Today was a rather frustrating day for me. On Sunday, we returned home from the new house where we had been working for 4 days and discovered that the charger for our laptop no longer worked. When we plugged it into the wall, no light came on to signify it was working and it just beeped softly. So we took the thing back to the store we bought it from with our receipt (the laptop is only 5 months old) and got to once again enjoy the wonderful experience of Germany that is customer service…or lack there of. Very unfortunately for us, the cord had been ever so gently chewed on by the Newf which only added aggravation to the situation because the service rep informed us that because of those tears on the cord, he could not exchange the unit for a new one on the spot and he could also not sell us a new one. But he would be glad to send it off and in 7-14 days we would get an answer if the manufacturer would replace it for free or if we had to buy a new one. A discussion then ensued which stated this was ridiculous and we asked why couldn’t they sell us the replacement adapter they had there and so on. In addition, he was quite rude and belligerent which certainly didn’t help to soothe the annoyance. He basically told us we’d have to pay €75 to get a replacement and someone would call when the manufacturer made a decision whether it was going to be their error or ours.
Not wanting to be without the laptop for that amount of time since most of my work stuff is on there, we found a universal adapter upstairs in the store and foolishly decided not to try it out before buying it. It’s universal, it should fit everything…famous last words. On our way out of the store, we told the service guy to just toss out the other adapter because we didn’t want to get charged €75 for the manufacturer to look at the thing and say it was broken and we had just bought a regular and car adapter for less than that. So we get home, we try the adapter and it’s a no go. Rather irritated now that the thing doesn’t fit and that this guy was just a jerk, we are forced to call it quits because the store is now closed.
So this morning I went back to the store to exchange the adapter we bought yesterday. My new favorite service rep gets to help me yet again and when he is taking the thing back, he cockily says, “Well I guess it’s a good thing I didn’t throw away the adapter yesterday.” I looked at his with as much disgust as I could muster and was thankful the hubby wasn’t there because he probably would have strangled the guy on the spot.
Determined that they must have a universal adapter that fits, I went back upstairs and asked one of the sales guys for help. It just so happens that he sold us the laptop but I’m pretty sure he doesn’t remember that anymore. I am actually quite thankful for his help because this guy actually does seem to know what he’s doing and he almost seems to care about his job. So he tries out every universal adapter that they have in the store (4 or so I guess) and none of them fit. He was even kind enough to check their junk box to see if they had one in there which would fit….but still nothing. So he filled out the rest of the return form for me (returns are majorly complicated thing there which actually required interaction with 5 people) and I went to the cashier who credited back our check card.
Since there is another electronics store around the corner, I decided to give that one a try as well. They had yet another adapter there and it actually mentioned Samsung on the box although not our exact model. I thought, what the hey – let’s give it a try anyway. Needless to say, that adapter didn’t work either and now has to be returned this weekend because I refuse to go return anything else today.
So after all this, hubby gets on the internet and starts looking for a charger that actually will fit the computer…and he discovers that the notebook computer store about 20 minutes away actually has the charger in stock. He calls to check as well and they confirm they have several. Back in the car I go and off to the notebook store. I asked their service guy about it and he gives me a dump look and says that may need to be ordered. I somehow managed to not lunge over the counter as he went into the stockroom to look. He appears about a minute later, sort of shaking his head. I said, ” My husband just called here and a colleague said you have it.” Finally he comes to life (I think I scared him since I was getting a bit irritated with all this nonesence by now) and says, “Oh, yes. I think we have it,” and he shuffles back into the stockroom where his colleague is now looking for the charger.
Finally he emerges with the box but they aren’t qualified to ring anyone up so he had to track down a sales guy who wasn’t busy. I really was trying to keep my cool but inefficiency is a major pet peeve and this guy was getting on my last nerve. I have to give the sales guy everything but Ayla’s blood type to create an account with them and he rings me up via their internet site. I would have just paid online and asked to pick the thing up if I’d know it would work that way…but whatever. I did finally get the correct charger and I sit here typing this now from the laptop, very pleased indeed that it is working again.
What does all this have to do with the dog, you ask? Well, when I returned home with the charger, I not so happily arrived home to a scene of chaos. Apparently in my hastened desire to get the charger, I left a sack of recycleable garbage in the kitchen which fell prey to Ayla…and it seems she lost another tooth. We thought she lost one during the walk yesterday as well because she was bleeding a bit and we couldn’t find any cuts. It was the same today although the blood drops were on the floor instead of her mouth. Only a few small ones and she hasn’t seemed phased by it but it still tends to make us worry a little. She also peed on the floor which she hasn’t done in a long time. I can only blame myself for not making sure she had gone before I left but I guess I didn’t expect to be gone so long. Thankfully most of the garbage was rather clean at least and her main efforts seemed to go to the empty cat food cans she found in the trash. I’ve certainly learned my lesson today.
