Hard drive broke. Took me three in-home visits from technicians to figure this out.
Microsoft wouldn't let me access my backed up data without installing Microsoft OneNote on a computer with Windows XP. Could not find any friends, relatives, who had said system.
New hard drive installed at considerable cost, which should have solved all problems. Informed by Newsweek that two stories requested from me.
Power cord malfunctions. Battery dies. Computer again unusable. Need to buy new proprietary Sony power cord to access computer files and write Newsweek stories. This item--which is essentially a gloridied extension chord--costed an additional $135.
Did I mention that all of the above happened within a month of the end of my computer's 3-year warranty? Good, because there's more.
Got home from vacation, and our phone line has been turned off. We were switching from Verizon to Vonage. Fine, great, whatever, except that the damn thing doesn't work. After three hours of talking to Vonage's tech support people in India, it becomes clear that the router they sent us doesn't work. So no phone at all until they send a new one.
And the stories for Newsweek? Not used. Much rejoicing.
