I'm in a bit of a crunch for time here, I have someplace to be shortly so I will have to be more precise tomorrow.
I received a phone call from an Acer Tech "somewhere". Came across as "unknown number" on my caller ID.
Walked me through a set of fairly complex codes and key combination presses.
One TravelMate 5720 is now unbricked and enroute to possibly change the life of a child.
Or create a MySpace junkie.
We can only influence the first to the best of our abilities.
My warmest and sincerest thanks to a guy who did the right thing...even though he could have lost much for doing it.
All-Righty Then
helios
So? How'd you do it? Are you allowed to tell?
ReplyDeleteThere's definitely something to be said for having a blog with a large reader base. I'm assuming this tech read your blog post and decided to do the right thing. One more kid can grow up to be a free software user :)
ReplyDeleteViva La Revolution!
Sam
WOW....awesome..
ReplyDeleteThank God human beings work for these huge corporate machines.
ReplyDeleteSome of them still have a sense of what's just plain wrong!
Blessings to All!
Great to hear! Glad to know there are helpful people as Acer.
ReplyDeleteI am so glad to see that this has been resolved.
ReplyDelete--
a Linux Mint 6 user since 1 May 2009
That's good that somebody decided to help. It isn't what the person in question would lose that should be focused on. It's what Acer has already lost by pulling their none-sense.
ReplyDeleteDid it seem official or was it just someone with access to the right info that had picked up on the issue and decided to do the right thing of his/her own volition?
ReplyDeleteI think you're implying that a random Acer tech saw your previous post and took it upon himself to, under the table, help you.
ReplyDeleteThat's good-- speaks well for that tech that he realized he needed to step up and do the right thing.
Still doesn't do much to inspire confidence in Acer, though, that their people have to work around them, rather than through their SOPs.
As somebody who is looking to purchase a Netbook, if anyone from Acer is reading this, this episode is the kind of thing that helps differentiate a company.
I liked a lot of things about the Acer laptops, but you know what-- the ASUS, HP, and Dell also look pretty good.
Acer, if you're out there and reading this and if you want to help boost your reputation in the community of people who read this blog, you might want to consider how you might be able to help Ken-- i.e., drop a palette of decent machines off on the Helios doorstep.
And no, I am in no way affiliated with him, other than I'm a fan of what he does.
Ken, you may edit this post as you see fit.
ReplyDeleteI was able to read the email and it seemed like the techie was doing this out of the loop, so to speak. He/She didn't wish to be identified but also explained why they did this in trying to make computer theft less productive for thieves.
But it doesn't seem to match. If they pay $100 for Acer to reset the password, they've lost $100 plus shipping and time. If the laptop had full disk encryption, the data is protected and the thief would have to install a new and probably pirated OS.
Kudos to the individual techie that did this. We aren't thieves and that person realized that - I've got the receipt on file to prove that fact anyway.
Wish we could identify that person but it would probably put their job in some jeopardy.
If you are not the registered purchaser of the computer, then they put on the brakes until they can investigate your claim that you legitimately possess the computer. I am guessing...
ReplyDeleteSomeone from San Jose contacted this Acer Tech and instructed him to assist us. I am just guessing this by the way the whole thing happened. It could have been an idividual that works for Acer that stepped up. I'm not sure either way. but either way, we are fixed and it was Acer at some level that fixed it.
If you found that Acer instructed the tech to fix this would it make a difference in your choice of picking Acer for your next computer?
I am further guessing that they had to verify I was supposed to have possession of the machine.
h
OH NO! MYSPACE! I forgot about that. ;-)
ReplyDeleteIt looks like I'll be retracting the second part of my email to acer yesterday. But I'm still leaving the Gaffer's tape on. It makes for a cleaner looking monitor.