Dell is AWESOME!

[RachelsMommie]

Wanted to share an experience with Dell Computers.

They have replaced our video card 7 times in the past 2.5 years. Today they finally admitted they have no idea what in the system is causing the overheating of the video cards and they let me pick out a brand-new KICK-BOOTY machine that is way better than my current machine (as it is almost 3 years old) and will have it to me by the end of the week for no charge to me. Plus I'll get a bigger hard drive, faster processor, more RAM, a blu-ray drive, and Windows 7 instead of Vista. Good job, Dell! They have my business for life!

So nice to see a company actually stand behind their product.

 

[FireDancer]

As much as I make fun of Dell and their Indian call center (Hello this is Jim...no it is not) we have a lot of dell products at work, including 10+ servers, and my experience when dealing with their customer service has always been positive. I'm sure dealing with the business products side doesn't hurt but I'm glad their consumer side gave you good service.

 

[doconeill]

I've dealt exclusively with deal at a professional level for several years now (I like their servers - mostly) and their laptops are pretty good - my work laptop is at least 3 years old, probably 4, and I'd easily buy one of them now to replace DW's older Dell.

But MAN I can't stand talking to India.

I had a problem with a Dell desktop I bought for home (I used to build my own desktops, until that was no longer cost effective and the risk of creating bricks from expensive pieces was going up), where if I turned it on with a USB hard disk connected, it froze on the "DELL" BIOS screen. Totally frozen. Have to hold the power button for several seconds to turn off frozen. And even disconnecting the drive after that didn't help - I had to disconnect the power cord for at least a few seconds to get a cold reset before I could boot it again.

They tried to tell me it was the USB drive. I had tried three different brands. A USB flash drive caused similar problems, but it would eventually boot.

They tried to tell me it was NORMAL, and that I shouldn't boot the system with a USB drive attached. Well, sure - if you have everything conveniently places that you can plug and unplug at will.

They sent a tech with a replacement motherboard. Not only didn't it help, but THAT motherboard had more BIOS-related problems. It took a lot longer to boot because it insisted on trying to boot off the network, even with the option to do so completely disabled.

They sent me a replacement system so they could diagnose the one I had. New system still had the problem (but fixed the new problems), and they couldn't reproduce the problem - because they were using a flash drive.

I figured out that the built-in 12-in-1 flash reader aggravated the issue.

After many infuriating phone calls, I posted on my blog - and someone said they had the EXACT same problem, went around with Dell ("Nope, we've had no other reports of this issue..."), and there was an obscure BIOS setting regarding where you needed to set the default speed of the USB ports to "Full/Low" instead of "High". It didn't slow down the drive - it still worked in High Speed mode, but made the problem go away.

These days, even as a business customer with piles of their servers we have to convince them we know what we are talking about when the hard drive dies that the hard drive needs to be replaced, and we don't need to run diagnostics with them on the phone to know that the hard drive needs to be replaced because we've already confirmed it...before, it used to be, "We need a drive." "OK, it will be there in the morning..."

 

[TammyAlphabet]

They have had to replace the video card 7 times in 2 years, and have no idea why it is doing that? I imagine I would never want another Dell computer for the rest of my life. LOL. Apple anyone?

 

[jcb]

I had a problem with a Dell desktop I bought for home (I used to build my own desktops, until that was no longer cost effective and the risk of creating bricks from expensive pieces was going up), where if I turned it on with a USB hard disk connected, it froze on the "DELL" BIOS screen. Totally frozen. Have to hold the power button for several seconds to turn off frozen. And even disconnecting the drive after that didn't help - I had to disconnect the power cord for at least a few seconds to get a cold reset before I could boot it again.
* * *

I figured out that the built-in 12-in-1 flash reader aggravated the issue.

After many infuriating phone calls, I posted on my blog - and someone said they had the EXACT same problem, went around with Dell ("Nope, we've had no other reports of this issue..."), and there was an obscure BIOS setting regarding where you needed to set the default speed of the USB ports to "Full/Low" instead of "High". It didn't slow down the drive - it still worked in High Speed mode, but made the problem go away.

I still have the same problem with my Seagate external drive (I had a smaller Seagate that didn't have this problem). I had a Dell Precision and now a Latitude. Both laptops do this. I'm looking forward to trying your solution.

Dell's computer are not perfect. My precision was the worst laptop I've ever used. It had 3 motherboard replacements (all under warranty) for various issues. The reason I keep buy Dells is because they have always supported their products under warranty without hassle. (My new laptop had the wrong screen resolution because my IT person didn't closely read the order - nor did I, I admit. Dell took it back without balking.)

Yes, dealing with them on the phone is a pain (I now do it by using their chat function) and I have been really po'd at the before when a rude tech support person cut me off because I supposedly had a "software" problem not a "hardware" problem. On the whole I've been very happy with their support.

 

[Sphyrna]

Glad to hear you had such a great outcome after all that frustration. They replaced my boss's laptop because it kept blowing out the power adapter. The warranty was going to expire in 2 weeks and they agreed to replace the entire system. I'm glad to see they do that for their consumer customers as well as their business customers.

 

[TallyTutter]

As much as I make fun of Dell and their Indian call center (Hello this is Jim...no it is not) we have a lot of dell products at work, including 10+ servers, and my experience when dealing with their customer service has always been positive. I'm sure dealing with the business products side doesn't hurt but I'm glad their consumer side gave you good service.

When I make a customer service call (with anyone) & get a "Jim" I let my southern accent take total control! USUALLY I get sent to someone with a western accent, they usually call it something like "premier support".

It's only backfired on me one time. I got "Jim" when I called about my TiVo & brought out my inner Dolly. "Jim" hung on like a tick on a hound dog! My daughter died laughing because I had to stick with that outrageous accent for about 20 minutes! It was funny & "Jim" was able to help me. I bet he has a heck of a story for the office parties though!

 

[BrizMarc]

They have had to replace the video card 7 times in 2 years, and have no idea why it is doing that? I imagine I would never want another Dell computer for the rest of my life. LOL. Apple anyone?

I was thinking the same thing. If it was me they would have lost a customer. I want something that works. Not nice helpful people at call centers that I should NEVER need to ring in the first place.

 

[Friendly Frog]

I wish I could play a CD on my new Dell pc.

It makes this weird skipping/delay think. It is sort of like a poorly streaming YouTube video. Dell came out and replaced the CD drive but it did not fix the problem. The software guys say it is a hardware problem, the hardware guys say it's software. (My husband blames windows, but my friend with the same OS on HP has no problem.) Strange thing is after it plays the CD once, I can replay it right away just fine.

 

[doconeill]

I wish I could play a CD on my new Dell pc.

It makes this weird skipping/delay think. It is sort of like a poorly streaming YouTube video. Dell came out and replaced the CD drive but it did not fix the problem. The software guys say it is a hardware problem, the hardware guys say it's software. (My husband blames windows, but my friend with the same OS on HP has no problem.) Strange thing is after it plays the CD once, I can replay it right away just fine.

Hmm...for some reason that is sounding a bit software-ish, or your audio card/drivers. I'd try updating the audio drivers first.

Are you using Windows Media Player?

It COULD still be the drive, or its connection to the system. It could be playing right the second time due to data caching.

 

[Friendly Frog]

Good news, we found a fix! Per DH, two different music players that came with on the pc were both trying to update at the same time? Anyway, he has it working now! Yippeeeee.