Dell Computers

[Donnask8pro]

Is anyone out there having problems with their Dell computers? My mil purchased one and w/i 4 months the hard drive went. Does anyone have an address to the President of the company? Or a regional office? Thanks for the help.

 

[hegs65]

To answer your question, I bought my Dell PIECE OF JUNK last December and would not recommend it to anyone! My hard drive died at the end of March and had to be completely replaced. (They sent it to me free of charge)) I lost alot of info and ALOT of time on the phone trying to figure out what was wrong with it. Then, last month, I tried but wasn't able to access the internet. I called my ISP and they came out within the hour and said it was a problem with my computer. I then called Dell who informed me that it would cost me $99 to trouble shoot and figure out the problem. Well, after 7 1/2 hours on the phone (not kidding-I was a maniac!) I ended up having to call back multiple times because first, my home phone battery died, then my cell phone died, and then my inlaws phone died!- NO LIE-each time getting a new person) there was still no answer. Finally the next day after another 2 1/2 hours on the phone and after completely wiping out everything and starting over like it was new from the box, the tech informed me that it "could be" that I needed to have my motherboard and/or my ethernet card and my cd rom replaced. I was beside myself! On top of that, I went to replace my ink cartridges ($105 worth for color and b/w) and they short circuited which rendered my printer useless. Needless to say, if you are reading this post and considering buying a Dell computer-DON'T DO IT!!!!!!!!!! I hold my breath everytime I turn this ridiculous thing on...Patty

PS if you happen to get the name and address of the President, please post it as I have alot to tell him!

 

[Donnask8pro]

I posted on the budget board also and got a response from someone who had an address. Check it out. Good Luck. I feel your pain. my MIL is going crazy. They want to charge her 100. also.

 

[DaBoo]

Sorry dont have any help in the information area...just wanted to add my gripe about Dell. My DH gave me one for Christmas last year. The Monitor went out right after the 90 days. The only reply from Dell was "Sorry you didnt buy the service plan".

 

[DMRick]

As I mentioned on the other post, if you pay for these items with your credit card (most gold or platnum) you get double your warranty through the card. Unfortunately, hard drives and mother boards are not made by Dell, just used by them, and since most of those go, if they are going to, within 6 mos (faster if you turn them on and off nightly I've been told), I suggest people get a one year warranty, using their cc which gives them 2 years. Most of the inexpensive Dell's are coming with short warrenty's to keep the price down to the really low cost (although they do offer to let you extend that..but because so many of us want an inexpensive computer we turn it down..I did..and it seems some are paying the price because of that.
Also, it's really important that you do backups of your stuff. A harddrive can go at any time, and most computers come with cd or dvd writers, and it really doesn't take much time to back up files.
In the Northeast, we've had a big year for lightening also, and I know many (of various brands) that have been zapped. So much easier to get back up to speed, if you have your files backed up.
The week that my grands was hit by lightening, my daughters HP was also hit. They have been lucky though, both HP and Dell trouble shooted for no cost. The Dell was bought through the business side, since my husband is retired form GE...I don't know if that made a difference. But it was 6 mos out of it's warranty.

 

[C.Ann]

Is anyone out there having problems with their Dell computers? My mil purchased one and w/i 4 months the hard drive went.

--------------------------

She was lucky.. DD's FIL's hard drive went 2 days after he got it.. And my SIL has had nothing but problems with his Dell since 2 months after he purchased it..

I swear - I have a clunky old reconditioned IBM here (former office machine) that has to be at least 5 years old (if not older) - and another IBM up to the lake that I obtained from the Flintsones when they decided to upgrade and I've never had ANY of the problems that these newer machines have.. I even carried my lake computer around in the back of my van for 6 months (right through the dead of winter, bouncing it around all over the place) and it still works just fine.. I really don't get what the problem is with the newer machines..

 

[DianeV]

No Dell problems here

 

[DMRick]

--------------------------

She was lucky.. DD's FIL's hard drive went 2 days after he got it.. And my SIL has had nothing but problems with his Dell since 2 months after he purchased it..

Yep, they usually either go pretty quick or not at all. I have several Dell's, and no more problems than I would expect. The main one I'm using now, lost it's hard drive very quickly (my Gateway lost it's monitor 1 day past the warrenty..tough luck). Prob would have lost it sooner (the hdd) if I had ever turned the computer off. Dell sells a very very large amount of computers. Most run wonderfully just like they should. As with any brand. Some die, and those are usually the ones you hear about. Can't say it enough..if you like what's on your harddrive, back it up.
You have been very lucky C.Ann, to drive around for 6 mos with the computer in your van and still have a hdd work good.
A lot of large companies (State of NY, GE among them) buy thousands of Dells and keep going back when they need more. It's really the luck of the draw, because beyond testing them when they first put them in, there is no way to tell which hhd is going to fail. We do have protection on our computer (not just a strip, but a ups) and I think that has saved me a lot when the lightening and brown outs start up here in the Northeast.

 

[hercamore]

Sorry to hear about your Dell.

I agree with CAnn. We have had IBM computers for the last 21 years. We have 5 machines amongst the 4 in our family. All 3-4 yrs old, but constanly upgraded by DH. Two get hauled around a lot by our two college age kids.

herc.

 

[C.Ann]

Sorry to hear about your Dell.

I agree with CAnn. We have had IBM computers for the last 21 years. We have 5 machines amongst the 4 in our family. All 3-4 yrs old, but constanly upgraded by DH. Two get hauled around a lot by our two college age kids.

herc.

---------------------------

Isn't it amazing? They're like roaches - just can't kill 'em!

 

[Cathy baby RN]

Yep, they usually either go pretty quick or not at all. I have several Dell's, and no more problems than I would expect. The main one I'm using now, lost it's hard drive very quickly (my Gateway lost it's monitor 1 day past the warrenty..tough luck). Prob would have lost it sooner (the hdd) if I had ever turned the computer off. .

Please answer this question that I always wonder about.....are you suppose to shut down your computer each night or leave it on? My college daughter
leaves hers on all the time. We shut ours down.


I agree with what you said about the luck of the draw as far as computers go.We bought our home pc and a desk top for our daughter (Gateway) at the same time. She has replaced just about everything on hers , including the hard drive. She also didn't have the problems until she shut it down. Ours has been just fine. She now uses a Dell laptop and so far so good. Now, should you shut these down at night? Will they overheat? I too have been guilty about not buying the extened warranty because of the price.

 

[C.Ann]

Please answer this question that I always wonder about.....are you suppose to shut down your computer each night or leave it on? My college daughter
leaves hers on all the time. We shut ours down. .

---------------------------------

I've always shut mine down at night - as has every business I've ever worked for.. I've never heard of not shutting them down and as I said earlier, my old IBM's take a lickin' and keep on tickin'..

 

[DMRick]

We leave ours on all the time. They go to sleep to save on power. It's hard on computers and if you are going to have a failure, it generally happens on turn on. When we have a new computer, we turn it on and off often, to see how it will be..if it's going to break, I want it to break while young. We have two on all the time, and one that is just a backup, so that's seldom on, and the laptops are shut down nightly. Both my brother, who is a retired NCR repairman, and my computer guru, who I go to for all my answers (he heads up a large Government computer dept (and they leave theirs on too) leave theirs on, and tell me to leave mine on. We always did when I worked for the state also, and a large manufacturer in our area leaves theirs on. The computers in the cityhall and courthouse where I live are also left one. In the "olden" days (5 and more years ago) more people shut them off, but now it's common to leave them on. That said, I would only leave on a computer if it has an uninterupted power supply on it, in case of brown outs, lightening or power failures (and if you have one and your computer gets fried, they pay for it). Most all of the places I know of, have those, as I do.
A laptop is different. That gets shut off every night.
If you have a particular guru who keeps you up and running, it's best you do what he advises, since they are who you will have to go to to get it fixed.
All that said, our computers last forever..and when I'm done with them we pass them down. Of course we do upgrades as needed to keep them able to be used. I seldom even do a reboot..why fix what isn't broken. As long as I'm running at lightening speed, I figure I'm doing something right LOL!

 

[Kramer]

Our Dell is 4 years old and running strong... I have upgraded the memory, added a second hard drive, added a DVD burner, and added a USB 2.0 port on it and everything is running smooth. I am pretty happy with my DELL.

 

[Bella the Ball 360]

As I mentioned on the other post, if you pay for these items with your credit card (most gold or platnum) you get double your warranty through the card. Unfortunately, hard drives and mother boards are not made by Dell, just used by them, and since most of those go, if they are going to, within 6 mos (faster if you turn them on and off nightly I've been told), I suggest people get a one year warranty, using their cc which gives them 2 years. Most of the inexpensive Dell's are coming with short warrenty's to keep the price down to the really low cost (although they do offer to let you extend that..but because so many of us want an inexpensive computer we turn it down..I did..and it seems some are paying the price because of that.
Also, it's really important that you do backups of your stuff. A harddrive can go at any time, and most computers come with cd or dvd writers, and it really doesn't take much time to back up files.
In the Northeast, we've had a big year for lightening also, and I know many (of various brands) that have been zapped. So much easier to get back up to speed, if you have your files backed up.
The week that my grands was hit by lightening, my daughters HP was also hit. They have been lucky though, both HP and Dell trouble shooted for no cost. The Dell was bought through the business side, since my husband is retired form GE...I don't know if that made a difference. But it was 6 mos out of it's warranty.

You mention that if you pay for them with your gold or platnimum card you can get double warrenty. I just want to clarify if you pay the extra 100 for the year, and you use a gold card (I would check it out with my company first) I could get two years? If this is true I did not know that and it is worth looking into.

 

[DMRick]

You mention that if you pay for them with your gold or platnimum card you can get double warrenty. I just want to clarify if you pay the extra 100 for the year, and you use a gold card (I would check it out with my company first) I could get two years? If this is true I did not know that and it is worth looking into.

Most cards that offer the extra warrenty will add up to a year, not to exceed a total of two years. Check with your card. It involves some paper work and you have to have your credit card charge statement (we keep all the statements where we have bought anything electronic in one folder..but if you lost them, your cc company will send you a new copy..at least ours does) but it has been well worth the time. We've used the extended warrenty several times, making our cc even more valuable.