OK, first off: the last posting was a lie. Not a real lie, 'cause I thought I was backed up, but, boy howdy.. Here's the deal: I needed to re-install Win XP here in the studio. Simple enough, right? My mistake was that I called Dell tech support for some advice, and the advice was wrong in a big way, and all the data on my 120 gig drive got burned. Even though I told the tech that I had two drives on the bus, even as she congratulated my foresight when I said that I had backed up to a combination of CDs and to a second, internal, drive, even as I asked for her assurance that she wasn't causing the second drive to be partitioned in the process of installing Windows on the primary drive, it was all happening--the partition, the reformatting of the non-bootable drive, the whole disaster unfolding. When I rebooted, I found only one hard disk in the system. Yes there are companies that can get this stuff back even after a repartitioning (that's how they caught Enron and Adelphia even when the bad guys thought they had gotten away clean)--maybe, but they don't promise anything, and you pay up front, even if it doesn't work. And you pay pretty good, $1200 to $1500,to start, AND IT MAY NOT EVEN WORK. If I'm going to gamble, I'll go to Frankie on the corner; I like his odds better.
Anyway, that big 120 gig drive was all music--a lot of music--mine, and maybe yours. Demos and source cues for "That's My Bush," "Arrested Development," "Scorpion King," "General's Daughter" and more. I have mixdowns on CDs for the most part, but the basic tracks are gone, as are a lot of my own demos. some of which were works-in-progress. In fact, if you've recorded here in the last few years, I hope you've saved your mixes, and I hope you're happy with them 'cause the tracks are gone, baby. You may want to give me a call, in fact...
And, then apres-ca, le deluge--trying to get Dell to deal with this was the real disaster in terms of lost time. Hours--days, really, spent on the phone, shuttling from tech-support to customer service and back, as they tried to first figure who to blame, then how to avoid compensating me, then, finally, who should compensate me and for how much.
A word of advice, bitterly learned--when a Dell tech support operator says he will call you back at an appointed time, do not fall for that. When the tech gives you an extension to call if he doesn't reach you--don't believe that one either, especially if it's ext. 48111. That is the tech-support voicemail motel--messages get in, but they don't get out (HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAA) into which all calls disappear, never to be seen or heard (let alone returned) again in this world or the next. And, they are not above giving out random-numbered extensions that don't even exist in the system, just to get a really great laugh in the ops break room over tea and dal, no doubt. And, keep all of your customer identification numbers handy--you'll give them, as well as your complete name/address/phone number to each and every operator and tech you speak with, for "identification purposes," of course. Yep, each one. And customer service ops are totally clueless about computers, so you'd better keep a tech-support op on the line, just in case.
And then, after I had reinstalled WinXP, written off the data (o lost!), reloaded the stuff I had assiduously backed up to CDs before the re-formatting, I thought Iwas sitting pretty. I even wrote it here, in this very blog. But noooooooo--I then began to get low memory page warnings. Yes, that install had gone bad, so, at two AM, I first did a repair, then another reinstall. This one seems to be stable, so far, and it's been over a week since then. All programs and data are back up and running and for good now, I hope.
After most of the swelling had subsided, I did not let all this fiddle-dee-dee go on without a response, and I finally got an offer of $300 from the bastards, which I turned down with thanks. That was it for phone stuff; I've now got a letter working its way through the system at "Executive Support," the highest iteration of Dell customer service (and I use that term advisedly). I worked myself into the very highest of high dudgeon for that letter, I'll tell you. Funny thing is, I have really liked this Dell computer (Dimension 8200); it's been a great workhorse for me and has been, essentially, trouble-free. I'd buy another; hell, I probably will buy another. But like other companies I've encountered lately (Closet World comes to mind, and they've been out here twice; and our last housepainter) the product itself is fine, but the after-sales service is shitty.
It's been a journey, notable most for the sheer amount of time that it took between the actual computer mess and just dealing with it. Hard to believe that the better part of two weeks, all I did was talk to Dell and gig. My family saw the signs of impending doom and left me alone, for the most part. I saw Sarah desultorily leafing through some Mac literature, and don't think I wasn't tempted too.
So there you have it...Sorry if I've been a recluse lately, but you at least know that the time was well spent. Yeah, right. Watch this space for the thrilling conclusion.
Yesterday, I got a call from Dell in response to my letter. A nice guy in Executive Technical Crankiness, or something, was eager to hear my complaints. He promised that Dell had no wish to render bad support, etc., etc., assured me that heads would roll, blah blah. I'm sure he's sincere, as much as that matters. I just wonder how high this stuff really goes--when he promises to forward my complaints, does this mean that I'll become the source of boozy laughter at the Bangalore Christmas party, or, exactly, what?