My Dell From Hell

bruce massey · April-18th-2005, 12:16 PM

NOt even 4 months old and my Dell fried it's hard drive. The CD drive had to be replaced two weeks ago and consequently my files haven't been backed up. Dell is going to replace the hard drive but contend that I will have to pay to get the files retrieved from the old hard drive.

Any one have any advice here? I'm calling Corporate this morning and will probably have an uphill battel on my hands. This thing is a lemon and I want a new computer and think they should foot the bill for file retrieval.

moneyp · April-18th-2005, 12:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bruce massey

NOt even 4 months old and my Dell fried it's hard drive. The CD drive had to be replaced two weeks ago and consequently my files haven't been backed up. Dell is going to replace the hard drive but contend that I will have to pay to get the files retrieved from the old hard drive.

Any one have any advice here? I'm calling Corporate this morning and will probably have an uphill battel on my hands. This thing is a lemon and I want a new computer and think they should foot the bill for file retrieval.

Having to deal with Dell support on a daily basis, you have my sympathy. Nevertheless, you're probably sunk here. I believe in Dell's service agreement, they don't take any responsibility for the data on the hard drive.

The best thing you can try is to ask for the old hard drive back and have it recovered elsewhere if the cost is better. Or you can try the freezer trick. Put your bad hard drive in a waterproof baggie, leave it in the freezer for several hours, than take it out and slave it to a working hard drive and see if it's readable. If it is, move the data off ASAP. Once the drive starts to get warm again, it will probably stop working for good.

Lenny D.Guitarist · April-18th-2005, 05:37 PM

My old Dell was the worst creature on this planet. I've had a Hewlett Packard
for 16 months now without a blem. I'll never gamble on a Dell again.

Monte Smith · April-18th-2005, 06:05 PM

I bought a Dell about six months ago and (knock on plastic) no problems so far. Of course, my watch exploded. Before the Dell, I had a hardworking Gateway (called a "Gateway 2000" though purchased in 1997). Never gave me a lick of trouble until it just got to slow for modern computation. That said, all I do is internet, digital photography and word processing. No supercomputer needed.

bruce massey · April-18th-2005, 06:14 PM

I can't even talk to these pricks. Every time I try to get an American I wind up in India or the Philippines. These folks don't have any authority to make the decision I feel is fair.

It's like I'm in the movie TRON.

Monte Smith · April-18th-2005, 06:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bruce massey

I can't even talk to these pricks. Every time I try to get an American I wind up in India or the Philippines. These folks don't have any authority to make the decision I feel is fair.

It's like I'm in the movie TRON.

If you are being chased by glowing people on light cycles, that's wrong. But I don't see why the geographical location of the person you are talking to matters. If you are being screwed, the company can screw you from Austin just as well as Amritsar.

bruce massey · April-18th-2005, 06:48 PM

The outlying folks have no authority to listen, evaluate and give me an answer.

The Indian and Filipinos are all courteous but they are Dell robots...."I'm sorry for your inconvenience...yada, yada,yada.

I specifically called Austin and thoroughly explained that I wanted to talk to an individual with the power to hear my tale of woe and either agree that Dell has done me wrong here OR tell me to go fuck myself. I can't even get that!

They are totally insulated. No calls get to people in authority.
Must be a sweet gig.

April-18th-2005, 06:55 PM

Bruce, go fuck yourself.

I'm here to help, brother.

Mike Schwartz · April-18th-2005, 07:10 PM

In my case I'm getting a warm fuzzy feeling anticipating the arrival of my new Dell...pretty close to the one I'm typing from at the office right now.

We have the business opeating system on it and thay all seeem to work like a champ.

I'm not very 'computereze' in fact FAR from it...I find it beyond amazing how tales of performance and satisfaction concerning computers can be so polar opposite.

It probably comes from the zillions of ways people use/abuse them, supe them up, alter them, download all kinds of stuff onto them...not to mention getting the occasional bad one.

bruce massey · April-18th-2005, 08:36 PM

Not good enough Scott, I said I wanted to HEAR it.

What's your phone number...I'll give you a call!

Enforcer · April-18th-2005, 08:40 PM

Fixed.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mone peterson

Having to deal with Dell support on a daily basis, you have my sympathy. Nevertheless, you're probably sunk here. I believe in Dell's service agreement, they don't take any responsibility for the data on the hard drive.

The best thing you can try is to ask for the old hard drive back and have it recovered elsewhere if the cost is better. Or you can try the freezer trick. Put the severed human head in th... er, rather, put your bad hard drive in a waterproof baggie, leave it in the freezer for several hours, than take it out and slave it to a working hard drive and see if it's readable. If it is, move the data off ASAP. Once the drive starts to get warm again, it will probably stop working for good.

Kevin Bresnahan · April-18th-2005, 09:58 PM

Lots & lots & lots of Dells at my work and I've heard of maybe 3 hardrives smoking in the past 3 years. Hardrives do smoke and it ain't Dell's fault. Hardrives smoke in all kinds of computers, including Macs.

If Dell replaces the hardrive, they've fulfilled their end of the deal.

Data is tough to lose and it's why frequent back-ups are key to your sanity. Just last week, I screwed up my machine and lost a whole lot of data. Luckily, I had most of it backed up.

Since this hardrive died so soon after a CD drive, I'd guess that a fan isn't working somewhere in the case. This happened to my IBM machine a few years back. Once this fan stopped working, the machine kept shutting down from thermal overload. I picked up a new fan and got it working but eventually, the hardrive had to be replaced. I've always figured it got a bit messed up from too much heat.

Kevin

Jim Dye · April-18th-2005, 10:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kevin Bresnahan

Hardrives smoke in all kinds of computers, including Macs.

The hard drive in My eMac is cool as a cucumber, thanks to Steve Jobs and his Reality Distortion Field!

Kevin, there is no need to dis Apple in every computer thread you find at JC. You know that Albertson doesn't come here anymore.

Lois Gilbert · April-18th-2005, 11:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bruce massey

NOt even 4 months old and my Dell fried it's hard drive. The CD drive had to be replaced two weeks ago and consequently my files haven't been backed up. Dell is going to replace the hard drive but contend that I will have to pay to get the files retrieved from the old hard drive.

Any one have any advice here? I'm calling Corporate this morning and will probably have an uphill battel on my hands. This thing is a lemon and I want a new computer and think they should foot the bill for file retrieval.

Dell does have the worst customer service even when you get a supervisor and the call centers in India are of absolutely no help. Call a computer guy in your area - let them take out the hard drive before Dell replaces it and they can transfer to a cd r or another hard drive pretty easily as long as they know what they're doing. Then immediately buy an external hard drive and back up daily...

You named it Dell from Hell. But Kevin is right hard drives burn out all the time no matter what brand...

john williams · April-19th-2005, 12:16 AM

That's funny, I've never had a hard drive burn out. I've owned and worked with a bunch of different PCs and never had these problems.

I regularly read Australian Personal Computer magazine which my library subscribes to and almost every month there's a letter of complaint about Dell's customer service or lack thereof. I also read reviews of PCs and Dell's consistently get scored low because they're overpriced and underperforming. Their notebooks tend to score much better though. However, I'd never, ever, buy a Dell.

My home computer is a locally made brand Optima which I've had for three years and not one hardware glitch. Our work PCs are HP/Compaqs and although I wouldn't get one myself I'd recommend them as an office machine.

April-19th-2005, 12:21 AM

Jimmy D!!!!!

That avatar kicks ass, brother!!!!

Long live the master!!!!

Jim Dye · April-19th-2005, 06:42 AM

Thanks Brother Dolan!!!

Kevin Bresnahan · April-19th-2005, 07:02 AM

Dell's customer service is no better or worse than most other companany's. You want poor customer service? Try contacting Tiger Direct! They will give you the royal runaround and will never give you a straight answer.

IBM's customer service is in India. The people are very polite but in the end, they can't do anything. They just read off lists, just like the Dell people. I've gotten extremely frustrated with them. I used to work for IBM and I had a lot of relatives buy IBM PCs during that time.

HP, Sony, Gateway... they probably all have "service centers" (what an oxymoron that is) in the far east. It's the cheapest way to do this business.

My comment on Macs was simply a comment of hardrive reliability. Hardrives die. They die in all kinds of PCs. As I said, I worked at IBM. We had a whole batch of laptop PCs that had their hardrive die within weeks.

Cerain brands of hardrives are worse than others. Certain models of certain brands are worse than others. There was a 30 GB Maxtor that croaked in one out of every 5 machines. We replaced them with 40 GB Maxtor drives and none failed.

Bruce, I hope you are able to get your Dell replaced. However, I don't think getting all bent out of shape at a faceless company like Dell will do any good.

These days, when I call these overseas service centers, I have a little fun with them. Ask them about the weather. Mention some recent event over there. Like anybody, if you establish a personal link, you'll get more information.

Kevin

Enforcer · April-19th-2005, 08:49 AM

Derailing the thread, but more props to Jim Dye for his avatar. That's how we roll in Detroit, Jim!

clinthopson · April-19th-2005, 11:34 AM

Not being much of a do it yourselfer when it comes to computers, I call our computer guys to solve problems. They are here, speak English and always fix my problems. The can even fix things remotely.

I expect to have them set my new cpu up for home, probably HP.

jesus marion joseph · April-19th-2005, 12:14 PM

I used to own a Gateway 2000. It came with a whopping 4 megs of RAM. Woo hoo! The hard drive told me one day that it was going to fail, and some guy came to my house and swapped it out for a new one. Because I was forewarned, I was able to save the data I wanted to keep and put it on the new drive.

It also came with an Epson inkjet printer that crapped out after a few months. I wrote directly to the guy with the ponytail who owns the company, and he had his assistant call me on the phone and she arranged to replace my printer with an HP, which worked for years before it finally croaked.

GoodSpeak · April-19th-2005, 12:16 PM

BTW...my two Dell computers are just humming right along

Um.

Just thought I'd share.

April-19th-2005, 03:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by clinthopson

Not being much of a do it yourselfer when it comes to computers, I call our computer guys to solve problems. They are here, speak English and always fix my problems. The can even fix things remotely.

I expect to have them set my new cpu up for home, probably HP.

I'd check out the machine fully before you buy it, Clint.

Ever since HP and Compaq merged, HP products have been steadily going downhill.

bruce massey · April-19th-2005, 03:46 PM

It's a shame.

Years ago I related a story about the trouble I had with an expensive Nokona ball glove for my daughter. when I contacted Nokona, they didn't blink. Send it in, we'll fix it..no charge. Consequently, they have an incredibly satisfied customer for life.

The fact that I can't even get someone, outside of Scott, to answer a query is quite frustrating. Again, since the CD didn't work and I was unable to back up my files I feel that Dell should spring for the fee. They would go a long way in customer service if they were to do so.

Scott, hit me one more time.....

Let me know you care.

April-19th-2005, 03:53 PM

Suck it up and deal with it fucker!!!

Slurpy · April-19th-2005, 03:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kevin Bresnahan

IBM's customer service is in India. The people are very polite but in the end, they can't do anything. They just read off lists, just like the Dell people. I've gotten extremely frustrated with them. I used to work for IBM

Yeah, lots of people used to work for IBM. Me too and "help desk/customer service" was my old job, in a previous life.

Except I wasn't polite....and reading scripts sucked the big one. You could know the answer immediatly but you had to go thru all this script BS and problem ticket creation that really did nothing but waste time and frustrate the caller. One month I said f**k it and ended up getting credit for closing 3 tickets, even tho I had helped probabaly a hundered or more callers. My 2nd line manager (a psychopath who I later helped get fired) came over and gave me the "What?! 3 Tickets!??" public berating. I dont miss IBM.

bruce massey · April-19th-2005, 03:55 PM

Love ya Scott!

April-19th-2005, 04:18 PM

Compassion is my middle name, brother.