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Dell Laptops

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Carrie of Park Rapids MN (4/5/05):
I have been having nothing but problems with my Dell. I have already had the motherboard replaced (which the Dell tech put inincorrectly), 2 monitors, my cd-rom would fall out of the computer, my keyboard is warped because of the motherboard being replaced wrong, numerous error, 3.5" floppy drive requesting I format a disk when there is no disk and I am not trying to access that drive, I have also had to reformat the hard drive. I am a full-time student and my laptop is a requirement. I spent good money for my computer, plus extra for an extended warranty (good thing).

I can not be without my computer but because of Dell's actions, I have been without a computer for probably 6 weeks in the past year. I don't know what to do but I feel that with all the problems and an incompetent technician I have had to deal with I deserve something. He could have been the cause of all the problems. My warranty is ticking away and I feel that is what Dell is trying to do. In my eyes, Dell owes me a new computer, but no they want me to send it to their depot to try an d fix it. They said that they would have it for 5-8 days. Being a full-time student who is required to have a computer this is just not possible.

Leslie of Boston (3/23/05):
Last fall, I purchased an Inspiron 1150 laptop to replace a failing HP Pavilion. Because I am self employed and use my laptop for business, reliability is the most important criterion I used to select my machine. The Inspiron 1150 was not particularly fancy and weighs a ton to lug around, but I was assured by the salesperson it was a good “meat and potatoes” machine, and I figured the less flashy functionality it had, the less maintenance headaches I would have to endure. Silly me.

In February, the AC adapter that came with my laptop fails for no reason while I am working from home during a blizzard. I head out into the storm to try to purchase a replacement power source and try two Best Buys and a Radio Shack (the latter at the suggestion of the clueless Dell “support” tech I finally manage to get through to when the Best Buy strategy proves fruitless) before finally learning that it is impossible to obtain a new power source through anyone except Dell (a bitter lesson I should have learned when my Dell printer ran out of ink just I was printing a critical document that needed to be mailed right away).

I fork over my $78 to get a new adapter, which is, thankfully, delivered to my home the very next day. I plug in my new adapter and complete my work, annoyed but relieved that at least my problem was resolved in a timely manner. Fast forward exactly one month later. While working from home on a time-sensitive project, I discover my brand new AC adapter has once again failed for no apparent reason. With less than two hours’ battery power remaining and an important deadline looming, I contact Dell customer support and demand a replacement. After some hemming and hawing, the barely-literate support representative finally agrees to send a replacement at no cost. And, oh yes, I will have it in three to five business days.

Fighting hysteria, I explain to the soulless bureaucrat on the other end of the phone that I am dependent upon my computer for my livelihood and that, for me, three to five business days translates into several thousand dollars in lost revenue. She explains it is impossible to fill my request in less time, and I remind her that I received my FIRST replacement adapter in less than 24 hours. I also remind her that I paid a premium for priority shipping, and that they were duty-bound to honor the identical terms of my original purchase. She proceeds to read a series of pre-programmed excuses from her computer screen, none of which serve to advance my interests, and flatly refuses to forward my appeal to anyone who can help.

I cry. She is unmoved. I scream at her. She is hostile. I beg. She thanks me for giving Dell my business. I inform her I never will again. She doesn’t care.

I hang up and cry some more while trying to transfer as much data as possible from my rapidly-dying Dell Inspiron to my still-failing-but-at-least-operational HP Pavilion. Twenty four hours later, my order is still “in production.” The estimated delivery date is March 30 – more than one full week after my complaint was logged. I am screwed. No one cares.

I bill $100 an hour for copywriting services. Do the math. If my replacement adapter does not arrive until March 30, that means I lose approximately $5,000 in billable hours. Not that Dell cares, of course.

Martha of Anderson SC (12/12/03):
My new Inspiron 1100 just quit working and was saying I had corrupted files. I called service representatives and reinstalled the operating system over 5 times then checked the drivers and the hard drive was said to be bad, so they sent me another one. I called them again and they told me to install the operating system again and when the message came up for Welcome to Windows, I was to type in a 25 digit code located on the bottom of my computer. Well, that message never came up and Windows XP is not installed yet after over 5 tries. No one will answer the phones and all I get is music and no person, yet they tell me not to hang up.

This computer was just received on 11/06/03 and it has a 3 year limited warrenty, type 3 third party at home service 24X7 technical support initial year. It will not reinstall Windows XP, so what am I to do?

Sten of Long Valley NJ writes (8/26/02):
On July 13, 2002, I called in a trouble with my Dell Inspiron 5000 laptop computer's screen to their Tech Support center (the laptop is under waranty until May 2003). The screen was simply displaying garbled nonsense, rendering the computer completely useless. A tech was dispatched to my house on July 16th and replaced the screen, but the problem persisted. He determined the problem to be the motherboard, and so ordered a new one and said someone would be back when Dell shipped the new part. But no one came back, and no one called!

So I began calling Dell Tech Support to see what was going on. I have called them 10 times over the past six weeks, but to no avail. Their response to the delay in repair? "the motherboard is backordered", "the part is in stock and will be shipped tomorrow","the manufacturer is out of stock and there's nothing we can do", "a tech will be out Monday." Either none of the 10 people I have talked to know what they're talking about, or they all lie pretty well. And none of them called me back when they said they would, and not one answered any of the messages I left on voicemail.

Finally, on August 21st, I spoke to a supervisor named Andrew. He assured me he was expediting the matter even as we spoke and a tech would be there on the 26th ready to install the new part. Well, that appears to have been another lie.

Lise of Hartsdale NY (8/26/02):
I purchased an $1800 Dell Inspiron in May with a 3-year warranty, and it has given me nothing but trouble. The intiial machine had a bad modem. They sent me a replacement secondhand modem, but I still cannot access the Internet. I was told it was a telephone problem, and then an ISP problem. I wave spent countelss hours on the phone, not to mention time needlessly wating for phone techincians (when the problem was with the computer), and have had to upgrade my cell phone plan since my cell phone charges (all spent on the phone with Dell technicians) were so high.

Karen of Radcliff, KY (8/19/02):
I have been trying to send my useless laptop back to them for months. I actually sent the computer back and can you believe they returned it back to me! Their financial services dept. continues to contact me on a daily basis. I have corresponded with DELL and submitted the letters to virtually every address I can locate. Their Finance people have no idea on earth where to direct me to except customer service and the last time I contacted them they kept me on hold for 32 minutes.

My computer doesn't work. It will not turn on. It's that simple. I do not want to hassle with a piece of equipment that doesn't turn on. Furthermore, it did turn on once! The first time I tried it (but never since that time). What gets me is that I spent over $20 to ship the damn thing back to them and they send it back! They state they need the "contract number". When I looked this up on the computer (my home computer I found four numbers) Now what do I do.

They also said they would have someone contact me personally from customer service. This was six weeks ago, I'm still waiting. The only people I hear from are the people who want money. I will not pay for something that does not work and that I sent back to the company. Why in God's name would they send it back to me. That's what I can't understand?

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