<p>newmassdad, it seems you have come up against the perverbial brick wall. Though it didn’t happen w/us, I have heard of many disappointed Dell owners.</p>
<p>OT, but a really friend of my D is in his first year on a Rhodes at Oxford. Other than some science, I don’t know what he is studying.</p>
<p>I had an issue with my computer right before Thanksgiving. I had the option of sending mine into them for them to evaluate and fix. Was told it’d take 10-15 days. Being right before finals, I couldn’t do it. Instead, they sent me a brand new computer and then I returned mine after I got my new one. 5-year warranty was definitely worth it!</p>
<p>For what it’s worth, posters on the website Consumerist, who have many a sad Dell laptop tale to tell, recommend contacting the company’s executive support team when regular support is unsatisfactory: <a href="mailto:michael@dell.com">michael@dell.com</a></p>
<p>Big, BIG, BIG fan of Dell this morning.
Called on Monday with charging / adaptor issue, second time on this Dell. Covered by extended warranty I bought last August. (On my own after August, they won’t support such an old computer)</p>
<p>Yesterday, TWO DAYS AFTER THE CALL, the tech was in my home, replaced
with newer motherboard,
new adapter,
new adapter port,
and keyboard.</p>
<p>It’s like a NEW SUPER FAST computer this morning, and I’m a BIG DELL FAN!!!</p>
<p>I’ve never purchased an extended warranty for a computer. I feel that a computer should work and that if there’s a defect, it should show up within a few months.</p>
<p>best money I spent …
so glad I made that purchase when the four year warranty expired last August.</p>
<p>I’ve had both good and bad experiences with Dell, but the bad far outweigh the good. My next computer will not be a Dell.</p>
<p>My issue with Dell is that I paid extra for on-site, next day repair, but that isn’t what I got. (And apparently not what lots of other folks got.) Despite having tremendous evidence that my drive was not writing media accurately (ten discs written out each had fatal errors in different places) I was put through literally hours of try this -try that with incompetent people on the phone in India. Some of what I was asked to do was in fact hazardous to my system, and I knew enough to just say no. After weeks of arguing, they finally decided that I needed a new drive, they sent a tech out three days later, and ten minutes later my computer was working fine. </p>
<p>I don’t know how much it cost them for the hours of time I spent on the phones with India, but I know that I value my time, and when I’ve paid for an extended warranty with next day on-site service, I don’t expect to have to go through several weeks of nonsense while Dell tries to come up with every other possible solution other than replacing a $60 drive. </p>
<p>Like Alamo – which gave us great grief on getting the car rental rate we’d been quoted in writing – my Dell experience left me with a clear understanding that they’d lost my future business forever.</p>
<p>^^^ was this recent experience. I found greatly improved customer service in last 12 months</p>
<p>Southjerseychessmom - does the extended warranty cover the adaptor? Mine has died and I am using an old one from a previous computer. I thought it didn’t cover adaptors for some reason. Maybe I was getting it mixed up with the battery not being covered.</p>
<p>Swimcatsmom, does not cover the battery.
This was second time I had the same problem with this Dell Inspiron.
The Adaptor was not fitting tightly into the port, and unless I wrapped the wire, under, over around, pulled to one side or another, my battery was not charging. </p>
<p>I know someone else who had the same problem with this laptop, so it might be common problem.
I would definitely call them, and say your computer is not charging. They may send out new adaptor, which they did on my first call couple years ago. This time they just sent out the tech with all the replacement parts.</p>
<p>FYI -Dell tech asked me if I had any popped/ broken keys, and I mentioned the letters were just worn off two keys, so they sent new keyboard!</p>
<p>I suspect that the OP in this thread would disagree that service has improved.</p>
<p>I’m not suggesting that Dell always provides bad customer service, just that they’ve done so often enough that 40+ states entered into settlement agreements with Dell where consumers can get payments from the fund for Dell’s actions (or failures to act, in the case of service.) New York’s announcement included the following paragraph:
“The settlement follows a decision of the New York Supreme Court, Albany County, which sustained Attorney General Cuomos claims that Dell had engaged in fraud, false advertising, deceptive business practices, and abusive debt collection practices. The courts decision came as a result of the original lawsuit filed by Cuomos Office, which charged that Dell engaged in bait and switch advertising with respect to its no interest financing promotions, misled consumers to believe they had qualified for promotional financing, failed to adequately disclose the terms of its next day service contracts and failed to provide consumers with warranty service and promised rebates.”</p>
<p>Maybe they’re not as bad as they used to be, but having been burned once by them I’m not eager to step up and have a second chance to be fried. Apple isn’t perfect, but every time I’ve had any kind of issue I’ve been able to speak with a rep who spoke great English, had great tech knowledge, and who was able to get my problem promptly resolved. The one time time that my computer had to go back in a second time for the same problem, they just turned around and gave me an entirely new computer. </p>
<p>That kind of service respects my time, my need for a working computer, and the promises they made when I made my purchase. It works for me.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>That’s what I thought when I read OP’s story. I’ve always avoided Dell laptops because of all the horror stories that I’ve heard over the years.</p>
<p>^^^It HAS been good. In the early - mid nineties when I had a guy on the phone helping me patiently in the wee hours of the morning.
And yes, I’ve had some bad experiences with the call center in India.
Followed by one a couple of years ago when the guy patiently helped me solve my problem even after we determined my computer was out of warranty.
And my s got next day service when his MB failed. </p>
<p>Yeah, they have their problems. Yes, apple is better. But really, Apple is WAY more expensive. I’m a cheapy and Dell has served me well over the years. Typing on one right now…four years with no problems and going strong.</p>
<p>I can’t say I’m much more pleased with Apple than you guys are with Dell. D’s new (bought last summer) MacBook died. She brought it to the nearest Apple store, which was unable to replace the hard drive for a week and a half because of a purported need to “order the parts”. How can an Apple retail store not have hard drives for MacBooks on hand? Of course the other troubling issue is the fact that the hard drive failed on a new piece of (and very overpriced) equipment.</p>
<p>[Apple</a> dips 1%, still trounces Dell, in customer satisfaction - Apple 2.0 - Fortune Brainstorm Tech](<a href=“http://brainstormtech.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2009/08/18/apple-dips-1-still-trounces-dell-in-customer-satisfaction/]Apple”>http://brainstormtech.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2009/08/18/apple-dips-1-still-trounces-dell-in-customer-satisfaction/)
Based on everything I’m reading here…I would think Dell’s ratings would be worse.
Yeah, apple is better. And more expensive too. If you want a Windows computer, Dell doesn’t seem like a bad choice based on this.</p>
<p>Son had similar poor experience with his 2 1/2 year old expensive, highly loaded, laptop. Dell has been less than good about it. Difficult to get support. Finally offered and sent new hard drive (if that is the problem?) and we just paid for a Macbook Pro for him. Hie is thrilled with it. </p>
<p>Other, younger son loves his new Dell. Hopefully it will last longer.</p>
<p>Like others have said, The NY Attorney General had to bring the hammer down on Dell last year. It’s very discouraging to read how a once-great company has slid into ordinariness or even mediocrity. Michael Dell got rich at a young age for a very good reason; he made very good products and offered great customer service. No longer. The computer warranty/repair business is getting as bad as the auto repair shop business used to be.</p>
<p>^^^Yeah, some pretty darn sleazy stuff from Dell. Very discouraging.</p>
<p>So I’m looking to get a new laptop soon and I’m not sure where to turn. My clients use Windows and I don’t want ANY compatibility issues - therefore I think a MAC book is out although I know it’s set up to handle windows. HP? Acer? Toshiba?
And what about service? Geek Squad (Best Buy) gets horrible reviews. Not sure about Costco Service although I like that you can take it back within 90 days. This is not easy…</p>
<p>I think that PC service in general is awful outside of Apple. It’s a hard business to do because there is so much variation in product. Apple makes only a few product lines and the options are pretty restricted so you have a fairly small set of hardware configurations to deal with. If you’re on the Geek Squad, you have to support five or six manufacturers and a blizzard of systems and options.</p>
<p>If you need reliability in a PC, I’d suggest buying two of them keeping one as a backup. Make sure that you back up your files so that you can load them to the other in a pinch. Go with Open Source software wherever possible to reduce software license costs.</p>