Electronic Misadventures

Not being a Geek, I depend frequently depend on their expertise.  It's been an electronically difficult few weeks.  My laptop crumped, victim to a cup of spilled herb tea.  There remains a place for gratitude.  The experts at Best Buy were able to capture my data, including my Microsoft programs.  Moreover, while replacement poses an unexpected expense, I have the resources to meet it with no impact on my lifestyle.

The Amazon replacement came promptly.  Making it function went easily.  Being a modern version, it lacked a built in DVD drive that I use for my library CD's and for Great Courses.  No problem.  They only cost about $25 from a variety of online sources.  I picked one from Walmart, which turned out to be partially good fortune.  It came ahead of schedule.  Despite my best efforts, I could not get the computer to recognize it in the USB port, let alone get it to work. The device came with a small folded card of instructions, written by somebody who learned English as a second language or somebody who could send something to a printer for mass distribution without being hassled by an editor first.  My wife made some headway but in the process corrupted the Google Chrome access which started presenting Hide History as its search results.  I couldn't get rid of it.  A computer that fully functioned in cyberspace stopped functioning.  I installed, then uninstalled two Media Player programs. Fortunately, when I purchased the laptop I included a comprehensive warranty.  A phone call to the Amazon warranty carrier eventually got me to somebody who could get me back to Chrome as I was used to using it.  He could not get the DVD going. One final try.  Walmart contracts with an organization called WOW electronics to provide this product.  They had a customer service number which I called.  Nobody answered the phone.  Their automated menu offered to take me to customer service but the best I could do there was leave my phone number for a callback.  None over the next hour or so. Before going to Walmart, I needed to generate the receipt from the electronic purchase.  No problem, just print the email of the transaction.  Unfortunately, my printer didn't print, as the printer had not been installed on the new laptop.  I thought I could do this, following instructions for downloading.  I got our all-in-one ready for scanning but not for printing.  My wife, who has done this before and knows the side traps, got it done with some effort.  But a printed receipt got stuffed into the packing that came with the DVD drive.

Since I only had the device a couple of days, I checked out return policies, after slamming the product on Walmart's online review, though I was more than generous with Walmart itself which made the purchase easy and delivered ahead of schedule.  Apparently a product purchased at walmart.com could be returned to a local store, which I did.  I would have expected the young lady at Customer Service to have more familiarity with online returns but she got by.  My DVD which had no use to me went into a box, shipping label generated, and my credit card will get it's refund when the product arrives at the warehouse.

It's been at least months, probably early fishing season, or maybe during my visit to metro St. Louis for my son's wedding that I last entered a Walmart.  In person shopping has taken a big hit.  Aisles were cluttered, shelves had major merchandise gaps, staff was hanging on in the hope that they could move onto another place that pays more without acquiring skills that would make most of them worth more.  Might Walmart in person have another DVD?  Not only didn't I see one, every person I saw in their computer section worked in a different department.  They had a great price on a flash drive, which I needed, so I got that.  A trip to Walmart is never complete without a stop at the fishing aisle.  Saw some braid at a good price, but another time.  I stood on a not too fast moving line with a ten dollar bill extracted from my wallet to pay for the flash drive.  My turn came up, with the attendant motioning me to a scanner.  I scanned the flash drive, then inserted the $10.  Instead of giving me my change and a receipt it dispensed two five dollar bills.  Next I inserted my usual credit card in the usual way but the screen informed me it could not be read.  No better on the repeat.  It asked for another card or for cash.  I put in one of the $5 bills, took a single out of my wallet, inserted them, and watched the machine process my receipt and a few coins change.  Not a great shopping experience though I wonder if the shoppers, including me, really deserve any better.  Maybe not.  Or maybe that's why online shopping has begun to nudge out on-site retailers.  Touching a product pre-purchase has an advantage but My Space where I navigate through my laptop appears far more orderly and the people I encounter online when I need assistance seem to have gotten more out of their schooling than the people whose aid I seek in the local stores.

I still need a usable DVD player.  Amazon had one that I liked so I put it into the cart.  To get free shipping I need to spend another few dollars, so this may be an opportunity to buy a tripod or a kittel with the remaining $55 in five dollar bills that I harvested from cash change the second half of 2020.  Much to my surprise, amazon.com includes kittels in their inventory, exactly the $55 I have to spend, but I think the tripod would be a better way to get me past the free shipping shortfall this time.