Computer Update

In case you're wondering how I made out with my POS USB hub, I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised.

I took it back to Staples yesterday, fully expecting a fight. I was expecting to have to raise my voice, demand to speak to a manager, and I was fearing that the whole incident would end up on some website like Not Always Right.

But no! I walked into Staples the other day, walked up to the customer service desk, told them in a very calm, reasonable voice that their POS hub cost me my flash drive and my MP3 player, and I'd like my money back.

The clerk looked in my shopping bag, where I had carefully collected the hub, every cord that came with it, and every scrap of packaging that it was in. "Do you still have the receipt?" she asked. I fished it out of the bag, and handed it to her. "I see you paid for this by debit. May I have your debit card please?" I handed it to her, she swiped my card, handed me my card and my receipt back and said, "There you go, sir. Full refund."

I was pleasantly flabbergasted. I'll probably keep shopping at Staples because the customer service was so friendly and reasonable. However, I won't buy any of their store-brand computer accessories anymore.

Now, I know some of you were pushing that I should also scream and yell and get my flash drive and MP3 player replaced. I decided not to. Seeing as to how they were freebies that I got two years ago, I figured my claim would be dubious, and so I decided not to pursue that matter. Besides, I read the fine print on the warranty that came with the POS hub, and it said right there, "Not responsible for any damages this may cause if it's defective." So I figured that would be a battle I couldn't win.

As for replacing my damaged goods, I've already picked up a new USB flash drive. I was sharing my tale of woe to a friend and he pointed out that The Source was having a sale and I could pick up a 4G one for $30. Since that was a great deal, I went and snapped one up. Seeing as to how my old one was just 512M, this new one has been a great help with the file transfers from my old machine.

I'm starting to wonder why I'm bothering with the file transfers, cuz I just know that next payday, I'll be buying a spool of blank DVDs and using my new machine's DVD burner to burn most of it to DVD and file it away. But whatever.

As for replacing my MP3 player, well...it's my birthday, two weeks from Monday. :-)