why dell why?

[Jgeekw]

Ugh....I ordered a Dell Inspiron 1720 back in June. It was supposed to arrive in about 10 business days, but it ended up being about two months, after a total of three delays. To be fair, Dell did give me a $100 coupon for the delays (which I had to ask for - I was hearing stories of other people doing the same thing so I figured what they heck, I might as well ask).

A few weeks after having the laptop, it hangs after loading Vista and all I get is a nice blank screen with just the mouse icon. I try to troubleshoot it, running the Windows restore disk, etc., but end up having to reinstall Vista.

Take the last paragraph, and repeat that three times. Fun stuff, huh? Enough is enough, so I chat with a tech support agent, and I suggest I think the hard drive is faulty. He asks if I can run some diagnostics, but they weren't on my computer (since the diagnostic partition got wiped after reinstalling Vista). So he just sends me a new hard drive, which I replaced on my own, and mailed the old one back (after being sure to scrub all my personal information off of it).

About a week after installing my new hard drive, and having to shuffle all my data around for the forth time, the same thing happen, and I'm unable to use my computer. This time I still have the diagnostic partition around, but after running scans for about an hour or two, it comes up with nothing. Luckily this time system restore works, so I don't have to reinstall Vista.

I chatted with another tech support agent, and he thinks it's the motherboard and/or CPU. While he's scheduling an appointment for somebody to come by and replace them, he asks me if I'd just rather get a new system. After asking several questions (will it have the same specs, new how long will I have to wait, etc.) I agree. So now they're sending me a whole new system (with a possibility it will be a refurbished model) and then I get to send my current laptop back to them.

So they've actually been pretty helpful so far, although everything has just been a pain.

I used that $100 coupon on the purchase of an external hard drive. Kind of ironic that they would be so nice as to help pay for a backup hard drive on a system that would repeatedly have it's operating system be corrupted.

On the bright side, I can practically restore my system from a fresh install of Vista in my sleep.

[trikebubble]

I've had nothing but good to say about Dell tech./customer service. We use Dell computers at work, and I have 2 Dell laptops at home. I actually just had the power supply go on one of work desktops (it's almost 5 years old) and Dell had a tech. in my store within 48 hours with a new power supply.
I also fed my laptop a cup of coffee last year, and had to ship it off to Dellland for repair. This was over the Christmas break, and i had my laptop back at home within 2 weeks.
We have had the hard drive go in one of the other laptops and again Dell had a new one to us within 48 hours.

Any tech or customer service rep I've ever dealt with has been nothing short of excellent. They even call back when they say they are going to do so.

I will have no problems buying from Dell again. in fact, we only went to Dell when we could not get a single local computer supplier to take any interest in our requests for information at all. We did our veyr best to "buy local", waving a chequebook around almost, and couldn't even get a decent bite.

[mrblanche]

When it comes to laptops, I just buy near the bottom of the line whatever will do the job. Right now, my next to last laptop (HP) is 5 years old and soldiering on. The most recent one is 2 years old and doing great. It's an ACER I bought at Circuit City.

But for desktops, I go to Fry's and buy refurbished HP's. The last two I bought are still running , one 5 years old, one 3 years old. Paid about $300 for each.

[bennice]

Dell USED to be among the best for customer service, warranty repairs and used to have a pretty solid product. Their server group is still decent, but they also have their moments. I still use their servers today, but they're a couple generations old now, and when I replace them I'll likely go with something else. I'm just too lazy to build anymore.

The job I just left gave me a Dell and IBM laptop to use. The IBM came home with me, and went with me everywhere. The Dell stayed on the desk in the docking station. I absolutely hated the lame 1024x768 max resolution on the LCD panel and the touch pad was atrocious. It was fine, but not great when used as a desktop, but it was almost worthless as a mobile computer. I was glad hand over the Dell when I left there yesterday. Was kinda bummed about the IBM though. That thing was rock solid.

We've had several IBM's over the years, and have been pleased with them overall. They haven't all been without their issues, but the depot was quick to get them taken care of without haste. In fact I'm typing this on an IBM that I "borrowed" from my two youngest kids until I get a new work laptop at my new job on Monday.

My wife and oldest son both use HP/Compaq. Other than them coming pre-loaded with Vista, they've been pretty solid so far, and were far cheaper than anything Dell has to offer for comparable features/performance.

[CTRider]

Originally Posted by bennice

The Dell stayed on the desk in the docking station. I absolutely hated the lame 1024x768 max resolution on the LCD panel and the touch pad was atrocious.

That must have been one cheap system. My Dell Inspiron 8200 is going on 4 years old and has a something like 1600x1400 maximum resolution.

As far as the touch pad, I try to use an external mouse when I have a desk available. The touchpad works fine, I just rather use a real mouse when I can. Of course, the desktop system is a different story - since I use it for graphics and editing work, I have a big Wacom tablet I use.

[bennice]

Originally Posted by CTRider

That must have been one cheap system. My Dell Inspiron 8200 is going on 4 years old and has a something like 1600x1400 maximum resolution.

As far as the touch pad, I try to use an external mouse when I have a desk available. The touchpad works fine, I just rather use a real mouse when I can. Of course, the desktop system is a different story - since I use it for graphics and editing work, I have a big Wacom tablet I use.

I wouldn't say "cheap" as in inexpensive, but cheap as in "who the heck still makes a 15.4" LCD not capable of higher resolutions these days???" There was an "upgrade" available to a model capable of better than that, but whoever ordered these didn't have a clue. The display was almost useless unless plugged into external monitors.

I've had several Inspirons and Latitudes that were capable of modern screen resolution. Not sure what Dell was thinking there. The boat anchor I just gave back was a D610.

[katmando]

I have had dells for 18 years. I am on my 2nd pc in that time frame.Very reliable ,very good customer support.I would by another one.

[BigDaddy]

Computers are just like cars. You will have a lemon(s) in every brand.
Just like cars, you hear people say "I will never buy another Ford!"
and you hear somebody else say "I won't buy any but a Ford!"
Also with customer service, sometimes you will get someone
that is excellent and sometimes you will get someone that
doesn't care if you live or die. It's just the way things are.


BD

[Aifwikir]

I've had nothing but trouble with EVERY Dell I've purchased (home or company computer). The absolute best Laptops are Compac Or IBM! The rest are JUNK!

My Son just went to sea with the USS Tarawa 3 weeks ago. His new Dell crashed on him last night. He has no way to repair or replace it for the rest of the tour!

Aif