Hey everyone, been awhile since I posted because my old computer went tits-up. The wife said it came down with a case of Alzheimer’s and forgot what it was supposed to do. Well since it was over two years old, we decided it was replace it rather than repair it and after doing some price comparisons, we decided to go with what “Should” be a reliable system and purchased a Dell XPS-400.
Day 1 – Computer arrives and I get it hooked up and it’s working fine. I’m starting to feel confident that I made the decision to go with Dell.
Day 2 – While getting my daily news fix at foxnews.com the computer froze up, no problem I’ve had this happen hundreds of times with other computers, press and hold the power button wait a few minutes and turn it back on. Only this time, it wouldn’t cut back on, no boot-up or nothing. All I could hear is the fan running and nothing else. I’m thinking WTF, so I call Dell’s customer support (CS) and get the typical Press one for… Press two for … and then finally the dreaded; all our technicians are currently busy please hold on one will be with you shortly. Well “Shortly” turned in to 45 minutes and it was time for me to leave so I handed the phone off to the wife and left the house. A short time after getting to work the wife calls and she’s having a tizzy, seems as though CS tried telling her it was a software issue and that we would need to purchase a software tech plan. WHOA WTF, give me the number to CS and I’ll have a talk with them. Called CS (here we go again press one for… press two for…) finally got in touch with a real person and he suggested it might be a problem with the way I had my computer hooked up to the monitor (hmm I’m no computer expert but this sounded fishy). Called the wife and told her what CS said and she swapped the DVI cable for the VGA cable (yep my initial instinct was correct, this person doesn’t know shit).
Day 3 – Called CS again and this time was transferred to numerous hardware departments only to be told it was a Tech. issue and given a new phone number (guess Dell has a “special number for XPS computers that they forgot to tell me about”). Called the Tech Number and this time the individual seemed very knowledgeable and commenced to having me tear apart my new computer to include: disconnecting / reconnecting every component in the case. After 45 minutes of troubleshooting, he decided that the motherboard had gone bad and would be sending out a third party technician the next morning to replace it.
Day 4 – After waiting almost a whole day with no word of what was going on, my wife called Dell’s CS to see when someone would contact us about coming to repair our computer. She was transferred to the third party tech support company and told that the technician would be contacting us when he received the new part (Wait a minute no one said a new part would have to be shipped).
Day 5 – Still haven’t heard from the third party tech support but Dell CS called and told us that if this part doesn’t fix the computer that Dell will replace it free of charge.
Day 6- Still no word from the third party tech support so wife called and spoke with them. She was told that a technician had already been to the house, replaced the part and that and that the case had been closed out. Okay WTF, since my wife had been home all day and no one had been to the house, just how the hell did they think it had been fixed?!! So, she corrected them and they called the Technician to see what was going on. Well seems as though the Technician had accidentally cleared the wrong work order and that he would call back by 3:00pm. At 3:33pm and no word from the Technician, the wife called the third party tech support company and demanded that they get this issue resolved. At 4:28pm we finally received word from the Technician and he claimed he had called earlier and left a message to set up an appointment….. (guess my answering machine / caller ID must be tits-up also). He was going to arrive that evening to replace the motherboard….. NO SHOW!!!
Day 7 – Technician called around 7:00AM to say he was on his way and arrived almost an hour later. He removed and replaced the motherboard hooked everything back up and started the computer (Wow it works) however, this time there is another problem. The computer cannot recognize a USB device (that’s strange nothings hooked up to it). Called Dells Tech Support again and they do a remote hook up and ran through several things. He couldn’t figure out what was wrong and needed to research the problem, later his supervisor called back an said they don’t know what’ wrong with it and that they would be sending us a brand new system.
Day 12 – New computer arrives and guess what, another problem. This time the DVD player won’t work. So I swapped it out with the one slated to be returned and now everything seems to be working (as of today). Called Dell and informed them of what I had done and they said it was fine.
In closing let me just say this is not meant as an insult to Dell, just an informative report of the problems I have incurred since purchasing my new computer.
capche-capche da - we go forward together
Faugh ah Ballaugh -Clear The Way-
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Faugh ah Ballaugh ~ Clear the Way
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