slade
07-24-2006, 09:40 PM
so my computer decided to die on me sunday. after about 6 months of using it, it decided to tell me that i need to verify my copy of windows, and then it tells me that it is "not genuine".
at this point, ill resist going into my "screw microsoft" rant, and forego most of my "tech support sucks" rant... as most of you have probably been there before.
anyway, of course i call tech support, get one person who seems semi-helpful, says its not my fault, it has to be a genuine copy since it came preinstalled from sony... and then she transfers me to an answering machine. i called back. the second guy i talked to directed me to a website i had already gone to (which the popup directed me to) and sent me to a different phone number. i called that number, and got an automated system for verifying a copy of windows... which doesnt help, since i already DID try to verify it, and got the notice saying that it "is not genuine". so i call back. the third guy essentially told me the problem couldnt be solved over the phone, and told me to look at the website and gave me the URL i had already gone to. hmm, strange, the first person said that the problem could be called over the phone. i called back. this time the guy i get tells me that my copy is a counterfeit because sony does NOT preinstall windows on computers, and only gives out install discs. yeah, right :rolleyes: i WISH thats what they did, but no, im pretty damn certain i got the box sealed with the little "sony" print on the side, sony stickers on the machine, and windows preinstalled with sony software. this guy i just hang up on.
now let me mention that so far, 3 people have been understandable with accents, and one had a stronger accent and was harder to understand. the fifth person i get is almost impossible to understand. he has a very strong accent, and i ask "what?" after just about every sentence. he decides to give me a URL to go to, and of course he has to spell it out very carefully. for every letter he says things like "n as in nancy"... and for each of the four i's, he says "i as in india". sheesh, they arent even attempting to hide where the job was outsourced to :p .
the URL was to some microsoft e-mail tech service system. heres the first part of the reply i got:
"I understand that the system was preinstalled when purchasing the computer and it should be a genuine copy. However, it recently asks you to reactive the computer and it prompts you that the copy of Windows is not genuine. After restoring the file, the error message indicating the copy is not genuine is still received and you contact our phone support to assist you. However, there is no success after spending much time over the phone."
actually, i would like to know how to reactive a computer. it sounds quite interesting, like something a nuclear physicist would have to do.
so what has this taught me? from now on, i think im going to build my own computer and install linux. linux may not always work, but the problem has never been it asking me to pay $99 a second time... let alone a first. and tech support for linux is generally written in a forum in english, by someone who speaks english proficiently.
...who am i kidding? im going to engineering college in about a year, im going to be required to buy a windows based laptop :(.
at this point, ill resist going into my "screw microsoft" rant, and forego most of my "tech support sucks" rant... as most of you have probably been there before.
anyway, of course i call tech support, get one person who seems semi-helpful, says its not my fault, it has to be a genuine copy since it came preinstalled from sony... and then she transfers me to an answering machine. i called back. the second guy i talked to directed me to a website i had already gone to (which the popup directed me to) and sent me to a different phone number. i called that number, and got an automated system for verifying a copy of windows... which doesnt help, since i already DID try to verify it, and got the notice saying that it "is not genuine". so i call back. the third guy essentially told me the problem couldnt be solved over the phone, and told me to look at the website and gave me the URL i had already gone to. hmm, strange, the first person said that the problem could be called over the phone. i called back. this time the guy i get tells me that my copy is a counterfeit because sony does NOT preinstall windows on computers, and only gives out install discs. yeah, right :rolleyes: i WISH thats what they did, but no, im pretty damn certain i got the box sealed with the little "sony" print on the side, sony stickers on the machine, and windows preinstalled with sony software. this guy i just hang up on.
now let me mention that so far, 3 people have been understandable with accents, and one had a stronger accent and was harder to understand. the fifth person i get is almost impossible to understand. he has a very strong accent, and i ask "what?" after just about every sentence. he decides to give me a URL to go to, and of course he has to spell it out very carefully. for every letter he says things like "n as in nancy"... and for each of the four i's, he says "i as in india". sheesh, they arent even attempting to hide where the job was outsourced to :p .
the URL was to some microsoft e-mail tech service system. heres the first part of the reply i got:
"I understand that the system was preinstalled when purchasing the computer and it should be a genuine copy. However, it recently asks you to reactive the computer and it prompts you that the copy of Windows is not genuine. After restoring the file, the error message indicating the copy is not genuine is still received and you contact our phone support to assist you. However, there is no success after spending much time over the phone."
actually, i would like to know how to reactive a computer. it sounds quite interesting, like something a nuclear physicist would have to do.
so what has this taught me? from now on, i think im going to build my own computer and install linux. linux may not always work, but the problem has never been it asking me to pay $99 a second time... let alone a first. and tech support for linux is generally written in a forum in english, by someone who speaks english proficiently.
...who am i kidding? im going to engineering college in about a year, im going to be required to buy a windows based laptop :(.