Dell Support

[Anon]

I've never really trusted Dell so I don't have any Dell computers...but a friend of mine does. She had one laptop that was pretty long lived but finally she needed it updated. I advised her to go to Best Buy and get a good name computer on sale.... She decided to go with Dell again.

So that was like 8 months ago and already her new Dell Inspiron crashed. She spent a couple hours on the phone with tech support which did nothing for her but they charged her like $150 or something!!!! WHY would they charge money for trying to fix the piece of junk they sold her brand new 8 months ago??? Is this common with Dell? Anyway they told her to call Tuesday to schedule a Dell guy to come to her house and try to replace some things and fix it.

I told her next time to buy a major brand name and get an extended full coverage warranty on it...

[holster]

I've never really trusted Dell so I don't have any Dell computers...but a friend of mine does. She had one laptop that was pretty long lived but finally she needed it updated. I advised her to go to Best Buy and get a good name computer on sale.... She decided to go with Dell again.

So that was like 8 months ago and already her new Dell Inspiron crashed. She spent a couple hours on the phone with tech support which did nothing for her but they charged her like $150 or something!!!! WHY would they charge money for trying to fix the piece of junk they sold her brand new 8 months ago??? Is this common with Dell? Anyway they told her to call Tuesday to schedule a Dell guy to come to her house and try to replace some things and fix it.

I told her next time to buy a major brand name and get an extended full coverage warranty on it...

I know this won't be popular as everyone says they are overpriced (not true, you get what you pay for) but I'd get a Mac. I've owned an Apple computer since the introuction of the Apple II and the first Macs in the early 80s. Never had anything but 100% satisfaction.

It's not just MY opinion, Consumer Reports always always rates them highest in Quality and Service. Yes, they cost more but that's because you get more to begin with.

And now with the Intel Macs you can run Windows and MacOS side by side using both Mac and Windows programs simultaneously.

Challenge: Ask anyone who paid more money for Mac if they regret it then ask anyone who owns any of the Windows brands if they regret it. See who wins.

You get what you pay for....

Now all you windows owners can start throwing things at me.....

(by the way... don't tell me I like Mac just cause that's what I'm used to. In a previous corporate life I ran a Mac Dept and also had to use Windows every single day in the corporate environment. And like I say, I run windows on my Mac)

[Anon]

My uncles all prefer Mac too. I'm used to PC so I use that, and my friend is used to it too (she is older, I don't think she'd want to switch to a Mac at this point.)

At this point I'm happy with my brands....my laptop is Gateway and my desktop is HP and so far so good on both. My bro has had Dells because they are cheap and isn't super happy with them. And if you shop the Best Buy sales, you can get a good deal on something anyway.

I just didn't know Dell would charge over $100 to fix something (they didn't fix it yet) that isn't even a year old? What kind of warranty, support of their own product, is that?!

[4everHis]

That sounds a little funny...did she buy it new or from the outlet? Usually from the outlet the warranty is a little different. I would definitely recommend contacting customer service to ferret out the truth. We have had good success with Dell products both new and outlet. We have good success and abysmal failure with HP laptops, good success with Toshiba laptops. The Sunday paper will yield many sales opportunities for your friend if replacement is the only option. I have checked online at Office Max, Best Buy, Office Depot, Staples, etc at midnight on a Sat and been able to order with free shipping, depending upon the time of the year and the depth of the sale.

As to the Mac folks, we have some of those in our family too. We still love them:lol::lol:as they are always having to adapt their programs to interface with the rest of society.:really just kidding....couldn't resist. I am related to someone who considers some apple store the mother ship or something.:smilie_loco:4

[Anon]

No she had it custom built straight from Dell.

[4everHis]

Definitely time to call customer service and raise the roof. One year warranty is included with purchase.

[Anon]

I thought so!!! I suggested she or her hub call Dell today and demand their money back (for the repair that didn't happen). Hope they did.

[4everHis]

Me too! I hate when people get ripped off.

[trc123]

I'd get a Mac if I didn't like choices in software and if I wanted to be on an OS that 7% of the world uses.

As far as Dell......I had heard about how bad Dell's customer service was back about 5 years ago. But since I can pretty much fix anything on a PC myself I decided that their price points were better suited for me. So, I bought one 17" widescreen laptop fully loaded about 4 1/2 years ago. I liked it so much, we bought another for my wife to have. We've not had even one minutes issue with either of them and I literally keep my laptop setup at my primary PC at home and it is NEVER turned off. It is up 24/7/365 and never a hiccup.

I've ordered and setup two additional laptops (one for each of my parents) and they've never had an issue with them.

So we decided to order a nice Digital SLR from Dell a couple of months ago. It was the Canon Rebel. They had an issue with a portion of the order and so I called them fearing their customer service was going to be terrible. It was by far the best customer service experience I've had in a long long time. Yes, the woman who took care of us was in India; but she spoke better English than Arkansans do. She made several follow up phone calls and emails to me without my begging, some of which I never expected. In the end, she tracked down the issue, had it resolved and had the order to our door in a few days.

I'd never hesitate to order or buy Dell again.

[Anon]

trc isn't that funny! Well I guess that's why sometimes those online review places aren't so reliable...everyone gets a bummer of a product at one time or other, but it, I guess, doesn't always mean ALL the products are bad. However I have heard more bad than good from Dell...although I know its awfully popular!

[JerryNumbers]

I've had 2 Compaq computer since 2002, thankfully I have not been out one single dime on either one of them for any type of repairs or customer service.

I did mess my computer up once myself, deleted the wrong thing, you sure have to be careful what you delete, but Compaq support personal told me how to fix the problem exchanging about 3 emails at no charge.

If and when I buy another one it will probably be another Compaq.

[trc123]

Compaq has been bought out by HP (Hewlett Packard).

[JerryNumbers]

Yes, I know! But they are still very good and have great service, if its needed. If I recall properly when I bought my first computer in 2002 they had already been acquired by HP.

[candlelight]

I'd get a Mac if I didn't like choices in software and if I wanted to be on an OS that 7% of the world uses.

As far as Dell......I had heard about how bad Dell's customer service was back about 5 years ago. But since I can pretty much fix anything on a PC myself I decided that their price points were better suited for me. So, I bought one 17" widescreen laptop fully loaded about 4 1/2 years ago. I liked it so much, we bought another for my wife to have. We've not had even one minutes issue with either of them and I literally keep my laptop setup at my primary PC at home and it is NEVER turned off. It is up 24/7/365 and never a hiccup.

I've ordered and setup two additional laptops (one for each of my parents) and they've never had an issue with them.

So we decided to order a nice Digital SLR from Dell a couple of months ago. It was the Canon Rebel. They had an issue with a portion of the order and so I called them fearing their customer service was going to be terrible. It was by far the best customer service experience I've had in a long long time. Yes, the woman who took care of us was in India; but she spoke better English than Arkansans do. She made several follow up phone calls and emails to me without my begging, some of which I never expected. In the end, she tracked down the issue, had it resolved and had the order to our door in a few days.

I'd never hesitate to order or buy Dell again.

I just got another Dell (laptop... this time) and it is fully loaded. I agree with trc... the service was great! The Indian woman spoke clear English. And, it was shipped immediately with no wait time and no extra cost. So far... so good. The desktop PC that we had... shut down. We have had it for about 4 years. The last desktop PC lasted awhile, as well. It was not a Dell. My hubby did NOT want to deal with fixing either of them... amongst his work related repairs on vehicles and restoration. He sold the 1st one and made a profit. lol The guy, obviously, repaired it. I was so frustrated with the 1st PC that I didn't want to deal with the last one. I hope this Dell laptop lasts!

I am a bit concerned at what your friend has dealt with, Suzy. Time will tell. I hope she is able to work this problem out with Dell. Please keep me informed. Thanks.

God bless,

Molly