Geoff told me that following Dell’s recent spate of bad press, the company would be sharply tuned into blogs that reported problems so it could react immediately.
I bought a Dell laptop which turned out to be a nightmare. It has repeatedly overheated and the same fault has been repaired several times. Three years ago I paid more than £1,600 for a Dell SmartPC 250N which has had little use by me, it still looks brand new.
However, I was hoping that David would be able to use it for his A’ level studies, but it has died on us again, just as he starts his new school later this week.
I chose not to spend more than £300 on renewing the guarantee as laptops now cost little more to buy from new. After the last repair, I asked Dell to extend the guarantee another year to prove they had confidence in their product, but they refused.
I do have a Dell desktop which is absolutely fine and has never been a problem. I had given up on this laptop, but then remembered what Geoff said and thought I would try out Dell’s responses to a poor product. Let’s wait and see if they get to hear about this.
You’re not going to believe this but…… I bought a Dell laptop in summer 2004 and just over a year later , it began to seriously overheat and switch itself off every time I used it. Luckily, I’ve now managed to sort the problem out – dust was getting stuck in the fan chamber – but I thought it was a bit much considering how bloody expensive they are! (£750)
Ellee, if you can afford it by a Toshiba or a Sony Vaio. Dell are mass produced and not particularly good (this was posted from a Dell which is not mine 🙂 )
Yes, get a Toshiba. They’re cheapish, they work, and if you buy one from PC World there’s someone in the flesh you can menace when it goes wrong.
For those who are serious about dust avoidance.
http://www.easyaircon.co.uk/acatalog/info_Daikin_001.html
I have alos recently had a load of problems with the Dell retail outlet.
I bought a laptop for a relative and they took the money from my account.
OK so far…
But two weeks later I contact them to see where it is.
The guy says the order was cancelled. But I had received no email telling me this from Dell.
So the relative orders one direct from Dell.
The cancelled order then arrives!
I contact Dell to ask WTF is going on? They said that the cancelled order was “re-booked” once again obviously without telling me?!?
So I contact them to tell them that about my relatives purchase in order to get the laptop returned and they ring me back a bit later and tell me that my relatives purchase has now been cancelled and cannot be re-booked becuase it was an equipment error (i.e. the parts wouldn’t work together).
I’m going to cancel both orders and return the laptop and not buy from Dell again until they sort themselves out.
P.S. I had a friend who had a similar experience with an expensive order that they would have been waiting-for for 2 MONTHS! as Dell “forgot” to tell him about the delay.
In short Dell have some serious problems.
First the capacitor problems
Then the laptop battery problems.
Now this total breakdown in communication to clients (however their call center (in india) has tried to help).
Dizzy/Thomas, I am fortunate enough to have a sexy little Sony Vaio as well, and it has never let me down. My husband has a Toshiba which he bought from PC World..
AntiCitizenOne, let’s hope Dell picks up on your story too, I can understand your frustration and why you want to give up on them. I always thought they were one of the best, but their reputation is certainly suffering right now.
I’ve heard about the overheating problems that Dell have had with their laptops. In the near future, I was thinking of getting a computer from them (a big one, not a laptop). Not so sure no; the problem might just be in their laptops though.
You’re on my bloglist, Ellee.
That is absolutely shocking! There is nothing that really grates me more and that is when you spend a small fortune on something and then it does not do and work like it is supposed to! I am sorry to hear about your Laptop problems, might be best to switch to another brand name – I have an Acer laptop, it is not the best that there is but it has never given me any hassles or let me down and besides it is perfect for what I use it for – yip you guessed right, BLOGGING and downloading photos!
NMOTB, I don’t know what to do about the Dell laptop now, it is out of guarantee, I’m hoping Geoff is right and they will pick up on this. I’m glad your Acer is doing its job – most important for blogging!
Thanks for adding me to your blog roll. Your blog is fantastic. I’m so flattered!
Switch to Macs ad leave all your worries behind. Having said that, I’m thinking about a laptop too, Sony probably. Are IBM Thinkpads still to be had anywhere?
I have to vote for Toshiba too. Not because they never have any problems – I had to send my laptop back twice under its 3 year warranty and had to return memory bought from them – but because the support service was so good. They didn’t quibble – and they picked up and returned within 1-2 days to the door.
I have a slightly ageing Tecra and it still looks great – better than many new machines on the market.
I have an Acer laptop, no dramas after 2 years :o)
Ellee-
My name is John, and I am a customer advocate at Dell headquarters in Round Rock, Texas.
I apologize that it took us so long to find this, but I would be happy to look into the details of your case for you. If there is anything I can do to help I will be happy to do it.
Please send the service tag from your system and anything else you think may be helpful to the email address I provided while leaving this reply. To ensure it is properly routed, please include my name in the subject field on the email.
I look forward to hearing from you!
John
Dell Customer Advocate
There you go Ellee, Doc Searls intention economy at work for you, and for all your Apple supporters I suggest they read this http://www.itgarage.com/node/787
[…] Dell investigates my nightmare laptop By Ellee Six weeks after describing my nightmare laptop which has been bad news from almost day one, Dell has picked up the link and contacted me. […]