Why I Will Not Buy A Dell Again.

I had my dell inspiron 1420 for a little over a year now. During the previous year, I did have some problems with my laptop, but they were easy fixes.

Now, about couple of weeks ago, my laptop began overheating. I quickly contacted dell, and they decided to send out a technician to my house to fix this issue. I was happy and thought this will solve all my problems.

2 days passes and the technician gets to my house. He was a nice guy and he quickly replaces the motherboard & heatsink of my laptop. I thought all was good. He starts up the laptop, however it quickly shuts down 20 seconds later. He is confounded, I am confounded.

He suggested that the NEW motherboard could be DOA and he contacted dell. Dell suggested to ship the laptop to their depot for them to take a look at it. i was quite upset with this, but I knew I had no other choice.

The technician came on Thursday and dell promised me an overnight shipping box. Which I assumed would arrive on Friday/Saturday. I wait until Monday, it still has not arrived so I went ahead and call Dell.

I was on the phone for about 45 minutes, only to be told that that OVERNIGHT shipping box has not been shipped yet. I was like ?!

So, I told the lady to just send a technician out here again. I cant wait anymore. I'm a student/work-online. It's been 5 days since I used my laptop and I couldn't wait for Dell to fix my laptop. I rather have another technician come and replace the motherboard. The lady said okay.

Now, Tuesday. My overnight-shipped box finally arrives. I'm keeping it in a safe place in case the technician cannot fix my laptop. Today, I get a call from the technician. Apparently he only got the message to come to my house and the replacement motherboard is all the way in another city.
He can't come day, only tomorrow. Awesome eh?

Whats worse is that, I recently bought their accidental protection warranty for $100. Meaning that if something happens to my laptop, I will have to go through this horrible service again.

So here I am. Borrowing my sisters laptop for a day so I can get some work done. It will be almost a week since I lased turned on my laptop.

Thanks Dell,
Sincerely,
a very upset & frustrated customer.

ps: here's a quick rundown without details.

1) June 2nd: Contacted Dell chat regarding my overheating problem. They decided to send a technician out to replace my motherboard/heatsink.

2) June 4: The technician replaces the motherboard/heatsink. Laptop shuts down after 20 seconds of being on. Technician contacts dell. Dell decides send an overnight shipping box for me to send my laptop back to Dell.

3) June 8: The shipping box has not arrived yet. I call dell. Dell says the box has not been shipped yet. Frustrated, I tell them to just send me another technician. They said okay.

4) june 9: The overnight shipping box finally arrives. No contact from technician nor dell.

5)june 10: The technician calls me and tells me that he only got the call to come to my place today. And the replacement motherboard is in another city.

 

I had almost the exact same experience with my 1420. Overheated, GPU died. Technician came to replace motherboard. Wouldn't stay on for more than a minute before spontaneously dying.

Had them order new replacement. Had to wait a MONTH AND A HALF for it to arrive. And now the replacement died a few weeks ago. Currently typing on a laptop with a new motherboard. Absolutely hate my laptop, but I'm stuck with it.

I'm a student too, so I can't afford to be without a laptop. But at the same time, I can't afford to buy a new one.

 

From looking at your specs. We had the same exact laptop.
But I had a 80GB Drive, and resolution was 1440x900

 

Hey,
I'm sorry to hear of your prob's with getting the repair taken care of, once and for all with Dell.

The Technician, is he planning on being to your house to repair your lappy by Friday?

I'm surprised that it was dispatched like this..usually the Technician will call you to setup a time/date, once the part has been received. And, Dell usually overnights those.

You have the option of waiting another day or two, until the Techn' can repair for you & and once that's complete you can send information to Dell Upper Mgmt, or an Unresolved Issues form..stating that you were unhappy with what has happened.

It just seems like someone made a error on their end, and now you have to pay for that by continued waiting for the repair.

Hang in there! It won't be too much longer til the Techn' comes to repair.


Cin

 

I will never get On site service ever again... they never offered to send me a tech... and just told me to ship it to depot anyways...

 

I hope at least the technician calls me today to tell me the time he will come. If he comes.

 

I hope that you get a call today, also with the Techn' stating he can come out this afternoon to repair!! *fingers crossed*

Cin

 

That really sucks! It's really bad that you have to remind them what their service actually means. I'm glad my service calls have been dealt with better so far.

 

it depends what type of warranty you get, and whether the parts are in stock when you call...

for Dell XPS, warranty is always next-business day (if parts are available, usually the tech is also available).... for inspiron, maybe not

 

tissle ~ Did he contact you today?? I hope so...
Let us know! Waiting on the Technician requires patience...I remember that well!


Cin

 

Yes, the technician came today and replaced the motherboard. Great guy too.
Now everything works, but my original problem is still there (GPU is at 70 right now) but I had enough of dell's incompetence for month.

 

I love the XPS for this fact alone. My M1210's LCD inverter died and everything was taken care of in 4 business days, starting from my initial phone call to receiving the package back on my doorstep. I was absolutely floored at the speed it was taken care of.

 

Well, the whole process seems to have taken 8 days. That really sucks, but at least you got a fix and in home service. If I lose my lappy (I got the same one) - I'll be a mail order only. Worst of all, I have the dreaded nvidia defect living under the hood of my machine-and friends that are convinced that cheaper PCs are designed to fail after 1-3 years of light use! BAH.

Keep it together though! You sure aren't the first person to lose a motherboard, or get a couple bad parts in a row. If you aren't happy with the way everything gets resolved, maybe you can either get an equivalent (or better) refurb, or at least remember to choose a different brand next time!

 

I have been recommending Dell to my friends and family for almost twenty years now but only recently had to deal with them myself. Needless to say, I won't be recommending them from now on.

 

What's your story?

 

Why did you recommend them if you had never dealt with them

 

Tissle..glad they finally came and replaced the Motherboard.

That's too bad your still having the same issue...I would not give up on this.
Contact Dell back, and have them try and find some sort of resolve for you.

If not there are still the other options to try and further your resolve...Unresolved Issues form, etc.


Cin

 

Just a few reasons.
1) In the early 90's I was very into building pc's for friends and family. I was reading tech journals and kept up to date with prices and performance of hard drives, processors, graphics cards etc. Dell had a very good reputation - at least from what I read.

2) In the late 90's I really was turned on to buying through their online web store. I thought it was great. You just pick exactly what you want and it's all delivered to your doorstep. I have have helped other people order from the site step by step more than half-a-dozen times.

3) The people I knew that had bought from Dell were generally pleased with their products. I heard very few horror stories until the last 5 years.

the short version: I ordered the new m17x notebook computer the morning of the first day it was available. People who ordered very similar systems two and three days later have been in the boxing stage for about 3-5 days now and some will get their systems before the end of this week. Mine is still in the build stage because it's waiting for the black chassis. It's on backorder. Because of that, a 2-3 day delay has become a 12-13 day delay. If everything goes well I should get my system just before the end of the month. Big deal? Well, it is if you consider that the people getting their systems also have the black chassis and the only difference is they ordered theirs by phone instead of online. After reading the Alienware forum I think it's because the orders by phone get placed ahead of the orders from the website. This is even when the company says everything gets processed in order.
Still, that's not enough for me to drop recommendations for them. The big turn-off is when I called customer 'care' I got the run-around, hang-ups, misinformation, the occasional extremely rude person, and a general feeling a we don't care. This is all before I even get my system. I dread the day I will have to call for customer service. It would really make me feel bad if my sister or a friend had to deal with these people because I recommended them.
Now don't get me wrong, not all experiences with their support have been bad. Some of the people were very nice but having to deal with other ones - shudder.

 

Because probably like me I never had to call them for service. At one time Dell was reliable -- never had problems with my 8100, 8200, m700, various desktops going back to PC Limited. Zero service calls for over 10 PC's. The last 3 Dells have been service nightmares, M90, XPS-One and the infamous m1330....

Think I would recommend Dell anymore -- NOOOOO.

 

I'd always recommend Dell, but never product lines such as inspiron and vostro. For these consumer-level laptops, you get what you pay for , which isn't much.

But I swear by Dell Latitude. I am still using my D600, and am seeking to upgrade to an E-series laptop.

 

The Vostro is a business-level notebook, surely it has better support than an Inspiron or Studio?

 

Tissle and JBBW,

I have to say I completely feel your pain. I have owned a few Dells - my very first was a Inspiron 8600 about 4-5 years ago, then a 600m. My last was the XPS M1330.
Dell's customer support; especially for warranty issues or hardware failures is some of the worst I have ever seen. I'm sure there could be worse, but I'm not entirely sure it is possible.

A pretty recent story: My mom owns/ed a Dell XPS 14" (Model something or other) that motherboard failed about two or three years ago, which caused her to complain to Dell for them to replace the notebook for a comparable model. (Which was the Inspiron e1450 as the 14" XPS model was discontinued) This was after the support tech. came to the house with a new motherboard in hand and replaced the motherboard; which still did not fix the problem.

Fast forward to about 2 weeks ago; with my mom just having a year left on warranty there were issues that should be fixed. A DVD-ROM that would not eject, a really loose LCD screen hinges, and lastly two of the four USB ports are broken as the black "divider" that protects four prongs inside the part has come off.

After being on the phone for over an hour and at the beginning being connected to a more helpful XPS support as Dell never changed express service codes and apparently must get worse service (Inspiron service) being her past replacement laptop was a Inspiron.

The Result: 1.) Indian lady said she would have someone from Dell call me back the next day. (I wanted to tell my mom of what would be and wouldn't be covered from Dell)

2.) Loose display hinges wouldn't be fixed. 2x USB ports wouldn't be fixed. DVD-ROM is the only part that would be fixed. Which ironically, Dell was contacted over a year about.

3.) I never recieved a phone call.

Dell's customer and technical support is awful. On the other hand, during the same time this happened I contacted Apple to fixed my 9-month old MacBook from petty cracking on the bottom. Their support was terrific, I actually talking to an AMERICAN. And everything was handled next day over-night shipping.

I won't say I'll never buy another Dell again (as I recently purchased their Mini 10 netbook for a trip based on their cheap price), as some of their outlet prices are cheaper than any other manufacturer out there. But I'll never purchase an extended warranty from them ever again. However, as for any real expensive laptop future purchase, I can't say that I can whole heartedly recommend them.

 

@justbrowsing

You got a XPS replaced by an Inspiron!?! Replacements should be equal or better, you should've never agreed to it really.

My service calls have all been dealt with very fast. I can't say anything on the consumer lines but the NBD service is great!

 

@Justbrowsing, I agree here with Lptplvr...An Inspiron for a *replacement*....that's just doesn't seem right that they did that!

Sorry that happened to you, and your troubles...Are you at least liking your Mini 10??


Cin

 

Er, let me clarify. I just figured out which XPS notebook that she purchased. It was the XPS M140 which can be viewed here: ( Notebook Review)

This is a model that was in Dell's XPS' line for a very, very short period of time. Maybe just over a year. It is in every-way-shape and form the same thing as the Inspiron E14xx/E15xx lines.

At that point and time - my mom didn't think "Oh, shucks I would get "worse" quality support if they hand me a over a Inspiron" which for all practical purposes was the same thing as the XPS M140 before it.

So - yes even though the title is different; the innards were still the same. The processor was a bit faster too I think. Dell handled the situation okay, but took a LOT of complaining.

 

Thanks for the *clarification* And, yes it was on Dell's line for a short period of time!

And, even though you got a decent replacement..you shan't have had to *complain* that much...No customer should!


Cin

 

See the above response.

Haven't got it yet - it was the entire reason I checked out this Dell sub-thread of this messageboard. I check out this forums off and on. Been around for a couple years but don't post much.

As for the Mini 10; Dell screwed up (what's new there) and shipped the product to the BILL-TO address and not the SHIP-TO address I specified. If it wasn't only an hour away; I think I would be even more pissed off. I'm just not surprised that they'd screw up on something so trivial.

They also did not send me a tracking number or a carrier information from my "My Account" page where you log-in with your e-mail address and password. So yeah, Dell still in my opinion isn't the best.

I know that the mini 10; especially the one I purchased has its limitations --primarily that Dell screwed people and you can't upgrade the memory past it's 1GB standard set and the fact that they utilized a video chipset that was very odd. The Intel GMA 500; ugh -- the price made it worth it. I've been looking at every netbook manufacturer out there and even pre-ordered the Asus 1000HE earlier in the year and probably should've just stuck with it.

However - for $259 or something and then a 15% coupon bringing it to $235 - you can't find a better deal. This is how it is with all of their products; they're some of the best buys around. You can't compete with them on price; but other areas especially - ESPECIALLY customer support and satisfaction they suck BIG, BIG time. Like I said earlier, I bought obviously another Dell product - but I know what I'm getting into. But I'd never fork down another $400 for a long-term laughable 3-year "at-home" warranty ever again.

Getting through to their "support" especially their "technical support" will take you all day long to diagnose the problem and go through those hoops. No thanks. I'm done with that stuff; and apparently (as the thread starter stated) so is he.

 

Thanks for the further information!

And, Dell Customer Support and Tech Support seem to be *long winded* when it comes to help their customer at times...Something that needs more training, and great improvement.

You did get a great deal on that Mini 10!

I'm really sorry for all the prob's you have had....


Cin

 

i've had an inspiron 1420 for over a year now, and haven't had a single problem. however, my friends who got the older inspiron e series have all had one problem after another, including loose screens, worn out keyboard, and worn down chassis. this leads me to conclude that maybe that generation of dells all had poor QC. I guess it all depends on how lucky we are when we order!

 

i've got a 5160 that had 2 mobo changes; ran out of warranty, and the north bridge? chip overheated and now has a 1mm burnt hole on it - this caused the USB ports to fail - but otherwise it runs ok.
I've since placed a heatsink on it.

the M1210's temps are just ridiculously high - always around 60 something.
I've dismantled the entire thing and put new thermal grease on it.
lowered a couple of Celsius - not a big help.

if engineering design is bad - nothing else will make up for it.
a cooler machine ensures longevity;
it doesn't matter if the chassis is made of magnesium alloy and the build quality is awesome, when the innards are fried.

my old Inspiron 7000 is still running! although some keys are screwed.

 

What always runs around 60? CPU, GPU, HDD?