Dell is pissing me off

[mustang84]

If it's not one thing, it's another.

My Dell Latitude laptop JUST had the AC adapter replaced because the previous was going bad...I had a new one sent all the way from the Netherlands. As of yesterday, the screen on my laptop started going dark upon being plugged into AC power...it works fine on battery power, but as soon as you plug into the wall, it turns dark gray to the point where you can see things open but it's impossible to read anything on the screen.

Two summers ago I had to replace the whole motherboard (after only 1 year of ownership). A few months ago my Y key fell off (and still needs to be put back on) and the very right edge of my monitor does this crazy flickering / solid bar of white usually upon startup and other times when you adjust the angle of the monitor. What else...my volume button has begun to get finicky (I'm assuming a loose wire), I had to replace the battery because of a recall for fires, and the damn rubber feet on the bottom never stay on.

I always heard Dells were good computers, but I'm not impressed. Luckily, mine is a lease computer and still under warranty...but it seems like something is always going wrong! Our 4 year old Gateway is the same way...problems all the time while our old 1992 Gateway still runs perfectly.

What brands have others here had good experience with recently? I'm thinking about getting a new laptop after I graduate, but Dell has left a sour taste in my mouth.

[avant1963]

My Dell Inspiron laptop is also a case of me NEVER buying from Dell again. While overall, the laptop has been OK (It gets very light use) in about a year and a half, the DVD-RW drive died (I never even burned a DVD with it) and it was not under warranty and would have cost me over $300 for a new one (I wound up just buying a CD-RW to replace it for cheaper). My desktop Gateway has been pretty solid (bought it in 2001) and only had the fan on the power supply go and that was early on and was replaced via warranty.

So out of the two big mail-order monsters, Gateway will get my business when I need a replacement.

[Oracle of Delphi]

I had a problem 30 days before my warranty ran out on a dell desktop. My dell service center was in Canada. They said they were sending me parts so a service technician could install them but the parts never would arrive. When I called back to inquire why, I was told the part order was cancelled because, of NAFTA! My parts, I was told were being stopped at the US/Canadian border. With all the emails going back and forth between Dell and I, I knew their email naming convention, so I decided to take a chance and email Michael Dell, president and founder of Dell.

In the email I detailed my problems and closed the email by stating this is not how owning a Dell is supposed to be.

The very next afternoon, I received a phone call from a woman named Cynthia who was a Senior Vice President of Dell, she said she was directed by Michael Dell to correct my problem and that she and Michael had reviewed my customer service logs and they had decided to replace my entire desktop system, all I would have to do is ship my old system back to Dell in Texas and they would pay for it. Not only that they replaced my system with a model that was 4 times better than what I had and threw in a flat LCD monitor 19".

Because of that I am a Dell customer for life and have bought 3 more systems since.

PM me if you want his email, hopefully it hasn't changed in 3 years.

Edited March 20, 2007 by Pontiac Custom-S

[Z-06]

I have had two Dells. And I have been pretty happy with them.

The trick of Dells is in their warranty.

They are not beautiful to look at but do their job pretty well.

I am sorry to hear about the Latitude of yours. My friend got a Latitude D820 six months ago and she simply loves it.

[Guest YellowJacket894]

Dell makes cheap junk, to put it bluntly. Buy HP. I've owned two so far, no major issues.

[Drew Dowdell]

For laptops, the Lenovo/IBM Thinkpads are where it's at these days.

[Intrepidation]

Dells suck, buy an HP laptop or buid a PC.

[Clownzilla]

I build my PC's with many ASUS, Corsair, Seagate, Thermal Lake, and Lian Li parts. Intel and AMD are both great processors, so you will win either way with those. If all of this is foreign to you, then find a person to build one of these for you.The computers I build with these parts work VERY well and are much cheaper than a compatible store bought computer. They NEVER give me problems either. Now, for my laptop, I use Apple. I have not used one of the new Intel Mac's (can run both Apple OSX and Microsoft Windows), but I know that EVERY Apple product that I have ever purchased has been top notch. Software is getting MUCH easier to find for the Apple operating system because of the increasing popularity. I have used computers a LOT for about 25 years, so I have seen the good and the bad.

[AAS]

I use a Dell Dimension 4600 at work, and it is flawless.

I bought a lower-end desktop for home, and the hard drive siezed after 10 months. Customer service was annoying, because I'd tell them that, for example, I completed steps 1 through 4 in diagnosing the problem and it failed all the tests. So they would e-mail back and say... it failed step 1, so try step 2. After finally getting through to them, they sent a hard drive to somebody that was supposed to come and replace it, but they never did. So, I nagged again and they sent one directly to me.

Anyway... I'm now hooked on Apples, ever since I got a PowerBook G4 to work with. I'm sticking with them from now on.

[ToniCipriani]

My Dell Inspiron laptop is also a case of me NEVER buying from Dell again. While overall, the laptop has been OK (It gets very light use) in about a year and a half, the DVD-RW drive died (I never even burned a DVD with it) and it was not under warranty and would have cost me over $300 for a new one (I wound up just buying a CD-RW to replace it for cheaper). My desktop Gateway has been pretty solid (bought it in 2001) and only had the fan on the power supply go and that was early on and was replaced via warranty.

So out of the two big mail-order monsters, Gateway will get my business when I need a replacement.

To be fair, the DVD-RW isn't really Dell's issue. Blame Panasonic, or Sony, or LG for that. Dell only uses their drives.

Dell makes cheap junk, to put it bluntly. Buy HP. I've owned two so far, no major issues.

Dells suck, buy an HP laptop or buid a PC.

HP isn't great either. Compaqs used to be much better before they got bought out. I've had two Presarios and they did me good. I've seen too many overheating Presarios and malware infested Pavillions lately.

For laptops, the Lenovo/IBM Thinkpads are where it's at these days.

And Asus too, if you're on a budget. Asus makes iBooks (now MacBooks) for Apple and they have the tech. Both Thinkpads and Asus are great pickups in laptops.

[Northstar]

I don't think one type of computer is really going to be that much better than the next. In the end, you're using most of the same components anyways. For instance, an Intel Core Duo in a Dell is going to be the same as a Core Duo in a Gateway, HP, etc. Most of the components aren't made by the company whose name is on the computer anyways.

Example: I've seen two people say "Dell sucks, buy HP," while from my experience I would say "HP sucks, buy Dell." I have a Dell Latitude D820 and haven't had a single problem with it; my roommate has an HP laptop and is always having all sorts of problems with it. So really, I don't think one brand is really much better than any other. I'm sure some Dells have tons of problems, and I'm sure some computers from every brand have all sorts of trouble.

[NDL]

Dell product is not what it was, and their customer service is horrible. And now that you can run Windows on Mac's ...

[FAPTurbo]

I use Toshiba, and have never had a problem.

Sony's seem fine too, if a bit pretentious looking...

[Oracle of Delphi]

Here is what is most disturbing to me, almost all computer components are made somewhere else other than North America, is the US and Canadian car industry going the same way?

I think what you see with computer components is the future in all goods that are made here now, I'm sad to say!

[FAPTurbo]

Here is what is most disturbing to me, almost all computer components are made somewhere else other than North America, is the US and Canadian car industry going the same way?

I think what you see with computer components is the future in all goods that are made here now, I'm sad to say!

Don't buy Canadian computer parts.

They're slo-o-o-ow, eh?

[Oracle of Delphi]

No eh! I love, C eh N eh D eh!

[regfootball]

[FAPTurbo]

http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=macs_cant

I friggin' hate Macintosh.

Edited March 20, 2007 by Captainbooyah

[aaaantoine]

My Acer laptop has served me well over the past two months of ownership... Though the built in web cam acts a bit funny. It's mounted above the screen and can be rotated to point in front of you rather than towards you. But when you point it forward when it's on, Windows plays the "device unplugged" sound and the camera stops working. So much for that feature...

[CARBIZ]

Dell didn't get back to me when I bought my personal computer 4 1/2 years ago, even when I left a nasty message saying that I had $2,500 to spend and I would be spending it by 4:00 that day! If they can't be trusted to give good personal service BEFORE delivery, I sure as hell didn't want to trust them AFTER. So, I went with MDG, which is a local Canadian company that puts together their own systems. I've been happy with them and their service. We use Dell computer at work and they seem okay. Most of the computer hassles are largely due to the fact that our IT person is an IDIOT (my apologies to Idiots around the world.)

I am in the market to buy a laptop this time around and would probably go with MDG again, although the above remarks about Lenovo are interesting and I may shop those, too.

[Oracle of Delphi]

Well if someone gave me 2500, I would give them great personal service! Oh wait it's Canadian money, nevermind!

Edited March 21, 2007 by Pontiac Custom-S

[capriceman]

Sometimes its really more of a user problem than a computer problem. general maintenance goes a long way.

[pow]

Get a Mac. Apple's customer service has been much bette rto us than Dell's. When my sister's Dual G4 turned out to be a lemon, they upgraded her to a new Power Mac G5 (right when it came out) for free.

Plus they use expensive soft-touch materials, have excellent build quality, and great attention to detail. They're pieces of industrial design genius.

[ToniCipriani]

Plus they use expensive soft-touch materials, have excellent build quality, and great attention to detail. They're pieces of industrial design genius.

Are you sure you're not the press and you're not talking about Toyota?

But I do agree Apples are very well built. I've used a lot of Macs and love'em.

[mustang84]

I'm actually pretty satisfied with Dell's service, it's the computer that's pissing me off. I talked to a Dell representative here in Italy and am arranging a time for a technician in Rome to come over and replace the backlight inverter. But out of all the computers we have owned, I have never seen one that has malfunctioned so often as this damn Latitude (D800, by the way). I forgot to mention that 4 months after getting it, the DVD-R drive completely died, so that had to be replaced. But their customer service is pretty decent from my experience...when the motherboard died, they were there replacing it at my house the next day. Now, if I didn't have this 4-year warranty provided by the University for repairs, I probably wouldn't have the desire to purchase anything Dell ever again.

And an Apple is out of the quesiton...I can't stand Apples. We have two of them here at the studio and they annoy the crap out of me when I use them...when you've grown up on PC's for 15 years it's hard to switch.

[AAS]

And an Apple is out of the quesiton...I can't stand Apples. We have two of them here at the studio and they annoy the crap out of me when I use them...when you've grown up on PC's for 15 years it's hard to switch.

Not really... I've been using PC's since about 1993, and switching to a Mac about a couple years ago was a piece of cake. It only takes a few hours to get used to the OS.

[Variance]

My HP laptop has been pretty good to me so far (aside from some Vista glitches). But I haven't had it two weeks, so take it for what it's worth.