Don't EVER buy a Dell, especially an Inspiron - Page 2

You got a pretty good deal then! I guess all the hassle meant that it was owed to you.

How do you like the 600m?

I can sympathize as well. I normally have massive amounts of problems within the first 6 months of ownership. after that, absolutely nothing. Every dell i've had has been like that. I also think that as far as repair service is concerned, it really depends on the contracted repair dudes that dell sends you. I've had really good ones: one time, quick, correct part, etc. I think the best recourse for a bad one is to report it to dell so they don't use the guy anymore.

on my last laptop, 5000e, i had the bezel and lcd cover replaced no less than 5 times...and wouldn't you know it, after 5 years, the thing that went bad was the LCD. Why? b/c the housing would come loose b/c of the shabby frame.

Or take this new 700m I have. I've already posted the battery issue and the HD issue. I have gone through enough bad experiences, not just computers, that I've learned how to get what I want from the companies. It takes lots of pressuring sometimes and sometimes simply time. I've had checks come back from companies a year after I battled it out with them. It's taken 3 weeks to resolve my battery issues, and now i'm sitting here with 2 maybe 3 8-cell batteries.

i've only owned dells, but i'm not about to defend them as it is dell's job to do so. just like any other company.

I've had nothing but headaches from dell. Still waiting for them to return my money

honestly I've never had a problem with Dell and I've ordered 3 systems and tons of upgrades from them over the years. Alot of my friends have Dell's too and none of them has ever got a lemon. Some of them tell me all the time that their "Dell computer sucks and runs slow" then I take a look at it and find it's completely full of spyware, viruses and tons of unneccesary programs running. I've read the reviews of Dell at reseller ratings and it seems like alot of the problems people describe are software related, yet they still blame the computer itself because they can't fix it. One guy even rants about how SP2 was not working with his hardware and he had to return the computer, not that's just stupid.

5150's suck. You really should not have tricked out such a crappy computer that is meant to be a value computer like that. 5000's are meant for the sub-1000 buyer.

The reason why lots of laptops suck is because they use pentium 4's which run the hottest out of all the processor. One of my cs friends tells me that the P4 runs hotter per square centimeter as a nuclear reactor. I tend to believe him because if you don't get enough airflow, your computer will function very badly.

For 2500 you should read the reviews a bit more for such a huge investment. Go for an ibm if you want piece of mind. If you want the best value, then get an 8600 or 600m which are proven in the field. Otherwise, tread at your own risk.

"Never" had a problem with any of my Dells. Sorry to hear of yours

Well there's your #1 problem. You spent 2500 bucks on a 5150! like DAMN! I would only ever shell out at max 900 for a 5150.

it just seems you got one of the bad bunches in the line. it happens to everyone, in every company and every product.

I don't get it. Am I missing something here??

You write a whole paragraph about boycotting Dell, and then in your sig it says you are getting a Dell 9200????

I got the 600m (and am in college) and my experience has been nothing but amazing. I had one time the computer stopped working (13 months old at the time). Screen went crazy. I took it to the on campus (Dell authorized) computer repair center. I got there at 4:15. They ordered a new LCD for me which was installed the next day. They found that was the wrong part so they ordered a new motherboard which was installed 1 day later. I had a VPR Matrix (best buy made) laptop which broke the week before the semester started and went 6 weeks without a computer before getting a refund. Dell's service guaranteed I'd never buy a computer from anyone else (tho with next business day warranty).

Sorry to hear that. I probably would have felt really frustrated too if that happened to me. Having said that, I don't know if I'm just lucky or what but my experience with Dell has been completely the opposite. I've bought/used several Dells over the years (Latitude CPX, Inspiron 8000, Latitude C610, Latitude D600, then lastly Inspiron 8600c). Don't wanna write a novel to describe my experience in detail, but in short, it has been either they have worked flawlessly or problems were resolved pretty quickly. Again, sorry to hear about your misfortune.

maybe buy buying a dell is his way of boycotting?

Love it. Theres more to my story than I ever told anyone. I decide now to come clean and share my experience.

After my $1700 Inspiron 5150 popped the second mainboard then it started to overheat. I was purley miffed by this. I felt a real victim. I spoke with a supervisor who was very rude to me and refused to work with me. She insisted that if I had a problem then to keep sending it in and they would keep fixing it until my warrenty expired. It turned into a shouting match in which she hung up on me. My anger then fueled me to sue Dell and I did. I took their original offer to send the 5150 back for a 50% depreciation fee and I sued them for the other $750. I will mention this was my very first time of suing anyone and I did not like it and hopefully it will be the last ever.

About a month before the trial a special Dell representitive phoned me to try and work out a compromise. He first offered a 33% depreciation fee, when I refused this he dropped it to 15%. I made it clear that I should not have to pay anything since this model was a known lemon. After we hung up I got another call from the "offices of Micheal Dell" 20 minutes later and they offered to refund the full price of the laptop. But I was still out the court costs which came to over $150 and they offered to refund this as well. So they sent me a box, I returned it and they send me a check for the fullpurchase price plus Court costs.


Now here is where I will probably get flamed by people in this forum and perhaps I deserve it. After 2 or 3 days I started feeling really bad about this. And the guilt overwhelmed me, I felt as though I had killed someone. Am I that much of an A hole where I refused to accept a compromise? Despite my justifying my actions, this feeling of overwhelming guilt stayed with me and I felt like I had really double crossed someone. I came to this forum and asked about reliable laptops from Dell. The 600M and the 8600 was both highly praised. I purchased with the refund a 600M with a 3 year warrenty it was a refurb. I was so pleased with this unit that when the $750 coupon was released (again thanks to this forum) I also bought an 8600 and now I own both the 600M and the 8600.

I know people probably think I am making this up but its a true story. Ridiculous but true.

Jack, my three experiences with Dell have been nothing short of excellent. I am sorry that you were not able to have a good experience with them.

I'm a college student as well and decided on an 8600. It has thus far proven to be a very reliable, capable notebook. I hope that if anything comes up and I need to refer to Dell, my situation will not go as badly as yours did.

Please heed Axiom's advice. Not everyone has had poor experiences with Dell machines and your bashing the company as a whole is somewhat unwarranted. Perhaps you could try to talk to a manager or supervisor to get the ends you desire.

I hope everything goes well for you next time.

Don't know why you felt guilt unless you did something wrong...that is normally where guilt comes from. Anyways, if you were wronged, then it's a non-issue. Companies aren't going to give you anything if you don't ask for it. If you do not push them for bad service, product, etc., then they will be more than happy with your position. If you are correct, then push for your rights. it sometimes takes alot of effort. companies count on people giving up, because people are more than willing to accept a "no" or not asking them to make things right.

for me it becomes a matter of principle. NEVER accept a compromise when you are correct. Why would you?

Ok,
I am a certified DELL tech through where I worked, and I know for a fact that the phone Tech_support is for lack of a better term, F***ing worthless.

A DELL customer came to me with a refurbished laptop that they sent her to replace her new one, it needed a new motherboard and it was in warranty.
The customer went in circles with them for 3 weeks trying to get it repaired, DELL (in India) couldn't find the warranty information, when you spoke to an American at DELL, they found it in less than 30 seconds, then transferred you to the clueless people in Inida.

Well, the customer handed the laptop and the task to me, 3 months and over 200+ phone calls later, she finally got her unit replaced. I have her old unit, I just recieved the parts to repair it to working and new status, and unless DELL pays for the labor incurred by the company I worked for, the laptop is mine. I'll probably sell it.

I have had DELL laptops in the past and never had any issues with support, but that was then..... DELL is worthless now, couldn't convince me otherwise.

Unless the support is brought back to the US, anyone who buys a DELL should have his head examined...

lol what does it take to become a "certified Dell Tech" haha

In that case, what do you recommend for laptop? IBM? HP? Toshiba? or what?

I bought an Inspiron 8000 with a bunch of accessories in 2001 for $5000. I had nothing but problems and withing 8 month had 5 systemboards, 2 keyboards, and the memory replaced. It was in storage for a year and when I started using it the video cable had been damaged from all the work done on it. They replaced the LCD and the cable, but I think there was something wrong with the LCD since it cracked as I openpned it up, they wanted $700 to fix, finally went to BBB and got a refurbished 8500.
I was told I would have an updated warranty and went I to check it the website said I had OS service to 7/04 and limited to 7/06. Well it turns out that was wrong and in march I was having problems with the wireless. I called on 3/15 and the original warranty expired on the 14th. I called and fought for a week and a half to find out they made a mistake but it was my fault that I did not know that the warranty expired on 3/14/04. I fought with them for over 6 months, being promised this or that which they never made good on to finally they sent me a new systemboard. I like the performance and the feature of Dell laptops but I doubt I will ever buy another.

My advice to everybody is this when you buy a computer from Dell or any other manufacturer, DOCUMNENT EVERYTHING!! If you have a tech come out get his name the time he was there and everything you did, if you placed a call document it. That way if you do get screwed you can sue and you always win. I can tell you this DELL will not go to court in most because it bad press and also it is cheaper to settle with a customer then have a $500/hr attorney goto small claims court.

Take some online tests. When I worked for IBM I used to help another tech take the Dell certification tests since IBM is one of DELL repair contractors, mainly for business accounts or at least was a few years back.

you can't really blame the non-americans. Many problems are user based. The tech reps go through common problems and have users go through trouble shooting steps. In many cases, this fixes the problem. It isn't cost effective to send a dell contracted tech on an outcall to find out the user didn't know how to press the on button (i'm simplying of course, but it emphasizes the point). i think many of us on these forums, I know I do, are a bit more knowledgable about computers, and just get frustrated with these techs b/c we've probably done all those things and we know what the problem is. That is a small minority of all the Dell users. not making excuses for Dell, but that is the real world.

second, in my recent issues with dell, i've come to the conclusion that the tech support and customer service data aren't linked together or either cannot cross talk for whatever reason. thus, i have cross ordered parts from customer service as well as tech service.

the complaints and the bad experiences always seem louder. i've had issues with dell, some took a while to overcome, but in the end they are resolved. Problems are not unique to just Dell.

One note about BBB. i've gone through them several times as well, but people need to understand that BBB does not aggressively mediate, nor do they promote your interests over the company's. I'm all for using them as one means but not the sole means of disputes. The onus is on you. The best advocate for you is you. I agree with ounderfla69, if you have a problem, that is when you start documenting, even if it is a simple matter. I've got several return invoices that DHL has signed for pickups for DELL parts, and I've got them all, and will keep them for a year.