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Serving Over 20,000 US Medical Transcriptionists

Escription users: I have a question. I've about had it with Dell junk computers.

Posted By: Escriptionist2 on 2008-01-11
In Reply to:

and their Indian call centers..nothing like getting help from someone whom you cant understand. Even if they hear you, they have NO comprehension skills. Anyway, I have like 3 Dell computers which goes from bad to worse. For Christmas, I got my husband an Mac IBook ...wow..what a difference, now that's a computer. Anyhoo, they now have Microsoft office programs for Macs..anyone know if this computer would be compatible at all with the Escription platform since it's so picky. If not, any laptop computers suggestions that are not a piece of junk.


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I've lost more than one hard drive on Dell computers
That's the message you get normally if the hard drive if fried.  I just called Dell and they diagnosed the problem and sent me a new hard drive and I returned the bad one. Is yours still under warranty?
Dell Computers
What helped me most was buying a Dell flat panel monitor AND the stereo sound bar - 14 watts, great sound and plugs for headphones.
Dell computers


Are the Dell computers advertized in Sunday circulars pretty cheap any good?  I'm happy with what I have and have always had an HP, but hubby says it's old and he's afraid it's going to give up the ghost any day and wants to get me one of the cheap Dells?  Any advice?


So it might well be that free AV users infect others' computers withj viruses.?..nm
nm
EARPHONES AND DELL COMPUTERS

I just started a job using voice files and not a dictaphone as before.  I tried every set of earphones in the tower part of the computer that has a space for earphones next to the space for the footpedal.  I only out of one ear.  Is there another place to plug them in or what earphones do you use.   These earphones are made for this. 


Editscript/Escription users
Am I the only person who has a squatty hourly average line count with this system? I would love to hear from those who don't mind sharing how many lines you average an hour.

For those of you who are thinking about posting a response that says 'I don't give out this info'...save it please.
My question is for people who ARE willing to share this info.

Thanks.
Editscript/Escription users
I'm worse off than you. What does Editscript/Escription stand for?
Escription users, question.

Anyone using an adapter with their foot pedal?  I got a Belkin adapter to use my footpedal with my laptop.  It has been working pretty well but I am having one problem and wondering if anyone has a solution.


When I stop and try to start again sometimes I hear no sound.  The audio is playing but I'm not hearing it.  A few taps and it works well again.  Not a huge issue, but pretty annoying. 


Anyone have similar problems?  Anyone know how to fix this?


 


Thanks!


Question for Escription users

I would like to know what your line count is hourly.  I use my hot keys and average around 350 lph, which I now am seeing is on the low side.  I just want to know how to get up to 500-60 or more lph.  How do you proof?  I also wonder if it is the company I work for.  I know that they hire a lot of newbies, so I am constantly having to make corrections in the text because people are just not following the style guide.  I do not think there is a single report that I do that I do not have to make adjustments on, even though the doc says the exact same thing every time!!  Any productive advice is appriciated. 


Escription users past and present
Our clinic is converting to Escription, now after the initial training period Escription is doing OUR work..will we ever get our work back?
I've had two dell laptops and 5 Dell PCs. Here's the thing...

Make sure you get the extended warranty, again, MAKE SURE YOU GET THE EXTENDED WARRANTY. And, here is why.


My first laptop went out on my, though it was a couple of years old.  Because I had the extended warranty, a service tech came to my house, replaced motherboard, hard drive, heat sink, and keyboard.  He was able to back up everything first and restored it once all the new stuff was in place. 


One of my PCs kept giving some weird blue screen error and I couldn't get to go even in safe mode. I called up Dell, told them the problem, they looked up my extended warranty and they sent someone out to repair it.


Overall, I have been happy with Dell products.  The only drag is that everything Dell sells regarding accessories is proprietary and you have to order it through Dell.  No generic accessories will work.  My suggestion is if you decide to buy a Dell laptop, make sure you get the car power supply and you might even get a 2nd regular power supply because I have been known to leave town and forget the power supply at the house.  Now, I have everything in my laptop bag for when I go out of town and can just throw my laptop in the bag and know everything is there.


Lastly, some Dell laptops require a special aircard to connect to the internet.  I ended up getting a 2 cabled USB air card and I'm glad I did because 2 USB plug ins give better reception than one.


If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask. I'm happy to help.


When buying a new computer would you use a company locally that builds new computers or go with Dell
or a large outfit like that. This local company has been around awhile. Not sure what to do about buying a new computer that is going to be compatible with just about all MT jobs.
I've tried junk in the trunk before!
Now that is one delicous cake!!!!  My husband just loves it. He refers to it as the "honey bun" cake! 
Escription users- Belkin USB adapter for foot pedal problems
Hey, as most of you know, we're stuck using the old 9-pin foot pedal. Well, I bought the Belkin adapter and set it to the ports as Escription's web site instructed, and at first, it was working when I hit the foot pedal. I heard it, and then my mouse stopped and everything froze. It did this twice to where I just had ot turn off my computer. Anyone else have this problem, and if so, what did you do. It was frustrating to get to that one, have sound..everything...and then froze up the computer completely. Thanks
it's not all junk on tv. you just have to weed out the junk. some is very informative.
don't watch "fake tv" as in mysteries or situation comedy so ruling that out, there is plenty of good stuff left. always wanting to learn new stuff.
yeah me too...junk, junk, more junk. But...(sm)

tech guy setup SpamBayes on my computer so that they go into a junk mail file automatically.  Hope this helps...it sure helped me...don't have to see them and no danger in opening in them. 


I've tried Dell, which is what I prefer. sm
The reps have told me that all home desktop models now come with Vista. Period. I even asked if I could purchase one with XP if I paid extra and received a negative response. :(
I've used eScription
It's pretty user friendly.
Escription for VR is the best I've used..nm
nm
I've heard with Dell if you tell them you're a business,
you'll get someone from the US.  I already have two HPs but tried it anyway.  I used to say home or home office but said I use it for business and still got someone from India but he spoke very, very good English compared to some I've spoken to in the past.
I've searched and not all Dell laptops have the parallel port.
So I just wanted to check to see more specifics from those who have. Thanks.
I have a desktop Dell and it has been alright so far, but I've never owned a laptop.
What brand are you currently using then?
I've worked on a Dell Inspiron 8600 for 3 years
I've heard they're not as good as they used to be, but so far (knock on wood), I haven't had any problem except last week my AC power pack died. They mailed me a new one within 3-4 days (I was under 4 years parts warranty). I use a USB keyboard and mouse and don't bother to try to use the scrunched up laptop keyboard.

3-5cpl/7-10 cpl is what I've been offered or seen for eScription VR. nm
x


I've been on Escription for four years and I have rarely hit 2500 lines a day..
Yes, when I have good reports I can do 500 lines an hour, but unfortunately, that does not happen consistently in my day. I can cruise along for a few hours and then hit some ESLs, which just mentally slows me down and then I struggle the rest of the day. If, I was able to sit there 8 hours straight NO interruptions or breaks and easy reports, then I could hit 2500 lines but that is not my reality. Some of the reports are good but I'm telling you.. A LOT of them have to retyped, thus slowing your line count down an hour..and you've just basically done straight typing for a mere 4 cpl.  I truly think that editing needs to pay more. I am like you.. I am requiring at least $100 a day.. sometimes I can do it in 6 hours (no breaks and good reports) and sometimes for various reason I have to sit there 12-15 hours (interupptions, ESL, and just bad reports)..So add that up..$100 in 12-15, that's like $8 an hour.. Wal-mart here I come LOL
Junk faxes?? Do you know how much money you can collect from junk faxes??? It's sm
illegal and every offense is worth 100.00. I don't eveistory think you have to go to court. I'd look into it! I heard of a guy who made thousands off receiving junk faxes. I don't have a fax machine anymore..
The above poster is right. Sadly, I've been on Escription for four years and my line counts
were going down. Apparently, the hospital decided we were being overpaid so they manipulated the way were paid i.e. footers, headers etc. They could change it to whatever they wanted and the MTSO did nothing as they wanted to keep the contract.  So we had to suck up and take the reduction, along with the fact that all of our work was/is being sent to India so it's slim pickens most days unless you want the crappy accounts.  I would ask a lot of questions, but as a whole, Escription accounts and the companies who have it rarely like to pay a decent livable cpl. JMO
I have both a Dell Latitude Laptop and a Dell Dimension desk top PC and bought both...
off of Ebay.  The laptop I paid $300 for had Windows XP and works great.  It wasn't wireless, but they sent me a PCI card with it and it works fine.  The desktop PC has XP on it as well and I paid $250 for it.  Both have Pentium IVs.  Both work great for work.  I have no complaints and I feel like I got a great deal both times out on Ebay.
Company provides a Dell for work, I have a Dell for personal use, too.
x
Dell customer service is overseas. I have had a Dell, a
Toshiba Satellite, and an HP.   The Dell was a piece of junk from day 1.  The HP hard drive crashed after 4 to 5 years, but otherwise no problems.   I bought a Toshiba about 6 months ago and it is okay, nothing special.  I was looking at the Sony Viao and the salesman said that some laptops are made to be portable, but that the Sony was not one of them, but the Toshiba was.   My keyboard also has a numerical pad on it, but it throws the other keys off a bit, so when I'm in a portable mode and don't have room for an external keyboard it really slows me down.  I have a Duo Core processor and notice no difference whatsoever in speed, the number of programs I can have open, etc.   I have also noticed that even when I am not on battery power that every so often the battery is charging.  I don't know if this is a defect or something that is supposed to happen, but I need to investigate it. 
I don't like Dell. I bought a Dell laptop and it

was a piece of junk, so I'm not the one to ask if you should buy a Dell.   I'd get at least double that processor speed.  My computer is about 10 months old and I have 5 times that, which means that there is probably something faster out now, or soon will be.  It is more than I need for work, but I also use computer to download music/pictures, and a bunch of other stuff.   The Dell I had had 650 mHz and it was slow and that was almost 6 years ago.   You may have to customize anyway to get XP unless you buy one previously owned, which you can also buy from Dell.   It is always a good idea to buy bigger than you need currently just to allow for updates to any software or new software you may add.    You need to also think about tech support.  I know Dell has tech support in India, which can be extremely frustrating.  I don't know that other computer companies don't offshore their tech support, but that would be a question I would ask and find out if there is a locally authorized dealer to handle warranty repairs or if you need to send off the computer.    I would not recommend a Gateway computer and I would not recommend any computer that has a Celeron processor.   They tend to be in all the lower end computers. 


 


Junk shows.
Sad commentary, but they try to please the majority of viewers. Glad to hear I'm not the only one offended.
Junk e-mail

I get tons of junk e-mails, you know, the pass around type.  I never read them.  I don't have time and I have no reason to read them.  I am trying to make a living!  My sisters are the worst culprits!  How can I get them to quit forwarding all their junk e-mails to me!  One sister is always asking me "did you read the one about....."  to which I respond, "No, I don't have time to read those things."  She just never catches on.  I don't want to be rude, but it's getting on my nerves!  I know the simple answer would be to just aske them to quit but things are touchy between us and I don't want to antagonize and already less-than-perfect relationship with my sisters.



Thanks!


Don't get a Shark---it's junk. sm
I had one for about 3 months then it quit sucking altogether. I was livid. I paid $100 for it. I'm hard on vacs, too, with 2 dogs and 4 men in and out of the house and living by a cement mill. The one I have now is a Eureka EZ Kleen. My next one will be an Oreck I think.
I had one too!! a 1979 piece of junk.

And if that wasn't bad enough it was chocolate brown.


My blinker knob fell off and I had to shove a pair of tweezers in there to work the blinkers.  I couldn't wear heels or they'd get wedged in the holes in the floor board and one tire had a big bubble in it.


I can't believe I even dared drive that thing.


Was a piece of junk..but my favorite.

It was a 1980 Chevette (or as we called it..the Shove It) lol.  When I got it, it was already falling apart, but I didn't care, I was 17 and had wheels.  It had NO power steering, NO power brakes, NO air, NO power at all.  The seat was falling through the bottom, so when you drove, your body was tilted to the left.  The horn didn't BEEP, it MOOed (not kidding).  The speakers were blown so my brother wired a speaker through the front and sat it in the console...lol.  Like I said it was piece of junk but was a lot of fun to drive around and I could fill it up with about $8.00.  A few years later when I was working I bought a Geo Storm and I loved that car.  It was actually a very nice car..but nothing tops the "Shove It."


 


The only thing left IS junk ESL-sm

Seems to me that newbies are getting trained on VR with many companies.  VR gets the better dictators.  Offshore is getting the simple stuff and other half of the better dictators because that's all they can handle.  Experienced MTs are left with a trunk of JUNK on their systems and getting paid no more than the new grads and offshore MTs, and very few are offering us more for our skills, accuracy and ability to transcribe the more difficult accounts. 


I've seen things change pretty drastically just in the few years I've been doing this work.  I cannot land a decent cpl for IC anymore.  I was landing better offers as a new grad than I am today with experience, and forget about landing a gravy account if you have experience.  Just isn't happening!  Bottom of the barrel crap is all I get with a bottom of the barrel paycheck to go along with it.   You have to work till your eyes bleed, your head's about to explode and fingers ache to make a fairly decent living, then people wonder why we are sometimes short on patience and PO'd all the time.  That's exactly why!  May as well be gum on a filthy shoe!


Ugh - 42 minutes of that boring junk.
Do they really think anybody is going to read all of that? Didn't any English teacher ever tell him the secret to good writing is LESS IS MORE??

How lazy not to be able to shorten it up to something brief yet complete. Shame on him. You poor thing.
Hoax junk mail
I finally stopped getting these disgusting e-mails. I e-mailed back with big red letters - "F.... you! This e-mail is forwarded to the FBI, Homeland Security, Interpol, and you are being traced as we speak." I never received another one again.
I have too much junk on my desk for a lamp LOL
i guess i need to make room!
check out the junk stores
like Salvation Army. I paid $40 for a few at Office Depot type store and then found a few for $1.99 at our alcoholism junk store. They are Dell and great, and when they wear out, don't feel bad about just trashing them.
Buy a Dell!! You can't go wrong with a Dell but
I bought an Emachines and had trouble with it from day one. I returned it, as the store I bought it from a six month return policy, so I returned it after about five months. I bought a Dell two years ago and have had no problems since!! Buy a Dell, you won't be sorry!! :)
I am not a Dell lover. My Dell has been
a lemon.  I just replaced mine with a Toshiba Satellite and I have seen a few others here recommend this.  Dell's customer service is in India.   The only thing I dislike about my Toshiba is that because it also has a number keypad the shift key is in a different position than I'm used to and I end up deleting and retyping when I use the laptop keyboard.  I normally use an external keyboard, but I travel a lot and try to work on the road and just don't have space for an external keyboard.    
Where did you hear that everything you buy for a Dell has to be from Dell?

I have LOTS of peripherals on both my laptop and desktop Dells and they certainly didn't come from Dell. You've been misinformed.


I love my Dells.


How long do you think it will be until MQ throws everything on ASR even the junk to get the reduced
line rate. Should be interesting to see. I do think they are looking for a big exit also. There is no work in a lot of the offices especially Amherst and my understanding is the work will be delegated from a national office and not regional and they will put people on accounts that need work. Not sure what that means but maybe the days of having a main are coming to an end. Should be great for quality.
Aria Platform - anyone use this piece of junk?

We're transitioning to an EMR platform called Aria with a god-awful transcription section that is a step backward from the typewriter.  It's largely mouse-dependent, slow (it's through their VPN so there's often a lag on the text) and it doesn't recognize a lot of the hot keys I've utilized in Word for years.  It takes me half again as long to get through a report.  I'm usually busy at least 8 hours a day as it is using Word with most of the people I type - it would take me 12 hours if everyone were on this system right now. 


They've also changed to a "per dictated minute" rate of pay from 65 cpl w/spaces.  It's a generous per-minute rate compared to most places I've worked, and they've stated they don't want anyone losing any money in the transition, but it would take a pretty steep increase in this rate to match what I was making previously.


I'm seriously considering changing jobs, although these guys have been wonderful to work with.  Does anyone out there have any experience with this platform or any tips, websites, etc., that have information on utilizing this POS to its fullest?  Hate to jump ship prematurely - I know what's out there and it ain't purty!  


Did you check your junk mail or spam folder? Sometimes they in there

Good advice...Iams is junk food anymore....
It used to be good, but it's gone by way of most of the rest of them...  Anything that can be purchased in a grocery store is garbage.  I recommend Wellness, Innova, or California Natural.  Only pet stores stock premium dog foods.  However, Labs and GAS seem to go hand in hand, having owned 2 of them.  Rice and some boiled chicken mixed with a good healthy kibble might help. 
Only by the mounds of junk mail every day...cc apps, advertising circulars, etc. nm
x
I carry my mail in, sort it immediately, and put the junk in the trash.
c
Right away it looked to me like the kind of junk that spreads in email. Good eye. nm
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