I'm going through an absolute nightmare trying to get my Dell fixed. I don't want to get into too many specifics (I might just break down and cry) I have a parts only warranty at this point, and after numerous parts replacements (2 motherboards, all my memory, CPU) and about 25 hours on the phone, I'm making no progress. Those of you who have Dell Workstations...have you had service problems? Does your computer have need of service in the first place? I'm trying to find out whether this is an isolated incident, which I suspect, or whether Dell computers suck, and their techs are incompetent.
What is the model and what is the problem? If you've gone through all that, I think it is fair to demand that they swap it for a new or possibly reconditioned workstation.
Service problems? give me a break!!!! I have a laptop that broke down december last year, although it's in warranty it still isn't fixed. I rate dell's customer service at the same level as American express.
AAA I was getting the blue screen of death, and it would start dumping my memory. I had 1024 MB RAM, it would dump it to 992 MB. They sent me out new RAM, problem seemed to get worse, sometime I would have 736 MB, 608 MB; one time I had 92 MB. Tried all kinds of combinations of the new memory with the old memory, had problems still. They sent me out a new motherboard, it didn't work, they sent out a third one, and a new processor, but no help. Now it won't even boot, I'm getting various errors, mostly it won't recognize the hard drive, or there's a problem with the CD-Rom (even when I disconnected it). I talked to a place in town that does repairs, they think I may have to wipe out everything on the hard drive. I don't know if they know what they're talking about.
I don't know about their desktops (I build my own, and I can fix it faster than they can).. But the laptop support is great, even when I poured water on my keyboard. They've been out, wherever I am in the world (I travel a lot on the job), within 24 hours and fixed whatever is broken. To be fair, this was all before they sold out my support contract to Unisys, so I don't know what its like now. regards, laz
I have a Dell Dimension that I've had for 3 years and was considering buying another one or just upgrading my motherboard and processor. I've always had very good luck with them. But lately when I've called tech support the people I've talked to seem less knowledgeable than the previous support people. This may be due to having more customers to deal with or just cutting back on their operating expenses. Don't know. But if I was you, with the problems you're describing, I agree with AAAintheBeltway and I'd demand a new one or at least a reconditioned one. I just installed a new 120 gig hard drive on mine with Windows XP Pro and it's not working as well as it did under Windows 98 SE. Don't know if it's an XP problem or maybe I just need more processing power. I have 384 megs of PC 100 RAM. I'll let you know what I do. And please let all of us know how you make out.
Well, better late than never. Check out this two links and use these sites next time before making a purchase. http://www.resellerratings.com/seller1867.html http://pcmag.pricegrabber.com/rating_getreview.php/retid=320/ut=d1f665ef8a536329 To answer your question, the machines are of average quality and award winning support has been laid off and moved overseas. Nonetheless, unless you are very computer savvy, the chances are 10 to 1 that you are doing something wrong yourself. "Parts only" does not mean "do it yourself". It means "do it yourself if you know how to or get help from your local computer shop".
Dell support has had a few changes recently: FYI in case you are not watching .... All manufacturers and resellers are under tremendous financial pressure and most of them are hitting their numbers via cost reductions. Dont expect that customer support will improve or continue at past levels. Our companies have until recently used Dell as our sole server and workstation vendor. They have hit their marks: Machines running for two and three years 24 hours a day - only failures thus far are IDE drives and one raid array member. Service was as contracted : either hours or days depending on service level. For Windows based servers they are still our preferred choice.
Repair is a nightmare. And Dell is cutting costs to meet earnings. MAny dissatisfied customers... AVOID (know the co. inside and out)