Thank you for educating me on this topic. I learned a lot.
@Caliscotsman, the hard drive was encrypted with BitLocker. The code (BitLocker key) I found in my desk drawer did not work for them.
@dukeblue219: You're right. All communication was over the phone and they sort of just kept moving along with the further and further repairs. There should definitely have been a more rigorous paper trail about new work needed and the costs, and appropriate invoices and signatures.
I am relieved to hear that it's not necessarily that my info is now in the hands of identity thieves.
@Cecelio: I called another place (Central Computers) and they gave me a quote that seemed more in line with the kind of numbers you mention. And thanks for explaining about the data centers. Looks like the people I went to weren't being shady about this at least.
What happened was this:
A lot of back and forth with them over email and phone about how much I owe them. Stressful as I wanted to take home my hard drive ASAP.
Finally, my wife threw out the idea of contacting the CEO by guessing the email, which actually seemed to work. The CEO supported his employees. The topic of the invoice was sort of .. avoided .. but in the end I put forth a (relatively) more reasonable payment option, and everyone agreed. Mid-high 100s including tax and the USB hard drive they transferred my data to.
All that everyone said considered, I still feel I was overcharged by $200, assuming the details of the repair they told me are true.
So I have a dead laptop that I may or may not go to the trouble of opening up later to see what it looks like inside. And my data on a portable USB hard drive. Wallet lighter by tuition to the School of hard knocks - I will finally start following the rule of getting things in writing.
Rather than buying a new laptop, I will use an old desktop we have laying around. I like not having to worry about power port failures causing data loss. (considering what @tibbits said)
Thank you to everyone for their insight and help.
@Caliscotsman, the hard drive was encrypted with BitLocker. The code (BitLocker key) I found in my desk drawer did not work for them.
@dukeblue219: You're right. All communication was over the phone and they sort of just kept moving along with the further and further repairs. There should definitely have been a more rigorous paper trail about new work needed and the costs, and appropriate invoices and signatures.
I am relieved to hear that it's not necessarily that my info is now in the hands of identity thieves.
@Cecelio: I called another place (Central Computers) and they gave me a quote that seemed more in line with the kind of numbers you mention. And thanks for explaining about the data centers. Looks like the people I went to weren't being shady about this at least.
What happened was this:
A lot of back and forth with them over email and phone about how much I owe them. Stressful as I wanted to take home my hard drive ASAP.
Finally, my wife threw out the idea of contacting the CEO by guessing the email, which actually seemed to work. The CEO supported his employees. The topic of the invoice was sort of .. avoided .. but in the end I put forth a (relatively) more reasonable payment option, and everyone agreed. Mid-high 100s including tax and the USB hard drive they transferred my data to.
All that everyone said considered, I still feel I was overcharged by $200, assuming the details of the repair they told me are true.
So I have a dead laptop that I may or may not go to the trouble of opening up later to see what it looks like inside. And my data on a portable USB hard drive. Wallet lighter by tuition to the School of hard knocks - I will finally start following the rule of getting things in writing.
Rather than buying a new laptop, I will use an old desktop we have laying around. I like not having to worry about power port failures causing data loss. (considering what @tibbits said)
Thank you to everyone for their insight and help.
Statistics: Posted by a — Sat Nov 16, 2024 2:16 am — Replies 9 — Views 1518