Dana’s Dell Hell.
Dana, at The Origin of Soul, is being jerked around by Dell. I have some sense how she feels, as I too have spent some exasperating telephone time with Dell Customer “Support†as noted here and here. Dana’s problem is worse than mine was. In fact, my problem turned out to be an easy fix (having nothing to do with Dell equipment), but which should have been patently obvious to a Customer “Support†person who had any idea what the hell he/she was doing.
As for Dana, her problem does directly involve the computer, which is still under warranty, and yet Dell is still not willing to replace the unit with a new one or to refund her money.
I am now in the market for a new computer, but based on my personal experience with Dell and the experience Dana is having, I think I’ll look into other manufacturers’ products.
Heya Jim,
We met at the Wreckyl in Jeckyll, and I’ve got a few words about PC’s for you…
It’s a little-advertised secret, but anyone Can Build Their Own!
Dell is OK, really, but… for a few bucks more, you can indeed build your own – from GOOD components – and yes, even youse guys in Joisey can do this!
Drop me a line a WGerlach at tds dot net, and I’ll point you to the various places, render wise advice, and listen to you moan about the evilness of it all….WARD
Comment by Ward Gerlach — March 25, 2006 @ 7:55 pm
Hiya Ward,
I know you mean well, but you’re dealing with a guy who has trouble “building” a pile of shave cream. Check this out. 🙂
Comment by Jim - Parkway Rest Stop — March 25, 2006 @ 8:18 pm
We’ve had good luck with HP’s, you might want to look at those.
We’ve also had remarkable good luck with Dell’s….but I’ve never had to use their tech support. My old Dell laptop never gave me any problems, even though it had a hard life. My daughter’s still using it.
The only ones I’ve had problems with were Compaq & e-machines. e-machines did replace a desktop for me once; the replacement wasn’t much better. Though I have to say it’s still in use. Our 5 yr. old grandson uses it to play games on.
But then I’m in a little different situation than you. I have live-in tech support. 😉
Comment by rita — March 26, 2006 @ 8:06 am
Live-in tech support … Sweet!
I am a techno-douchebag and I have a Live-In Luddite.
Comment by Jim - Parkway Rest Stop — March 26, 2006 @ 10:03 am
Well, you may remember this post, or maybe not. Dell has the worst support I’ve ever dealt with. Their either non-responsive, or their suggestions are downright destructive. Do yourself a favor and buy a Mac. It’s nice here 🙂
(We smug Mac fanboys have to advocate when the opportunity arises. It’s in the AppleCare support contract.)
Comment by Rube — March 26, 2006 @ 11:19 am
I bought a new gateway GT5012 back in the fall and so far I am well pleased with it. It is big enough to do everything I want and the price on it wasn’t bad. I had heard too many bad things about Dell and Compac and had problems iwth some other HP products. My old one was a gateway and it was still okay except for the trojan horse that I could get rid of plus I wanted to upgrade to XP from windows 98
Comment by GUYK — March 26, 2006 @ 7:28 pm
No more Dell for me. I bought an mp3 player for my son and it failed in one day, sent it back and got another that failed in a few days, but I have never gotten my money back even after returning the junk to Dell. I can only get a person to talk to me if I want to buy something after that I don’t exist.. so to hell with dell
Comment by Bill — March 26, 2006 @ 9:08 pm
Jim,
“Trust me!” You can so build one yer ownself – and the sucker WILL be reliable.
Uhhh… you DO know what a Phillips screwdriver is, right? ‘Cause that’s all you really need to know.
Comment by Ward Gerlach — March 26, 2006 @ 10:31 pm
I know that Ward means well but I agree w/U don’t build your own. a) you don’t need the headache & b) your time cost is more valuable than spending it building a pc or calling for tech support. I’m a software developer & the best pc mfg is ibm & mac. Year after year they get the top consumer ratings. I have owned both but Mac’s are best for people who work in graphics. Mac does have the best tech suppport in the world. However, knowing your profession and your limited patience and knowledge w/pc’s recommend an ibm laptop. I built my firts 2 pc & spent a lot of time doing it. it was fun & now I’m over it. Since then I have been buying & upgrading my first ibm which was a laptop in the mid 90’s. its travelled with me around the world 6 times from the Amazon to alaska. my son has been using for the past few 4 years now; not once has it needed tech support. I have purchased ibm’s and other pc’s for the various dept’s I oversee and of the 165 pc’s I’ve authorized purchasing in the past 5 years only the ibm laptops and the macs have NOT needed tech support. why did we even buy other brands of pc’s? because some sissy execs insist on having what they want. my rule… you insist on other products fine call their tech support when you need help. almost every single person has come around to ibm’s.
good luck w/your purchase!
Comment by avatar — April 3, 2006 @ 11:09 pm