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MG MGB Technical - Dell Hell

As long as you troops are talking computers, let me throw in a recent hellish experience with Dell. As my daughter and grandson were preparing to move to their own apartment I felt the need of a computer to go with them. So, I purchased a Dell P4 1.8 Ghz. Monitoring progress toward shipping, I found that one needed component had been tied to an unnecessary unit that was not in stock. So I began trying to separate them so that the computer would be functional on arrival. They refused. So when the computer arrived, it sat largely unusable for two weeks. When it was finally found to have a defective card, I was told that the 30-day clock started on the shipment of the first box, not when the shipment was complete and I had to swallow the $140 shipping myself to return the computer.

But the worst of it was the people. My first contact with Tech Support to determine if the part was bad ended with the tech's statement that he would send me an email that would solve all my problems. The email never came, and another techie forwarded my correcct email to the center I had spoken to. He told me no such file was in Dell's data base and that the first techie had promised the email just to get rid of me. I spent just over 8 hours on the phone that day, mostly on hold. No one could correct the problem, no one had the authority to replace the part, no one could/would connect me with a supervisor . . . and no email ever came.

Day after day, trying to get this thing running, I was continually refused connection with a supervisor, tech support seemed to know less than I did, and they did such things to get rid of me as to send me off to do an hour-thirty-seven-minte download that couldn't possibly work. There's more, lots more.

I finally pretended to be a new customer about to purchase a computer but with some lingering doubts and this subterfuge got me connected with a supervisor. Once I had her, she couldn't get away and I got authorization to return the computer. Since my request was one day late on the 30 days from shipment of the FIRST component, I had to pay the freight.

Probably the computer could have been made to function, but the prospect of dealling with Dell employees in the future was enough to scare me off.

(It's not that I am a beginner. In 1977, before PC's, I was doing assembly language programming on Z80 machines, and I wrote how-to articles and reviews for a number of magazines. My last was as a member of the hardware and software review board at InfoWorld rating products.) I have not tried to keep up-to-date as current computer professionals, but consider myself more computer-savvy than average).

The moral of the story: Stay out of Dell Hell. Buy your computer elsewhere.
Dan

Dan, what the hell has this to do with the B? If you want to flame then post it in the flame area.
BTW I am more than happy with my Dell.
cecil kimber

Dan, cecil is correct about the bbs.

On the other hand, I have recently been contemplating a Dell, but since I really hate vile customer service as described,
( read - at&t), I say thanks for the heads up.

Fred Horstmeyer

I'm happy as dell with my 1.8 P4 and my latitude laptop. Service has been the best of any computer company I've dealt with. You are the first person I've heard complain about Dell.

If only my B was so easy to work with, but even after 35 years it isn't totally obsolete.
JMHO, Bud
Bud Goetzinger

We have, in the past,used the MGB General forum for things of this nature. Since computers are the mechanism we use to correspond, problems with computer suppliers are as valid as problems with any other parts supplier. My wife has a Dell laptop and has had problems with their administrative tech support people. The only computer related problem was handled fine, but the admin stuff took weeks. I use a Gateway myself and have had great luck with their support staff, but admin and tech. Les
Les Bengtson

Dan,

I sincerely doubt that anyone from Dell is monitoring this BBS, here's what I'd do...

Write directly to Michael Dell! Trust me, it will work. He may never answer the letter, but someone in authority will respond. Our own CEO here at Moss does read all of his own mail, and if a customer is having or has had a problem, whether they've tried to resolve it through normal channels or not, he makes certain that some action is taken. Shame on them for not putting you in contact with a supervisor. My staff here have been instructed to connect customers to me whenever they ask. If I'm not in or available, they are to take a name for me to call back. In fact, I'm taking it a step further now, and am starting to have a customer connnected to myself or another supervisor if it is their second call about a problem. No company is ever going to have a totally problem free business, but customers shouldn't have to get frustrated in their efforts to get corrective action taken. Did you get any names of people you spoke with? If so, include them in your letter. I bought a laptop from Comp USA, and got great service. I paid for it through their "finance" plan, which is Household Bank....some of the worst customer service I've ever seen. I'll never buy again from CompUSA because of Household Bank, nor will I buy from any company that uses them for financing...similar situation to what you had, I spent hours and hours on hold and telling and retelling my story, trying to correct an error that Household had made. When I still didn't get satisfaction, I wrote to the CEO, and got a form letter back thanking me for writing and assuring me that someone would contact me. No call ever came. None of my money will ever go in their direction again.

BTW...
Just so you don't have a similar situation arise in your dealings with Moss, I'll post my name, etc. again

Craig Cody
Contact Center Manager
800 235-6954 ext 3190
codyc@mossmotors.com
Craig Cody

I have a Dell Inspiron laptop. When I had a small problem with the DVD drive, the tech folks sent me a replacement second day with just one phone call. Absolutely no problem!
John Hubbard

Anecdotal stories about problems concerning items that sell thousands are interesting, but incomplete as a way to judge a product or service. This is because they are generatlly not statistically representative (they constitute a VERY small sample, and may suffer from self-selection biase). I think I recall that Dell has the highest customer satisfaction and repair ratings among the computer companies that Consumer Reports lists, based on its annual surveys. (Gateway was not bad either.)

Furthermore, Dell systems are generally sold with a 1-year at-home warranty, where someone comes to your house to do repairs, so I don't understand some of Dan's story.
David Cushman

As I said, my story was quite abbreviated --- it was far worse in detail. I don't know what is going on at Dell, but something has severely damaged employee esprit.

About three weeks ago, US News and World Report included a story bout Dell's ambitious plans to garner 40% of the pc market. USN&WR closed their article stating that a steep downturn in customer service might defeat Michael Dell's plans.

Once I had rid myself of the Dell unit, I placed an order with Gateway. I received notice the next day that my computer had shipped. It was somewhat lower in price than the Dell unit and had a couple more components as well.

This was the first computer which I had purchased since the Intel 486DX50. In the interim I had upgraded a piece at a time: motherboard, cpu, drives, etc. and had gone from the 486 to a Pentium 120, then mmx, then AMD, then an Athlon 450, a P3 733 Mhz and a P4 1.8 Ghz --- when my daughter moved, I suddenly needed a second computer and didn't want to send her off with a slow machine. I am not uncomfortable with hardware.

There may have been insufficient burn-in or inspection with their computer. But I must emphasize that the problem was not an unsolvable hardware issue but rather with employees in public contact positions. I don't know if they have sufferred from harsh cost-cutting or if there is something else gnawing at the staff. But until it is cured, anyone purchasing a Dell unit risks a long and unpleasant path.
Dan

Off topic posts: I have to agree with Cecil Kimber above, if it is not MG related place it somewhere else.

There are too many boards which end up as "moan and bitch sessions" with the seemingly sole purpose of being an airing forum for individual's grievances,"in jokes" and personal chit chat.
I would hate to see this board go down that track as well.
Doubtless there are others as well as myself on this board who have stopped participating on varoius boards for that very reason.
I ubderstand dealing with some companies and tech service areas can be frustrating but take it up with the people who can actually do something about it.
Pete, Sydney, Australia.
Peter Thomas

I can see Peter's point about off topic postings. However, I get the feeling that I am talking to people like me (more or less) when I go on this board.

The avarage computer specialist knows far too much (and me far too little) to be able to help me with a computer problem. I asked (on the Peter Burgess computer down thread) if it was possible to get my computer to speak English to me. No one gave me a quick fix idea, so I realised it was beyond me and I had better get used to the German.

Try a computer site and you'll get "dead easy, go and reformat the boot file look up chart from /de to /en, load it into the config.exe etc. etc."

It's useful to have a bit of help from like-minded MGers.

Mike
Mike

Last week I drove my daughter to the library in my MGB. While she was in there, I got out my Dell laptop and played Solitaire (the Apple version--Eric's-- on a Basilisk emulator!) to pass the time. There have been a few other times I'd drive my wife to the grocery store, and set in the parking lot, doing projects on my Dell laptop. the only problem I ran into is that even with the seat all the way back, there's just barely enough room between the steering wheel and my pot belly to hold the laptop! ;o)
Mike, there is a multilanguage version of Win2k that will let you choose the language when you do the install. All it does is reassign the ASCII characters on the keyboard to emulate the keyboard as it would occur in the foreign country (not all countries use the qwerty keyboard!) contact me for more info.

BTW, I used my Dell laptop to build a website for a garage in Ft. Collins, CO, called The Motorway, Ltd. It is at www.motorwayltd.com and I would appreciate comments or constructive criticisms. If you are in Wyoming, northern Colorado, western Nebraska or western Kansas and need a good mechanic for brit cars, take a look!
Ken thompson

This thread was discussed between 30/01/2002 and 31/01/2002

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