Not about plumbing leaks, but a leak in the wallet nevertheless. In addition to my monster desktop computer here in my cave (at which I am sitting right now) I have a Dell Inspiron 3800 laptop which I often use in the living room, sitting cross-legged on the bed, or up at a nearby park on a pleasant day. A handy adjunct to my writing endeavors.
Several months ago it pooped out. Since it was out of warranty, I took it to a local shop that specializes in notebook computers. They fixed it, and charged me around $150.00. A week later it pooped out again, but in a slightly different manner. Since it was within their thirty day warranty period, they fixed it again for no charge.
Just a couple of days ago, it pooped out yet again! This time it didn't simply shut itself off (losing everything I hadn't saved yet) as it had done before, it comes on and stays on, but even though the screen is lit, there's nothing on it. A nice bright white. Blank. And nothing I can do will get the operating system (Windows 98SE) to load. It would seem I need to take it back to the shop, but since it's been several months, I'm out of warranty again.
But—they have what is known as a "bench fee." If you bring a laptop in, they charge you $80.00 to put it on the workbench. That's up front. Before they even look at it to see if it can be fixed.
It's several years old (Celeron, 500 MHz, 64 MB RAM, with a 6 GB HD and a SuperDisk floppy). I'd like to have it fixed—if it can be fixed, but I might just be better off popping for a new notebook. Some of the new ones (for under $1,000) are pretty impressive (and I'm thinking of going wireless). I'd rather not spend the money right now (I'd rather not spend the money at all!), but it looks like if I want to be able to write in a local coffee shop (where as long as you buy something, they don't really mind how long you stay) or up in the park under a tree, or have something to take with me on trips, it's gonna cost me. Leaky wallet.
The thing that really gets my goat is that because of things like "bench fees," it will cost me a minimum of $80.00 to find out if the Dell actually can be fixed or if I should just use it for a door stop.