Yelläks /ˈyæl•eks/

A Bullman laptop comes with lots of advantages: high resolution and especially anti-glare screen (that means, you cannot see yourself and the room behind you, when the screen is darker), excellent keyboard and superb support in Linux apart from the very friendly costumer support.

I bought a Bullman laptop around 2.5 years ago and I never had any trouble. It worked right from the start. However recently my graphics adapter started to fail (GT8600M) and I suspect the famous hardware bug that finally shows up. Unfortunately my warranty is over for around 6 months and I shifted to India. However I got in touch with the support of Bullman. A new graphics adapter is available and there is not problem to ship it to a German address so that I can replace it by myself. In that case my brother would forward the adapter further to India.

And this service would have cost me only EUR242 including shipping within Germany! Honestly, who is going to pay that price? EUR242 for a graphics adapter as a spare part for a laptop that is more than 2.5 years old? For your information, when I bought the laptop, I paid around EUR1200 including shipping and bag in total. For that money I can get a completely new machine. I do not know, who is making the prices there, but this is way to much. So currently I am trying to get a graphics card on eBay, but I doubt that it will work. I guess Bullman has locked the BIOS so that this option will not be available. In fact I tried another GT8600M (MXM II interface, same memory, but newer board revision) with the same configuration in my laptop, but nothing came up. Not even the light for the LCD. It seems I have to throw this machine into the garbage and buy a new one. But this time, it will be from a company that offers service worldwide and a long warranty. Actually Bullman offers to provide warranty for a longer period for extra money. I should have done that. If you are interested in a Bullman laptop, then take that offer. Otherwise you might spend too much money, if you need a spare part one fine day. In my opinion, the price politics is a very big minus point for that company despite the many advantages on the other side. But how will I benefit or use these advantages, if it broke down and I have to invest more than 20% of the original buying price for spare parts?

Anyone interested in the remainings of the laptop? Everything apart from graphical output works without a problem. I can SSH into the laptop and start simulations and compilations. But the graphical output on the LCD is not readable.

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My cell phone broke down (not the openmoko, another one from Nokia). It is still in the warranty period and got repaired free of cost. The whole inner life got exchanged, so that I found some new interesting options when I received it. Now fully integrated in the phone is Vyke and Gizmo5. Gizmo5 has just been acquired by Google and does not allow new members. However Vyke sounded also interesting. For around EUR0.03 per hour I can talk to a landline in Germany from India through my WLAN connection. A record breaking price.
However after registration I received something like 10 SMS from Vyke that I shall download their software and telling me my user name and password for the Vyke account. At the same time they sent an email to the registered email ID to validate it. Unfortunately the spam filter of my provider filtered it out and mentioned that in its daily report. Next day I clicked on the provided link to validate my email ID. And then the problem started. They simply suspended the account for “security reasons” (Ehm, who just send user name AND password via SMS around the world? And then they come up with security reasons just because an email did not get validated ). I guess, I did not validate the email in time, but in the evening of the previous day I already charge my Vyke account with EUR10 to use it for outgoing calls.

However the web page itself says that I have to get in touch with the support team. So I went to the form, filled everything out and wanted to send it. But the form validation process told me that my email ID is not valid. So I gave the email ID of my working place which allowed the form to be sent to the support.

The support contacted me and told me that I need to validate my email ID.

Dear customer,
Thank you for contacting Vyke Support.

Date: 26/Jan/10 07:57 AM
Please be informed that we are not received any email from your registered email : XXX@gmx.de

For verification purpose, please copy and paste all reply from Vyke Support to XXX@gmx.de, and send to support@vyke.com with title VSUP-87182

Looking forward to hearing from you soon.
Please do not hesitate to contact us if you need further assistance.
Kind Regards,
Vyke Support Team

That is exactly the way I received the mail (including the struck through part). So I asked them, how shall I validate it, if their web site does not accept it. In addition I send their mail along with my reply to the support through the email ID that needs to be validated. Just now another email has arrived, telling exactly the same once again, but this time the sender name has changed from Mr. I. C. to Mrs. or Mr. N. D. (I think, I must not mention their name due to legal reasons.)

I do not know, if the people working for the support of Vyke are simply unable to read or too reluctant even to try to understand the problem. I will see what happens till tomorrow. Anyway I already made clear that I will cancel my account, if there is any further delay. And the already paid money? Fortunately I am able to cancel any transaction within 14 days of payment and that too very comfortable online. And that method ALWAYS works

[Update 28/01/2010]
The support finally understood the problem. They are sorry for the inconvenience caused. However they proved to be unable to read. In the last mail, I wrote:

I am currently considering to cancel my whole Vyke account again (after having it for record breaking one day). Unfortunately I charged my account with EUR10 already and I would expect you to transfer this money back to my account.

Their reply:

As the last payment you made on 26/01/2010 01:00 credit card number XYZ 10.00EUR have been canceled. Your credit is reverted back to your credit card account. Please refer to your corespondent bank for more information. Please purchase again to continue Vyke services.

We will see, if I purchase anything from them again. Maybe the manager of Vyke should spend some amount to provide dictionaries and to explain the word “consider” to their support team. Let us see, if the money comes back at least.

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I already gave tips and tricks, how to send parcels and letters from Germany to India. But what I currently experience is almost unbelievable. Here is the history of events:

On 3^rd of January 2008(!)
I sent 3 parcels from Germany to India through DHL. When I handed them over, each weighed 20kg and was neatly packed in a box. An insurance to cover losses and damages was mandatory. The shipment costs were 80€ for each parcel.

In February 2008
3 blue plastic bags arrived, 1/3 of the content (according to weight) and also the boxes themselves were missing. The parcels were on the way for 2 months. The website and the customer service announced to deliver any packet within 14 working days.

29/02/2008
Complaint has been filed to the postmaster of the IISc post office. According to the previous postmaster supporting documents need to filled once they are requested. The documents are available since then.

08/04/2008
A request about the status of the investigation has been sent to the postmaster.

19/05/2008
A reply came from the superintendent of post office (Bangalore West Division) stating that the issue is currently under investigation and he request me to “kindly await further communication in this regard”.
So far there was no communication anymore at all and I waited till

05/12/2008
A letter has been sent to the superintendent of post office (Bangalore West Division) through the postmaster of IISc post office as a remainder. I mean, so far I did not hear anything for the last 7 months. A copy of the reply by the superintendent from the 19th of May was attached.

17/01/2009
I sent a history of events on request of the post master.

05/06/2009
A complaint to DHL which handled the parcels in Germany was answered with: “Transportschäden und Teilverluste sind umgehend durch Vorlage der gesamten Sendung bei der Post im Empfängerland anzumelden. Dort wird eine Schadensfeststellung aufgenommen. Diese Schadensfeststellung bildet die Grundlage für die Schadensaufnahme und eine eventuelle Ersatzregulierung. Die ausländische Postverwaltung zahlt den Schadensersatz an den Empfänger.” (in short and in English: Damages and tamperings must be reported to the post office in the country of destination immediately. There they will inquest to assess the damage which is the base for any claims. The foreign administration of the post will pay for the value of the damage”).

Since then there was no written communication, but only contact through phone. The responsible clerk who receives the complaints got replaced 3 times so far and every time, the issue needed to be brought up to the new person.

10/06/2009
I received a letter from Senior Superintendent of Post Offices, Bangalore West Division, stating: “This is to bring to your kind notice that despite making detailed investigations, this office has not been able to trace the missing items from the above referred parcels. Inquiries revealed that the parcels haven been routed via sea mail and have passed through various stages including customs, where all parcels are opened, checked and re-closed by Customs Dept. Hence at this point of time this office is not in a position to ascertain exactly, at which stage abstraction/damage of the contents have been taken place. Hence we regret to inform you that no further inquiries can be made by this office. Inconvenience caused to you is deeply regretted.”

A call to the superintendent clarified that this letter was necessary for any insurance claims. So a letter has been sent back to the post office asking for the form for insurance claims.

15/01/2010
Another letter came stating: “As per Foreign Post Manual, clause No 159 Para(2) & (3), If a Foreign Parcel received for delivery in India, is found damaged or tampered with, the question must be taken up with the country of origin and even if responsibility is established, no compensation is payable for loss or damage to the contents by the country of destination. Hence any claims for compensation from the sender to the addressee cannot be accepted. The said case is treated as closed by this office.”

So as you can see, the customer are treated like shit by DHL and the Indian Post. They push him around so long till he is too tired and simply closes the case in his mind. And 2 years is already a very long time… Let’s see, what will happen next. Stay tuned!

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