Monday, September 29, 2008

Incompetent idiots

Following the mishap with the orange juice and the family laptop (deceased) I was strongly advised by the guy who wrote the laptop off on behalf of my insurers to buy a Dell. Firstly he said they were reliable and spare parts were readily available, and also he said that I could get a better machine than the one I had lost for over a £100 less, and whilst that would still leave me out of pocket due to the insurance excess payment, it would not leave me so much out of pocket. I took his advice.

I ordered on line and was told the laptop would be delivered on or before the 6th October (two weeks from my order). I was therefore happy to get a phone call (albeit from a speaking machine) to say it would be delivered last Thursday morning.

I was able to keep track of where the order had got to online and so I checked that when at 3.00 on the Thursday afternoon it had not arrived. I tried to google the despatch company to get a phone number and that was when I knew I could have a problem. This was the first entry for Walsh Western. As you will see, if you can be bothered: Just the 59 complaints about their total inability to deliver laptops on behalf of Dell.

I won’t bore you with the details. Enough to say it inexplicably took the company until Saturday to get my laptop from Wellingborough to my house. This is a distance of less than 10 miles. Just the 48 hours later plus more irate phone calls to premium line numbers than I have energy to recall.

The laptop is very shiny. I fully expect that one day in the next five months I may even have the opportunity to use the thing if I get up early enough. My kids have lots of Facebook catch up to do first.

4 comments:

Karen said...

Oh bugger! Thanks for letting me know this as I have been saving up for a new PC and have been pricing up my options. I probably wasn't going to buy a Dell anyway, but this has certainly put me off even more!

I have given up on Facebook of late, I can't be bothered!

Anonymous said...

I am no longer surprised at the incompetence of stores when it comes to delivery of goods, on the contrary, I tend to be surprised when they get it right!

How sad is that?

I'm glad your computer arrived eventually, and I presume it's the right model and everything! Wonders will never cease!

Yorkshire Pudding said...

You do have your share of bad luck don't you old girl?

J.J said...

I have to be fair Karen and say that the laptop itself seems superb - and very good value for money. So long as you have the patience of a saint when waiting to actually get the thing I would recommend them.

Jay - I know exactly what you mean about being surprised when they get it right. Also the shock of getting a call back from a comapny who have promised one is almost enough to trigger heart failure such is the rarity of such an event!

YP - did I tell you the tele blew up the very next day after the orange juice incident? If it is true that one makes one's own luck I am indeed doing something rather wrong ;-)