My funny chat session with Dell Support

I think this chat session speaks for itself

ME: I want one of the new Inspiron laptops, but you only offer 5400RPM hard drives. Will you be offering 7200RPM drives as well?
DELL REP: Welcome to Dell Sales Chat. My name is Steve.I'll be your personal sales agent today. Give me a moment to review your concern. Please don’t go away.
DELL REP: give me a couple of minutes to check please if there is any available 7200 RPM.
DELL REP: the inspiron 1520/1521 can be upgraded Up to 160GB 7200 RPM SATA hard drive .
ME: I want the 1720
ME: can the 1720 get a 7200RPM drive?
DELL REP: unfortunately the max hard drive of 1720 is RAID Performance: 500GB (2x250GB) 5400RPM
ME: ok, so if I get one with 2 drives, they can be RAIDed?
ME: but is it hardware RAID, or software?
DELL REP: unfortunately we cannot upgrade to 7200RPM and 500GB (2x250GB) 5400RPM is the maximum upgrade of hard drive and raid capable.
ME: I understand, but is it hardware or software RAID?
DELL REP: its hardware RAID for hard drive only.
ME: what do you mean "for hard drive only"?
DELL REP: that mean there is no available software, so when you purchase a hard drive it can be RAID 0 or RAID 1.
ME: ok, but in the configurator, I don't have a choice to select what RAID I want
DELL REP: there is no selection.
ME: soooo....then which RAID is it if I buy it? 0 or 1??
DELL REP: anything else I can help you?
ME: is it 0 or 1??
DELL REP: for the 1705 on the configuration, if you choose the size its RAID 0; if you choose with RAID performance, ITS RAID 1.
ME: but I specifically want the 1720, not the 1705
DELL REP: Is there anything else I may help you?
ME: I dont see the option "with RAID performance" for the 1720
ME: that's really my question
DELL REP: http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&oc=DNCWNA1&s=dhs&sm=2
ME: that's the 1721
ME: I want the 1720
DELL REP: well that is the link for you to see that there is an option for the raid performance.
ME: the 1720 does NOT have that option though
ME: check it yourself
ME: http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&oc=DNDWMA2&s=dhs&sm=2?
ME: no raid option
DELL REP: yes for the 1705 there is no option for raid.
ME: no no no, the 1720
ME: not 1705
DELL REP: sorry for typo error.
ME: ok so if the 1720 doesn't have RAID options, what does that mean?
ME: if I get a 1720 with two drives, are they RAIDed at all?
DELL REP: unfortunately we don't have an option, I suggest you to buy an external hard drive if you wish to have 2 drives.
ME: wait...the 1720 HAS an option for dual drives. However, it does NOT say anything about RAID. All I want to know is if I get the 1720 with 2 drives, are they RAIDed???
DELL REP: no they are not raided.
DELL REP: anything else I can help you with?
ME: no, thanks
DELL REP: I hope you would take the time to fill out the survey before leaving the chat in order for us to improve our service. Your feedback will be greatly appreciated. Thank you for choosing Dell Chat. Have a wonderful day.
DELL REP: has left this session!

 

Awesome. The 250gb 5400 rpm drive should perform close to a 160gb 7200rpm drive. I ordered a 160gb 7200rpm for $140, tempted to get a 250gb 5400rpm off of Newegg for $190 though.

 

I actually bought a 200GB 7200RPM drive from Newegg and replaced the 80GB 5400RPM drive that came with my system.

 

imbeciles...

 

Is this a real chat session? That Dell rep must be on crack.

 

Yeah, those people are clueless. Just buy whatever drives you want and pop 'em in there. I have no idea how to tell if it's hardware raid or not though.

 

call them and ask them to put you through to a tech... they might know more about such minute details.

 

I like how he just kept pressing the please go away button ("is there anything else I can help you with?)"

 

Yes, this is a real chat session. The only changes I made were to his name, and of course the colors for easy viewing

I was a bit frustrated, but honestly, I was kinda laughing afterwards. I get better answers from this forum than from their support. Kinda funny!

 

I would bet solid money that it is not actual hardware raid. Even supposed high end hardware raid cards out there that you can buy aren't actually hardware raid. REAL hardware raid cards require a dedicated CPU just for the raid, and cost anywhere from $400+ normally just for the raid card. I have never seen a motherboard integrated raid option that is real hardware raid (Aside from in poweredge servers for example they do have onboard hardware raid)

Edit: Oh and dude I laughed my ass off at that chat log. That is the best thing ever. It reads like a monty python skit lol

 

You can't expect a sales rep or customer service agent to know things about Raid 0 and 1. It's like asking a ticket agent if he/she knows anything about flight controls. You're much better off calling the Tech Support.

 

No, sales reps should know that...but fact of the matter is, you shouldn't be asking in a chat you should be asking a REAL sales rep on the phone. Technical support will ask you for your express service code, and since they don't have it they will shoe you away. It really is a simple question, and sales rep on the phone should be able to answer for you

 

Make sure you fill out the survey

 

I hate dell chat sessions. I should have saved mine to show from the other night. My company gets the EPP discount but of course you can't use the $300 coupon with it.

Basically my case was the discount is not a coupon so i should have been able to use them together. I said i know u can't combine coupons but my discount is not a coupon & he goes "you can't use 2 coupons together" so i asked him if a discount is a coupon & he replies "no" (LOL GENIOUS!) so i say "Shouldn't it say coupons & discounts can not be combined?" & he goes "yes i understand but i can not combine coupons".........AHHHHHHHHh coupons...i went at him for a long time just to piss him off & i loved it, i hate dell chats

 

Yeah, something I learned a long time ago working in first the techsupport industry (used to work for Dell actually) and now working in the IT field....

Logic is contrary to human nature. Those of us that understand it are the minority.

if you don't believe me, go read some darwin awards lol

So your chances of getting a random sales rep on the phone who actually understands what your talking about is at least less than 50% (in my opinion) lol... This is no fault of Dell's, it is the human race in general. Dell just has a larger pool of people than most, so you see the statistic a little more blatently (smaller companies that have less employees can be a bit more picky in screening/hiring process so they have a skew from that statistic) lol...

Stupid people rule the world... it is a sad and unfortunate fact (and yes I am jaded). Take a look at Bush... How the hell did he get into power?????
...
...
... The stupid people put him there lol...

Edit:
I in no way want this to be offensive to people who are computer illiterate or "newbs" as many would call them. There is a difference between "not having knowledge in a topic" and having a total inability to have rational coherant thoughts... I am talking more about stupid in a general sense. I also don't want this statement to apply to the mentally handicapped. They have a physical or mental condition which limits specific learning or behavior. That is different than people who have the fulll ABILITY to be smart, and choose to be ignorant of the basic principles of reason)

Sorry had to put that in there because I don't want to come off as an evil bastard who hates everyone Just a really jaded individual who has dealt with alot of "interesting" (read: frustrating as all hell) people in my day.

 

Good point G.W. lol.

 

The live chat reps always seem clueless like this. And I think they must look at their keyboard when they type because they don't follow along in the conversation properly. It's really, really annoying. My guess is they have poor English skills and concentrate so much on typing out one sentence that they don't bother trying to keep up with everything you're writing as you type it.

 

If you have good computer skills and good English skills, you can get a better job. It's that simple.

 

First post here. I'm a Level 2 Dell tech support, and have had training on the 1720/21. I also just bought a 1720 and am awaiting its arrival. Just so it's clear, RAID is only offered on the Inspiron 1721. Its not available on the 1720.

 

Thanks for clearing that up.

 

Habibus, welcome. Since you have had training on the 1720/1721, maybe you can answer a couple of questions.

1. Why is RAID not offered on the 1720?
2. What advantage does the AHCI setting in the BIOS get me? I installed my own 7200RPM 200GB SATA drive (removing the 80GB 5400RPM drive that came with my 1720) but couldn't install Vista untill I disabled AHCI in the BIOS. Now I know that I can re-enable it and re-install if I install the Dell SATA drivers during the Vista install. But why should I do this? What advantage does AHCI give us?

 

i just had a similar chat with dell Canada's rep

and you know what? They are just ask dumb!!

 

Re question #2:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Host_Controller_Interface

 

We never figured out why only the 1721 had RAID offered. Our trainer didn't know either. The RAID on the 1721 is hardware raid though, there is a RAID controller on it. It really made us scratch our heads that the only 17" notebook with an upgradeable video card was the one that couldn't get raid.

 

dell support chats are so worthless; that convo is as good as the one i had with them about getting a return/refund on a downgraded warranty.

 

Whoa! Upgradeable VIDEO CARD? I did not know the 1720 had an upgradeable video card! Is this true? Does this mean that in the future I can swap out the 8600M GT for, say, an 8800?

 

Sorry, I meant that it wasn't just a integrated video card, that you could upgrade it to a 8600 GS or GT from Dell. I did not mean in the future, sorry for the confusion.

 

Ahh, ok. I kinda figured that would be too much to ask for Thanks!

 

Hi. I'm with Dell's Online Community Outreach and we stop by forums and blogs where there are questions to try and help out. First of all, I’d like to apologize for that chat session. Everyone makes mistakes and I could see giving wrong info by accident but that was pretty painful to read.

As far as the questions that are still unanswered. To the best of my knowledge, big 7200 RPM HDD's aren't being offered for thermal reasons so at this point it clearly isn't recommended that you swap out the stock ones for aftermarket 7200’s but I don't want to say it's impossible because I don't know the specifics.

I know that the AMD mobo has a Promise RAID controller on it and from the sound of it I would guess the Intel one does not. I haven't looked closely at them so if it turns out there is one on there as well as a way to use it then clearly it wouldn't be supported.

I think those were the only two questions left outstanding but if there are more feel free to post. Again, sorry about the chat session.


Neil
Dell, Inc.