Miracles of Miracles, I actually made my way to a customer service executive at the Dell headquarters who was appalled at the trouble I am having just trying to finish the system exchange.

I received another "tech support" email today claiming that there was no exchange on my account, that I had a refurbished system, and that it was not a customer service problem.

I promptly burst into tears.

I called the number they give if you know someone's extension and just started pressing "O" until I got through to someone. Gasping over my tears, I choked out that while I knew she was not the person I needed (she was in small business sales), I was desperate for help. She listened for a while, put me on hold, and then came back with her boss's personal email. She said to send all the messages to him and he would pass them on to someone who would do something.

Just over two hours later, the executive called, apologized all over the place, and asked if it would be convenient for me to work with her to resolve everything. Three phone calls later, I believe the floppy drive is being sent, two new batteries are on their way, tech support is burning a disk with the reinstallation information, and as a small token of her regret over my discomfiture, she is adding a new laptop case since the exchange system will not fit in my old case.

Oh, there is light at the end of the tunnel.

I did try to share the wealth a bit. My best friend B has been trying to get a rebate for over a year and a half. I asked the executive if she could help her, and she promised to reimburse the payment method (i.e., credit card used) on her order if she would supply the order number and the customer number. Hopefully, B will finally see her money!

Brinks came back and repaired the repaired system, so all is well there.

The UPS driver actually told me that he did not find the package until 9:00 the previous night because it was stuck behind the seat (and drenched with water). How curious...he keyed into the system that he was at my house at 7:35 PM.

Still no sign of tape or marinade.