8 Aug
2010
8 Aug
'10
10:54 a.m.
On 06/08/10 20:12, Tony Duell wrote:
You got it/. It was not too long after the company was ruine by Ms Fiorina...
which di not meet the advertised speicifcations
(if they say 'built in
assembler; then i darn well expect there to be one). I wrote 2 letters,
the socond one including IRCs, and enver got a reply. The company? HP
(!). I will never buy another new HP product... It's a pity becasue I'd
been using their machines for many years until then, and had had
excelelnt customer service (not that I needed it very often).
Depends what 'era' of HP you're talking about; if we're talking
pre-Carly Fiorina, then I'm surprised. Any time after that... not
surprising in the least. And then you look at Agilent...
Indeed. I have bene pleasntly suprised by the old manuals you can
download for free froom their site. Nothing specifically
computer-related. but plenty of interesting manuals on classic test gear.
Proper service manuals too.
For some things it is worth having an
"extended" guarantee. Certain
household goods for instance (read: dishwasher, washing machine, ...)
I suspoect the cost of me fixing it myself is a lot less than the
ectended guarantee.
The dishwasher here has been repaired at least four
times. It's had:
Two power switches
One controller board
At least one water supply valve
The washer hasn't fared any better:
New door, latch, hinge and seals
Controller board (twice)
Motor wiring harness
A couple of other bits I can't remember off-hand (thermal switches,
that sort of thing).
Might I suggest buying better quality :-)....
So far, touch wood, the dishwasher has needed no repairs-- it's on of the
last ones made with a motor-and-camshaft timer, so I can fix it properly.
The washing machine has needed a notor controller (as luick would have it,
it was the microcontrolelr that had failed, and they won't sell just the
chip :-(). Yes, I've kept the old one, if anything fails on the
replacement other than the microcontroller, I will do component-level
repair. YEs, I do have the wiring diagrams, parts lists, exploded views, etc.
For those, the D&G warranty has paid for itself at
least twice over. I
had one on a Canon DSLR lens because it had something of a reputation
for issues with the bearings and lock mechanism. Thus far, mine's
behaved itself... touch wood :)
Fortuately all that goers wrong with the lenses for my cameras is that
the grease goes rock-hard in the focussing helical threads (a pain to
clean out, but possible), and occasionally oil migrates onto the
diaphagm blades and causes them to stick (ditto). No electronics to go
wrong, of course...
-tony