OT dell laptop issues

[Young Ed]

Mainly just wondering if anyone else has had any issues with them? Fiancé bought a studio 15 laptop last April and a few months later it started having issues. It tries to eject a disk that isn't in the drive. 7 service calls to the house to attempt repairs. On the 8th call she asked for a new laptop. "New" laptop is a factory refurbished studio XPS which is an upgrade from her old one but they don't want to warranty it. They claim their policy is only to warranty it for the remainder of the original one. So she'll have a factory refurbished laptop only warrantied until April. Letters have been sent to the MN better business bureau and the state attorney general.

[maurice wade]

Dear Mr. Young Ed. All I can say is Good Luck with any and all issues concerning Dell. The company I retired from had a contract with Dell computers. This company was the largest oilfield company in the world, and has the largest computerized system next to the US Government. All this said, we still did not have a good working relationship with Dell. Our laptops failed on a regular basis. We became acustomed to the problem, so it just became a way of life for us. MW

[IronMike]

I have an older Dell desktop that I have been pleased with....... That said it was built down the road from me in the Nashville plant before they stopped domestic production. It is my understanding that all of their production is now offshore. At work we were entirely "Dell" for years but are now phasing them out due to all of the problems that we have had since manufacturing/tech support has left the area. My wife has an HP laptop for her business and has been pleased with it.

It is a shame so many companies won't stand behind their products these days.

Mike

[Young Ed]

Exactly. Her laptop says made in china on the box. So hers certainly is offshore. The guy at dell keeps saying that the new one is as good as an actual new one. So of course we say then why won't you warranty it.

[adam_knox]

Yeah, Ed, that's normal. Had issues with a Dell year's ago. Even the refurb one busted too, but warranty date stayed the same. Tend not to spend a lot on electronics these days, usually I look to buy at the lower end of the price spectrum ever since Sony and a few others let me down. Hope the refurb lasts a long time!

[IronMike]

Exactly. Her laptop says made in china on the box. So hers certainly is offshore. The guy at dell keeps saying that the new one is as good as an actual new one. So of course we say then why won't you warranty it.

Warranties (while a good thing to have) are a funny thing to me.

You should tell him......... that is why you need a warranty.....just in case the reman. is only as "good" as the new one you purchased which obviously required a warranty. You want something better than what you have, not "as good".

But then again salesman/telemarketers and the like don't care for me much!

Mike

Edited February 9, 2010 by IronMike

[Captain Neon]

We have a desktop Dell that we got new in 2004, and have had no issues with it. Back then, Dell was rated the best for customer satisfaction. I am sorry that Carmen is having difficulties with her laptop. It is a shame that companies that were previously known for good customer service and quality products have now gone the "Government Motors" route.

I honestly don't know who makes a satisfactory laptop computer any more. My wife is dreaming of getting a new laptop if she ever manages to snag a full-time teaching job. I have no idea which brand I would recommend to her.

[greg g]

The refurbished is as "Good as New" So how do they get the refurbished units, from people who bought them new and returned them in the first 3 or 4 months, because they had unresolved problems. HMMMMM sound like a do loop to me..........

A 4 year old computer???Isn't that like driving you old Plymouth?????

[dparksie]

I bought my refurbished Dell laptop 1 1/2 years ago and have been quite happy with it. Then bought a refurbished desktop from them 4 months ago and have been happy with it since. Maybe I just lucky, don't know but both systems have been very good. Only down thing is danged Vista is crap. I went and changed both back to XP and have been happy all the way around since then. Besides needed XP to owrk the old plotter I was given.

Good luck and I am sorry to hear that things didn't work out.

[JerseyHarold]

Ed,

I've been in the auto and HVAC industries and standard warranty procedure for warranty parts (and even complete replacement units in the case of HVAC) are only warranted for the remainder of the original warranty. I've spent lots of time explaining to customers that, for example, if we provide a warranty compressor in a central air unit with two months left on its warranty, then the compressor is warranted for only two months. Seems illogical, but that's the way it is.

[Young Ed]

Harold how does replacing what was a brand new item with a rebuilt one fall into standard industry practice? I wouldn't think that is a standard procedure.

[P-12 Tommy]

In 2005 I bought a new Dell 2400 desk top and I had an issue with it powering up. It was a bad circuit board. That was it so far. I also bought a Dell Vostro 1500 laptop about 2 years ago and so far so good.

Tom

[Captain Neon]

A 4 year old computer???Isn't that like driving you old Plymouth?????

It's a 5, almost 6, year old computer, and yes, it is almost like driving an old Plymouth. We've gone from Windows XP being the latest and greatest to, now, no longer supported by Microsoft. It's only a matter of time before software no longer supports Windows XP, and then we will have to give serious thought to getting a new computer with "Windows 8" OS.

We got our current computer when the latest Microsoft IE was incompatible w/ Windows 98. The time for a new computer is rapidly approaching at our house.

[JerseyHarold]

If it were no good right out of the box, they would probably have requested you to return it to the retailer for refund or replacement. From their perspective, your computer is 'used' because it has been in-service for a number of months. Therefore, the logic is that they are doing a LKQ exchange (like kind and quality). Some manufacturers don't specify that you'll get new parts under warranty either....another convenient loophole. Is there an extended warranty on it? That may have more favorable provisions than the standard manufacturer's warranty.

[Young Ed]

It was good for the first 4-5 months and has been having issues ever since. Sadly we didn't buy the optional extended warranty.

[Niel Hoback]

Ed, if you paid for it with a credit card, there is a chance the issuer will honor a guarantee for you. Check with them and see. Sometimes they will cover electronics for a year. Depends on your card company.

[JerseyHarold]

Ed, if you paid for it with a credit card, there is a chance the issuer will honor a guarantee for you. Check with them and see. Sometimes they will cover electronics for a year. Depends on your card company.

Good point. Also, some retailers automatically provide longer warranties for electronic items they sell. Costco is one example and there are others.

[Niel Hoback]

Costco is my friend. Three months after I bought my printer there, it up and died. Costco just traded me for a new, not rebuilt, one.

[Young Ed]

A different area of Dell called last night but we missed it. They are supposed to call back tonight. Hopefully one way or another this long ordeal will be over.

[randroid]

Folks,

Back in the early mid 90's I tried to upgrade my 100mhz 80386 processor to a 160 Pentium and found my power supply and MB couldn't handle the tremendous energy required by a sophisticated Pentium, so I bought a new power supply and MB and essentially built a new computer. Lynn and I were given a new Gateway for a wedding gift in 2001 and it never worked, and it took mentioning litigation to get what I'd been asking for. I understand they've changed their policy but I will never know because I will never ask them for anything again, ever.

I bought a Dell for Lady Lynn then knocked it over and broke the MB, but it was a weird tower case and I couldn't figure out how to open it. It took me almost an hour of proving to them that I was the person who bought it before they'd tell me the secret handshake necessary to simply open the stupid case. Dell, get in line behind Getaway.

I haven't heard stories like that from HP but to me the best would be if somebody would supply the general public with components made to fit lap tops. Their prices are getting low enough that I don't see why they wouldn't, except fear of a lack of demand may be deterring it.

Know anybody who sells non-proprietary laptops?

-Randy

[BobT-47P15]

I bought a new Gateway laptop with a 17" screen last summer.

So far, so good.

Haven't taken time to read any reviews of the item, so don't know

what experience others have had with it.

In a way, a factory refurbished item is probably good since they

supposedly have repaired whatever problem it originally had.

But, it always seems as if they should give a new item for

something you bought new. Ahh, the world of business......

[greg g]

OH boy factory refurbished Priuses are just around the corner.

[Job~Rated]

DO NOT BUY DELL.

I've steered clear of them for the very same reasons I see mentioned here.

By all means buy a Dell, but you should also get a Windows XP disc (or whatever your preferred system is) & immediately re-format the hard drive.

Dell fill their hard drives with tons of their own unnecessary & useless software & by their very nature, are prone to conflicts within the system.

Dell have caused no end of heartache & tears to some of my friends.

I tried to tell them when they bought their PCs, but you know what people are like - they always know better.

Your main operating system is ususlly on the C drive. Any other drives (D, E, F or whatever) are purely for storage & can be reformatted easily by right-clicking on 'My Computer' & then 'Disk Management'. This would be great, but all the trouble is unfortunately on the C dirve in the operating system

If you grab yourself a copy of Windows, I'd be glad to talk you through reformatting.

Edited February 11, 2010 by Job~Rated

[Young Ed]

Unfortunately its not that easy for this laptop. All of the issues are hardware related. At first the optical drive failed. Ever since then its been having issues of trying to eject disks when there are none in the laptop. One of the dell trouble shooting ideas was to do a system restore to a previous date. I wouldn't let them do it because it makes no sense for a hardware issue.

[Job~Rated]

Okay. Try this.

Right click on 'My Computer'

Scroll down to 'Manage' & left click

A box showing two windows should appear & in the left window, click 'Device Manager'

A list of what's on your laptop should appear in the right window

Scroll down to 'Disk Drives' or 'DVD/CD-ROM Drives', depending on which one is causing the problem & click on the small '+' sign to the left

You should then see the drive listed

Right click on the drive in question & you have some options:

Update Driver

Uninstall

Scan For Hardware Changes

Properties

Now, you can try & update the driver, but you'll be asked if you'll be using the original driver disc - most people don't have their discs, so an internet search should locate a driver for you (which you can then save to your laptop) - remember where you saved it & then when you click update driver, you will know where it is

I don't know if this will help at all, but anything's worth a try.

If all else fails, a new DVD/CD drawer is relatively cheap - might be worth getting one.