Ok, so those who visited yesterday know my computer gained a Trojan virus the other night, well here’s the rest of the story….

So, I got on the phone with Dell’s tech support hotline…six transfers and two hours later the tech guy informs me it’s a software issue and I can choose between $129  for a one time fix ( guaranteed for only 3 days) or $249 for a year’s worth of fixes. WTH????

Here are my issues with this scenario:

1.The computer is less than 6 months old.

2. When I bought the computer, I bought all the warranties available to me. Did anyone mention a software warranty?? Umm NO!

3. I bought 4 years worth of McAFee.

4. When I bought the McAfee program, do you think they eplained that it wouldn’t catch ALL viruses and that the normal 12 year old hacker is now writing the viruses based on what will slip through the McAfee’s wall?? Ummm NO!

5. One of the “technicians” within those 6 transfers got ticked at me because I couldn’t understand his accent!! So sorry Mr. Patel, but I don’t understand a word you’re saying and btw, your name is NOT Tom!!!!!

6. Excuse me people, but I thought I was your customer?? What happened to good ol’ fashioned customer service?

Sooo, as a self-claimed resourceful woman, what do you think I did? Yep…while I was on the phone with Bollywood #6, I emailed a techie guy I know and said, “I got $50 for you if you’ll fix this!” he said sure and I quickly hung up on Mr. Dell.

Now I’ve got to thinking about this situation and here’s my take on it…right or wrong, perception is reality!

1. They don’t mention a software warranty because they are waiting for something to go wrong and you’ll be so disparate to fix it you’ll pay whatever ridiculous fee they feel like imposing.

2. They do this because 90% of the issues are software related.

3.  Dell has partnered with McAfee. They are in cahoots!!

4. There is a brilliant teenage cousin of a Dell CEO somewhere writing these viruses.

5. He issues the virus, which by the way doesn’t harm the hard drive AT AL, but manages to circumvent the McAfee system.

6. Dell charges some innocent schmuck (like me) $129 for the one time fix fee.

7. Dell fixes the computer remotely and plants another bug to activate in 6 weeks to punish you for not purchasing the year protection.

8. The brilliant teen gets his/her cut of $40 (cash, of course) and McAfee gets their cut of $25 (also cash) for sharing their software specs and Dell keeps the remaining amount.

So yes, even though this HAS to be illegal, I do believe there is some sort of conspiracy going on to rip us all off. The only way to avoid it is to keep our techie friends happy so they’ll help us out every now and then!

What say you Dell?????

What say you McAfee???

What do y’all think? I say we start a media war against this ridiculous fee! A one year warranty on software too harsh?? A one year warranty for anything that can be fixed remotely too much to ask? (Of course, they’ll just send out a zillion technicians because NOTHING will get done remotely after that!) But, we should NOT have to pay for services for the first year!!!! For any reason that’s NOT directly the fault of the consumer (like dropped laptop or keyboard full of coffee)…

Otherwise, Dell has lost one more customer and it looks like this particular blogger will be looking at a Mac in the near future!!