3 year old NEW computer

[volatile]

I was working phones for technical support for our service department. Well a lady calls in with a computer problem:

Lady: I have this computer, I just opened it, and it's not working out of the box.

Me: What is wrong with it exactly?

Lady: I don't know it just won't work. I press the power button and nothing happens.

Me: Ok, what brand of computer is it?

Lady: It's a Sony VAIO desktop. I bought it three years ago from you guys.

Me: *WTF?* Ummm...I'm sorry, I'm kind of not following. Didn't you say you just took it out of the box?

Lady: Yeah, I bought it three years ago and opened it today. So why is it broken? It's NEW!

Me: Ma'am during that time a lot of things can go wrong. I'm not exactly sure what we can do for you except you will have to bring it in for us to take a look. It will also, definitely, be out of warranty unless you bought an extended plan with us.

Lady: UGH! But it's new! I shouldn't even be broken. You guys should have to replace it.

Me: The system is over three years old. We don't have that model in-stock anymore. You are going to have to bring it in for repair...or possibly talk to a manager to see if he's willing to do anything for you.

Lady: *Click*

So yeah....who buys their computer and waits for their computer to become obsolete before trying to even use it?

[greensinestro]

Wouldn't this be like buying a new car, parking it in a storage facility for three years, then pulling it out after that, and raising hell with the car dealer about how the battery is dead? Car batteries have a shelf life, even if they are not used, which is why they have expiration dates on them. So, why wouldn't the same principles apply with the lady and her three year old computer?

And, is something really new if it has never been used but is three years old?

[Imogene]

For the answer to the question raised by Greensinestro: I look to the action figure collecting community, in which objects can be sold: NIB, or, New, In Box.

[Geek King]

For the answer to the question raised by Greensinestro: I look to the action figure collecting community, in which objects can be sold: NIB, or, New, In Box.

Which reminds me of the episode of Dexter's Lab.

NRFB! NRFB! NRFB!!!

[Demonoid Phenomenon]

I wouldn't want to look into this lady's cupboard...

"I just opened this brand new box of Triscuits I bought three years ago and they're green! Why are they green?!"

[Dips]

Attic Guy isn't as unique as I thought.

[myswtghst]

I was ranting about this to the coworkers yesterday. Our equipment has a one-year warranty, it's on all the sales paperwork. We can use the serial number or the sales order to find out when it was manufactured/shipped, but we have to have some kind of proof of warranty in order to proceed with a repair under warranty. For some reason, it never occurs to customers/shops to test the equipment if it's not going to be installed for over a year. I can't start the warranty from whenever you feel like it, sorry.

[karma_gypsy]

For the answer to the question raised by Greensinestro: I look to the action figure collecting community, in which objects can be sold: NIB, or, New, In Box.

Don't forget -- New Old Stock (or NOS).

Stuff that may be years old, but is still NIP (New in Package/Plastic).

[BookstoreEscapee]

So yeah....who buys their computer and waits for their computer to become obsolete before trying to even use it?

I thought they were obsolete by the time you got them out the door of the store

[lordlundar]

I thought they were obsolete by the time you got them out the door of the store

No, they've improved on that. It's now obsolete before it's rung through!

[sbandliz]

A similar thing happened to my sister - though with a happy ending.

Two Christmas ago, she bought her dream leather sofa (a 3 seater and a 2 seater). Since she was half way through renovation, she only opened the 3 seater for the living room. The 2 seater sat in the garage still fully wrapped in the packaging it came in.

Ten months later, after all the renovation is complete, she moved the 2 seater into the living room and opened it - that is when she discover that it is a different shade!!! What is worse - on comparing the colours - it was the 3 seater that is the wrong colour!!!

She was very upset when she rang me. I told her that the best she can expect is for the shop to:
a) replace the 2 seater, since it is "NEW", so the colour match
b) offer to sell her another 3 seater in her favourite colour at a discount
c) get laughed out of the shop since it was delivered 10 months ago.

So she took the invoice and both leather samples into the shop (the small piece of leather that is attached to the bottom of each sofa). She was very polite and explained her problem, and showed them the small leather pieces. The shop promised to check with their warehouse to see how this mistake happened.

About a month later, with many phone calls in between, the shop called and said they have located another sofa in my sister's choice of colour in their warehouse.

The happy results is: they delivered a brand new 3 seater of the right colour, and picked up the 10 month old 3 seater for NO CHARGE.

[Mongo Skruddgemire]

I thought they were obsolete by the time you got them out the door of the store

God I hate that way of thinking. A computer is not obsolete unless it no longer has the ability to run the current software of the day.

Now It may be surpassed by a newer model or technology, but it is not obsolete

The three year old computer just pulled out of the box on the other hand is now considered in the IT field as the computer they used to design dirt on.

M

[Andara Bledin]

Don't forget -- New Old Stock (or NOS).

Stuff that may be years old, but is still NIP (New in Package/Plastic).

Ahhh... surplus. That's what my company does. Ah, the joys of trying to coordinate with the government about what new, new surplus, surplus, and new old stock all mean... Half the time, they don't really know.

^-.-^