I have not bought a computer with a warranty in many years, but I got in the middle. Good grandpas do that sometimes.
Grandson was being gifted a computer by his mom (Kiko is only 16 years old, excellent student, grateful for everything... great kid). She is a well employed Engineer but has no credit card, so she can't make an online purchase, she only uses Cash (I can explain that term later if requested). Oh, she is a project engineer for lines, out of town at very remote sites for months at a time, they (Kiko and his older sister) stay with the other grandma here in town.
Consumer electronics are expensive in Mexico, probably 50% more than the US on average.
So, mom asks me to get him a good laptop and will pay me back. I said You shop online, Amazon or Ebay, then give me a link to the exact product, I will order it. (did not want to get in the middle of choosing one). Long story short, he got a HP Touchscreen Laptop in January, I got paid when I ordered it, we have a Very happy kid.
Kiko is 16. Last month he tells my wife (his grandma) it is broken, but don't tell his mom. I research, it is still under warranty, but I pay about $25USD shipping and they fix it.
I smuggled it home. It is throwing a Windows error on boot "no system, no hard drive" kinda thing. No options, dead meat.
I stuck a Debian USB in it, booted, and had a look. 1GB hard drive, seams healthy, bust be a Windows thing. I called Kiko "did you make a recovery USB? "nope" (Kiko is 16). "Do you have anything important on it that you want recovered?" "nope, all my school work is on the school servers"
I look anyway, found a few things, maybe 5GB, put them on a USB.
I have a spare SSD (that would speed it up bunches) and I could get it back in his hands in a day or so. However, this is a touchscreen, and I did not want to install a generic Windows 10, hunt down propitiatory drivers, and struggle with MS on authentication, etc.
It runs great on Debian, all the gadgets out of the box. Kiko likes it!
Being a smart old man I called tech support at the university. The do Linux, but they confirmed that Kiko Must have Windows to interface with the school network. Some Luddite Administrator bought propitiatory software that all students and teachers Must Use, and they can't find a workaround, Windows Required.
===
HP repair folks were fine, kinda. I had to jump some hoops, to confirm it would not boot. They flat refused to help with providing recovery media "you can make that when you get it back from repair". They insisted on sending a pre-addressed shipping box. It got "repaired" and shipped back.
*** They give the option of having your data and settings restored. That sounds real nice.
this was enclosed:
so, what do you think?
1. inept
2. lazy
3. talk is cheap, they just get it out the door and wait for you to go away
I vote on number 3, with a taste of 1 and 2
PS: I am now making that recovery USB before Kiko sees it in his hands.
?ÿ
