When buying new goods and service, I often suffer the stress from the trouble of them. I think the suppliers are abusing the unfinished new technique. I wish the suppliers would offer more complete goods and services. But at the same time I think the stress would be useful for delaying my aging.
Personal Computer: My printer did not work one day (spring, 2001). After trial and error, I was able to repair the printer. This was the feeling of achievement which I could not have for a few years. Then the computer of a friend of mine broke down. A computer shop and I respectively undertook the replacement of the hard disk and the installation of the software. I brought the computer, which the hard disk had been replaced, to my house and tried to install the software. But the computer did not work. I removed the hard disk unit from the chassis and found a jumper switch was incorrectly set. I was able to recover his computer completely. I felt great pleasure. I had interest in computer with this repair and began to make my home page.
In June 2004, one day I wanted to click the x marked button to close the window but the mark was not found. The three-button marks on the upper right corner of the window had changed to odd marks. I was able to close the window by clicking an odd mark. I thought my computer had been infected with a computer virus. I became gloomy when I thought about the necessity of a great deal of time and labor to remove the virus and to install software again.
I thought I had to print out my data, which I can not buy. After I printed a few pages, the black characters suddenly faded without warning. I thought that the worst had occurred. Just to make sure, I exchanged the old ink cartridge for new one. The printer began to work as usual. The printer trouble had no relation with the x mark problem. To use such computer is uncomfortable, but I continued to use the computer because it had no actual harm.
After a few days, I found that the available fonts on the Japanese word processor decreased abnormally and the alphabetical fonts were completely unavailable. I thought many font files were broken by themselves, or by a virus. So I tried to re-install the font files. I referred to some manuals but I cannot understand how to re-install.
Reluctantly I went to a computer shop and told the circumstances. This trouble seemed to occur frequently on the Windows98. A salesclerk instantly searched out the measures against the trouble on the Internet and printed out the measures. Because the explanation of the article maybe was not enough, I could not recover my computer. I went to the shop again. The other salesclerk introduced me their charged help desk.
I called the desk and knew that they would visit my house and solve the trouble. The required fees were 5,000 yen/visit, 5,000 yen/diagnosis and expenses. And if the trouble includes the hardware problem, I had to pay 2,500 yen for carrying my computer to the computer manufacturer. I hated to pay 10,000 yen before the recovery.?About 1,000 yen= $9) I thought I had to buy software for removing the virus and install Windows98 again. And I thought that the reinstallation by me would be cheaper than requesting their help, and would bring useful knowledge to me. But I was afraid it would take a lot of time and labor.
Just to make sure I called the help desk of the manufacturer of my computer. At once an instructor of the desk instructed me how to recover. It took only about 20 or 30 min. Of course it required no fee.
The happiness when I found the x button again was incomparable. I cannot quit the computer operation because I meet such incidents sometimes.
Digital Camera: I bought a digital camera last spring (2003.) But after one month, the camera broke. I ran into the shop where I bought it. A salesclerk said, "You are lucky. This camera is guaranteed for one year. We can exchange this with new one. Maybe the new one won't have trouble." Because I had expected my erroneous operation will be pointed out, I was relaxed. I returned home gladly.
However, the new one broke again after a few weeks. At the same shop, a new clerk said, "You can exchange it with the other manufacturers' one." But I exchanged my camera for the same manufacturer's camera because I knew nothing about the other manufacturers' cameras. After the expiration of the period of guarantee, the camera broke once more. The shop said, "We can repair it at half price." But I directly talked with the camera manufacturer about the repair cost. The manufacturer said, "This phenomenon maybe was caused by the circuit trouble. So we would pay the cost." I was not able to understand the meaning of "circuit trouble" but it was the first time to hear the excuse about the trouble.Internet Providers: Accidentally I chose some internet provider at the beginning. The provider was sold many times. Each time I received a one-sided e-mail notice and had to change the access point. In 2002 (or 2003?), I received a notice that many local access points, which have each phone number, are going to be unified so that we clients could access the provider with the one phone number. We had to change the access procedure by the time limit. Furthermore they said that we couldn't access the new point if we were the subscriber of the telephone of the cable television company.
In fact, I have moved to a cable television company from a telephone company, NTT, a few months ago. I returned to NTT with my own expenses. I knew I had to complain at the provider but I put up with the expenses because it was troublesome to complain.
Cable Television: Since I became a subscriber of a CATV in 2002 (?), I heard a slight noise when I listened to bilingual broadcasting. Because the noise was uncomfortable but not fatal, I could bear it. But I told about the noise to the CATV Company when I exchanged the telephone lines. A technician of the company came to my home and said that maybe the wiring was just before the short circuit. He exchanged the units called "cable television converter" without checking the details. The noise disappeared perfectly. Surprisingly, I felt that the picture had become clearer than before. But this is maybe my illusion. Though I am not entirely satisfied with their services, I would frankly be satisfied because the new converter eliminates the noise.
NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) Television: A few months ago, I received a sealed letter from Somu-sho (the Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications). I was surprised because I had never received any letters from the Government excepting the notices of the old age pension. I opened the letter soon. The points of it were as follows;
They are going to digitize the terrestrial TV broadcasting.
They will change the frequency of an analog channel of NHK.
Though it depends on our reception environment of TV, we have to change the setting and/or antenna of our televisions.
If we fill in the blanks of the application form enclosed and send it back, the Government pays the expenses for the changes.
I thought my television receiving the CATV did not need any changes at my house side. But the possibility that I wouldn't be able to watch a NHK channel remained. I asked to the Somu-sho and CATV Company what I should do. Somu-sho and the CATV Company answered that perhaps the change at my side was unnecessary. Just to make sure, they recommended asking to the other (Somu-sho/CATV). I gave up the confirmation of my question because I got tired. I didn't send back the application form.
When the CATV’s technician came to my house to exchange the converters, I told him about my anxiety. He simply said, "We cope with the frequency change. And the problem at present is UHF but we are supplying VHF." I was entirely able to understand what the problem was.
Finally, the person in charge of Somu-sho visited the people who did not send back the application form. He said, "The CATV Company has coped with well already."
After that I heard the terrestrial wave telecast began on December 1, 2003 with great fanfare. But I have not been able to get any effect or any profit from the new broadcasting. My anxiety ended with a waste of time.
Pocket Calculator and Electronic Dictionary: These two electronic gadgets have been working well without trouble since I bought them. The digital camera should be the same kind of merchandise such as the calculator and dictionary. So maybe I failed to choose the camera manufacturer.
"Achivement and Satisfaction"
uploaded December 12, 2000
"Stress" uploaded December 30, 2003
unified and revised: August 7, 2004
Revised July 16, 2005