What is wrong with Dell? - Page 2  

Why the hell would you stay on the line for 12 hours? I believe that's exaggeration. Anyway, I'm not exactly a "fan boy", but I do like Dell. Good quality + ridiculously low prices + pretty good support = satisfaction with company. That company just happens to be Dell.

"5 Ways to Annoy your local Republican

5. Do Volunteer Work 4. Donate to Charity 3. Fight War, not Wars 2. Recognize Freedom of Speech 1. Help those less fortunate than yourself"
That cracked me up, and I'm on the Republican side.

So far my experience with Dell has been great.

I will probably upgrade to the XPS 3 when it comes out.

The problem with Dell is that they don't have any useful configurations. If you want a powerful laptop then 9300 or XPC2 is the only choice. But these are way to big.

Why haven't Dell got a laptop < 3kg with X700 or 6600?

I beleive the 12 hours on the phone is a large exagertaion too but you never know. But dell does have good (if not best) prices on their systems (with the exception of RAM upgrades) when compared to most others with similar configurations, especially when the $750 off coupon is used. yes their support might not be the best in the biz but I havent really had any problems with it, never been on hold more than 5 minutes. Overall, I would say dell is one of the best bang for your buck laptop manufacturers around.

Here's why I'll never buy Dell ever again:

Inspiron 5150 Problems

I know every manufacturer has problems, but when Dell denies there's a design flaw problem even when confronted with a mountain of evidence, then that company no longer deserves my trust or money. My mother-in-law was one of the "shutdown" victims whenever the 5150's case was touched in a certain spot. She finally got hers fixed (a fairly routine solder repair) by a 3rd party for $180 bucks, when Dell wanted $700+ for a new motherboard which doesn't even address the problem!

Well since you dont know the whole story I think you were a little premature in the name calling but I will just ignore it for now and say that it was uncalled for.

I did call them multiple times and I also kept their hold recording on the speaker while I did my own work. After calling multiple tiimes and just getting put on hold again and again I got someone and they decided that I needed someone else and hung up on me. I then called back and guess what, thats right I was put on hold. This went on from 9am when I got to work until almost 9pm that night.

After a while it just got funny. I would call ever 2 hours and I would get put on hold again.

Im sure this is a rare situation but it was enough for me to never give them my business again.

mwillman,

I think you are being a little sensitive about the (/stupidity?) question. From a 3rd party position, it sure sounded like you said you sat near a phone on hold for 12 hours without ever getting to talk to a person, or even getting hung up on. I think you would agree that a person who would wait 12 hours like that for support is not the sharpest tool in the shed.

Your next post clarified what happened: You spent 12 hours trying to get someone from Dell to help you, not on hold during one phone call. Your case must be incredibly exceptional; if your case was the norm, Dell would not be in business.

But your money is your money; it's not my place to tell you where to spend it. After all, I'm not a democrat.

Well I am a democrat so keep your fascist politics out of the forum.

for me dell has become a useless store, well, almost.

lets just go over the products:

accessories/components: too overpriced when bought alone (w/o system), thus i am better off going to newegg

laptops: ugly, crappy build quality, lack of flexibility (but plenty of flex). why can't i have an X700 system with a 15" or even a 12" screen? Why must i get 17" with plenty of juice to get a 6800go? I am better off buying from someone like PCT or DiscountLaptops, even ibuypower gives me more options/better quality

desktops: whats the use? i am not that stupid i can't build my own from newegg bought parts

pda: the axims are nice....no comment, i dropped my x50 on a parking lot (without case) and it lived. i guess it will depend a lot on the next generation of Asus MyPal pdas.

That's my biggest problem with Dell as well. I can't get a Go 6600 or x700 or anything better unless I get a 17''.

Dells are "affordable" because of how they limit the configurations. It is not conducive to customer loyalty if you only offer high-end GPUs with 17" notebooks. You don't have to look far to see 15"/15.4" notebooks with higher-end GPUs, so it's not that it can't be done; it's that Dell doesn't want to make them.

And their entry-level machines are woefully underpowered, especially when you can pick up a model with the same specs for less through Tiger Direct/eBay/etc. They sell old technology in their entry-level machines.

Dell has never been a model of good support, but when they outsourced their call centers to India, it was safe to say all hell broke loose from the bulk of Dell customers. And the issue wasn't that they outsourced - it was the fact that customers couldn't understand the support reps because of language & cultural issues that negatively affected the ability of either side to communicate.

Even the XPS2s had serious issues when first released - mainly relating to the fact that the LCD screens they were using had problems with light leakage. Fortunately, they switched LCD suppliers in response, but not until after news of the issue had gone out over the net and through usergroups and industry news publications. So the quality control issues are still present.

I will agree that the Dell Axims are the top of the list for PDAs right now. If they built their desktops and notebooks with the same attention to detail and quality as those units, then myself (and I'd wager many others) wouldn't be as critical of Dell.

ugh....just a correction from the above, just like everything else, dell does not build axims either, they just rebrand a lesser known company.

hmmm....IBMS!!!!!!! Home is in Atlanta!!!

They are going out of buisness right? Didn't some company purchase IBM

My inspiron XPS gen 2 is rock solid and far from cheaply built.I have owned 5 dell computers and have had good luck with all but 1 which was a inspiron XPS Gen 1 but what could you expect when a desktop processor gets cramped into a laptop case. I should have known better.As for the support yes there is room for improvment but i dont know of any computer manufacturer that gets a 5 star rating in that department.lol

For the most part Dell makes a good machine their newer lines are awsom if you havent checked them out lately there is no better time then now before purchasing any computer you have to do your homework.

One thing to remember is that not one company carries every possible notebook. I don't see alienware with a 17" AMD lappy, I dont see sager with a 17" Centrino, just like I don't see dell with a 6600go/X700. But I dont see Alienware with any 15.4" notebook. Thats what is great about capitalism, so many choices

Dells are "affordable" because of how they limit the configurations. It is not conducive to customer loyalty if you only offer high-end GPUs with 17" notebooks. You don't have to look far to see 15"/15.4" notebooks with higher-end GPUs, so it's not that it can't be done; it's that Dell doesn't want to make them.

Yes, that is true. Dell, however, is not focused on gaming systems. They are mainly for general home and business use. That is why they only provide good GPUs on the systems that a lot of people buy for gaming.

"And their entry-level machines are woefully underpowered, especially when you can pick up a model with the same specs for less through Tiger Direct/eBay/etc. They sell old technology in their entry-level machines."
Um...yes, they do. If they didn't, it would no longer be an entry-level machine. You can't make an entry-level machine with all the newest hardware.

"Dell has never been a model of good support, but when they outsourced their call centers to India, it was safe to say all hell broke loose from the bulk of Dell customers. And the issue wasn't that they outsourced - it was the fact that customers couldn't understand the support reps because of language & cultural issues that negatively affected the ability of either side to communicate."
I have a project for you. Count how many customers Dell had before outsourcing. Then, count how many cared enough to join this "breaking loose of hell". I'm sure you will find that the second number will be very low compared to the first number. A lot of us claim that we cannot understand them simply because we refuse to. We think that just because they talk different, we should not listen to them, nor do they know anything. Trust me, if you have patience and you stay calm, you can understand them perfectly, unless you're one of the few people that truly can't understand. If you think those guys have thick accents, you should hear some of my family's friends.

"If they built their desktops and notebooks with the same attention to detail and quality as those units, then myself (and I'd wager many others) wouldn't be as critical of Dell."
I truly belive they do. The system in my signiture is over 5 years old, and goes through heavy abuse every day. It still runs strong, and it's much stronger than most, if not all, of the systems I've seen of the same age.

"hmmm....IBMS!!!!!!! Home is in Atlanta!!!"
This was in reference to outsourced tech support. Now I see why they're so overpriced. Thank you.

Anyway, you'll notice that my name is Freak4Dell. There's only one reason why that is so, and it is because Dell has great products at a great price, and their support is pretty good for a computer company. Could the support use improvement? Sure. Then again, so could any company's. E-Machines has American support, and from what I hear, it still sucks. Not that I would know. I would never buy an E-Machines computer. Unless, of course, it was to be used in a bonfire of some sort.

I wouldn't buy a dell because Its not that they dont perform, they work just fine, their pricing is good, but for that pricing you lose durability.

Now i dont want to hear that "you dont use enough of them" bullcrap... because i deal with a couple hundred of them

The company I work for uses dells exclusively because they can get them cheap as hell.

And like i said its not that they dont perform, they are just not durable, they dont stand up to heavy use. Do components fail? Yes. But you will get that with all brands

just my opinion. If your on a budget, get a dell. If your not, there are better options

Also keep in mind WHAT you will be using the laptop for. If you'll leave it on a desk for 3 years with minimal movement, a Dell will last.

If you travel constantly or are a college student, you will put more wear and tear on the lappy and that's when the non-durable lappy's are disadvantageous.