Hiccups, Remedies, and a Surprize
I have a nice surround system with wireless speakers. Not going to mention names as I'm not a shill for the company. Suffice it to say that this company produces some very good and reliable equipment.
Last month, I turned the unit on and it began to immediately weird out. It was stuck in some kind of boot loop. Did the usual basic troubleshooting steps, unplug wires, cables and power for one minute, plug everything back in and power up. Same result. Check wires for damage etc., nada. Back burner for the time being. I'll figure it out later.
Quite by accident Wednesday night, I came across a post about the same unit as mine doing the same thing. A little digging and I found the problem being reported around the world. Seems as if this were software related. A little more digging and I found it was firmware related. Hmm.
More digging. I found that the company was repairing these units free of charge, and not only that, they were paying two-way shipping costs. Imagine that! It was late, I was tired so I went to bed. I'll start the process in the morning.
Thursday morning. Following advice of those before me, I went to the company website and went on live chat. Reported the problem and instantly was provided with ticket number, RMA and shipping label. No hassle! This company was standing behind their product. Printed label, went to UPS store and the unit is on its way for repair. Done.
Back in the bunker, I belatedly started my morning routine of emails and such when a curious thing happened. My internet went down. Called my provider, no outage in my area. They pinged and tested my modem, good to go there. Turns out my router went down, and it was out for the count. Damn.
I gathered all pertinent info on the router which is about 2 years old and went to my daughter-in-laws house. Jumped on her computer, went to the router manufacturers website to report issue. The router was still in warranty, just barely, and I was again surprised to learn this company also stands behind their product. A new router was on the way.
Late yesterday afternoon (saturday), the new router arrived. As we had dinner plans, I left it in the office. This morning I installed the new router, ran through the configs, and here I am, happily typing away online. Now comes the dreaded catch up.
Though I was away from the internet for a few days, I wasn't sitting around doing nothing, I used the time to write. I actually managed to write one complete chapter in one of my books, and begin another. Quite productive I must say.
To cap off this little update, I want to share a short bit with you. I received my first commission Friday night. The amount is a staggering two dollars!! Yay!! It didn't come from a traditional affiliate source though. You might recall awhile back I posted about an enterprising young lady who created a business through FB. Well, I linked to a post of hers which led to a sale which led to a commission.
All in all, this has been a very satisfying week in spite of a few set backs. Dead entertainment system being repaired, dead router replaced, both free of charge, a whole chapter written, and a commission. Truth be told, I never expected the commission, I linked to her business more out of friendship than anything else.
Right! I hope these last few days have been good to you all. Now it's time to catch up and see what I've missed.
Greg
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Hey Greg,
It is so satisfying when companies are reputable and what a difference it is to deal with them than the ones who purport to be only to lead you on a merry dance when the chips are down!!
Congratulations on the commission and glad to have you back from being MIA as you say now for the catch up which I am sure you are more than up to albeit a bit of understandable reluctant resistance !! ;
Welcome back!!
R.
My Canon printer stopped printing. I called tech support, wasn't on hold now and talked to an America who I didn't have to ask what he said after every sentence. We diagnosed the problem, it can't be easily fixed.
I bought a Canon printer on Amazon in November 2018 After a few months it went bad and they sent me another one. It didn;t work at all so they sent me another one. That one went bad after a few weeks and they sent my 4th printer, the one that now won;t print.
I said, OK, send me another one. They said it was out of warranty. I said that even though the original warranty was up every printer I got was defective and therefore the warranty period should begin again when I got a repacement each time. He had to put me on with his supervisor whom I repeated my justifacation argument why they should send me another one,'
The supervisor had to get his supervisor on the line, I told him that if I had bought somehing expensive like a car and couldn;t get if repaced we would be in court, Now they are sending me the 5rh printer.
I bought the Canon because I thought they made quality prroducts. You are a photographer. Don't they make good cameras?
*** You'd think! ...
.... Canon did have a terrific reputation as a par-excellente 'camera' brand! ... did have a Canon camera a long time ago-o, last century and it just stopped working so dropped Canons ....
... now as for their printers?! .... uhm ... i don't print anything anymore to save trees .... donated my printer away last century as well ...
... hope it all works out for ya .... :) ***
I don't print much but sometimes I need to print something. If I go to a UPS or Fedex place I have to drive over there and rhey will charge me for it.
And I do print the fretboad diagrams for making tablature for learning a song. I have 2 packs of printer paper and I doubt if I will ever use all of it.
Besides, you aren't saving any trees. The trees have already been cut down and made intp paper products.. If you don't buy any somebody else will. And it's not like they a cutting down the rainforests or anything. Trees for lumber and other products are grown in lartge areas for that purpose. Trees that are cut down are replanted under a modern scientifc forestry managemment program
I've always had great experience with their cameras Neil. I've not heard the best of reviews about their printers though. With the exception of an Epson dot matrix printer a million years ago, I've always stayed with HP. Just my 2 cents worth.
Good job on getting the chapter written! It is always exciting when you can be productive in the face of adversities!
Great job, also on the commission! I get excited when I make 20 cents on an Amazon sale, so.... Congratulations!
Keep a positive spirit and positive things will come your way—at least this is what I have been told!
With 2020 Vision,
Karin 😎
Thanks Karin. I never gave a thought to a commission, I saw it as a good will gesture. Writing was and always will be a passion for me and it was pleasant to sit and be bothered with an online world.
Greg
Wow, what shocks me is how often we discuss things around the house like you probably did with your sound system, and suddenly there appears a solution on the computer.
My son says that it is because they are 'always listening to us'. Can that be? So strange. I know we are all connected, and perhaps now with the heat of this pandemic all over the world, we are even more connected than ever. Could that be it?
Your son might be right Joss. Just think of all of the smart appliances in the home these days. 1984. Thank for dropping in my friend, I appreciate it.
Greg
hi Joss .... yes, your son is correct! ....
Suggest you might want to check your 'audio' function on your computer and if you don't want it listening to you -- turn it OFF! ... if you can do it.... I have Windows 10 and found the darned thing and turned it off ... and the visual as ... did you know it has both a front and back camera as well? .... if you don't want it spying on you -- just tape over it ... FB CEO Zuk-rb-rg does this to his computer! .... lol ...
of course, the digital companies aren't going say anything about the 'surveillance' capacity of their devices, now would they?... they just may not be able to sell anything! ...
My desktop has an external cam which I keep unplugged, or at the least, covered. My audio inputs are disabled until I need to use them. As to my laptop, I seldom turn it on. The old gal before me is Win 7, my favorite of all the MS platforms, the laptop came with Win 10, much to my chagrin. I would install a fresh Win 7 on the laptop, I still have a few unused operating sytems, but there is some functionality that is dependent on Win 10. My laptop does provide a useful service tho, I use it as a paper weight. Lol
hahaha! .... paper weight! .... lol ..... :)
the ol' XP was the best ever program! ... had a top of the line Toshiba and it kept running for 13+ years and it would still be running if the 'corporation' would have kept the updates going! ....it's now a 'paper-weight!' .... so much for progress! ....
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Hi. Greg.
I guess this all part of the new digital age. It has its good points and bad.
Forty five years ago I purchased a top of the range stereo system, it was a Marantz. Not only did it supply us with crisp, clear, loud, music, but ten years later a builder accepted it as a 5% deposit on a new home.
There was no need to worry about software or firmware, and I'll argue black and blue that the sound was better then anything available today.
I'm all for forward thinking and I love the digital age. But boy... I miss my Marantz.
All the best. Jim
Vinyl was and still continues to be number one, in my opinion. Then there were the old reel to reel tape systems, great sound, but there was a certain hiss. I had an impressive rack back in the day with a pair of Bose 901's. Oh, the good old days.
Thanks for dropping in Jim, I appreciate it.
Greg