My experience with Dell has not been a good one. Encouraged to buy on the basis that if there is a problem, Dell arange collection and return. I purchased a lap top for my 86 year old father who lives 200 miles away. He often had trouble with it, and I must admit that I thought it was him, however, within a few months he was reporting a message regarding a physical memory dump. Dell wanted him to try doing various things on the internet completely missing the fact that he couldn't even get on it.
It was collected but sadly, never returned. It got lost. Instead of the week away, it was 6. However I was constantly reassured - but you will get a more up to date lap top now and no one seemed to understand that meanwhile, my father had nothing to use and he had lost all his photos and everything else he had put on it. On the expected return date, my parents waited all day. Unfortunately, Dell decided to send it to me instead but I was not expecting it and not home.
I thought that perhaps we had been a little unlucky so did not allow this to deter me from buying a pc a little while later. Some people will just never learn.
Realistically, I did not expect my pc to break down after two months.
First of all, 1) Saturday - no-one there to help. Two days without my computer. 2) Monday - Phoned, pressed appropriate numbers, waited ten minutes listening to music - not even managed to speak to anyone yet. 3) Decided to do the contact using the messenger service. I was asked to remove the side panel from the computer, as the operator believed that problem was due to an unseated cable. I couldn't find this problem and pointed out I was not a technician and didn't have a clue what I was doing. 'Piece of cake' was the reply. At this stage 45 mins had passed and I now had to go to work. Could we resume later I asked? No she said, I will link you with instructions to correct the problem. 4) Return from work, still couldn't manage it, so messaged technical support again. Had to wait 30 mins, busy time. Then message came up that I was next. I waited another 45 minutes. Agent came on line, said he would review details from the morning and promptly cut me off. 5) Set up contact again, another 45 mins wait. Must admit, this agent tried her best, but I am still not a technician. By the time we were finished, my hands were cut all over from the metal on the inside of the computer and I had blood everywhere. I was then advised to put it back together again and send it back so that they could put a new hard drive in it. 6) Computer collected, and returned a week later, no notification that return was imminent. Fortunately, someone there to receive it.
Yes I know I had lost all my data but I was more worried about losing the microsoft office enterprise 2007 that I had installed but was assured that I could use the same disk again and re-load as it was the same computer and the licence would be ok. This I have found to be incorrect.
Computer returned. With relief I unwrapped the box. Something was loose and rattling inside. The side panel with had two screws holding it in place when it left, now had just one and the cable connecting the monitor to the computer did not have a home to receive the screws so connection between the two near impossible..
7. Contacted Dell customer service but three days later have not had a reply. Do any of us really need this pressure and stress?
On the plus side... I purchased a Toshiba lap top and it is just brilliant! I'm well impressed.
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Dec 16th, 2008
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