Other Intel & Dell love stories...
I bought my brother a Dimension 8100 with the THX speakers et al. about 3 months ago. All he ever gets are BSOD messages. Dell told him that they would not replace the system because its been over 30 days, but he'd been on tech support about the problem since the 2nd week he had the system.
I have purchased 4 Dells in the last 5 years; this past one was my last. Although I do have (and love) my Latitude LS (only 2.5 MB video memory, ouch!), this system was my last from them.
I figure that if tech support is so idiotic, I should just build the system myself. I'm sure most of your readers agree.
D. Catalano
I had a very similar experience with Dell as you did. I bought a computer from them -- a desktop -- in order to play games. Then whenever I tried to play a game like Age of Empires, it would not work.
As a result I played the game of talking to technical support, emailing technical support on the order of 30 times (at least) over 6-8 months. Finally, I wanted to return the computer and they said, "Well since you have had it over 30 days, we cannot take it back."
Needless to say, I was pretty pissed. In the end Dell did nothing for me and eventually I figured out the problem. Dell had sold me a Pentium III motherboard and CPU which had less capacity than the ATI Radeon card. The game saw the graphics card and tried to draw from the motherboard at a that capacity and the game would freeze or only certain parts of would work. Anyway, I replaced the motherboard and it cost me at least an extra $600.
Anyway, I would never buy from Dell again and I tell all my friends that as well. Just my brief story for what it is worth.
C. Weber
I was so happy to see your letter on Dell's pathetic customer support (not because you had to suffer but because this is the real story of how Dell operates). I would practically pay you to send your article to the Austin American-Statesman newspaper here in Austin, TX where Dell is treated like a company that can make no mistakes. It's time to air some laundry on Dell. I can't tell you how many friends I have that have worked there and told of unbelievable workplace treatment that you wouldn't meet out to a dog. Dell needs a big fat wake up call and nowhere would that be more appropriate then in it's own back yard. Also, please seriously consider sending your article to the Austin Chronicle our alternative newspaper here in Austin as well. Good luck to you.
P. Judd
I had the same experience with Dell with a desktop I bought in 8/00. I finally got another system a month ago after many hard drives burned out. I believe the quality has gone while the name has gone on.
J. Behringer
Sorry about your problem with Dell but that's the way they operate. Last year I purchased my son a new Dell desktop. After about 2 months it died. I spent weeks trying to get help and ended up having to install a new hard drive and video card, which they finally sent me. This failed to fix problem. They refused to refund my money and after another 6 months fighting them, I finally agreed to a remanufactured desktop. Can you believe it?? I paid for a new computer and ended up with a used, remanufactured one! I had purchased 3 computers from Dell, in just 6 months, before this happened! I'll never buy from them again!!
R. Terrell
Orlando, Florida
You asked if you should sell your Dell stock.
Well, since you asked, YES!
If I were you, I'd also write an article about it, and submit it to industry and financial publications. The thing is, Dell's customer service and technical support are poor because their aim is NOT to satisfy customers, their aim is to satisfy shareholders. By cutting corners and refusing to replace shoddy hardware, they pad their earnings statements and increase their stock price. By the totally insane metrics of the modern stock market, this is considered to be a Good Thing. Those of us who live in a world where we like to buy products that work as advertised are just a sideline. Much in the way the publishing industry packages people like me into eyeball figures and sells me to the advertisers, Dell and its ilk are packaging their customer base and "selling" it back to the shareholders. Dell doesn't make computers: Dell makes stock price increases. This is true for many modern companies, and it's a catastrophic failure of market economics.
L. Gibson
Plano, Texas
I too did the little ditty with Dell. Same system as yours. Ran into hard drive problems within 2 weeks of normal usage. I think I was on the phone with tech support for a total of 3 hours before getting my problem placed into that thing they call a database. It's a good thing you really can't reach out and touch someone over the phone. The only thing I am impressed with is their prompt service, but that should be without question considering all of the problems you can have with a computer system. My laptop was repaired, but I had lost everything on my previous drive. Had to go through that pain in the butt routine of setting up everything again. When I got everything up and running again, the first thing I did was I went to E-Trade and sold my Dell stocks for a profit.
J. Bui
Just wanted to let you know that I have had the same experience with Dell. I bought from Dell because of their outstanding reputation and uniformly positive reviews. I have a PIII, 1Ghz machine and when I first received it, it could not even start up without crashing. It turns out that they had put about 4000 items on the start up menu and had enabled all of them, so 40% of the system's resources were used up before startup was even completed. Since Dell advertises that they test all computers in the factory to make sure they are performing optimally, I asked the tech support representative why this had not been done. He replied "I wouldn't know, sir, I don't work in the factory."
When I had a problem with my video card, Dell tech support told me that I would have to contact the card manufacturer myself. When I did, I was told they did not provide end user support and I would have to go through Dell. I am not very knowledgeable about computers, but I was stunned to find that Dell tech people seem to know less than I do. After suggesting I reboot or uninstall and reinstall the offending piece of hardware, they seem to have exhausted their store of PC remedies. Only a few of them have been rude, but none have been helpful. I finally gave up and solved the problems myself, which was time consuming, but less frustrating and more productive than dealing with Dell. Ultimately, my computer runs as poorly as a PIII, 1Ghz with 384MB of RAM and a GeForce 2 Ultra video card possibly can. Other than throwing those components together in a box, Dell has done nothing to create a quality computer. How has Dell maintained their reputation for producing quality computers backed with outstanding tech support, when they quite clearly provide neither?
L. Jackrel
San Francisco, California
As a one time member of Dell's technical support staff, I can tell you that your case is far from unique. I had the unfortunate task of telling customers that they were, for all intents and purposes, out of luck.
Your points on the gaming industry's lack of support are also right on the mark as I am currently having excessive difficulties with Sierra/Vivendi's, Aliens Vs. Predator 2. I own a legitimate, purchased copy of the game and installed it under my Win2K box. It runs...three times and then no more.
I've dealt with their phone support, only to be told that I must have a hacked or pirated version of the game. I've also dealt with their email based support who finally decided that they would be more than happy to refund my money -- provided that I had not registered the CD key so that I could play online.
Being a large fan of FPS multiplay, I had done so the moment the game had been installed. I had similar issues with Homeworld when it was still new.
I attempted to return AVP2 to Electronic's Boutique. They would give me store credit, so long as I used it in 30 days. Unfortunately, there are no games out, nor will there be in 30 days, that I truly want to purchase.
Christopher
Austin, Texas
I just read your right-on-the-mark editorial about your recent experience with Dell customer service, and it seemed hauntingly familiar.
I, too, was jerked around by Dell when trying to replace a faulty GeForce graphics card in my fully warranteed desktop system. It took countless phone calls, endless hours wasted on hold, and me banging my head against the wall until I couldn't see straight before I finally got the problem fixed.
The idiots they have working the phone lines kept insisting that I had outdated drivers, and promised to e-mail the latest drivers to me on several occasions. Needless to say, I received nothing.
Days later, yet another Dell phone robot told me that they don't send drivers via e-mail — I had to go to a specific web page to download them myself. After doing so and installing the latest drivers, my problem remained.
It must have taken 10 phone calls and a half a dozen threatening e-mails before I finally convinced them to send me another GeForce graphics card, which I knew had been the problem all along because the fans on it had stopping working. Of course, the card they sent me wasn't new, but refurbished, so my problem soon returned.
The irony is that I, too, had chosen to buy from Dell because of their excellent reputation for service. What a load of self-promoting crap that turned out to be!
G. Strassberg
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Thank you for making feel I am not alone; it all sounded too familiar with my Dell tech support experience. Not to bore you with details ... in short, I went through the same ABC procedure. I have to call to troubleshoot via phone before any decision could be made, (placed on hold), reboot the machine x times, change BIOS, reboot, call them back, placed on hold, change BIOS, do some funny things to the hardware, reboot, call them back, format, install Microsoft stuff, call them back, (placed on hold), and finally -- finally -- I felt tired, felt cheated, and felt "funny." I voiced my feelings and wanted results, and my results/response was, "What do you want me to do???" I resorted to a local PC store and spent 60 dollars and I was back in business. If this is the kinda funny thing that all renowned magazines quoted as five star service, I wonder what is four stars??
Anthony
Chicago, Illinois
I work at a University where all we use is Dell hardware. I have about 550 Dell machines in circulation, about 200 of them are laptops. I just wanted you to know that I am a hardcore gamer and completely satisfied with Dell. I remember a few of those instances where I would spend 45 minutes on the phone with tech support, but for the most part, my experiences with them have been purely positive.
J. Cottrell
Siloam Springs, Arkansas
Something you forgot to pass along to your readers are ways to counter the PC hardware/software industry and their ludicrous "no return" policies. It all has to do with how you pay for your purchase. Most credit card companies who provide MC, Visa, or AMEX credit lines have a "full money-back guarantee" for any/all items or services purchased with their cards. On countless occasions, I have purchased PC hardware or software and not been satisfied with the product. When I've attempted to return the product, I'm told about the yadda-yadda-yadda return policy, but undeterred, I inform the salesperson that I'm leaving the product with the store and plan to contest the charges with my credit card company. Sometimes (rarely) the salespeople give in, as I've called their bluff, as it were. More often, after leaving the product at the store, I simply have to call my credit card company and/or write them a letter explaining in detail the who/what/when/how/why of the situation and officially contest the charges. I have done this dozens of times and I've never had to "eat" any charges for products I didn't want or like. Salespeople have gotten nasty with me from time to time when I do this, but I figure a little conflict is good for everyone from time to time -- besides it's MY HARD-EARNED MONEY we're talking about here.
What the retail chains and a lot of small business owners don't want you (the consumer) to know is that they pay monthly or annual fees to have access to credit lines (MC, Visa, AMEX, etc.) just to have the capability to process those charges. That's why retailers sometimes try to charge you an illegal "credit card" fee. Furthermore, if there is excessive "trouble" with a retailer reported by consumers to the credit company (i.e., several "contests" of charges), the credit company will often raise the monthly or annual fee as a means of coaxing the retailer into more consumer-friendly practices. Don't you love our capitalistic system of checks and balances?
J. Howard
Osan Air Base, Republic of South Korea
I used to work for one of the Big 3, as a laptop technician. This is exactly the way that we were told to respond to customer problems. We, the techs, know exactly what it will take to fix your problem, but are told to hold out. I eventually quit my company because all they were concerned with was selling more products to an already pissed off customer. I think they forgot the meaning of the word Customer. This "company" ended up shutting down my call center to "reduce costs," thereby hiring out the needed tech support duties to less knowledgable and cheaper ($8.00 hr) tech support. At least we knew what was wrong and what was needed. These cheaper techs have been known to misdiagnose computer issues completely. Most techs are really on your side, we just can't say so on the phone. And the computer industry wonders why hardware cannot sell.....DUH.
D. Parran
At the time of this writing, we have received over 70 e-mails regarding our editorial. Of those, 31 were from readers who had negative experiences with Dell systems spanning back to 1992; only five of the e-mails related positive experiences with their Dell PCs. A number of the other e-mails were accounts of similar stories with other hardware and software companies, which is something we'll be looking into for a future article.
Several of the letters sent in by readers were requests for an update on my personal Dell experience: I received my laptop back from the Dell service center with a letter that they could not locate any problems; and that I should contact Microsoft for further help since it must be a Windows XP problem. I called Microsoft's tech support line but was told that Microsoft could not help since the OS was purchased through Dell -- unless I wanted to pay Microsoft a support fee; and that Dell is responsible for providing support to their customers for the OS.
One reader pointed me to a web message board at C|Net about the Dell Inspiron 8100 and out of 277 comments, 50% were negative. Several other readers also informed me that lockups due to the GeForce 2 Go video card in the Inspiron 8100 have been known about by Dell for months; but that they have not yet taken any corrective measures.
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