I have reason to believe that the hard drive on my less-than-one-year-old laptop is malfunctioning. I download lots of movies and shows, so I've been saving up money for a 1 terabyte external hard drive that I can transfer all of those files to in order to keep my laptop's drive more free. In light of the issues my laptop has been having, I decided to buy the hard drive sooner rather than later to back up ALL of my files. Little did I know what I was getting myself into...
A few months ago, a friend was visiting from Papua, and while she was in civilization, she wanted to buy a 1 terabyte hard drive. The first few computer stores we went to told us they would have to order it, but she was leaving the next day, so that wouldn't have worked out. We were thankful that at the third or fourth store we tried, they didn't only stock 1 terabyte hard drives, they had 3 different brands and models to choose from!
So when I wanted to buy my own hard drive, being American and enjoying instant gratification, I went to the store that stocked terabyte hard drives first. Just three months ago, they had multiple models available. But alas, no luck for me. I would have to pay over $100 and wait at least 3 days. I explained to them that my laptop's hard drive was unstable and I needed a large drive fast and asked if they could point me in the right direction. They suggested Redline, a newly opened store just down the street. So I headed there. A very friendly girl who appeared to know absolutely nothing (based on the fact that every single time I asked her a question, she went and asked the same question to someone else to get an answer to give to me) told me that the hard drive would cost less than $100 and that they could have it in 2 days, 3 max. Again, I explained my situation and asked if there was a store in town that stocked them or if there was any way to speed up the order. After she asked 2 other people who worked there, she informed me that no store in town that they were aware of had hard drives of that size in stock. This was by far the cheapest place I had been to, so after asking a few more questions about the brand, warranty, etc, I placed my order and went on my way expecting to have my hard drive within a week, because let's face it - "two or three days" NEVER means two or three days.
They surprised me when, true to word, they texted me on the third day (last Tuesday) to let me know that my hard drive was in and ready to be picked up. Tuesday was a hectic day and I didn't get home from school until after the store was closed, so I went on Wednesday after school to pick it up. The girl who took my order was not there, but an equally dazed looking young man was there to help me. I showed him my invoice AND the sms saying that my hard drive was there and I wanted to pick it up. After much confusion (I don't know how "I want to pick up my order, please" is confusing), he reached into the glass counter that separated him and I and grabbed a 1 terabyte internal hard drive and said, "OH! Here it is!" I pushed it back across the glass countertop toward him and said, "Um, this is an internal hard drive. I ordered an external hard drive. It says right here on the invoice. See?"
After much mumbling and shuffling of the feet and confused poking around, he made three different phone calls to ask if anyone remembered "the white girl who ordered a hard drive on Saturday" and to ask if anyone knew where it was. Finally, whoever he called on the third try remembered me and told him the hard drive was in the glass counter. He explained that I ordered an external and that was an internal. It didn't take them long to realize they had placed the wrong order. When he got off the phone, he explained to me that they would have to re-order my hard drive but that since the next day was a holiday (Ascension Day), the earliest it would get here would be Friday, Saturday at the latest.
It's Sunday. No hard drive. I ordered it over a week ago now. I went there after church today to put a little pressure on them, but they were closed. Welcome to trying to get things done in a third world country.
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