Jeffrey E asked:


I knew better, and still walked right at him. It all started with the best buy. (I hear your cry of astonishment and horror. I know, I know: How many sob stories have begun with that phrase? Some children shy attempt of the day with stories set in warehouses in large consumer electronics chain. " 'The call is coming from inside the comp USA! ") According to the paper's August 15, 1999 Sunday, had computer memory for sale, cheap cheap cheap. Its price was low to begin with, and mail-in rebate $ 30 he did a lot. I 'd AIDS meant to add more memory to my computer for some time, and it seemed like the perfect opportunity. Granted, I had to go for the best buy on Sunday. See our best buy is at a local mall with a Wal-Mart, a Barnes &; Noble, and any number of chapels andalusia consumerism. It wouldn 't be so bad if the mall in question weren' t in his own dead end, with only one way of feeding the main road nearby. Getting into the mall isn 't hard. It 's coming out that will try your patience, especially on a weekend. But for those prices of memory, I 'd gladly brave the horrors of the traffic and crowds of people around whose job, as I can say is better to wander around stare at the purchase of slack-jawed in the miracles of electronics modern and generally get people 's way I made the best purchase just fine. I made my way through the crowd of people Molí on the store, finally reaching the computer service. Nobody was on the desktop. The memory was kept locked glass cabinets, with one employee, there was no way to get memory. There was one person ahead of me at the counter. I waited about ten minutes, watching other people wander around listening to a computer service and sales personnel to explain the wonders of laptops from Compaq to a customer. Finally, I asked a person in front of me how long I 'd expected to help. "Oh, about forty minutes," he said. "Hold me," I said, then went for help. Employees who could see both were busy with customers. Decided to embarrass the individual compaqs Hawking. "Say, we 've to wait a while," I said, pointing to the man at the counter that this item was dropped against him as if all life was drained his body. "Could you help someone? " "Oh, you need to Frank. He 's got the key. " "Where 's Frank? " "I Dunno He was broken in a little while ago. He should be back soon. " "Soon" here "meaning; fifteen minutes." I spent time talking with the person before me in line. "I never come here if I can help," he said. "But prices in some area are so good I end up never broken my vow to come here again." Frank appeared possible. "We 'with reference to both after some of that 64MB of memory that' s on sale," my new-found friend said to Frank. Frank threw a glance toward the cabinet. "Oh, we 've sold out of that." I took another look in the cabinet. There were packets of memory into the slot labeled "memory" 64Mb;. "What 's that? "I asked, pointing. Frank took a closer look in the cabinet. "That 's just one memory? n 32Mb. Operate off-site for him in his spot. "Generally; Oh, lovely. "When do you expect to get more memory inside? " "The cars are on the morning of Tuesday. Check with us then. " I made my way is removed from the store, pushing my way beyond insane in a long queue at the desk for customer service. I 'd have to wait, or try some of the other best buy stores in the region. On Monday, I asked misty stop shopping for the best home in Raleigh in the way of work. When she worked at the far side of Raleigh, so I could swing around in the back of the way and take some work. They didn 't have any, he said, but must be "returned to work, on Tuesday morning." Decided to call before trouble with another trip to any store. Foggy and I spent the next few days trying to get a call through to the best buy of Raleigh or Durham. The procedure was something like: Dial the number for the computer service. Listen to the ring for a while. Hang up eventually. Try the number for the department's customer service instead. Hear the phone ring. If you're lucky, someone finally answers. Tell the person, "I 'm trying to find out if you have one of the 64MB of memory that was made public in their Sunday circular." The person who answered the phone says something like, "FLL mmtm. Mrbl to not be alarmed this is normal. Waiting on hold while the man mutters will get to a computer service employee on the phone, and check the action itself. A little later, the phone or hang up on you spontaneously, or other man mutters pick up the phone. If this happens, go back three steps. Misty eventual short circuit this process by asking a charge of customer service. The manager could say that, yes, they had some memory. After she stopped working about to buy two packages of memory. Took over an hour to get someone to wait on it and get the memory. But never amount to that, I had my memory! I burst into the computer memory, fill in my rebate forms and sent in the mail for PNY Technologies, Inc. When I first went to Best Buy on Sunday it had seized a number of forms required for the rebate, and decided to save one of the supplements, since he had contact information in the unlikely event that my rebates didn 't come. Happened in September, then October. The form said to wait eight weeks from the date of the offer, the September 4, before disinsect on the rebate. Before November 10, had tired of waiting. I called the 1-888 number listed on the card. Was busy. Authorization, ninguÌ? No problem, I thought. I 'll just send the email to the address on the card. The email I sent was returned. No such account on Prodigy. I kept trying to call that 1-888 number. I called earlier in the day. I called late in the afternoon. Walk beyond the phone in my office, after soltaría to her and punch in numbers quickly, in hopes of PNY amazingly. The line was always busy. After a week of this, I did a little research and got the number for corporate headquarters from PNY. (It 's 973-515-9700, if it ever happens.) Before you call that number, I decided to try the 1-888 number again. Lo and behold, it rang. To my amazement, someone grabbed the phone. To my surprise later she was helpful. I explained that I hadn 't received my rebate for two packages of memory I' d bought. She knocked lightly on your computer away for a few minutes, then told me that PNY had sent checks, but the post office had returned. She asked me my address. He gave. "Huh," she said. "That 's the same address we have on our computers. Well, don 't concern We 'll the discount you get your. It 'll take the nearly four weeks. " He didn 't even that hard. On Monday, December 6, the check arrived. Rioja rip open. The check was for $ 30. Covered only half the reduction was due. I tried again to call the 1-888 number. He was again busy. This time it decided not to fool around. I called corporate headquarters and asked someone to speak for my rebate. They sent me to the extension 2002, where he spoke to a man named Gerald. He took my information and promised to pass it on to "the person who takes care of this." He also assured me that, since it was so close to Christmas, the center of the rebate was sunk, and that My second check was probably delayed. "Give others a few weeks," he asked. I gave others a few weeks, at which time it was Christmas, then New Year 's. Check hadn 't come for the 6th and the whole world hadn' t fallen into chaos because of the Y2K bug, so it was time to call PNY Technologies, Inc. again. The 1-888 number was (surprise!) Busy. Call H.Q. corporate and talked to Gerald again. "You 'with reference to the person who' s call this week about this." Somehow, I wasn 't surprised. "Give one more week." I gave him two, then call back on January 19. This time I reached an answering machine. I left a message and my number, as if thinking that might actually call me back. Something waiting to call me, I tried again in the twentieth. I got the machine again, so I left another message less civil. I decided to try again in the 21st. Hey, if nothing could start up with creative messages to leave on the machine. I was surprised when I got a live person on the phone, a man named Victor. I told my story, including that part of the email address that lack, the 1-888 number busy, and Gerald "of s; help." He gave me a toll free number to call if he ever call back and said, "Give me about five minutes to look up your account. I 'll call you back. " That was in 3:25. In 3:32 he was back on the phone. "I couldn 't find your account. Have you personally bought the memory, or did someone else? "I told him I had bought hazy memory. He said, "Let me check again. I 'll get the right back to you. " Amazingly enough, he was true to his word. He was back on the phone at 3:39. "A check was sent previously, and I 'VE authorized him to second. It should arrive in three weeks. " I was skeptical, but winning results to be correct. On the 8th of February 2000, my second check arrived. Wine in one of those perforated tear-open paper envelopes, and inside was a special message to me from PNY Technologies, Inc. and CEN for the lowering of the TCA