I need a little help proving that I did not destroy my laptop...UPDATED

[DrewKaree]

You know...its not that far of a trip for you, Drew...I go to University of Wisconsin - Stout.

NO WAY!  DUDE, I WENT TO STOUT!

That weekend sucked though, so we stopped going there and just hung around Udub-EC & LC.     

I shoulda gotten my degree in weekends from the UW system, but they said something about that not being an actual course   Sunny beaches.

I dunno how the schooling is where you're at, but isn't there some talk about combining a few of the schools up there? 

[Havok]

if someone cheats you out of a significant amount of money take stuff from the school to even everything out.

Now we're talking about justice! 

I know a few mac labs with some G4s that don't get watched over....

Well, if they do end up screwing you, pour Coke all over those G4s - every last one. Since you aren't responsible, REVENGE!

 

[USSEnterprise]

if someone cheats you out of a significant amount of money take stuff from the school to even everything out.

Now we're talking about justice! 

I know a few mac labs with some G4s that don't get watched over....

Well, if they do end up screwing you, pour Coke all over those G4s - every last one. Since you aren't responsible, REVENGE!

 

Which ends in a worse sentence? Destruction of property or theft?

[SithMaster]

Well they will just think that the liquid spill is natural since thats all students do is destroy computers with liquids.

[Vigo]

You know...its not that far of a trip for you, Drew...I go to University of Wisconsin - Stout.

NO WAY!  DUDE, I WENT TO STOUT!

That weekend sucked though, so we stopped going there and just hung around Udub-EC & LC.     

I shoulda gotten my degree in weekends from the UW system, but they said something about that not being an actual course   Sunny beaches.

I dunno how the schooling is where you're at, but isn't there some talk about combining a few of the schools up there? 

Hey, I think you fit right in the Stout crowd....prerequisites: Alcohol and Sarcasm; you have more than enough of both to be here.

I have no clue about combining schools...I know we have an overseas campus in Ireland for the serious drinkers (no joke).

[Vigo]

if someone cheats you out of a significant amount of money take stuff from the school to even everything out.

Now we're talking about justice! 

I know a few mac labs with some G4s that don't get watched over....

Well, if they do end up screwing you, pour Coke all over those G4s - every last one. Since you aren't responsible, REVENGE!

 

sorry, our campus has a pouring liscence with Pepsi, and coke isn't allowed on campus...it's perfectly alright if I use a pepsi product though

[pointdablame]

God, don't get me started and the stupidity and absurdity of school laptop programs   

I got a HP Nx7000 from my school when I enrolled, and god was that thing a pile of crap.  I had the thing for 2 years and it needed a new motherboard, 2 hard drives, and a wireless card... and I treated that thing like gold.  It was just a piece of crap.  Luckily in my case, the mobo and one HDD was early on and under warranty, and I fought over the other HDD and got lucky.  They wanted to charge me $99 for the wireless card though... I told them go to hell and kept the dead one.  Then I bought a new miniPCI card for $35 and installed it in 20 seconds.

My contract had similar crap like yours... they can charge at will, they have final word on cause of damage, etc etc.  I traded that damn thing for a new Dell 700m... I won't be having any more trouble with that thing     The laptops become yours at graduation, so I figure... the only way my trade could be a problem is if I drop out of school and don't graduate for some reason... and if that happens, a laptop will be the LEAST of my worries.

Stupid mandatory school laptop programs 

[Vigo]

God, don't get me started and the stupidity and absurdity of school laptop programs   

I got a HP Nx7000 from my school when I enrolled, and god was that thing a pile of crap.  I had the thing for 2 years and it needed a new motherboard, 2 hard drives, and a wireless card... and I treated that thing like gold.  It was just a piece of crap.  Luckily in my case, the mobo and one HDD was early on and under warranty, and I fought over the other HDD and got lucky.  They wanted to charge me $99 for the wireless card though... I told them go to hell and kept the dead one.  Then I bought a new miniPCI card for $35 and installed it in 20 seconds.

My contract had similar crap like yours... they can charge at will, they have final word on cause of damage, etc etc.  I traded that damn thing for a new Dell 700m... I won't be having any more trouble with that thing     The laptops become yours at graduation, so I figure... the only way my trade could be a problem is if I drop out of school and don't graduate for some reason... and if that happens, a laptop will be the LEAST of my worries.

Stupid mandatory school laptop programs 

Yep...that about sums up school laptop programs....

DO you get to keep yours? I don't...they said that they would sell them to us for about 500 when I enrolled (ridiculous)...but then they even retracted that promise because they said that we wouldn't own the rights to the software on them (windows and office)...they wouldn't even let anybody buy a laptop with a wiped hard drive though...and they do that all the time for the computers they sell at surplus auctions...

 

I would also llike to take this oppertunity to say that over a four year period, the fees that they added into my tuition for the laptop program total over $6000...this is not including the other tuition fees that went up as well, in fact..our tuition is more than double what it was 4 years ago....

[pointdablame]

Yes, we get to keep our laptops at the time of graduation.  It is a "free" laptop that everyone who enrolls receives, but with my tuition costs, I've paid for that damn thing ten times over.  If I had to give it back, I definitely wouldn't have traded it.

My school's plan seems a bit better than yours as it gives you the first year warranty free (which is luckily when my major problems were), but overall its a sucky system.  They will charge you for everything and anything and overcharge horribly at that.

One nice perk at my school though is the software.  They get a license for every student, so I can log on to our campus servers and get copies of any software I need for the entire time I'm enrolled.  Free upgrades

[sirwoogie]

Vigo,

Have you paid a trip to the school Ombudsman yet? The sole purpose of that office (usually) is a defense of the student rights. You have to take this methodical and approach the situation as one of a student wronged, but more to protect the next student from falling into this trap. If you have a legal leg of that school, find somebody to help you point out the gross mistakes in the contract.

This situation is exactly why I laugh hysterically at University and grade school programs to provide laptops. What a joke!

What should be done is a subsidization program where they get laptop prices dirt cheap for people (a 1200 for 400 say), and let people decide whether they want the laptop or not. But, it won't happen because vendors can charge more for the bulk purchase programs. Gah!

[HaRuMaN]

My school is requiring incoming freshmen next year to have tablet PC's.   

[sirwoogie]

I find any school that mandates the use of personal portable computers is simply compensating for a lack of educational fortitude (boy, wasn't that heady). What ever happened to books, a pencil and paper? When I was doing my college stint (93-01), I had a lab provided Mac laptop for the last half. I tried taking notes on that thing, but in the end it simply got in the way most of the time. Many of the profs I had used diagrams or unique organizations that really didn't fit Word all that well. I started getting better, but then simply wrote the diagrams on paper... why use the laptop?

I've witnessed a few classes where it's auditorium style (100+) students, 50% using the laptops with headphones on, and most of them playing games through adhoc wi-fi. It's a great way to goof, but damn, it promotes not learning all that much more in classes you are required to take (physics 101... blech).

Educators and politicians are under pressure to use all the latest tools for development of student education. The problem is, their doing it at the expense of tried and true educational procedure. When I see schools around here reducing the "per student allocation" so they can run programs to provide every student with a laptop, I just want to and 

[Havok]

There's just no substitute for good old fashion books. I like to highlight and write in mine, and a laptop just doesn't work. Even at college prices, books are still a bargain!

I lament the days of the computer manuals as well - used to be when you bought hardware or software, you got a nice bound manual. I remember when my uncle bought his first IBM computer. The thing came with 10 bound books! Now, all you get is a stinking pdf!

[shmokes]

My phone runs Windows Mobile and I have a fold-out bluetooth keyboard for it.  I love this setup.  It's great for taking notes, cos I can type about 10 times faster than I can write.  But having access to the internet during a class just means that I'll post at BYOAC instead of listening to the lecture.  From my observation I'd estimate that the vast majority of students at my school who bring laptops to class just play on them.  They are not mandatory and are actually uncommon.  I'd say on average one or two people per class have one.

By the way, just because you signed a contract does not necessarily mean you're screwed.  They are holding your ability to get a higher education over you.  It's similar to duress.  They can get you to sign all kinds of stuff when you're made to choose between going to school or not.  For example, manditory arbitration that you sign at doctors' offices are almost universally non-enforceable because, no matter how unfair it is, you're hardly going to choose to die out of protest.  My gut (I have no legal training) tells me that there are a lot of highly questionable things in that contract that a judge would say don't mean a damned thing. 

[Vigo]

Ok, I know it has been a few months, but I do have an update to my laptop case if anyone is interested. First I want to say I finally did get the charges removed. It did take a bloody large amount of persistance, it was all worth the effort!

In a nutshell here is what happened after All my complaining...

I submitted a huge report (close to 40 pages) stating how my laptop could be damaged from something other than liquid spill.

I turned gave it to her, but she never replied me, I had to email her a few times, finally the last day of the semester, she replies me. She said that she didn't think it was liquid spill anymore, and that the school charges for items not covered under HP's warranty so I would still be charged.

I emailed her and said that she never mentioned any warranty stuff before, and that when we we taking she said she would remove the charges as long as she didn't think it was liquid spill anymore. I told her that It was unfair to me to change policy on me like that.

She replied my just yesterday and said that even though she was still right about her decision, she would remove the charges due to the confusion she had caused.

The long version is a long more complicated, but I'll save the details. Anyway, I won. Thanks to everyone for your support and help!!!! 

[thebrownshow]

Thanks for the update, still sounds like this woman is a typical college office worker: they get off on the power they have over these things.

[DrewKaree]

Sounds like you need to go top tank on her just to prove a point.