I'm a prat, and my laptop's pants

justruth

I finally had enough of having no internet due to lack of landlines, and all the deadtime when I travel back home of a weekend so I decided to invest in a shiney new laptop. I went into the shop (dunno if I should name and shame), and told them what I required quite specifically. I wanted something that would not only work for college but also uni, where as a minimum I would be using the basic package of Word, Excel and powerpoint, no problem, the laptop comes with XP home. I wanted internet access wherever I went. I knew about datacards, the man in the shop pulled a bit out and showed me where I should stick one and the day I brought the laptop I ordered 1, which arrived today.

Meanwhile I go to do somework on my shiney new laptop, only to find that Excel, Word and Powerpoint are not on it, I go back to the shop and I am told that XP home doesn't have them, I have to purchase the software seperatly. Today I try to put the datacard in the slot as advised, only to find that they lied again, this laptop does not have a slot for data cards, but i could tune a TV into it if I wanted. I would much rather have what I asked for thanks all the same.

Any of you guys happen to know anything about Comets return policy? I had a look on the receipt and it said I could return it within 28 days unopened, however as it was an ex display model I expect that they would have to get over that? I still want a laptop that does all the things I wanted this one to do.

Any suggestions?

John_LG

As regards to MS Office, it's a common mistake, that ppl think Micorsoft XP (and versions prior) also include the Office software. often you get free trials of them, which is no good to you either. You can pick up a student version of it for something like £70 ish, or consider an open source (free) alternative like OpenOffice?
As for the misselling, you seem good at getting your money back from the banks - use a similar principle, and make sure plenty of other customers are nearby, as you loudly (but not shouting, of course) suggest they missold it to you just to get rid of old stock! And see how quick the refund comes...

The very best of luck,
J

Edit: I avoid all such places, so can't comment on Comet itself, sorry.
Edit 2: Amazon sell MS Office student edition, and deliver free:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Microsoft-Office-Student-Teacher-Edition/dp/B0000BZ54S/sr=8-1/qid=1162332346/ref=sr_1_1/202-3169217-3339033?ie=UTF8&s=electronics

Rosie75

You uni may have a license to provide MS Office to staff and students for home use.
Everyone always goes on about how prices of PCs, Laptops and other computing hardware are coming down - I'm sure that's mainly because the manufacturers offer less than they used to (eg. Office used to come with PCs, printers used to come with USB cables, ink cartridges, etc..)

Mc4ndy

My suggestion is use Open office. It does pretty much everything ms office does, and whats best is it's totally free. Free Free Free...

It can read and write to ms office formats, .xls, .doc etc too.

http://www.openoffice.org/

justruth

I'm mad at myself for not having done enough research, for not mking sure that this was the best laptop for me and for taking their word for it. I will check which consumer legislation best supports my refund / exchange argument and post it on here for anyone else who has this hassle.

Thank you for your advice regarding the office software, as I have to return the laptop I might see if I can get it included as they missold me the product. I get a bit tired of fighting all the time, I'm a pacifist!

Mc4ndy

Out of interest what laptop is it? Make model spec? I mean if you got it for a good price I wouldn't worry about office not being included. That's not the norm anway. MS works is sometimes bundled but IMO it's not so great for what you need. As mentioned above a student version of MS office is pretty cheap. Open office really is a very good alternative. As for the data cards i'm not really up on this are you talking wi-fi and hotspot use, or 3G. The latter can be pretty expensive, but if this what you want, you can get USB 3G adapters to take the cards. I even think some mobile networks now have USB versions themselves.

albertross_2

Are you saying there is no pc-card slot, or is a an express slot.. What was demo'd in the shop, a different laptop?

Doubt you'll get office for free, it isn't cheap!

justruth

its a HP Pavilion dv2000 and I paid just under £900 for it. I got the 3G datacard as I travel a lot, and although I can steal next doors open wireless connection, (like now) it's not that strong, I regularly get booted off and it doesn't help me when Im away. £30 is a little excessive I know, but I juggled my budget to allow it.

mcwarre

justruth wrote:

I'm a prat, and my laptop's pants

Pants for a laptop? Now I have heard it all.................................

amcluesent

>the man in the shop pulled a bit out and showed me where I should stick one<

Oh, Matron!

justruth

At least we can laugh about it lol, never mind, it's still very shiney and pretty