How to win battle against multinational brand

I shocked when service center(SC) informed me that the Laptop I gave them for repair will not we considered under free warranty service. I was on the verge to lose approximate 10K to 12K inr.

But, then I decide to go on war for my right as a consumer.

So this is what happened. One shiny day I tried to turn on my laptop, but it was in lazy mood and resisted to boot up and denied his master's commands. So, I tool this little prick to the SC to teach him some discipline.

The SC technicians did some initial tests on it and asked me to leave the Laptop with them for further investigation and repair. I complied with them, took receipt and got back to my home.

Then few days later I received a call from SC that they wan't be able to repair the laptop under warranty because Lenovo Technical Support Desk(TSD i.e. the Lenovo phone helpline) has denied to provide part under warranty. When I asked what is the exact issue, they mentioned that the Mother Board of PC is burnt and it is not covered under warranty. I kept my cool and asked for SC 's conversation details with TSD.

From this conversation I get to know that if I had to prove my point that my laptop must be covered under free warranty, I had to deal with TSD.

Then I read the warranty document very carefully and understood that weather this part (Mother Board) is under warranty or not. And of course it was covered.

Now, I knew that I am right and TSD can't deny service if I press the issue hard, very hard.

So, I decided to confront Lenovo from all direction as follows.

1) I started calling TSD on their phone line for the exact reason for not providing me service. They repeated the same line "Sir, It's not covered under warranty. All we can do is to pass this issue to EXPERT TEAM." I registered service request and compliant request here.

2) I started Email chain to claim my free service to TSD and CC'ed the conversation to their officials. I gave clear notice that if my issue will not be resolved with peace,I will go to consumer rights protection institute, consumer court. TSD replied with the document I already went through and said that according to this policy document they can't provide service to me. Now that was jackpot for me, as I already knew that there is nothing like this in the document. So, I quoted some policy terms in the document which mentioned that my whole product will be under free warranty, parts and service. I also quoted cases under which my laptop can't be covered under warranty and asked TSD to verify the same with SC.

3)I posted my query on akosha.com with free account. Just after two days, I got response from Lenovo that they will investigate this issue and will get back to me on high priority base.

4) I posted a tweet about my issue with proper hash tags and mentioning Lenovo. I got two re-tweets.  Though my tweet wouldn't have reached more than 500 people, but I had good hope.

All these was happening simultaneously.

And finally, after all these efforts, I got what was mine. TSD agreed to provide free parts and service and writing this blog with the same laptop.

I am posting this for welfare of those who has taken bow from all these brands by not delivering what was promised by them while purchasing their product. Also, you may apply same strategy against any other brand who denies your right as a consumer.

Cheers.!!

Windows 8.1 wifi network adapter fix

THIS IS JUST ABSTRACT INFO, FOLLOW OTHER SOURCES FOR DETAILED INFO FOR EACH STEP.

Just like a million people out there, i also vested my precious half dozen hours trying to connect to my windows 8.1 laptop to wifi.

So posting what i did to make it work.

1. Download and install latest wifi chip driver from OEM or laptop brand website.
• Please don't curse me when i said "DOWNLOAD" when your wifi isn't working.
• Select this driver from "Control Panel\Network and Internet\Network Connections\ Wifi" properties.
• If doing this doesn't solve the issue continue to step 2.
2. Change IP configuration from IPV4 properties. Right click on wifi network adapter and click properties. Select "Internet Protocol version 4" from list of scrolling list and click properties.
• You may use these properties.
• ip address : 192.168.1.xxx  --> here xxx can be anything between 2 and 255. It must not used by any other device connected to your router
• subnet : 255.255.255.0
• Default gateway : 192.168.1.1
• Preferred DNS : 8.8.8.8
• If you can't connect to internet till now follow step 3.
3. BEFORE doing this, at least create a Restore Point; then, in Device Manager, Uninstall the driver for the WIFI chip or adapter and immediately Restart. This will cause Windows to re-install the driver and that may resolve the issue.

I made my wifi work after i freshly installed windows 8.1 just with step 1 & 2.

I had to follow step 3 when i accidentally did something horribly wrong while Hyper-v VM adapter creation and messed up my wifi .

P.S - Follow on your own risk. I haven't bought insurance for you. ;)

Dish Tv Set Top Box Reset

You crashed here may be because your Dish TV set top box(STB)crashed on you!

Something same happened to me and i had to shell out 170 INR for so called "Software Update" to official service ENGINEER to press two buttons for 30 seconds.

So, let me save your precious bucks!

The symptoms

When you power on Dish TV STB, it doesn't shows anything on tv screen. The GREEN status light turn on for 2-3 seconds and then everything goes dead.

Possible Solution

A Picture says thousand words.. Here you go..!!

You have to Hard reset your STB. For that you have to press POWER (@) and UP(^) buttons in your STB for approximate 30 seconds.

When you press these two button, the status LED will start blinking.

After 30 seconds you have to turn off the power of STB without releasing these two buttons. So you may need another buddy to help out there.

And you are done. If it is still DEAD, its time to call service center.

P.S. - Follow instructions at your own risk. ;)