My luck with any type of customer service has evidently run out. Here’s the backstory:

I got a Razer Deathadder mouse. I’ve used it and love it. I tried to upgrade to the latest driver. After the upgrade, the mouse would not work. The mouse won’t even work connected to another computer. I keep getting “USB device not recognized.” I called customer service and was told I had destroyed my mouse by not uninstalling the previous driver before upgrading — a little strange, but they gave me an RMA so I was OK with it. I send the mouse in, wait a few weeks, and a brand new mouse arrives for me.

I was about to start unpacking the mouse, but I figured I should uninstall my drivers and get the new ones installed before I hook the mouse up. I’m running Vista so I went to “Programs and Features.” (That’s the new “Add/remove” in case you are wondering.) I selected the Deathadder and clicked remove—nothing. I restarted my computer and tried again—still nothing. So, I call Razer support.

The rep answered immediately and told me he had no idea how to fix my problem. He escalated me to tier two. I expect a call back, but instead I get an e-mail. I will quote that e-mail for you now.

Hi,

Thank you for supporting Razer.

You can remove your Razer DeathAdder drivers via “Programs and Features” under your control panel.

Thank you.

Best Regards,
Razer Customer Support

I was still OK at this point because I figured the phone rep just didn’t give tier two enough information. I replied to tell them I have tried this and it fails. I received this e-mail in response:

Hi,

Thank you for supporting Razer.

Please try uninstall and deleting the registry keys as detailed in our knowledgebase article.

Thank you.

Best Regards,
Razer Customer Support

I was reasonably sure at this point that support is just jerking me around. I replied to them with what I would humbly call a masterpiece.

My point is that the uninstall does not work. It does absolutely nothing. I click uninstall and nothing happens. The only knowledgebase article I find is this one (http://www.razersupport.com/index.php?_m=knowledgebase&_a=viewarticle&kbarticleid=103&nav=0,9) which seems to assume that the uninstall process goes smoothly. So, are you suggesting that I proceed with the rest of the knowledgebase article in spite of the fact that the first step is failing as detailed in my last e-mail? If there is a different knowledgebase article I should be viewing, please direct me to it. The last e-mail I received said to look to the knowledgebase but didn’t so much as provide a link to a specific article so I could be missing entirely what you are trying to tell me (albeit with great ambiguity) to do.

I’m getting very frustrated with this. I waited weeks to get my mouse back, and now I can’t even use it because I can’t get the uninstall to work. I call you about it and the phone support can’t help me. They escalate me. Then I get an e-mail telling me I should uninstall the driver after I have already said that’s what I can’t do. Now I get this e-mail telling me to read a knowledgebase article which tells me to uninstall which, again, I cannot do. I have tried to call in to talk to someone in tier 2, but, evidently, that is impossible. Would you please try to provide some relevant information given the specific circumstances of my problem?

To reiterate, I have tried uninstalling through Vista’s programs and features. I don’t really understand why I need to uninstall the drivers for this hardware just to update the drivers, but I am attempting to accommodate the hardware’s eccentricities and do it anyway. When I click on “Uninstall,” nothing happens–absolutely nothing. That’s where I am. I have spent several days since receiving my mouse waiting on e-mails telling me to do what I have already done. Please resolve my issue. When your mouse is working, it is excellent, and I would love to continue using it and your other products. Thank you.

I’m pretty sure this, as my other attempts to receive service, will be ineffectual, but it sure made me feel better.