My experience with Dell's customer service over screen

as some of you know, I called Dell and had them replace the screen and here are my experiences.

I called Dell and I told them that my screen was giving me a headache and that it is because the manufacturer is AUO and AUO sucks. The dell representative had 0 clue what I was talking about, but I told them to send a representative over anyway to replace it. I held on to the hope that the screen would be a different manufacturer just based on luck. I was dead wrong.

Two days later, a Dell technician came over to replace my screen. He was a very senile and cynical man who only worked for Dell for the last 3 months. He opened the box and took out the screen, I was amazed that it was just the LCD part of the screen instead of a complete replacement. I suppose this is common place.

The first thing he told me was how much he hated working for Dell because they do so many things to cheap their consumers out of their money. After prying the screen open, one of the hinges flew off and he told me that Dell likes to use cheap plastic toys like these that don't fit together. HE also told me that the entire inside of the laptop is made with cheap plastic.

He replaced the screen and I turned it on. To my amazement, still grainy. Another AUO screen. The technician then told me to call Dell and ask for a complete replacement. He also told me that he worked for IBM/HP/Sony and the only company he hates is Dell. I know what he's saying because when I called Dell later on and asked for the replacement because of mjy screen, they still had zero idea what i was saying.

I told them an analogy of a fake and a real wallet saying that real wallets are better quality even if the fake looks exactly the same as the real. different manufacturer same thing. To my amazement, my rep told me that her case manager was listening and still she said "okay, i will issue you a refund so you can make another order with a different screen." i told her that I wanted the same screen, different manufacturer, and she still didn't understand. Fine, I just took her to be stupid so I hung up and called again the next day.

I got another rep today who understood what I was tlaking about and told me he'd tell dispatch to tell the manufacturers to not use the AUO screen in my replacement laptop. I warned him that if I got another bad screen, I will just keep sending it back until I get one that doesn't make me want to gouge my eyes out. Needless to say, Dell has ruined my laptop buying experience more than HP ever had.

 

That sucks. I hope I don't have the problems you had.

 

this graniness issue is making me nervous and i hope that i don't get it too.....anyway if that happens i am also gonna do the same.

 

i hate dell

 

Wow, I'm really glad that this 1520 is the first laptop I've ever owned, because then I wouldn't be able to compare the screens... I don't even see the graininess on my screen.

 

Wow! You actually got a person in your home with Dell's in-home service contract? Amazing! Dell insisted that the LCD was "user-replacable part" and shipped me the naked LCD to do myself!

Dell? Never again!

 

wow, just wow.

 

Yeah. I had in-home, too. Not that it was difficult to perform the replacement of the LCD, but certainly not what the in-home contract stated my service would be, nor what it had been on prior service calls.

I'm still waiting for the class-action lawsuits in California and Canada to conclude to determine if that laptop (Inspiron 5100) will be covered for the overheating to the point of not recognizing the installed memory chips. Dell has already lost and/or settled similar lawsuits on several similar models.

The only real recourse I have at this time is to no longer do business with Dell.

 

For me, the technician bad-mouthing the company he works for is grossly unprofessional and inappropriate. That would bother me more than the replacement screen being grainy, since at this time we don't even have any screens of that resolution that are confirmed to be NOT grainy. I have the Samsung screen, and it is quite grainy, so I don't believe it is related to brand, either.

 

the f8 looks hella sexy so i might think about that

 

I'm sure I'll end up with a Dell PC, but they do seem to be on the shady side. Yesterday I called in to place an order on a 1520. The lady, her name was Nino, specifically gave me a price of $808 and with tax, $869. I even wrote the amounts down. When I told her that the sales tax was more than it should be all she would say was that she was already giving me free shipping. Well, dumbly, I went ahead and placed the order on my Discover Card. Within 30 minutes I received an email confirmation from Dell showing my Discover card was charged $1,158.00. I couldn't believe it. After repeated attempts I finally got ahold of someone at Dell, they confirmed that this indeed was the amount charged, and offered to take off $100. I requested they cancel the order. It just amazes me that a company this large has to behave like they do, so what the guy told you really does not surprise me a bit.

 

IMO I don't think Dell making cheap laptops. I also believe other companies don't make computers better than them. The guy who said bad about his employer is not professional at all. If Dell is a bad company why he works for Dell instead of HP, Toshiba, or whatever he mentioned to you? My brother got full refund for his laptop due to the screen. He didnt have to pay shipping or anything. Think about they build a laptop to sell to you and the cost for them to ship to you and pay for return shipping cost. The shipping costs them like 100 bucks already.

 

i think it's important to put things into perspective here, we are a very small part of a very large consumer base dell has. They sell millions of computers each year, probably the largest notebook seller that is based online, HP probably got a leg up because of in-store sales. With that kind of numbers, Dell's contract with shipping carriers must be CRAZY.

Also, people should keep in midn that I meant contractor, not employee. you can be hired by dell, doesn't mean you have to be loyal to them. I appreciate a worker who can speak his mind and give me suggestions. if anything, amde me feel like a professional is heeding my worries, something that dell always failed to do.

I don't think dell is a cheap laptop in a sense where they advertise themselves as cheap laptop sellers so in perspective, dell does not oversell or undersell itself. it is what it is. metallic casing? everybody loves it, they cheapen it out by getting cheaper LCD's and cheaper innards (plastic innards means that metallic casing can bear a lot of pressure but once it breaks, the inside will stand no challenge.) The cheapest part might be the hinges as just taking it apart will break the plastic.

 

Well...the cheap hinges wouldn't be so bad if they didn't give you a reason to take it apart, lol

 

Either way my 1520 has no grainyness and as far as build quality goes I have zero flex. I can pick it up in the middle with one hand and don't feel it flex at all. I used to work for best buy and whenever I did that with other laptops they always felt like they were about to break. So no matter what others say, I am extremely happy with my new notebook, and anticipate years of satisfaction from it.

On topic, I am sorry to hear about your bad experience, hopefully things get better for ya.

Stella, how did you find the manufacturer of your screen?

 

I've had good experiences with my Dell E1705, even though it was serviced 3 times. Cheap plastics? My laptop fell down one flight of stairs and the metal bottom case cracked and the dvd popped out and broke. Dell rebuilt it entirely at it's Memphis Depot. 2nd - my screen goes out. Dell sends a technician to replace my keyboard, laptop screen (worth $499), and wireless card. 1 month later the screen goes out again and is replaced today. Well, I had no problems with quick service (I'm EPP) and just love my warranty service.

Some customers are just too picky with screens. My only requirement is 1920x1200, and good brightness and color. Never had a dead pixel.

 

How does one go about finding out the screen manufacturer?
Thanks...

 

What's the end of the story? Did you get a nice sceen?

 

To find your screen's ID:

Control Panel > Hardware and Sound > Device Manager > Monitors > Generic PnP Monitor > Details > Hardware IDs

 

haha the end of the sotry is I called them to have a complete replacement and I also told them to tell dispatch that I do not want an AUO screen or another screen with grainyness. I asked them to look carefully at the screen and run quality checks before sending it to me because I warned them that I will send it back if it still has graininess on it.

 

This didn't work for me it just says MONITOR\LPLCC00

So what does that mean?

 

well, i don't knwo what manufacturer LPLCC00 is but yous hould google it and see what manufacturer it is

 

Your search - LPLCC00 - did not match any documents

 

LPLCC00 is "Less Pixelated Lameness - Crystal Clear 00"

 

lol i really have 0 idea, i can't find anything either. at least youd on't have grainyness yay?

 

true dat, true dat. I am downloading sandra right now, I remember reading somewhere that is supposed to show you the manufacturer. The screen I have is just using a generic driver, that may be why it's not showing a manufacturer correctly, but when I did a search for a better driver windows was unable to find anything better.

 

everybody's says generic driver, however i only know of Samsung, LG, AUO, and ChiMei making screens for dell so yours doesn't fit any of the names.

 

Yes, I've never heard of that ID--just the SEC/AUO in the 1520. Let us know if you find out what brand it is.

 

Well according to Sandra my screen was manufactured in 2005. That's a little disturbing. Almost sounds like it was a find from the back stock...lol

But even Sandra can't tell me the manufacturer. Still says Generic.

 

On a brighter note, my readyboost SD card is wicked fast compared to others

 

It's LG. Phillips LCD.

 

they are also using cpt and shp screens as well guys