing to complain of the less than satisfactory service I have received upon purchasing goods from your store on Saturday 06/10/2007.

On this day I chose your store to purchase my first computer, I was greeted by salesman Ian whom I advised that I wanted a small system purely for the purpose of using Word and Excel Processing and perhaps to play a couple of games.

The product I had in mind was an $800 package which he said straight away that they didn’t have any in stock and immediately went the up-sell, telling me that it would do everything I wanted it to do but faster. I asked Ian if it had word and Excel and his reply was “Yes, it has Windows Vista”. After some consideration and being assured this was a much better product, as a “good” salesman would, I proceeded with the flexi-rent provision. Ian was also serving another customer at the time. After speaking to the Flexi-rent people, they asked me to put Ian back on, salesman Anthony was sitting at the table at the time and took the phone and said he was Ian to complete the transaction which in my line of work could be considered fraudulent.

Upon unpacking the goods, I found the installation disks were scratched and had a hard time trying to install the printer and monitor as the system froze. At one point it would not even shut down and I was forced to switch it off at the wall. Once I rebooted, I then inserted my USB cable and attempted to load a file. This was when I discovered that there was only a 60 trial of Office! What I wanted was not what I came home with.

I called your store on Wednesday 10/10/2007 and spoke to your floor manager Lee and told him exactly what I have written above. He proceeded to say that he would find it hard to believe that Ian wouldn’t have told me it was only a trial, implied that I was lying and would need to speak to Ian to get his version of events and would ring me with a solution the next day. Not surprisingly, upon speaking to Lee the next day he advised that Ian had no recollection of the sale and tried to solve my problem by offering “Office Compare”. I made it very clear that I was told Microsoft Word and Excel were in the computer and I was not going to walk away without it.

I arrived at your Enfield store on Thursday 11/10/2007 at 4.30pm and Lee handed me the copy of “Office Compare”. I demanded a demo to make sure it did what I wanted it to do. 15 minutes later he advises me that it’s not compatible with Vista! What sort of sales people have you got at your store? I advised him at the time that he could either give me Microsoft Office and lose $228 or return this product and the store loses $1600. He then BURNT a copy of “Open Office” from the internet and put it on a blank disk. I questioned the legalities of this action and he advised me that the company still had to pay $99 to download it. He gave me no other paperwork or instructions for it. I have found out in the mean time that this is in fact a free download.

I went home and installed this on my computer and now my USB drives will not work.

As a salesperson myself, I am absolutely horrified by the extremely poor level of service, knowledge of your salespeople (including your manager) and quality of goods sold to me. I have been in contact with Quentin at the Office of Fair Trading and Casper at the ACCC who have assured me that I am well within my rights to return the goods, or at least get the programs I was told were in the computer. Considering an escalated complaint cost anywhere from $1000 onwards to handle, I would have thought in the best interests of customer service I would have just been supplied a copy of Microsoft Office to keep costs to a minimum.

Please accept this letter and a letter requesting to rescind my contract and return the goods purchased on the basis of misrepresentation and faulty goods. I expect a reply within 10 working days or this matter will be taken further.

[SBR]

Good work FC, you've stuck to your guns!