saxman Posted August 23, 2006 Report Share Posted August 23, 2006 I will provide a link to tell the whole story: http://dgrove.blogspot.com/2006/08/dell-looniness-continues.html That's my blog, and I've written a couple different Dell-related posts there at this point. That will link you to the latest. A summary of what has happened with this 5-month old Dell: - 2 hard drives gone bad - 1 fan gone bad - Fairly new printer hooked to it died - USB ports work when they want I can't prove the printer died because of the Dell, but it certainly seems that anything connected to it is prone to destruction, so I'm not ruling it out. They won't give us money back or replace the whole machine because they have a 21 day policy. Their parts replacers only replace parts; they don't know anything about the computer and can't look at it to see what else might be wrong. They demand you send back the old hard drive within 10 days... meaning I have 10 days to find someone who can extract the lost data, move it to the new drive, and ship it back to Dell... or I pay for a new drive. I'm also shocked to know it's all refurbished. I've gotten a few Dell computers, and I've loved them. But after this last one, I've lost all faith in them. And after doing some research on the internet, I realize I'm not the only one having problems with a Dell computer and their customer 'care' support... far from it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Koray Posted August 23, 2006 Report Share Posted August 23, 2006 Actually most Dell computers are built to be solid workhorses at quite reasonable prices. The newest XPS line is actually a thinkable alternative to say, falcon northwest. And with the aquisition of Alienware, they stand only to do better. You bought a refurbished computer. Sorry. Dell does NOT sell refurbs without saying that it is a refurb. Read the fine print next time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asuma Posted August 23, 2006 Report Share Posted August 23, 2006 I do so hate dells. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wesker Posted August 23, 2006 Report Share Posted August 23, 2006 My Dell monitor is still awesome (Thanks Koray :0) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saxman Posted August 23, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 23, 2006 You bought a refurbished computer. Sorry. Dell does NOT sell refurbs without saying that it is a refurb. Read the fine print next time. With all due respect, it's very obvious that you don't understand. They mention refurbished... they DON'T specify that they refurbish bad hard drives and processors and things. That is outrageous to me. Other computer manufactures I know of only refurbish the cases and less-important parts. Dell refurbishes anything they can. So your statement is weak there. And their customer support is a joke these days. I used to love Dell until I got this piece of crap. It's one thing to get a lemon (which I hear they ship out a LOT of these days from many people I know personally). But when they don't want to take any responsibility for it and give me the run-around constantly, that makes me mad. At least people like HP actually make an effort to work with you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pheonix Gamma Posted August 23, 2006 Report Share Posted August 23, 2006 My dad got my a Dell Inspiron for graduation. Not only have I not had a single problem with it, but it's exceeded my expecations. I love it to death. My family desktop is a Dell that we've had for almost 5 years. Never let us down. All we really had to do to it was upgrade the harddrive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saxman Posted August 23, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 23, 2006 You guys were served well then, because about half the people I know IRL who have Dells have had something mechanical go wrong with them. And this computer is a nightmare... it's 5 months old, and everything is going bad. I just want money back on it, I'm tired of replacing parts. It's obviously not the hard drive or fan that is the root problem. I don't care what it is anymore, I just want money. My dad's considering having a lawyer write them a letter demanding a refund. I don't care what the print may say, no returns or refunds after 21 days is a rip-off, and they know it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pheonix Gamma Posted August 23, 2006 Report Share Posted August 23, 2006 30 days for me >_> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1LT Worm Posted August 23, 2006 Report Share Posted August 23, 2006 One of my friends has had two bad HDs. But, compared next to all the people I know that have Dells, they haven't had too many problems. Other than OS problems. Or when they spilled soda on them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FuzzMaster Posted August 23, 2006 Report Share Posted August 23, 2006 My family buys plenty of Dells for our office, no problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ssbfalcon Posted August 23, 2006 Report Share Posted August 23, 2006 Diaries of a Dell 600M 2 - Replaced Hard drives : Covered under warranty 2 - Messed up Power Supplies : Covered under warranty 1 - Replaced Weak-Cracked Monitor Hinge : Covered under warranty 1 - Battery of Mass Destruction : Replaced within 20 business days Somehow managing to have something to show for at SAGE : Priceless ... And it just seemed so convinent to keep my major fangame project work, schoolwork, etc on that laptop, and it was that second hard drive death where I saw so much stuff die... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DimensionWarped Posted August 23, 2006 Report Share Posted August 23, 2006 Tough break. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Koray Posted August 23, 2006 Report Share Posted August 23, 2006 On phone support, ask for your problem to be escalated to a higher level. Ask until they do it. Then, once at the higher level, ask to be escalated again until they do it. Then, once you are higher, ask again until they do it. You should now be talking to someone who ISN'T in India and can say more to you than the canned dialouge they are fed. Express your strong concerns with the countless hardware problems, the problems with support, etc. Chances are, at the very least, they replace your parts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saxman Posted August 23, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 23, 2006 On phone support, ask for your problem to be escalated to a higher level. Ask until they do it. Then, once at the higher level, ask to be escalated again until they do it. Then, once you are higher, ask again until they do it. You should now be talking to someone who ISN'T in India and can say more to you than the canned dialouge they are fed.Express your strong concerns with the countless hardware problems, the problems with support, etc. Chances are, at the very least, they replace your parts. Doesn't do any good. We've done that, and they give us the same stuff... "let's replace the hard drive again!!! YAY!!!"... that's NOT what's wrong with the computer. They can keep replacing this stuff all they want, and it's still not going to be right. There's something else there that's causing this stuff to go bad. The thing is, we don't have time to wait around on them either because this computer is what my dad connects his cycle dyno to, which is the #1 money-maker in his business. Without that dyno, he's hurting. That's why it's important to get this computer fixed ASAP, and so far Dell doesn't want to cooperate. It would be easier to simply send the damn thing back to them, get the money back, and buy a new "decent" computer that actually works without all this nonsense happening. So maybe a lawyer demanding they refund us is the way to handle it. We don't want to sue, we just want to make them realize we're not playing around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Posted August 23, 2006 Report Share Posted August 23, 2006 Prime reason why I don't buy brand-name computers anymore. Custom is the only way for me. Bought my current one for $1,250ish and it's better than any computer I've ever seen for $2,000 from Dell or any of those brands. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MidimanNull Posted August 23, 2006 Report Share Posted August 23, 2006 Dell's are not bad mate, their pretty damn solid. I mean, their 300$-600$ are reasonable, and the upgrades arent "Crazy Gideons" high, and sure, you can get screwed over a few times. I dont know what youve been doing to your dell comp's, but it seems its a LOT of internal work or tweaking. I can always be wrong though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eraysor Posted August 23, 2006 Report Share Posted August 23, 2006 Dell PCs are really entertaining to take apart. I love how the managed to hide the HD away in its own little compartment in my friend's PC, it was a challenge to remove it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pheonix Gamma Posted August 23, 2006 Report Share Posted August 23, 2006 aren't some of Dell's new computers built with AlienWare parts or something? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shadowgoten Posted August 23, 2006 Report Share Posted August 23, 2006 I'm saving up for a good inspiron laptop. I know that dell is top of the line. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saxman Posted August 23, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 23, 2006 If the Dell 'works', then it's a good computer. I haven't touched this Dell other than put necessary software on it. We don't do anything except run dyno tests on it... that's it. That's no reason for all these problems to happen. It's not the fact that they shipped us a lemon that makes me so upset, it's the fact that they don't want to take responsibility for it. If they'd just say "sure, we'll re-emberse you" or "sure, we'll replace your entire machine with a new one" with a little "sorry for the inconvienience" type of thing, I'd be happy. Instead, those damn people hit you with "can't do it after 21 days" and all this other crap... even though it was never right from the start!! So yeah, I'd say Dell is a piece of crap as a company. When they get their machines right, they're great -- this one I'm on is a brand new Dell and it has no problems. But their computers are cheap for a reason... that can come with a nightmare of a price if you get one that ain't quite right. There have been an increase in unsatisfaction from Dell customers these past few years, and it has become apparent to me why. So maybe that will help clarify my position on Dell in general. I like Dells (that work)... I don't like the company anymore because they've become very very greedy, and their customer support is no longer superior. I wouldn't recommend a Dell computer to anyone anymore because there are too many bad ones, and when you get one you're stuck fighting with Dell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blues Posted August 23, 2006 Report Share Posted August 23, 2006 I've never had problems with a Dell that werent my own fault, ever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DimensionWarped Posted August 23, 2006 Report Share Posted August 23, 2006 aren't some of Dell's new computers built with AlienWare parts or something? Uh... no. Alienware doesn't even really make parts. They just make cases and stick stuff in them. They have a couple included tools that people tend to like, but there isn't anything in them that is special. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pheonix Gamma Posted August 23, 2006 Report Share Posted August 23, 2006 a few people told me Dell and Alienware had a thing going on...hmmm... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Koray Posted August 23, 2006 Report Share Posted August 23, 2006 First reply. I said that dell has indeed aquired Alienware. Happened Early Mayish. The reason? It's twofold. First, Dell has rapidly made it's way into the gaming market. But they can only go so far. They know that hardcore gamers would never be caught dead with a Dell. So rather than spending millions to rebrand dell as the awesome super cool dude gaming company, they decided to just buy a company that already had that reputation. Second, Dell has a contract with Intel. Said contracts states that every single Dell computer Dell ships has to be powered by Intel. Dell can sell AMD chips seperately, but it will never be an option that will be built in for you. Alienware was not restricted by this contract. Now dell can sell AMD without contract violation. End story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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