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Posted: 7/20/2008 1:34:19 PM EDT
[#1]
Learn something new everday! 
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Posted: 7/20/2008 1:35:11 PM EDT
[#2]
My company buys a ton of Dell's a year, RARELY do we have a problem. We have some that are working perfectly 5, 6, 7+ years later, long since depreciated and written off. But thanks for your rant, I think I will stop my business with Dell and start buying Compaqs. 
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Posted: 7/20/2008 1:36:17 PM EDT
[#3]
Dell can be a hit or miss thing. According to Consumer Reports, their reliability track record isn't too good. My son has a lap top from them, and we haven't had any problems other than it runs really slow for a dual-CPU unit, and the cooling fan noise is like sitting next to an F16.
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Posted: 7/20/2008 1:36:20 PM EDT
[#4]
My Dell lap top has been going strong since April '05.
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Posted: 7/20/2008 1:36:30 PM EDT
[#5]
That sucks. Maybe you can order a replacement screen from somewhere online?
My dept's Dells at work have been rock solid. All Latitudes that get routinely hammered around airports, hotels, construction sites, industrial sites, etc and still work without a hiccup. Maybe we've just been lucky. |
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Posted: 7/20/2008 1:36:46 PM EDT
[#6]
It sucks that you laptop is broken, but hell, when you're buying anything from Dell, there's always that option to get the fancy ass 4 year warrenty and phone support and home care, ect.
I don't see the problem really if you decline all that stuff, only go for the 90 day - 1 year warrenty, you should know that after that you're up shit creek without a paddle. If you wanted unconditional tech support, you should have went with a different vendor. (and yes Dells are crap, but also pretty easy to fix since parts on Ebay are so plentiful) |
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Posted: 7/20/2008 1:38:05 PM EDT
[#7]
Interested to hear your "quality" alternative. |
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Posted: 7/20/2008 1:41:26 PM EDT
[#8]
OK?
Mechanical things break.. Fact of life... a sucky fact but a fact nonetheless. You said it yourself, you are out of warranty. They are a business and they are out there to do one thing, make money. I would pay the $40.00 because buying a new computer is more than I can afford right now. Sorry you are going through this. When my laptop took a crap, I spent HOURS on the phone with tech support.. forget the $$$ but I could make 5 fold with the time I had to deal with them. It may be cheaper to take it to the local guy, drop it off while you are at work, come pick it up on the way home. Good luck to ya |
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Posted: 7/20/2008 1:41:45 PM EDT
[#9]
We have Dells at work, a mix of Latitude D620s, D830s, Inspririon M6300 and M2300 laptops.
We had constant trouble with one of them, wouldn't work with a docking station, video issues, etc. After the third time they sent out a technician (all for no charge) they gave us a brand new laptop. We've had two laptops that were obviously dropped by the user (cracked cases, damaged ports, etc) and Dell fixed them both at no charge, one of them was a year and a half old. |
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Posted: 7/20/2008 1:42:14 PM EDT
[#10]
Every company cranks out a lemon now and again. But I've used a lot of Dells, both at work and at home, and have always had very good luck with them. My daughter has my old laptop, and that one's been going since '03, with a LOT of use and abuse.
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Posted: 7/20/2008 1:45:46 PM EDT
[#11]
 I don't believe in karma, but if I did this would be it. Oh, and for the record, other than my Mac all my systems are Dell and have been great, including my laptop. Most places I've worked over the past 10 years have bought all their machines from Dell. I tell all my friends to buy Dell and none have regretted it. |
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Posted: 7/20/2008 1:46:44 PM EDT
[#12]
I got my Dell in 2/06 and its ran fine considering how many times of dropped it and spilled vodka on the fucking keyboard.
The local computer nerd told me to buy a Fujitsu next time around. She said they were put together very well, and are a bit more modular than other makers, ie easier to replace/upgrade parts. |
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Posted: 7/20/2008 1:46:47 PM EDT
[#13]
I have absolutely zero problem paying to have it fixed. I'm aware that things break and I wasn't planning on having this computer for the next 60 years.
What irked the shit out of me was wanting me to pay to talk to tech support. Not pay someone to fix my computer, not pay someone to even give a comprehensive evaluation to the problem. But, pay someone to sit there and read off a screen before giving me a mailing address? Why not just make the phone call a freaking 900 number then? |
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Posted: 7/20/2008 1:52:59 PM EDT
[#14]
tech support is very expensive for a company to maintain. There is no way Dell could offer the prices they do if they maintained a tech support that was free to all customers regardless of the age of the system.
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Posted: 7/20/2008 1:55:48 PM EDT
[#15]
I disagree. "Tom" from Indi--er...Texas, gets paid like $10 a day. That being said...I can't remember the last time I called Dell and didn't talk to a native English speaker...humff. |
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Posted: 7/20/2008 1:59:38 PM EDT
[#16]
$10 a day adds up when you have hundreds of workers, plus infastruture, phones, managements pay, etc. |
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Posted: 7/20/2008 2:02:44 PM EDT
[#17]
I despise Dell.I purchased a laptop computer and used their Dell branded finance card to obtain an additional 10% discount. I paid the amount in full when the first bill arrived.
Two months later I get another bill saying I owed them fifteen cents-and by the way, they added a "service charge" of 5 dollars to the account. This made me a bit hot so I called their finance department-in India. Could they help me? No way. Another month goes by and another service charge gets added. More fruitless calls to India. Problem resolved by spending several hours to find some dipsh*t at the TexasHQ to accept a fax from me in which I threatened a consumer fraud lawsuit unless the fraudulent finance charges were reversed (thankfully I am an Attorney). I will never buy anything from Dell ever again. |
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Posted: 7/20/2008 2:10:44 PM EDT
[#18]
Solid 9. Very creative and vivid. Dell sucks.
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Posted: 7/20/2008 2:11:26 PM EDT
[#19]
Same shitty CS with me. The HD on my Dell laptop fried right around Day 380.
My experience was much the same as yours with the exception that they did not tell me about the $40 charge to talk to a tech. They just went ahead and billed it directly to my Dell credit line after at the end of the call.  No, I did not purchase the extended warranty. However, short of physical damage on the end user side a $1,000 product should not experience a massive hardware failure one year after purchase. Dell tech support was less than helpful. I had to request three different techs before I got one whose accent was "thin" enough for me to even understand their questions. Since the laptop went tits up less than a week before my wife had finals I was forced to buy a new Toshiba laptop from one of the local box stores that night. The Toshiba, BTW, runs like a raped ape and packed twice the features of my Dell for the same price. |
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Posted: 7/20/2008 2:19:59 PM EDT
[#20]
At least it worked out of the box. In our last set of forty-something Dell Latitude laptops, we had more than a 50% failure rate. By the time we got all of them replaced, our two IT guys had wasted seven weeks of documented time on the phone with Dell. We wasted about $9k in labor to get around $30k in laptops repaired. That's ridiculous, and I don't understand why companies find that acceptable. Our CEO owns a large amount of stock in Dell so he is fine with throwing away money to give to them.z
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Posted: 7/20/2008 2:21:23 PM EDT
[#21]
Well, guess what? In 2002, the computer I'm writing this on was purchased from Dell along with the option for lifetime technical support via phone.
If it fucks up right now, I can call tech support and get help for free. It's been a reliable computer but I have had to reinstall Windows twice. It's had occasional other problems and Dell tech support was helpful in getting the problem solved, every time. Don't blame Dell if you were too cheap to buy a low cost option for lifetime tech support and an extended warranty. Dell has done great by me. I paid a little extra to get that extra support commitment, but it really wasn't much extra to pay, and certainly was worth every penny. Your laptop's problem is probably either a bad flexible cable between the LCD panel and the main PC section, or the connections on the LCD itself are losing their bond, which unfortunately does happen and there's no cure for it but to get a new LCD assembly. CJ |
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Posted: 7/20/2008 2:30:15 PM EDT
[#22]
Same here. We get "Gold Tech Support" so we talk to an American whenver we need anything. All I've had to order is a CD that someone closed without the CD being all the way in and destroyed the player trying to pry it out. |
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Posted: 7/20/2008 2:30:32 PM EDT
[#23]
If I had a computer from 2002 that was still running strong then I wouldn't have any gripes either. The thing could commit suicide tomorrow and, while that would suck, I'd shrug my shoulders and buy a replacement. The issue is not with Dell laptops failing. The issue is with their laptops failing a couple of weeks past the one year mark coupled with the shitty phone support. Warranty or not, I have a major problem with a company that puts out $1,000+ equipment known to fail 400 days after purchase. Fool me once... ETA: Are you talking about a PC or a laptop? I haven't heard many bad things about their PCs, only their laptops. |
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Posted: 7/20/2008 2:35:37 PM EDT
[#24]
But who says it's known to fail right after a year has passed?
Maybe you just got unlucky, but most of them chug along for years and years. If a lot of people had the same complaint, your anger may be well earned, but how do you know that that's the case? Heck, what would you think if upon opening the computer up to make repairs, you discovered that there was a foreign object in it that might be something one of your kids may have fed to the floppy drive, not knowing any better? I like my 6 year old Dell well enough that I got a second one for work. And they've both been upgraded to very nearly the absolute limit of the motherboard's capacity, and I don't run any programs that they don't handle with ease, including Doom III. CJ |
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Posted: 7/20/2008 2:35:58 PM EDT
[#25]
My D810 work laptop has been running strong for 30 months. Our whole group (30+ engineers) has had exactly one machine die in a similar timeframe. That machine was replaced in 24 hours (of course, being a Fortune 10 company helps with the speed of repairs). The statement in red might be a tad hyperbolic. 
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Posted: 7/20/2008 2:39:31 PM EDT
[#26]
I'll jump on the "i hate dell" boat.
I work at a University in the north east. And i deal with trouble calls with Profs who can't work their stuff. So they call me. Most of the time its a Mac. After that Dell. More problematic than they're worth. IMHO |
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Posted: 7/20/2008 2:48:31 PM EDT
[#27]
This is why Johnny should have bought the three year NBD warranty for a measly $125.00
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Posted: 7/20/2008 2:52:43 PM EDT
[#28]
If they dont want to just give you a new laptop and charge you for support - that doesnt sound like communist to me, comrade. If its past warranty - what do you want? Shit breaks or wears out. Im in the middle of figuring out what to do with a 2mo old camera that acting wonky. Worst case I have to pay for a repair. |
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Posted: 7/20/2008 2:58:08 PM EDT
[#29]
Me too. I ordered the hottest, bestest, fastest computer Dell was offering and after it arrived, lost about three days of a steadily decreasing number to dicking around with the thing trying to make it work, let alone work well. I sent the whole mess back and got my first Mac laptop. I loved it and I love the new Mac I got and wouldn't buy a Dell for anything. |
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Posted: 7/20/2008 2:59:47 PM EDT
[#30]
Dude thats why I pay the extra for the extended warranty these days because no matter how well you take care of your stuff it WILL break.. Learned that the same way you did on a laptop 1 month after warranty ran out is smoked the motherboard, and that was going to be like 800 buck to get it fixed, so I got a new one with a 3 year warranty, yeap and I have used it like 6 times now. and about to be the 7th.
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Posted: 7/20/2008 3:02:19 PM EDT
[#31]
You also have to pay the doctor for the office visit when you go. Will that be the next rant?
Businesses should be in business to make money. If you opt not to get the $200 lifetime, 24/7, kiss your ass support -- then expect to pay. |
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Posted: 7/20/2008 3:06:03 PM EDT
[#32]
we get around 500 of them a year.
I am dell tech certified. Overall we have had very good luck with them- there were some desktop models that had bad capicitors- but dell extended the waranty on them. Our laptops (latitude) have been strong- in fact this is be written on one thats about 5 years old. (D800). As a certified tech, we get access to english speaking techs in the US. With ANY brand of PC- I would pay more to get a good service contract. not necessarily the same day onsite 4 hour service, but one thats cheaper, but still there when you need it- its like a hundred bucks. I would guees your screen is going or like mentioned above- the connector in between. |
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Posted: 7/20/2008 3:06:36 PM EDT
[#33]
I had a Dell that went all over Afghanistan with me.
Never had any issues, nor needed tech support. Im a computer nerd so I don't bother with tech support from dell. Just post you issue here, it will get fixed faster. FREE |
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Posted: 7/20/2008 3:07:24 PM EDT
[#34]
my experiece also shows that the "smart" people are the fucking stupidest on computers. Every fucking one of them. I think your problem lies with them, not the computers. |
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Posted: 7/20/2008 3:12:39 PM EDT
[#35]
I have 3 Dells... 2 desktops and a laptop...the only reason my sons desktop and wifes laptop have ever had any problems is because... son thinks he is a computer expert... he's not (though I wish he were) and wifes laptop has problems because she doesn't listen and puts all sorts of garbage on it .. my Dell keeps humming along after 5+ years with out a hic cup at all though I'm thinking about getting something new in the near future
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Posted: 7/20/2008 3:12:53 PM EDT
[#36]
Complete Care is not available in Florida, ask me how I know. |
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Posted: 7/20/2008 3:18:36 PM EDT
[#37]
I had a similar problem on my newer Dell laptop where the screen had crazy colors and lines everywhere but I could still see kinda what is going on.
Try plugging in an external monitor and see if the picture is fine. If the crazy screen shows up on the external monitor then your video card is shot which is built in to the motherboard so that would suck and would be expensive to fix. If the picture is fine then it is the connection to your laptop screen. Shut it down and pry off the panel above the keyboard and wiggle the screen plug and see if that helps. This is what I did and after I unplugged the connection and plugged it back in, my screen was just fine. Sometimes it gets bumped. Hope this helps |
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Posted: 7/20/2008 3:23:09 PM EDT
[#38]
Same here(Dell Certified Tech), only I diagnose the issue and order the part online. I usually have it in 24 hours. |
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Posted: 7/20/2008 4:04:26 PM EDT
[#39]
I'm willing to concede that. No offense intended to those who work in large offices but your reviews of Dells actually mean little to me considering that you are likely to get faster and more efficient service from Dell by virtue of the fact that you're ordering in quantity. That said I've heard of quite a few massive hardware failures regarding Dell laptops both on this forum and others. Seems that most of the failures occur right around the 400 day mark. This is just my personal experience. YMMV, of course. The bottom line is that I have no problem paying to have my computer repaired if I drop it, spill shit on it or if it gets a couple of years worth of use on it. However, as I have already stated, I have a problem with a $1,000 product that fails at the one year mark. After it happened to me I did some research on the Net and found it to be a "fairly common" problem. The information I found on various forums coupled with Dells absolutely wretched customer service (and the bullshit $40 fee they snaked onto my credit line without notice) put them in my "Die Motherfucker Die Motherfucker Die" classification indefinitely. |
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Posted: 7/20/2008 4:43:39 PM EDT
[#40]
Actually it is available in Florida now. I bought a new M1330 with Complete Care in June. |
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