Go Tiger Direct *shudder*
Okay, so most people who have worked in the the computer industry for more than 3 weeks have heard of Tiger Direct, or have had a run in with the company, or have tried to blow the company up. Seriously, I would hate to work in the mail room in that company because the hate/complaint mail and letter bombs must be staggering. But I digress. In one of the departments that I work with there is a professor, who is in fact a rocket scientist and a nuclear engineer. He likes to save money on computer spending, and three years ago he had a five year old Dell computer fail, so he will never support that brand of desktop, and only buys... well he buys the cheapest computers that he stumbles across either in a PC Computing magazine or a random computer deal website. About a year ago he found Tiger Direct. And he found a computer that he liked on their website. So he called them up to oder the computer advertised on the main page of their website; and found out that one was no longer available. So they let him talk to a customer representative to help him customize a system that would more suit his needs. Now the fun begins.
They talked him into buying a outdated motherboard, a newer high priced processor (not 100% compatible with the motherboard, but it still worked) to save money they suggested a smaller amount of system memory (He wanted a GIG, they suggested 256Meg unmatched memory i.e. used), two 300 gig hard drives (not sure how that saved money) a CD Burner Drive, a DVD Burner drive (they told him that the drives could do one or the other media not both) a small 64 meg video card, and a 500W power supply. Wow, talk about a system designed by a drunk monkey. Not only that, but since he was going to be using it on college campus they also sold him Windows XP Home Edition, and they suggested that instead of paying for a three year warranty, he should get a 90 warranty and a copy of Symantec's GoBack because, and I quote "Most hardware issues show up in the first 90 days, and after that it is aways a software issue, and GoBack can fix any of them that arise." Fast forward a year.. now the memory is failing, and quite possibly the motherboard is giving up the ghost. None of these are covered by the system warranty, the memory may be covered by the manufacturer warranty, if it still had that original sticker on it.
Just for fun I called Tiger about the system, and they have no record of ever selling that system in their database. Keep in mind that I got the 1-800 from a sticker inside the case. They suggested sending to them and for $100 they could diagnose the system, and get back to us. I told them that I needed to put them on hold to check with the professor. They stayed on hold for 20 minutes before they finally hung up.
Right now the hard drives are in a spare computer while I make sure that I have all of the data backed up. Tomorrow I will start bringing Frankenstein back to life.
Please, if you ever feel the urge to go to the Tiger Direct website, or call their 1-800 to order something, just take out your checkbook and make out a check to Kenn Wislander for the amount that you were planning on spending and just send me the money. You will still not end up with a working computer by sending me the check, but at least you'll know that you're getting screwed over from the start.
They talked him into buying a outdated motherboard, a newer high priced processor (not 100% compatible with the motherboard, but it still worked) to save money they suggested a smaller amount of system memory (He wanted a GIG, they suggested 256Meg unmatched memory i.e. used), two 300 gig hard drives (not sure how that saved money) a CD Burner Drive, a DVD Burner drive (they told him that the drives could do one or the other media not both) a small 64 meg video card, and a 500W power supply. Wow, talk about a system designed by a drunk monkey. Not only that, but since he was going to be using it on college campus they also sold him Windows XP Home Edition, and they suggested that instead of paying for a three year warranty, he should get a 90 warranty and a copy of Symantec's GoBack because, and I quote "Most hardware issues show up in the first 90 days, and after that it is aways a software issue, and GoBack can fix any of them that arise." Fast forward a year.. now the memory is failing, and quite possibly the motherboard is giving up the ghost. None of these are covered by the system warranty, the memory may be covered by the manufacturer warranty, if it still had that original sticker on it.
Just for fun I called Tiger about the system, and they have no record of ever selling that system in their database. Keep in mind that I got the 1-800 from a sticker inside the case. They suggested sending to them and for $100 they could diagnose the system, and get back to us. I told them that I needed to put them on hold to check with the professor. They stayed on hold for 20 minutes before they finally hung up.
Right now the hard drives are in a spare computer while I make sure that I have all of the data backed up. Tomorrow I will start bringing Frankenstein back to life.
Please, if you ever feel the urge to go to the Tiger Direct website, or call their 1-800 to order something, just take out your checkbook and make out a check to Kenn Wislander for the amount that you were planning on spending and just send me the money. You will still not end up with a working computer by sending me the check, but at least you'll know that you're getting screwed over from the start.
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