mouse

Research is the key . . .

/ Tony / 1 Comment

When I replaced my laptop computer a few years ago, I bought one that did not have a built-in CD/DVD drive. It was a financial decision as I understood that I could get a separate drive for around £20.00, whereas the built-in drive would have added another £50.00 to the price. At the time I wasn’t really watching any of my DVD collection as they are not something K**h and me would watch together.

However, just after Christmas, I decided that I needed some way to watch some of my DVDs and so looked around to buy a portable one. I found one on the internet, at a reasonable price and duly purchased it. There were problems right from the start.

My laptop has a number of ports. There is an ethernet port, an HDMI port, a USB C port, and a Card reader port, but only two USB 3.0 ports. The DVD reader shipped with two USB cables. I needed a multi-port USB hub.

Back to the internet and I found just what I was looking for. I ordered it but received an email explaining that it was currently out of stock, but would be available in two weeks’ time. I was promised that it would be posted, 1st class. So I sat back to wait.

Just over two weeks later my new hub was delivered. It must have been another three or four days before I could plug it in and set up the external DVD. That’s when problem number two reared its head. My laptop just would not see the external DVD. I plugged memory sticks into the hub and they were seen. So were my wireless mouse and external camera (the internal one is not the best).

I contacted the seller about a refund or replacement, only to have pointed out that I had exceeded the return date by two days. It left me no real option but to consign the unit to my so called “tech drawer” in the garage.

Fast forward to the beginning of last week. My eldest son asked me if had an external DVD. I explained that I did have but it did not appear to work. So before letting him have it, I once again checked that it did not work. It was then that I realised. After reading an online article, that USB 2.0 (which was one of the cables) was being phased, being almost obsolete, I tried connecting the unit with just the other cable. Success! It appears that both cables should not be used together as Windows can get confused about which one it should be using.

Lesson learned … do more research.

It comes in three’s …

/ Tony / Leave a comment

Luck, that is. Or so people say. Well If it’s right, then I’ve just had my ‘three’ with eBay. The first one, with the mouses (mice … meece…?) was resolved, but since then another two issues have occurred. Both of them are leading up to a successful conclusion, but it’s the time and the trouble to sort out the problem that’s the real issue.

When I bought my new laptop, I did not realise that most do not come with a CD/DVD reader anymore. So it came as a bit of a shock when I found out. ‘No worries’ I thought, they DVD Writerare as cheap as chips on the internet, I’ll just buy a USB  one. The one I found wasn’t the cheapest, but it was a UK seller that appeared to have a good reputation, well from most of the reviews at least. It arrived and it was about a week before I had the chance to try it out. Guess what? It didn’t work. I tried various combinations of connecting, but nothing seemed to have any effect. What was happening was quite strange. I have two stand alone USB hard drives (labelled D: and E:), and when the DVD drive was connected, the E: drive disappeared from the device list. After a few message between me and the seller, we both came to the conclusion that the drive must faulty. It is now just waiting for me to go to the post office and then I can get a refund.

Now comes the third issue. I have an old laptop, which plods along as a spare. It has it’s own printer, which I tend to use for printing text documents. It is not good enough for photos, but it is otherwise Ink Cartridgeokay. Because of this, I usually buy compatible ink cartridges to save cost. The only problem is that the printer does not show the correct ink level, but I can live with that. So when the colour ink ran out, I sought to buy another one. Of course, it had to be eBay again. The company I used was based on the Channel Islands (they all seem to be) and it arrived four days after buying. It came with the usual fitting instructions and a brief trouble shooting guide. Back to the guessing game … it did not work. The printer software was telling me that the cartridge was faulty. I used the trouble shooting guide and tried again. Still no luck. ‘Here we go again!’ I thought. A message to the seller brought a quick response, and after a few more messages back and forth, a replacement is on it’s way. So that’s the three bits of ‘bad luck’ with eBay (hopefully).

I just need the the bits of good luck, and I banking on the National Lottery for that.

More on that to follow.

Never usually bother …

/ Tony / 1 Comment

Not quite the whole story … I never bother for small amounts! I’m talking about eBay purchases that go wrong. If the sum is less than £10.00, I tend to put it down to experience ebayand never use that seller again. I have a personal blacklist that I refer to when I’m buying something, and add new sellers that don’t come up to the mark.

About a month ago, one of my computer mice (or is it mouses?) started to fail. It was only a cheap wireless-mouseone, but it had lasted about two years. I thought at first it was just a bad battery, but it wasn’t and it had to be consigned to the “Tech Bin” for disposal when I next go to the recycling site. I started using a wired one, but it’s not the same after a wireless one so I looked on my favourite selling site … eBay! There were quite a few for sale within my price range, but I spotted an seller offering two for the price of one, or ‘make me an offer’. I made an offer, and it was accepted. I was well pleased with myself.

They arrived after about two weeks, and as they were coming from China, I thought that was an acceptable length of time. Now for the crux of the matter … they did not work. Angry FaceThe computer could not see either mouse. The seller started nattering a bit about feedback for the sale, so I simply put in the feedback box ‘Don’t work’ and gave it a neutral rating. I thought no more about it and left it at that. Meanwhile, my original mouse had been borrowed by a friend who had taken it to pieces and cleaned some part or other, and handed it back in full working order.

Skip forward to this morning, and an eBay message from the seller asking if I could amend the Refundfeedback, and he would issue a refund. After a bit of messing around with eBay, the said feedback was amended to something like ‘issue resolved with seller’. Within ten minutes I received an email from PayPal to say that I had received a full refund from the seller. I was surprised to say the least and there has not been a request to return the faulty goods.

So I have now raised an issue with another seller regarding another piece of IT equipment that I’m having a problem with. We shall see how that goes.