Troubles with Dell?

Other Chit-Chat
1

Have any of you had any big troubles with Dell Computer?

I have,
This is my story…

I ordered the Dell AXIM X5 a MONTH ago, although I got e-mail 4 days after I ordered it saying it had shipped. So I waited 5 bizz days for it to come… on the 7th bizz day I called dell to see what was wrong with my order. Well they said there was a “Computer Screw-up” and the “E-mail server does this a lot” (ARNT THEY A COMPUTER COMPANY!!! THIER COMPUTERS SHOULD WORK!) Anyway, they gave me a new order number and sent me on my merry way, waited another 7 bizz days still… the product hadn’t even gone into production! So we called dell, they said there was a 15 day back-order on the parts and for all our trouble they would upgrade our shipping to “Next day air” so I wasn’t all that happy… but I figured at least dell was trying to make-good of the situation. So anyway I checked my order status today and it said it had been shipped (For real this time!) but it said the delivery method was 8-10 bizz day ground! So I called dell, the first time I called there was this really rude lady on the phone that pretty much told me to go Fark-off. So I called them again and this time a nice lady answered and it was all good, cept that Dell was not going to give me the “next day air” shipping after they said they would… she even said it was in the computer as next day air but they sent it out to UPS as ground! OY!

So what’s a guy to do, the only real computer company I have delt with has been Apple… and as most of you know I love Apple. I have never had a problem with them… EVER

All my PC’s I have built myself… I am sorry to say that the first time I deal with a PC manufacturer has been horrible and I will never again deal with Dell.

Thanks,
Matt

2

my dell that i purchased 2 months ago is the first one that i have actually purchased from a company. all the others we have had were home built. but i’d have to say that dell had EXCELLENT service for me. it took 4 days from the time of making the order to the time that i recieved it at my house. i was thrilled with their service. your case is the first time that i have ever heard anybody complain about them. the reason i went with this dell was because all the good things i heard about them.

btw i purchased a Dell Inspiron 8200 Notebook P4m 2.0ghz, 32mb NVIDIA GeForce4 440, 512 mb RAM, and 40gb HD

3

When we ordered a Dell, we ordered the regular shipping. It got here way ahead of schedule. I’ve never run into troubles buying computers from companies like that. But then again, I don’t buy many computers :slight_smile: (When I got the Dell, the warranty was broken within 10 minutes…cracked the case to put my DVD-ROM in. Then I De-Delled it by removing all the Dell Help junk and updated the BIOS. Oh yeah…then installed Linux :D)

4

*Originally posted by evulish *
**(When I got the Dell, the warranty was broken within 10 minutes…cracked the case to put my DVD-ROM in. Then I De-Delled it by removing all the Dell Help junk and updated the BIOS. Oh yeah…then installed Linux :D) **

:smiley:

I bet that I would do that to my PC.

ALL the desktops we have where custom.

5

we got a Dell last week. My dad ordered it in December, and there was some kind of compatability issue with the 200gig HD and some other part that Dell needed to resolve before shipping, so it wasnt even shipped until January 17th It arrived the 22nd, and worked perfectly. The first Dell that we bought 5 years ago was very very good. it came not working all the time, and no questions asked, they shipped it back to them overnight, gave us a BRAND SPANKING NEW computer, and shipped that overnight or second day air (I don’t remember) I have had nothing but pleasant experiences with Dell. They do have the best customer service of any manufacturer, which is why so many people continue to buy from them. If they didnt have such good service, noone would pay their prices, since you can get the same thing for much less.

Cory

6

One reason I chose to deal with dell, is beacuse I heard they where second to none in the Windows market… I guess I am a rare case. But I can tell you… I will not buy another dell anytime soon.

I will continue to build my own systems

7

What do you mean ‘second to none in the windows market’?

8

*Originally posted by evulish *
**What do you mean ‘second to none in the windows market’? **

I have read that Dell makes the best windows machines.

9

Sure, of course dell (aka hell in my book- hence their slogan: “easy as [h]dell”.

Think logically from a marketing standpoint.

Of course they will be all peachy and productive when you purchase a new system, they’re trying to see that you’re happy on your merry way with a new system they screwed you out of a couple hundred dollers for. Sure, they have easy ordering for new systems, and sure, they’ll get them to you pretty quick in most cases.

Now, turn the tables around-

Rather than ordering a new system- order a replacement part for an existing system- e.g. a replacement internal keybard for an inspiron notebook. I seriously challenge, and will send money to, anyone who can get me the price of an Inspiron 2650 notebook internal keyboard without waiting an hour and a half on the phone, being transfered to literally 8 differant departments, giving your name, phone number, and address 4 differant times, asking for a customer number, and refusing to even give you the price until that proces has been completed.

No, it wasn’t just an isolated incident. I work for a computer sales/service center, and we do business with dell quite often for people who have become frustrated with dell’s support, and would rather pay 65$ to get something fixed rather than call up dell for a warranty repair. I’ve ordered numerous components from dell (non “user serviceable” parts do not even appear on their website in their parts category) over the phone, with the above result every time. Typically I would order the parts from a 3rd party vender, (such as laptopparts.com), but in many cases the machines are too new, and the models aren’t listed on the 3rd party sites yet, leaving dell the only option for repair.

Story from a customer who brought his laptop in for repair-

He calls up dell support for an in warranty repair job on his notebook, problem is the network card will not work. Dell send an in home support agent to his house, the guy looks at the notebook, pokes around for a little while, charges the customer 200$ for the visit, and leaves. The customer turns on the laptop, tries to go online with his router/dsl connection, but hey, the network card won’t work. He calls up dell again, they say the soonest they can send someone out again is the week after next, and they give no indication that it would be free of charge. The customer brings the notebook to us, I take a look at it, and oh, gee, the wrong network card driver is installed. If it were a third party network driver it may be understandable that the dell tech wouldn’t know what to do with it- but guess what- stock card, came with the notebook.

I can go on and on about my loathing for dell, because sure, they’ll treat you with respect if you’re going to spend money on them, but wait until something goes wrong, and since 90% of the time it’s “user error” (according to dell support) the warranty won’t cover it, and good luck to you if it’s hardware and you require a replacement part.

/end rant.

10

*Originally posted by Marc P. *
**Sure, of course dell (aka hell in my book- hence their slogan: “easy as [h]dell”.

Think logically from a marketing standpoint.

Of course they will be all peachy and productive when you purchase a new system, they’re trying to see that you’re happy on your merry way with a new system they screwed you out of a couple hundred dollers for. Sure, they have easy ordering for new systems, and sure, they’ll get them to you pretty quick in most cases.

Now, turn the tables around-

Rather than ordering a new system- order a replacement part for an existing system- e.g. a replacement internal keybard for an inspiron notebook. I seriously challenge, and will send money to, anyone who can get me the price of an Inspiron 2650 notebook internal keyboard without waiting an hour and a half on the phone, being transfered to literally 8 differant departments, giving your name, phone number, and address 4 differant times, asking for a customer number, and refusing to even give you the price until that proces has been completed.

No, it wasn’t just an isolated incident. I work for a computer sales/service center, and we do business with dell quite often for people who have become frustrated with dell’s support, and would rather pay 65$ to get something fixed rather than call up dell for a warranty repair. I’ve ordered numerous components from dell (non “user serviceable” parts do not even appear on their website in their parts category) over the phone, with the above result every time. Typically I would order the parts from a 3rd party vender, (such as laptopparts.com), but in many cases the machines are too new, and the models aren’t listed on the 3rd party sites yet, leaving dell the only option for repair.

Story from a customer who brought his laptop in for repair-

He calls up dell support for an in warranty repair job on his notebook, problem is the network card will not work. Dell send an in home support agent to his house, the guy looks at the notebook, pokes around for a little while, charges the customer 200$ for the visit, and leaves. The customer turns on the laptop, tries to go online with his router/dsl connection, but hey, the network card won’t work. He calls up dell again, they say the soonest they can send someone out again is the week after next, and they give no indication that it would be free of charge. The customer brings the notebook to us, I take a look at it, and oh, gee, the wrong network card driver is installed. If it were a third party network driver it may be understandable that the dell tech wouldn’t know what to do with it- but guess what- stock card, came with the notebook.

I can go on and on about my loathing for dell, because sure, they’ll treat you with respect if you’re going to spend money on them, but wait until something goes wrong, and since 90% of the time it’s “user error” (according to dell support) the warranty won’t cover it, and good luck to you if it’s hardware and you require a replacement part.

/end rant. **

My dad had that experience with HP (way back when I was in the sand-box), the whole sending the tech out thing. Thats just BS, I hate it

11

I am the proud owner of a Dell Axim X5 and i really didnt have any problems w/ the shipping or the actual unit itself… I opted to pay the extra for next day delivery and i wonder why i didnt have it in 3 days… it took about 1 1/2 weeks to ship… well i thought about it then remembered that Dell “custom builds” everything and if i would of read the fine print i probably would of noticed that ship time is estimated once the product has been assembled and debuged…I have a friend who currently has an X5 on order and its been in the production stage for a few days now and he ordered it a couple weeks ago… he’s starting to get a little mad but he’ll get over it…

12

I got a Dell P4 in December and had no problems. The computer arrived 10 days before they said it would, which was a real plus because I wanted it before Christmas. It set up easily, and has given me no problems to this point. Where I work, their whole network is made up of 45 dell PIIIs and 2 Dell servers, and so far, they have had minimal problems with the computers, and most problems they have are user errors. I owned 2 Compaqs before my Dell and they had a lot of problems with them. So i really like Dell a lot!

btw my Dell is a Dell Dimension 2350 2.0 GHz, 512 RAM, 80 gig hard drive, XP Home and it runs quite well.

13

In my experience, Dell is over-priced and under-featured. I’d never buy a Dell simply because I can get a better machine for a lower price elsewhere. Case in point: back in August, I was looking for a new laptop computer. I shopped around, looking at online vendors and retail outlets. I finally settled on a Toshiba P4 1.7 GHz with 512 MB of RAM, 40 GB HD, and a 32 MB GeForce440. I paid $1850 for it at Best Buy. A similarly equipped Dell machine would have cost me over $2000 (plus shipping). It’s just not worth it in my mind.

On a side note, I’m very happy with my Toshiba notebook. As far as retail notebooks go, you can’t get a better deal. They’re relatively cheap, and are much better than the HPs and Compaqs you’ll find in most stores, and not nearly as overpriced as Sony. Battery life can be low on the real high-end models, but they’re packed with features, and the lightweight models have excellent battery life. I’d recommend Toshiba over Dell or anyone else any day.

14

*Originally posted by Jeff Waegelin *
In my experience, Dell is over-priced and under-featured. I’d never buy a Dell simply because I can get a better machine for a lower price elsewhere. Case in point: back in August, I was looking for a new laptop computer. I shopped around, looking at online vendors and retail outlets. I finally settled on a Toshiba P4 1.7 GHz with 512 MB of RAM, 40 GB HD, and a 32 MB GeForce440. I paid $1850 for it at Best Buy. A similarly equipped Dell machine would have cost me over $2000 (plus shipping). It’s just not worth it in my mind.

Same here… I did some looking around (August), and I scored a nice HP Pavillion laptop for college. P4 2.0 GHz, 256 Mb of RAM, 30 Gb HD, 32 Mb Radeon, combo DVD/CDRW and a nice, spacious 15" XGA Display. I paid $1200 bucks for it…

It’s really nice, I love it a lot.

A smart buyer is an informed buyer.

15

I buy all my parts from a local store. They are not always the cheapest, but are close. The diffrence is they know me, know their product, and the one time I had a problem, helped me to solve it.

Also nice to be short $2 on a new $100hd, ($100 in pocket, total was $102ish)and be told that you are there often enough that the $2 is on them. :slight_smile:

Wetzel

Hurray for small business
16

Thanks Wetzel, I work at a store exactly like that- locally owned and operated, I know every regular customer’s name, we give special prices to regular customers, if you’re 5$ short there’s no problem, etc. Anytime anyone has a problem I’ll do my best to help them out (resulting in happy customer and happy computer). Try getting that out of Dell, Compaq/HP, or Sony. I reiterate from my previous posts that 95% of the computers we service here are major brands, and a large chunk of them are still “in warranty” with the manufacturer, yet the people don’t mind paying extra to see to it the job gets done right.

17

Dell killed my master and left me for dead. Now I begin my quest for vengeance.

18

I also have a Dell horror story…

About 5 years ago, my family bought a Dell computer.  It looked nice and worked great, that is until my brother put a floppy disk with a bent metal piece into the floppy drive, and the metal piece got stuck in there.  We called up Dell for service, and about a week later, a service guy came to our house, but stated that for some reason in order to fix the floppy drive he had to erase the entire hard drive:( .

That was just the beginning of our problems.  Several weeks later, the computer broke down again.  After several frustrating late nights on the phone with the "Award Winning" Dell Tech-Support team, they finally agreed to send us a new computer, which also broke down in a matter of weeks.  After that, we decided to just send it back, get a refund, and buy a Micron instead, which lasted us from that day until this past September.

…and that’s the story of why I hate Dell.

19

Dude, I got my dell :slight_smile: well me and the rest of my friends before we all went off to college. No problems here.

/me hugs computer…I love my laptop

20

It is strange to me listening to these horror stories about Dell. I got a Dell Dimension 4100 Desktop PC during Febuary of 2001, about two years ago. I took that thing apart and put it back together. I installed, used, uninstalled, and caused dozens of error messages to pop-up on my screen a day. It has held up better than any other computer I have ever had or used. I downloaded and installed over 200 programs. I still have 30 geg’s left. It runs extremely fast. I have never had to wait for it to do anything. I have never used disc defrag or any other method of speeding up the computer. My brother got the same exact computer at the same time. He hasn’t had any problems with it either.

Now, I will admit that I have had my share of problems. They were all caused by installing, uninstalling, and deleting things. Here is a problem I have now.

My computer crashed recently. I have it up and running right now. The “Windows ME…Millennium Edition” screen (a white screen) used to show during startup. Now, it doesn’t show up. I just see a DOS-looking screen that says “Starting Windows”. I don’t know how to change that back to the way it was. I found a bitmap in the Windows folder that looked like the picture but I don’t know how to get it to appear while the computer is starting up.

Someone please help me.