So…against my advice once of my customers bought a $399.00 ZT Affinity computer for a critical app. that is running in our monitoring station. The computer has been nothing but a head ache since day one (about 2.5 months ago). First off…it’s running Vista, which, IMHO, is a complete piece of crap as far as operating systems go…even for a Microsoft product. Secondly the system is using a SATA drive…but the drive connector as it shipped never had a really good mechanical connection…so at random times it would fall off. I’ve found that for some odd reason the PC doesn’t work well without the hard drive in it. Could just be me.
Anyway…my customer wanted to save some money so they bought this POC system. Well, after a mere 2 and a half months the system finally failed completely (I know…shocking). I’m not sure exactly what failed…looks like the on board video card, but it’s hard to say as booting it up you get…nothing. No video signal at all. Good bet that it’s the video card at a minimum.
Anyway, I called the wonderful folks who make the ZT Affinity. I’ve spent basically a whole day trying to get through a baffling series of dodges, lies and bullshit. I started with a 20 minute hold for tech support this morning. After finally getting through to a technician (too use the term loosely) somewhere in India and going through the moronic ‘Is the power on?’ ‘Is the monitor connected to the computer?’ ‘Are you sure the monitor is working?’ ‘Can you check the front of the case and see if the power light is on?’ etc etc. The technician finally determined that…well, the video doesn’t seem to be working.
So…I asked (as I had asked about a half dozen times in the previous 30 minutes to get to this point) if I could move this to the next tier of their tech support to get someone with a clue…or to please just give me an RMA number so I could send this dog out of here. Well, the tech informed me that they couldn’t RMA the PC out until I had spoken to a ‘senior technician’…and said senior tech was only available on call back. Great. So I give them my contact info and wait for a call back.
Several hours later I finally get the call back from this wonderful ‘senior technician’…who basically starts going through the same routine as the other guy (Is the power on? Yeah, I think so guru). After about 10 minutes of this, the senior guy (who is a bit swifter than the other tech) determines…well, that the video isn’t working. Eureka! So…I’m going to get an RMA now, right? Wrong. Seems that in order to get an RMA you have too fax a copy of your invoice from the purchase order (why they hell they need this I have no idea…they got all the OTHER info from me when I started the case on the system) to their warranty division, then call them after they get it to get your RMA and shipping info.
So, I get the the customer to dig up the invoice, fax it off too them…and wait. No call back. No email. No fax. Nada. So…I try and call their warranty division to see what’s going on. Big mistake. Let’s see…on the first call I go to a voice mail informing me that the voice mail box is full and that there is an error…sorry, disconnect. On the second and third call I get someone who picked up, said ‘Hello? Hello?’ and then disconnected me before I could even reply. Subsequent calls netted me those same two responses…about a dozen more times. Trying to get to their warranty division from the company directory got me…connected to the same place with the same response. Same with trying to get there from tech support (though I got disconnected twice trying to get back to the full voice mail box). Asking for a manager got me…connected back to the same full voice mail box.
Finally I got ahold of someone and ranted enough to actually get a human. I was then informed that they had in fact received my fax and that yes, they would process my RMA. I was then transfered to several different people (but thankfully not dropped this time) and finally wound up with some from apparently New Jersey who informed me that my RMA number was such and such…and that I needed to send (at our expense) the entire tower too them ‘for repair’. I asked why I couldn’t simply send out the motherboard and was informed that the problem could be with the processor. I informed them that the processor is actually attached to the motherboard. I was then informed that the problem could be with memory…too which I also informed them that the memory was actually attached too the motherboard as well. This circular argument went on for about 10 more minutes before the guy finally just said I had too do it because it was company policy. I asked why my customer needed to pay for shipping an RMA box too them when the system is still under warranty (it hasn’t even been 3 months yet) and was told…company policy. Why couldn’t they ship me a system out first and then I return the broken one? Company policy.
I have too say that I’ve been dealing with tech support morons for years…decades even. I thought I’d seen the absolute nadir of bad support. I thought I’d seen it all. I was unfortunately wrong.
The only bright side of all of this is…that the customer, who wanted to get a system for a critical app. for the absolute lowest dollar possible has now paid (me) more than a really kicking SERVER would have cost them…let alone something like a Dell PC with Windows XP on it (which is what I originally recommended). The shipping alone is nearly what the PC costs (needless to say I’m recommending they tell this company to fuck off, eat the cost of the PC and buy a new one…hopefully their information is still on the drive, if not I have an Acronis image of it that isn’t too old).
The irony is the only thing keeping me sane at this point. Anyway…just wanted to rant. The lesson to learn here is 1) Don’t buy a ZT Affinity PC…evah! and 2) If it’s critical to your business maybe it’s a good idea to spend a bit more than $399.00 for a PC.
-XT
