Frustrating new computer story

[wallyuwl]

Eleven days ago we bought a new Samsung 580 15.6" computer from Best Buy for $750. Although it didn't have everything we wanted, we decided on this over a custom HP that we'd have to wait until the middle of July to get at a cost of about $850.

Yesterday my wife starts the computer up and she gets an error message about a USB device or other device being plugged in. I tried a bunch of things and couldn't get Windows to load. Then I tried to just restore it, and the restore partition would not even load. Took it to BB where the Geeks looked at it quick and said they couldn't fix it.

They had no more of that type in stock (closest store that did was 90 miles away in a different state). We could either get our purchase price toward a different one or go get the one 90 miles away.

We settled on another Samsung, this time a 14", for $800. It is a nice machine (m450 i5 vs. the other ones m430, and I do notice a difference). But if I'd have known I'd end up spending $800 on one with a 5400 rpm hard drive (instead of 7200), 6 cell battery (instead of 9), and no Blu-Ray, I'd have just gotten the HP for $850 to begin with.

Though I think I still trust Samsung more than HP even after this incident. I must say I like this new one (model Q430) better than the 580 we just replaced it with.

 

[ahoier]

I don't know about the whole trusting Samsung over HP....Samsung has been in the electronics business for quite some time, but I have not seen too many "Samsung" computers....hehehe. eMachines, HP, Dell, Sony, etc... on the other hand..lots of those to choose from

 

[Buffman]

so is that what geek squad does? play with things then just give up? I imagine there's a factory warranty on the unit.

 

[wallyuwl]

Originally Posted By: Buffman
so is that what geek squad does? play with things then just give up? I imagine there's a factory warranty on the unit.


I told him what it was doing and he looked at it for about a minute. When it did what it did for me at home I think he knew it was going to be a pain to fix (if possible at all). So since it was within the 14 day return policy and BB just sends it back to the manufacturer as defective and gets a refund, he just said to have the store get me a new one. Since they didn't have another one like it I got the purchase price towards another machine. I'm liking the new one more than the other one.

 

[javacontour]

Originally Posted By: Buffman
so is that what geek squad does? play with things then just give up? I imagine there's a factory warranty on the unit.


Probably no billable hours working on that system, instead of doing billable work for others.

In other words, it's not worth it for the GS folks to spend much time on it.

 

[XS650]

Originally Posted By: ahoier
I don't know about the whole trusting Samsung over HP....Samsung has been in the electronics business for quite some time, but I have not seen too many "Samsung" computers....hehehe. eMachines, HP, Dell, Sony, etc... on the other hand..lots of those to choose from


Based on my recent experience of poor driver support from HP when upgrading a 3 or 4 year old HP laptop from XP to Win 7, i would try Samsung or any other company with a decent reputation before HP if I was going to keep the computer over 2 years.

 

[Oldmoparguy1]

I would have just took the cash and went somewhere else. I've had too many problems buying from BB.

My lat 3 buys were from NewEgg. Super service, excellent prices.

YMMV

 

[wallyuwl]

We only bought the original one from BB because it was a good deal and pretty close to what we wanted. But I must say, I was very impressed by the service we got yesterday at BB in exchanging the machine. When I looked at New Egg a few weeks ago when we were originally looking for a computer their prices were very high.

 

[sprintman]

HP every time.