Hard Drive

After some tweakings of Windows 7 and her own favorite software, Madre has comfortably settled down to her new birthday/Xmas present, which I have built for her.

All but two of the components for the new computer I ordered from NewEgg and received from them without any problem. Of those two components, one was ordered from Vio Software (Windows 7) and gotten without any difficulty.

Here is a little background on the problem with the other order. Severe floods in Thailand has damaged a factory complex that, among other things, manufactures most of the world's hard drives. Hard drives became scarce and expensive very, very quickly.

The other was a problem, not with the part itself, for that never reached me. The problem was the shipping: The source company, an associate of Amazon, required that I sign for the part personally when it arrived at my door or when I visited the local shipping depot. I have never had to do this before. I certainly never had to do this when Amazon itself sends its order to me. But I cannot personally sign for items, and I have good reasons why, among which I will name two:

• the local depot is open at hours when I cannot be there; and
• I am not willing to impose on my neighbors by having them sign for the item.

The part had to be returned to the source after three attempts to contact me at home.

This would not be so bad if the part was trivial. But the part was a hard drive, the heart of the computer, without which I could not install Windows to complete the computer. In the end, I had to drive to Fry's in Indianapolis to get a hard drive, paying the same price for half the capacity.

I admit that I was deluded into thinking that just because Amazon had a given policy on shipping that its associates would have the same policy. This one did not. And I am angry that, in my correspondence, the associate's agents seemed to make light of my inability to sign for the item. At least they reported that they have issued a partial refund on the order; I will check my credit card account for it.

Henceforth I will order books, DVDs and other items from Amazon that Amazon itself will ship. This should be no problem soon, since Amazon seems to be shedding its associates program due to disputes with state governments.