Dell computer service, a sad story

[JustinW]

Originally Posted by rnoldh

What baffles me is how the girl in my garage apartment can ....

Creepy factor increase 40%

 

[rnoldh]

Here is Dell for the past year.

I'm going to seriously consider starting to short them. No company can be as big a POS as this joke and maintain it's stock price.

I won't pull the trigger without some due diligence though. With my luck some white knight would come along and buy Dell at a premium.

But given today's access to financing and the intrinsic value of this pile of ****. Who might possibly buy them and add value?

Some of you guys are a LOT more financially astute than I. Anyone have a comment?

 

[rnoldh]

Originally Posted by JustinW

Creepy factor increase 40%

What are you talking about?

 

[gdl203]

Originally Posted by rnoldh

Anyone have a comment?
Don't make investment decisions in a worked-up emotional state.

 

[rnoldh]

Originally Posted by gdl203

Don't make investment decisions in a worked-up emotional state.

Thanks Greg, Very good advice and I'll follow it.

But one good thing is that this has opened my eyes to doing due diligence.

No rush decisions by me.

 

[Night Owl]

Originally Posted by rnoldh

You guys might as well be speaking Greek.

What baffles me is how the girl in my garage apartment can be so good at design and software yet not know any more hardware than I do.

Is that common?

Originally Posted by JustinW

Creepy factor increase 40%

It was already maxed out for me after seeing pics of rnolds 'personal trainer' who apparently gets paid in crack rox and the single mexican moms that he 'helps out'

Originally Posted by rnoldh

No comment!

But I will say, personal trainers:

are far superior to mistresses. Here is my long terrm trainer

The roles are defined and wer're engaging in a self help activity

 

[rnoldh]

Originally Posted by Night Owl

It was already maxed out for me after seeing pics of rnolds 'personal trainer' who apparently gets paid in crack rox and the single mexican moms that he 'helps out'

Since you have the time, show me a link to "Paying in crack rox".

 

[montyharding]

Originally Posted by rnoldh

I'm on hold with Dell for 2 hours now. And 5 hours last night! I had bought what I thought was a decent computer. A DEll XPS M1330 ( loaded to the hilt ). Now it turns out there are "issues", especially motherboard problems. I have the extended warranty but it's like they want to wear you down. Keep you on hold till you give up, or connect you to India where you will encounter language understanding problems.
Sorry to hear that. I hear more problems with this pile of **** than anything else Dell sells. And I've had a litany of problems as long as my arm, and crappy XPS support with the same machine while having zero support problems with their business notebooks - and even their (cheaper) Studio's. I dunno what it is, but they screwed up big-time with the M1330.

 

[VMan]

Many local computer shops will custom-build a machine to your specs, and offer service plans/warranties. Much easier to drive over to the store than deal with an overseas call center.

 

[gdl203]

Originally Posted by VMan

Many local computer shops will custom-build a machine to your specs, and offer service plans/warranties. Much easier to drive over to the store than deal with an overseas call center.

That sounds ideal but isn't there a real risk that the shop will close or go out of the business, leaving you with no counterparty to the service contract?

 

[Thomas]

Originally Posted by rnoldh

You guys might as well be speaking Greek.

What baffles me is how the girl in my garage apartment can be so good at design and software yet not know any more hardware than I do.

Is that common?

Yes. Specialization takes a toll. Fortunately I have a flinty streak that mates up very nicely with my curiosity, so for the most part I take on a lot of DIY-type stuff, including computers.

 

[Tokyo Slim]

Originally Posted by gdl203

That sounds ideal but isn't there a real risk that the shop will close or go out of the business, leaving you with no counterparty to the service contract?

That is, of course a risk, and I don't know what you have available locally, but around here there are several places that are reliable and sell/service laptops to both businesses and consumers. These places have much less of a chance of going out of business because they do volume. I'd ask around locally and figure out who the bigger "little guys" in your area are. Also there are online boutique places that may be local, or at least close. Sager and the like will usually have local contracted repair facilities as well if i remember correctly.

 

[ama]

I use Apples mostly now, but I still have my trusty Lenovo. Great customer support and warranties.

 

[Milhouse]

Originally Posted by rnoldh

You guys might as well be speaking Greek.

What baffles me is how the girl in my garage apartment can be so good at design and software yet not know any more hardware than I do.

Is that common?


I've known several people that, by nature of their research, have to write code a lot. They don't know the first thing about computer hardware though.

 

[GQgeek]

Originally Posted by gdl203

That sounds ideal but isn't there a real risk that the shop will close or go out of the business, leaving you with no counterparty to the service contract?

It also doesn't really work for laptops, especially small laptops like the one he has.

I'm honestly surprised he's getting service this bad. I told my sis to get one and hers has been great. My own experience is mostly on the business side, but it's also been very good. The one time i had to replace a redundant power supply, I had the part the next morning after talking to them in the afternoon. I had actually pulled the PSU out myself to examine it, and it was just a fan that wasn't spinning. I tested it with a different fan and it worked fine so it wasn't a problem on the PSU's PCB. i told them i'd be happy to swap the fan myself but I got an entirely new unit from them. I've also had great experiences with sales.

I'm sure part of this is just dealing with a huge company. As a rule, it's generally more unpleasant than not. Statistically i'd be surprised if Dell was any worse than HP or Apple. Still, I don't know why he's waiting on hold for 5 hours. That's beyond absurd.