View Full Version : Painless dell return
I can't believe it! My hdd on my laptop self destructed last night, just after I had finished backing everything up :cool: I called Dell today and a replacement hdd is coming tomorrow, not bad I was expecting one heck of a fuss from them
They can be really hit or miss. In the past I've phoned them, said the hard disc is buggered and a replacement was arranged straight away. It is more common though that (despite me called Gold support) I'm asked to reboot the machine, try the hard disc in another machine, jump through hoops and so on.
I found that a good moan at my account manager usually sorts things out. When I get treated like an idiot by tech support I call my account manager and politely ask him to get it sorted for me.
You learn how to deal with tech support, gold or not. If a disk is failing/has failed I just tell them its clicking. 5 mins, new drive on its way, thank you very much.
The uber server guys are excellent though (expert center is it? I can never remember). They're proper techies who'll do whatever they can to solve a problem, even send out a selection of parts to find the faulty component.
semi-pro waster
11-10-2006, 10:34
I've only phoned them once and it wasn't even my laptop but I found them to be pretty good, ok the guy didn't have much of a clue about what was wrong but he sent out a replacement keyboard(the keys got remapped at a hardware level) for the laptop with next day delivery. This was in Canada though so I don't know what their service is like here.
You learn how to deal with tech support, gold or not. If a disk is failing/has failed I just tell them its clicking. 5 mins, new drive on its way, thank you very much.
That sometimes works, but sometimes doesn't which is a bit frustrating.
The uber server guys are excellent though (expert center is it? I can never remember). They're proper techies who'll do whatever they can to solve a problem, even send out a selection of parts to find the faulty component.
Oh aye, they're very good. Luckily I very rarely have to talk to them.
Kell_ee001
11-10-2006, 10:35
We have to deal with Dell on behalf of our customers - as it's been said, they are really hit and miss. Their favourite thing is to run the Dell Diagnostics :rolleyes: It can get really annoying!
You can sit there and tell them its not booting, the HDD is clicking and its not even recognised by the BIOS.... you have to run the diagnostics before we know what it is! :huh:
Ah yes, because running diagnostics on a drive which is making horrible noises and not being picked up by the BIOS is going to help.
No word of a lie, I've never ran it. Maybe I just sound too much of a **** on the phone to faff around with ;D
I've had it several times and it frustrates the hell out of me as my account manager is well aware of :)
Funny you should say about the diagnostics thing as he did ask me to run that. I just said that i'm at work and the laptop is at home. I then said that the hdd was making noises along the lines of "click, crunch, grind" and that I was 100% sure it was nackered. He didn't give me any grief after that.
Kell_ee001
11-10-2006, 11:03
I've had it several times and it frustrates the hell out of me as my account manager is well aware of :)
Well it frustrates most people, especially when they're expecting Dell to call to arrange a swap out and not us to call to do more (pointless) troubleshooting :undecided:
"I'l let you into a secret son, I've forgotten more than you will ever learn about computers, so when I say the hard disk is broken, believe me, its broken. Now, please send me a new one"
Worked for me with Compaq.
Kell_ee001
11-10-2006, 12:08
"I'l let you into a secret son, I've forgotten more than you will ever learn about computers, so when I say the hard disk is broken, believe me, its broken. Now, please send me a new one"
Worked for me with Compaq.
We get too many "BT Computer Engineers" (old phone guys who got a crash course on how to put the PC together when we opened) to believe lines like that :p
Dell have always been fantastic when I've phoned. Main thing to do is make sure you've got the service tag, and make sure you've got as many notes about what you've seen, error messages and the like. Not sure what their home user support is like but for public and corporate sector I've always got through to Ireland, had conversations with someone that actually speaks english, and never had any difficulties arranging for replacement parts when things screw up.
Worked for me with Compaq.
Wish it did for us. HP/Compaq support = pile of dog poo. Took them 5 days to get the correct parts out to us to fix a server for which we have a 4 hour carepack; and that was only after my boss laid into them something cronic.
Each time you phone up, regardless of where you are or what level of support you have, you end up in India speaking to someone who's grasp of the English language is comparible to a 4 year old, and faced with a system whereby even if you provide them with the carepack and serial number for the server they can't even tell you what it is or what parts are in it. Classic example:
"We've got a CPU Fan failing on the server"
"Okay sir, what is part number being of Fan?"
"How can I tell that when the server is live?"
"Turn it off?"
"I can't do that, its live, and customer doesn't want it turned off unless absolutely critical, i.e. only when we do the fan change"
"What is part number being of Fan?"
*gets irritated*
"Can't you tell me from your records? I've given you a serial number, a part number, its a DL380 G4"
"What is part number being of Fan?"
"You tell me"
"I will go away and check our records and back phone you in 10 minutes"
*half an hour passes, and I phone up HP again*
"Hi, got a support ticket, number blah blah blah."
"Ah yes, the note says you're finding out the part number of the fan"
Gnghhhhh!!!!!
Kell_ee001
11-10-2006, 12:22
;D Just to prove a point!
Just has a pass-back from my repair team as Dell require further explaination on my notes...
"When you say the PC does not boot and you can hear the fan only, what do you mean?"
"When you say all the diagnostics lights on the base-unit comes on an d stay on, how many lights are lit up?"
"You said the monitor works fine so does the monitors self test come on screen when disconnected from the computer?"
Despite the tech support issues, Dell are a pretty good company to deal with. I had a call from my account manager when I left the office to see what my plans are on Sunday 26th November. I'm free that day so I've been invited to see Manchester United v Chelsea at Old Trafford. Free footy tickets and as much hospitality as I can drink ftw.
I think I need to call my account manager :eek:
Well, I've not had a freebie from them for at least 3 months! :D
I've had two replacement fans and a keyboard out of their tech support department. They did ask me to go through some diagnostics (not the Dell ones) with the first fan. Fair enough. The second one, I just said 'I've had this fault before', and that was good enough. Keyboard was no questions asked.
All my Dell kit is out of warranty now, so if it breaks, it breaks. I so want a D820, but the price is a killer. :(
Look at some of the resellers dude, that's what I did with mine. £699+vat was a steal for what I got, with a finance option to boot.
Failing that keep an eye on the outlet.
Please point me in the right direction. :)
There's a few in Outlet right now, but I think they're all Core Solo. :(
http://www.europc.co.uk/
Though ring them, they have a ton of stock not on the website. The laptop I got (Core Duo, 1GB Ram @ 667 or whatever it is, 7200rpm HDD, Quadro 512MB, 1680xwhatever it is screen) wasn't advertised. It has the outlet stickers on the bottom so I guess they bulk buy from there and resell them with finance and what not. Valid warranties etc.
Found a nice one under a grand in there. Just figuring out whether I should hold out for Core 2 Duo and 64-bit support, or go with Core Duo and save myself a big wadge of cash.
Can't order anything until next week anyway so we'll see what's what then.
or go with Core Duo and save myself a big wadge of cash.
That was my thinking. I dont really need EMT64 on the move, the laptop never does anything particularly special. I just need it to not be painfully slow (which it isnt with that hard drive. 1M superpi in <30secs aint bad either), and be a good platform for me to work from (I cant actually use Exchange System Manager on x64, so in one little respect it's easier. Dual boot Linux ftw as well).
All the funky stuff I need is covered by my server/workstation(s).
What's the quadro like? Not a card I've come across before.
The one I found was 2GHz Core Duo, 2GB RAM, 100GB disk, WUXGA, Quadro MVS, all in for just under a grand. :cool:
And I just got the quote for my roofing work, and it's less damaging than I expected. Double :cool:
Not really pushed it yet. Managed to start Broken Sword 4, though that was at 1024x768 I realised :p
It's not a gaming chip of course, all for rendering and what not. It runs XGL rather nicely though. Mmmmm, cute spinny cube.
Not really pushed it yet. Managed to start Broken Sword 4, though that was at 1024x768 I realised :p
Oi :p I ran it at 1024x768 on my PC ;D
Running sweet as a nut on the main rig, at native res :cool:
/strokes Shuttle
semi-pro waster
11-10-2006, 17:15
What's the quadro like? Not a card I've come across before.
Quadro is normally the name for Nvidia's rendering chips, (ATI have the FireGL as the competitor if memory serves) so basically you have a great chip for graphics work but it is not optimised for games although it should run most fine.
Gnghhhhh!!!!!
Phone your account manager and you can log these support calls online. When I was doing it, I had a response within an hour.
I had a list of good reasons so that whatever broke, the person at the end would be forced into sending a new hard disk or whatever.
Usually "sparks are coming out of the back" would produce a new base unit within a short period of time. Or "the hard drive head has crashed into the platter and the hard disk is making a scratching squeeling noise."
Part numbers can be looked up online, they are also part of the original order, so it only exposes how badly undertrained the Compaq/HP helpdesk actually are.
Considering my experiences with the Irish guys, I can't believe it has changed so much.
Now trying to convince work to buy me a D820 with the full works. Manager has agreed. Now for the IT director and departmental VP. :eek:
Only downside is of course it'll be a work-only machine, but that's OK. I'll still have my own D600 for my own stuff.
I should have a fully loaded D820 waiting for me in the office. Depending how I cope with the size of it (fnar fnar) I may retire my D400 and use that instead.
I think I went for every option available (I know it has 4Gb of RAM) bar the 1920x1200 screen, my eyes aren't good enough for that so 1680x1050 will do nicely.
I only asked for 2GB, as that's all I need. I think it has the 1920x1200, but it'll actually run at about half that. My eyes can't cope with either of the standard resolutions, so the higher the starting resolution the better (in theory at any rate) the scaling.
I know it has 4Gb of RAM
How much?:shocked:
Nowt wrong with that if work are paying. I think in my case it would be taking the ****, but 2GB is easy to justify, so I did.
How much?:shocked:
As much as it'll take.
Indeed. If they'll pay, then pay they will.
In my case, I'd get an almighty scowl from the financial director, and given that I've now forcefully introduced myself to the CEO, that might not be a good thing.
Mind you, I'd much rather have the financial director glaring menacingly at people than the company spending money like it was water (as seemed to be happening only 12 months ago).
They'll pay what I tell them they'll pay - I've got budgetry responsibility for my part of the business.
Absolutely. That's what you get for being IT director. And why not. :)
I think I went for every option available (I know it has 4Gb of RAM) bar the 1920x1200 screen, my eyes aren't good enough for that so 1680x1050 will do nicely.
Likewise, we have some 810's at that res and on 15.4" it's just too much, even for my youthful vision ;)
4GB man :shocked: You running some **** off database apps or what? :D Mine 'only' has 1GB, but I was paying, and I dont need it to do a great deal. I have 2 workstations for that :)
/strokes 820
Stan_Lite
10-11-2006, 12:45
Even on my M1710's 17" screen, 1920x1200 can be a struggle with a hangover - bloody good for games though :D
I have 2Gb RAM in mine and I don't think I've ever used more than 1 - 4Gb is just crazy :shocked:
Which OS are you running on it? - iirc, 32bit Windows can only detect 3Gb so, unless you're running XP64 or Linux, the OS won't see it all.
Stan :)
I *will* be running mine with a bloody large database, and I'll be lobbing my VMWare Workstation license on and virtualising things like Vista, so 2GB will get used. For sure. :)
Just waiting on the quote from Dell now before running the approvals gauntlet.
Likewise, we have some 810's at that res and on 15.4" it's just too much, even for my youthful vision ;)
4GB man :shocked: You running some **** off database apps or what? :D Mine 'only' has 1GB, but I was paying, and I dont need it to do a great deal. I have 2 workstations for that :)
/strokes 820
The box will be my 'mobile' development platform so it'll be running Oracle Enterprise Edition, SQL Server 2005 & StreamServe (output management app) which all like to eat RAM like it is going out of fashion so it needs all the RAM it can get.
Absolutely. Hope not all at the same time though, you'll be IO bound till it hurts :/
Still waiting on a quote from Dell. Next week then I guess. :/
Absolutely. Hope not all at the same time though, you'll be IO bound till it hurts :/
No, not at the same time. It'll be one of the other running. It'll be I/O bound but for developing stuff on the move it'll do the job nicely I should think, certainly better than my D400 does.
Oh for sure. My 820 is great for compiling C stuff, and the Ruby bits I'm messing with are tres snappy. The odd VM or two doesnt bother it either :)
Sounds like you and I are going to be doing very similar things. C compling, the odd VM or three, etc. I may *possibly* end up with a database or three on mine as well, besides our own proprietary database that is. Trust me, that alone is bad enough. :)
Going to be working on the ol' D600 for several hours this weekend unfortunately, due to a customer emergency. That does play right into my hands though as it's about the best justification I can think of for work paying for the new laptop. ;D
I'm doing C/C++/Java now in my final year...can't get myself round to practicing C to become good at it...
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