Tricky Dell !!! A MUST Read

I told my cousin about the last 750$ off deal from Dell, and she decided to buy a 700m.
She was kind of busy lately, so she did'nt open it until yesterday. When she open the My Documents folder, she found a lot of "strange" pictures, which don't look like those coming w/ win XP ( pictures of a family etc ... ). She thought that the unit was not a Brand new one, so she called Dell right away and the sale prep forwarded her to the manager. The manager accepted to ship a brand new one to her to replace that refurbished unit, and also included a free shipping label. He asked her to wait and he would call her back within 10 mins to process the order, but he DIDN't call back.

This morning my cousin called them back, and this time she talked to another guy. When he looked back to her record, he said that my cousin had a call yesterday complaining about "battery" ( !!!this is Shxxxx) ... so after a long talk, he accepted to ship her a new unit when Dell have in stock. He also gave my cousin a 90$ coupon for anything online as a compensation ( after my cousin threatened to sue them for cheating custumer ).

She just tell me this and she is still very angry. This makes me feel bad too as I'm the one who introduce her Dell and the coupon.
So everyone, check ur laptop carefully. I believe my cousin is not the only one. And of course, "refurbished" is not supposed to be "brand new".

... Forever is never ...

 

those pictures are normal for new dells as are some random music files she will probably find on her computer.

i assume the pics are named...
010_A10.jpg
AWWP26.jpg
008_5a.jpg
etc.

and the music files are named...
The Cells-Silver cloud_192kbps.mp3
Charlie Robison- Good times.mp3
My Personal Moon.mp3
etc.

...and are in addition to the normal stuff that comes with XP?

laptop isn't a refurb

 

Got the same pictures. HPs have pictures of random people also.

_______________________
_______________________
Dr. Gregory House: Like I always say, there's no ?I? in team. There's a ?me? though, if you jumble it up.

 

Well lads, here's a good explanation. You all got the refurbished laptops[ ]

But seriously though, I have seen this problem in the other forums too. What's the deal with this? They are not supposed to have those pictures(especially pictures of some families[:0]) and musics unless they are refurbished. I think they ARE. It's just that so many people get refurbished ones that it looks normal to get one like that. Maybe I'm wrong, whatever.. I wouldn't want one that has random files like that. Who knows what else is in there....[:I]

 

yeah, this doesn't make sense at all. Dell is not stupid and they would not practice shipping used laptops and disguising them as new. This is a complete misunderstanding on the users part and the fact that certain image software included in some of these machines throws sample images into the "My Pictures" folder. Thanks for clearing the air drumfu.

DigitalCameraReview.com | BargainPDA.com | TabletPCReviewSpot.com

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by utcomm

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by luxuguy

 

Let me ask my cousin about this ...
But if those pix were from those softwares, every laptops should have the same pix and stuff.
I have another friend who just bought a 700m ( since I'm the one who showed him the deal ). I'll compare the 2 machines and post the answers asap.

I hope I'm wrong because I really like the 700m. Even though I don't use Dell, I personally introduce Dell and its coupons to many of my friends.

... Forever is never ...

 

I have those pictures and music files too on my 700m. People are just too paranoid these days. "Don't sweat the small things", your life will become much easier and more enjoyable .

 

I just talked to my friend. And this is what I found :
My friend hasn't touched the My Documents folder, but he did remove some softwares ( and he doesn't remeber which ones ... ).
In the My Documents / My pictures / has 2 sub folders : Sample Pictures ( which comes w/ win XP ) and Demo Album. In the Demo album, there are pictures w/ trees, scenes, etc ... and NO pictures w/ 'human' in ...[ ] , and each picture has a specific name ( like island, tree,... )

In my cousin's laptop, the pictures are of a family, and the filenames look like coming from a digital camera. My other cousin is a comp eng, so when he looked at those pix, he thought the same ... those are not coming from any software ...
I just ask my cousin to email me some pics ... I'll upload here as soon as I receive it.

Note: the 2 laptops are pretty much the same. Both are 1.6Ghz, 512M 1 dimm, 60Gb HDD, but my cousin has a DVD burner, whereas my friend has a CDR/DVD combo. They both have Win XP home, w/ no other software options.

I just wanna make this thing clear. If I'm wrong, then good ... Dell is saved and I won't feel bad anymore. But if it's not, this will be a good experience for those who are planning to buy from Dell ...

... Forever is never ...

 

the fact that the subfolders are named "sample pictures" and "demo album" should be proof enough.

did you READ my post with the file sample names?

anyways, believe what you want; my work is done here.

 

i got the same family pictures in my 700m i jus got from the 750off deal...so is this normal for new computers? or is it refurbished..? keep me updated...so if it's refurb...then i amma call dell and complain about it.

 

The pictures/music are standard. It just part of the junk stuff that is put on there. Besides refurb systems have their drives cleaned and reformatted or swapped out before they are resold. Dell restores them back to orginial factory settings.

~SG~
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Inspiron 9300 || 1.73GHz || 60GB 7200rpm ||1gb DDR2||ATI Radeon X300 64MB || CD/DVD RW || XP Pro

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by SouthernGirl

 

CRAP! There could've been porn on my I9300 when it arrived?!!! [:0]

Too bad I reformated the HD as soon as I got it... [ ]

Honestly, as Southerngirl said, the chance of that happening is really really tiny. But I won't put it past Dell to be 100% on top of such things... heh

If I gotten a used drive of course I'm gonna cause a havoc. Too bad I formatted too quickly...

cheers,

yass

 

I'm a bit interested to see the pictures that are on this computer. I have seen the default images that come on new computers.

Weird things do happen, but I would be really surprised if you got a computer with somebody else’s pictures on it... Not that I'm saying it's not possible...

Tim


Dell Inspiron 9300, Pentium M 1.86GHz, 1GB 533MHz DDR2, 256MB nVidia GeForce Go 6800, 17" LG WUXGA+, 60GB HDD (7200rpm), DVD+-RW

 

people people PEOPLE !

this is my last effort in trying to stop the madness.

dell's new notebooks and refurbs are two completely distinct businesses. they share nothing except the dell name and URL. the factories are completely distinct. the distribution lines are completely distinct. even the CSRs you talk to are completely distinct.

you DID NOT get a refurb. the chances of a mixup are so infinitesimal i can't even post that many zeros.

if you ordered a NEW notebook from dell.com, you got a NEW notebook.

peace out

/thread

 

Also, I got curious and looked at my documents on the computer here at work, and there are different pictures in there than are usually on my computers at home. They all have something to do with different programs that are installed on this computer. No family stuff, just business pictures.. Obviously different programs put different pictures there..

A good way to tell is if the pictures are bad like the average family might take then they are probably somebody elses, but if they look semi perfessional, then it is probably from a program.


Dell Inspiron 9300, Pentium M 1.86GHz, 1GB 533MHz DDR2, 256MB nVidia GeForce Go 6800, 17" LG WUXGA+, 60GB HDD (7200rpm), DVD+-RW

 

glad u finally got ur point made completely clear...lol

6/14-Ordered Inspiron 9300 wit:1.86 GHZ Pentium M | 512 MB DDR RAM | 80 GB hard drive | 256 NVidia GeForce Go 6800
6/29: Expected Shipping

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by LuckMC11

 

don't worry...i ordered a new 1...and if it is refurbished..i get 2 annoy them and get sum more coupons and stuff [ ]

6/14-Ordered Inspiron 9300 wit:1.86 GHZ Pentium M | 512 MB DDR RAM | 80 GB hard drive | 256 NVidia GeForce Go 6800
6/29: Expected Shipping

 

I have an Alienware and mine too came with a couple of pictures and a couple of music files; I always assumed (and still believe) that the came with the software to "show off" the capabilities (like the free sample of detergent you get when you buy a new dishwasher)

 

my HP desktop came wit stuff like that 2...but i also thought that they were jus samples..cuz they had HP products in the pic 2...and they weren't pic taken from a reg. camera...they look like professional pics like a company would take

6/14-Ordered Inspiron 9300 wit:1.86 GHZ Pentium M | 512 MB DDR RAM | 80 GB hard drive | 256 NVidia GeForce Go 6800
6/29: Expected Shipping

 

I order to have Earthlink, but they put AOL on there.

I dont use any of it.

 

Mine came with some random pics also of families, but they were obviously "professionally" done, it looked too strange to be real. Also, the laptop showed no signs of use, whatsoever. No refurb sticker either. I know mine was new, I could tell, and Im pretty sure other people would be able to also.

Dell Inspiron 700m
Pentium M, 1.8 Ghz
1024 mb ram
80 gb HD
Dell Axim x50v
iPod 3G 20 GB

 

There is no way they'd send a refurb without formatting it first cause then someone would get a computer with another person's porn on it!

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by Conscript

 

well if you get a referb with someone elses files and like one person said god knows what else i would run a drive scrubber of some sort to totally erase and get rid of what was there to be on the safe side

 

lol, what a funny thread.

think for a second. when a laptop unit gets sent back for any reason and gets refurbished, it goes into the repair center with a reason for malfunction.

Dell checks for the listed problem then when the problem is fixed the laptop goes through various tests again to be deemed resellable.

One of the procedures while a laptop gets refurbished should be formatting the hard drive, as there might be some data left over from the previous owner. Beyond that, I assume the laptop would need a new version of windows xp and they'd format before the installation.

Basically I'm saying there's very little to no chance that there would be files left over from the previous user whether the unit was refurbished or brand new.



~


The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that is has never tried to contact us.

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by luxuguy

 

Ah.............it was probably the mailman

 

OMG, Are you people out of your MINDS?!

Dell's been sending out refurbs instead of new ones, ehhh?
So THAAAAAT's how they make all that money.

This is just ridiculous!

You don't think Dell wipes the old HDD completely before installing a new OS?
In FACT, that's probably one of the components they yank and pitch right in the big old GARBAGE BIN, since they probably cost Dell about 12 bucks a piece! It would be a complete waste of resources for a company to wipe clean an old hard drive, install a new OS, and then warrantee it!

C'mon.
THINK!

 

those "families" in the pictures are payed actors.

this post is ridiculous.

 

yea..i agree

6/14-Ordered Inspiron 9300 wit:1.86 GHZ Pentium M | 512 MB DDR RAM | 80 GB hard drive | 256 NVidia GeForce Go 6800
Update-6/20: Expected Shipping
Duble Update-6/21: 9300 Received!!!

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by jmsnyc
I have to agree with the original poster of this thread. Dell has a $750 off coupon but you can only used it with limited configuration options and price bloated by extended warranties. You do not save money. There laptops actually cost more than they did a month ago, coipons considered. I most likely will look elsewhere!
<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'></font id='quote'></blockquote id='quote'>

My bad, I was confusing this thread with a different thread, replied late at night. I DON'T agree with the original post of this thread re: refurbished units as new. I do however believe that Dell is "tricky" with their coupons as mentioned above. There was another thread in this forum on that topic and thats where I should have replied...