So, one year ago I bought a new laptop- you know, a convertible one, half laptop, half tablet- at our local distributor (a vendor specialising in discontinued items and B-Ware- which still work fine). We’ve bought from them before and were happy (the first laptop I ever got was from there and is still working just fine). This time, not so much.

In January, my laptop suddenly stopped working. Which was annoying, since I used it for school, but not a big problem, since I have my sturdy desktop. Sent it in, got it back with the message that it got fixed. Opened it, it stopped working again after restarting once (software issues). Sent it in again, got it back again, it stopped working after restarting once, sent it back AGAIN, still not working. The fourth time I sent it in (in April!) I got an apology letter stating that they will issue me a full refund, that they are very sorry I had such a bad experience with that laptop, and that their tech team is baffled, because they have never encountered an error like this.

Bought a new laptop from my refund. Charged it at home, installed everything, pulled the plug after it was fully charged- black screen. Plugged it in again, started the PC, pulled the plug, blackness. Called the call center (with whom I was very familiar at that point- great guys, really nice and competent!), we tried some stuff, diagnosis: laptop broken. Exchanged it for the same model. Working just fine.

My brother wanted a laptop for school work, so we went there again. Bought a nice convertible just like mine. Brought it home, started it “Less than 5% battery, PC will shut down”. Let it charge for an hour, seemed to work fine. Suddenly, the display started to glitch out and it shut itself down. Turned it on again: “Less than 5% battery, PC will shut down”. Drove back to the vendor, exchanged it for another one. I even joked with the customer service representative about my bad luck with their PCs. Arrived at home. Turned the laptop on. It didn’t recognise the keyboard (it’s one of those convertibles where you can remove the display from the keyboard and use as a tablet). Called the customer service (they know me by name by now). Tried a bunch of stuff, reset the keyboard driver etc. Nothing worked. “Yeah, you should probably return that.” Thanks, Tom. Will exchange it either for another one or get a refund.

The bad thing about it: THEY ARE GOOD! Good quality (as I said, my own old brand laptop is working just fine, my brother’s old laptop is working just fine, my father bought a laptop when I bought my second (and third) one and it works. Heck, my boyfriend bought a Smart TV from them and it works JUST FINE (okay, there was a scare when we first installed it, but turns out we don’t actually get cable TV, but satellite- which is somehow distributed by cable? And connects only to the cable box in our bedroom??). It’s just the laptops that I buy or pick that seem to be completly fucked up. Heck- the customer service representative today told us that we were the first exchange for that particular model. And we’re going to be the second, too. Jeez, I’m so tired. Doesn’t help that I bumped my head really badly this morning while trying to dodge a flying dog- long story. I think I’ll just go to sleep. Maybe everything will work when I work up tomorrow.