Tech support was great,now what happens?

Thamks for the reply. My xps 710 was fully loaded for gamming . I am doing reserch right now on the 9000 to see if will game.After doing some rererch on the 710 I came to the conclusion that there MB are bad all together...

You will most likely receive an XPS 9000.  My Studio XPS 435MT had problems that Dell was unable to resolve by replacing parts and they ordered a replacement for it back in November.  They wanted to send a refurbished 435MT, but I was  persistent in asking for a new unit as a replacement.  The tech had me chat with a supervisor, who forwarded my request to the "escalation team" and two days later I got  a call telling me that they were sending me a new XPS 9000 as a replacement.  It took nearly a month for it to ship and unfortunately it was defective when I received it.  I am now waiting on a second replacement, which will also be an XPS 9000.

Chris

'cat - go to the dell site and try to build/ configure an xps 9000 that is comparable, component wise, to your 710... dell did same thing when my xps730 took a dirt nap, but the xps 9000 would not even config close - it is a multimedia machine, not a gaming rig - you may want to also walk through a build on an alienware aurora for reference... keep in mind, unfortunately, that dell seems to be experiencing RIDICULOUS lead times on high end system exchanges at the moment... started having issues with my xps730 on 24 Oct... dell decided system exchange warranted on 30 Nov, after 2 mobo replacements... actual dispatch created 12 Dec... actual order created 21 Dec... still "in production" with no estimated ship date listed at all, as of 4 Jan... I have theoretically been 'escalated' to a 'corporate escalation specialist' but that does not seem to have improved the quality of the "I don't know's" that I am getting from them... best of luck and try to be patient - apparently Dell is struggling mightily with the whole customer care thing...

Thanks for the reply. I am going to configure both AW and the 9000. Sorry to hear about your delays.

Just FYI, I was in a similar situation.  I had an XPS600 that I bought as a gaming rig.  When it died, after 16 earlier service calls over it's lifespan, Dell also did not have any MOBOs for the XPS600, so they gave me a new XPS 9000/435T as a warranty replacement.  The 9000 does not spec the same as the XPS600.  In many ways it is better.  The processor is a Core i7 Extreme 975.  the XPS600 had a Pentium D 955 Extreme Edition.  CPU comparison...much better on the 9000.  RAM on the XPS600: 4Gb.  RAM on the 9000 6Gb tri-channel.  RAM comparison:  better on the 9000.  Audio on the 600 was a Creative X-Fi Extreme Music.  Audio on the 9000: Creative X-Fi Extreme Audio.  Audio comparison:  about the same.  (I swapped the audio for a Creative X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Pro.)  Storage on the XPS 600  640Gb RAID 0 10,000RPM drives.  Storage on the 9000:  1Tb RAID 0 7200RPM drives.  Storage comparison:  Faster drives on the 600, but almost double the space on the 9000.  I call it a wash.  Video on the XPS600:  twin nVidia 7900GTX cards plus a PhysX adapter.  Video on the XPS9000 nVidia GT220.  Video Comparison, not as good on the 9000. (I swapped out the 220 GT for an nVidia 9800GTX+ which has an integrated PhysX engine)  I miss not having the capability to run a higher-end graphics card than the nVidia GTX260, and not being able to run multiple video cards.  That is the biggest shortcoming of the 9000.  That said, I get a solid 60FPS with max graphics setting on Guild Wars and Aion.

Bottom line:  yeah, I would have liked an Alienware for the expandability, however the 9000 outperforms the XPS600 in gaming (with my upgrades to the sound and the graphics cards.)  My Windows Experience Index on the 9000 is a 5.9, primarily because of the slower drives.  With faster drives the score would probable be around 7.1.  This, overall is FAR better than the XPS600.  Oh yeah...one other thing...on the XPS600 I was running Vista 32bit.  The 9000 came with Win7 Home Premium 64bit.  So, I'm satisfied with Dell's handling of the situation.  The replacement machine took around 3 weeks to arrive, and it's worked fine so far.  More stable, in fact, than the XPS600.  Other than not being able to run multiple video cards, this system easily outperforms the XPS600.  Is the XPS9000 a "gaming" rig?  Not if your definition af a gaming rig is a huge CPU wiith glowing lights, and the absolute bleeding edge in speed.  If being able to play today's games, (and probably the next generation of PC games as well) at a decent framerate at max settings is your definition, then the XPS9000 is a decent, but not bleeding-edge gaming rig..

Thanks Anclar for some realy good words. I looked at buying the XPS 9000 for my wife as a gamming PC. She wants to play FPS like COD4 and MW 2 online with me.The  biggest problem with the xps 9000 that turned me away was the exspandability on it.No dual GPUs,small PSU,and a well ventalated case.

When Dell offered you the XPS 9000 as a replacenent,did they configure it with the i7-975,6 GB of ram,sound card and 1 TB  HD. Or did you haggle with them for it.Also the video card upgrade from the 220 to the 9800gtx+,was that a Dell addon or after market addon. Thanks

xps 710

C2D 2.4

768 MB Gforce 8800 gtx

10,000 rpm raptor HD

sound blaster X-Fi Extreme Music

4 GB ram

dual optical drives

750 watt PSU

The only real haggling I had to do was to get Dell to replace the computer in the first place.  Once they agreed to do that, I worked together with customer service to spec. the new system.  I tried to get it as close to the XPS600 as I could, but in the heat of things I didn't look as carefully as I should have regarding the sound and video cards.  Where identical components were no longer available, I went with what would be the rough equivalent today.  So Dell and I, working together configured the processor, RAM, and storage.  Like I said, I didn't pay careful attention to the graphics and sound cards, and that was my own fault.   I happened to have a spare 9800GTX+ card that I could use, so I didn't have to buy a new one.  To buy a 9800 GTX+ today would probably cost under $200.00.  The only thing I bought was the new sound card.  That cost me $149.00.  Swapping out the cards was a piece of cake...took me about 10 minutes.

How long dose it take for who ever is supose to call me call me back. I have not heard anything from Dell. Any ideas ?

How long dose it take for who ever is supose to call me call me back. I have not heard anything from Dell. Any ideas ?

Don't wait for Dell, as more often than not you'll never hear anything back from them.  You need to call them back and be persistent to get any answers.

I agree with NSDash9.  Don't wait for Dell to call you back.  Call them.  You don't have to be rude, just persistent.  I was polite, but I told them in no uncertain terms what I wanted, and what I thought was reasonable.  Keep on them, and you will hopefully get a response.  Good luck.

UPDATE>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

I called dell Monday 1-11-2010 to get an update on the situation.Takled to tech support and she said that I was aproved for a new PC. I asked when someone would call me ,that it had been 6 days and no news. TS said it may take 7 to 10 days for someone to call me. Ts said I should here somthing in 24 to 48 hours for somthing offical.

Tuesday 1-12-2010 Fedex pulls up ,and I'm thinking whats this. They bring a Dell box to the door,and I make sure they have right address.I open the box and my first impression is "what is this tiny thing." I pull it out and open the case to find out what make it is. Bold and behold its a XPS 8000 refurbished computer. Confused and scratching my head,I look in side a see or don't see half the parts of my xps 710.

To make a long story short....I called TS and tell them I think I got the wrong PC. After talking to the TS guy (who is very nice and not rude ) we compare parts. 8000 specs i5-2.66,8 gb ram,gforce 260,1 TB HD and 1 optical drive.He seems this is better. I tell him in all honestly its not. My 710 has a raptor HD (10000 rpm ) sound blaster sound card,a 8800 gtx gpu,2 optical drives,750 watt poweer supply,and is capable of running dual video cards

After about 45 min. of talking to him.Him asking if anyone called and talked to me,recieved emails,or confirmed the specs of the 8000 I said I have not heard anything,this computer just shows up.

Anyways Dell has made another apointment on 1-18-2010 for someone to talk and confirm another replacement.

Sorry to hear of your situation.  Unless you are in absolutely no hurry, I would suggest that you call them back and tell them you want this handled NOW, not on the 18th.  This is just another stall tactic by Dell.  There is absolutely no reason they can't talk to you today and get this matter resolved.  I can tell you now that come the 18th you will never hear a word from them.  Then it will be that much longer before you get the matter resolved.  And keep in mind, with each passing day, that is one less day of warranty coverage you have remaining on your system. 

Again, agreed.  The day in November 2009 that Dell support told me that MOBOs for my dead XPS600 were backordered until February 2010, I told them that  that was unacceptable and that, if they could not provide repairs to my system then I wanted a new system under my warranty.  They had to escalate my request to the "resolution team", and they said it would take a week before someone got back to me.  I gave them that one week.  When I got no callback after a week, I called them and insisted that the "resolution team" resolve my situation.  On that same call was where I spec'ed my new system.  Even so, it still took three more weeks in production from the date the new system was ordered till I had it up and running.  I told them that a refurb. was not acceptable, and that's when they offered me a new XPS9000.  The tech volunteered to work with me to spec the new system and that's how it went for me.  With all of that, I was still without a computer for a month. 

I have no idea what criteria the "resolution team" use to determine who gets what.  All I can tell you is what happened in my case.  Keep on them until you get what you feel is a fair and equitable solution to your situation.

UPDATE>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Dell agreed on a alienware Aurora for replacement. I am happy about that. Now it's in the "production stage" since 1/28/2010. I will have to see what happens.