I spent five hours today in KL trying to fix my PC.
Last night, it kept detecting and not detecting my hard drive. Another hard drive died recently as well, so there were only four possibilities:
1. Fucked up SATA cable
2. Fucked up hard drive
3. Fucked up power supply unit
4. Fucked up motherboard.
I have five deadlines today, so getting my PC up and running was imperative. I also decided it's time to check out what this Mara Digital thing has to offer. I mean, fuck the politics and the racist bullshit surrounding it. Fuck the Malay-Chinese bullshit. I needed to fix my PC and I didn't care who could do it.
So I went to Mara Digital first. I used to go to LowYat since 1999 but moved on cause the traders there became so 'lansi'. They even laughed at me when I was looking for a Blackberry phone.
Fuck you, man. Blackberry forever!
So I got to Mara Digital and it looked okay. I was going around carrying my PC when a kind dude showed me where the repair shop is. Apparently, Mara Digital has only ONE - that's right, ONE - repair shop.
I know we're under the age of 1Malaysia and 1MDB, not to mention One Direction and 1Israel, but fuck having just ONE repair shop in all of Mara Digital.
And guess how many techs they have at the single repair shop in all of Mara Digital? That's right - ONE.
I told him my problem and the initial diagnosis. He said he could check the PC for me in 3-4 days. I was like, "Hell naw!" And picked up the PC and made a beeline out the door.
Then I doubled back and wanted to buy a SATA cable. At least I could fix that myself.
The guy called someone on his phone and texted whoever before telling me they don't sell SATA cables.
I felt the burning hatred building within me like the intensity of a thousand suns, so I picked up the PC and stormed out before I did anything stupid.
Went to a shop downstairs to cool down and eat something. The cashier was on her phone and totally ignoring all her customers, including me. Fucking bullshit.
So I went to the mamak shop across the road, thinking mamaks might know how to do business. No chance. They also completely ignored me and I had to order from the drinks dude myself. Apparently, everyone was on their phones.
I was like, fuck this shit and hailed a cab and went to LowYat Plaza. This was the first time I went to LowYat since I dunno, 2005?
So I searched and found the most Cina-looking dude in C-Zone, which I'm convinced meant Cina-Zone and pressed him for answers about my PC. I grilled him to see how he would react and it was acceptable - one lansi smirk and I would have fucking killed him with my Blackberry. I would have Theon-Greyjoyed him on the spot. I would have Rob-Starked him. I would have cut off his head and sewn his dick in its place.
But it was adequate. He diagnosed my hard disk in 10 minutes and said it has bad sectors and I needed a replacement. This meant sacrificing all my porn, accumulated over 10 years, but it was necessary.
So I bought a new hard disk from him and asked him to install Win 7 on it. I already brought my ORIGINAL copy because I wanted a new hard disk anyway. But that was on the condition that he could do everything in an hour. That was the time he quoted me, so I went off for a simple meal of chapatti nearby.
It took him 55 minutes, but he did it. And so fast forward, I am now home and typing a blog entry before I go do my actual work.
I must say that it is early days for Mara Digital. They just opened in December and focusing on high-margin trade of laptops and phones. Didn't check the prices cause I was so angry. I did notice lots of old people in kopiahs buying stuff there, so the business model is wayyy different than LowYat's. It's for dead end users and old people scared of being scammed in a world they are unfamiliar with.
Mara Digital needs shops that offer the same services as C-Zone, Jayacom and the like. They need places where people can fulfill all their computing needs. They need more techs and more supplies.
One of the more lucrative businesses is supplying offices with computers and currently, I do not see them being capable of doing so. If you don't even have a fucking SATA cable, fuck you if you think I would buy whole systems or furnish an entire office with your PCs.
LowYat 's PC businesses survive not on single sales to desktop jockeys like me, and the overclocking scene is niche. The PC gaming scene is niche. They make big money by supplying offices, where volume makes up for thin margins. As it stands, if I had a business that needs multiple computers, I would go to LowYat.
It would be great for consumers like me to see competition based on price and service quality rather than politics or racist sensibilities, either by the Cinas in LowYat or the Malays in Mara Digital. You think I give a fuck? You think a majority of businesses and people give a fuck? It's Service number one, and Price number two. Race is like, fuck your mother with a dog.
I wish that Digital Mall in PJ is better than LowYat and run by people not from LowYat. And I wish that there are vibrant IT sections in all shopping malls. It would be easier for me when things like this happens, and they will, because computers are not perfect.
I also wish Mara Digital would get their act together. You can't call yourself LowYat 2 if you don't offer the same or better services and products than the original.
