Tech Support Nightmare

As ejn said, a refund is not an option this long after the sale.

Aside from what ejn said, another option to try to escalate your issue is to use the Unresolved Issues link at the very bottom of this page.

You will not get a refund.  If the system has had more than a couple of repair attempts, call techincal support and ask to have the issue escalated to a replacement. 

Ejn63 and Hovra;

Thank you both for your suggestion.  Sadly, I did have this matter escalated, and all that happes is that I get an e-mail every day saying they will have a solution in a matter of days.  The problem is nobody at the company Dell hires to do their tech support is taking responsibility for seeing this problem is resolved.

I'm not interested in what Dell wants to do, at this point -- it has been 6 months.  I spent over $1500 on the machine, and $465 to send it to the service center for repairs.  And the computer still does not work worth a darn.  Dell has not complied with their side of the bargan with regard to the extra service contract I bought when I purchased the machine.  Dell has not come through as they promoised. 

Now I am only trying to get a phone number to somebody within the Dell Corporation who has athority to resolve this issue once and for all.  Does anyone have such a phone number?

BillBingham

Good question.  While I was waiting on hold with tech support, I overturned a glass of 7-UP onto the keyboard.  Since that was my fault and an off-warantee repair, it was my responsibility to pay the cost of those repairs.  However , the deal was Dell was supposed to repair the original problem along with the damage I did.  They did a great job taking care of the 7-Up damage (they were quick and helpful about all that).  However even though I'd taped a note outlining the other problems, nothing was done. 

Thanks for asking.

BillBingham

I am confused now. What was Dell's rationale for charging $465 to send it in for repairs if it was under warranty? Are they denying you are under warranty? Were the repairs not covered under warranty?

Judging by that cost, I am guessing they replaced the motherboard...

What are the other problems?

Good luck with this....

hello Bill my name is hunter. I dont know how much help i am going to be on the issue; however, my Aunt had the same problem with the same laptop. After weeks and weeks of dealing with tech support they told her it may be windows vista causing major problems. As we all know windows vista is not perfect. They had all the same problems as you except spilling 7-up on it :). However your best bet may be to install like windows xp or windows 7 this may or may not clear up the problems. With my aunts computer it somehow after weeks of tech support worked, and it hadnt even been repaired or worked on. Again it may be Vista but i will not garuntee it. 

hrova,

Good guess!  You're right.  Actually, a repair person replaced the motherboard about a month into this ordeal also; but it didn't improve any of the problems.  They are:

1.  The wireless component does not work consistantly.  I actually had my cable service upgraded this week and a fellow from the local computer store came over to install a new wireless router and configure the computer for it.  Still the computer looses the connection, or can't find it consistantly. 

2.  The fingerpad which controls the cursor is erratic.  After using the machine for about an hour -- in any application, the cursor becomes uncontrolable.  It jumps across the screen, highlights things randomly and won't un-highlight them, will not operate the scrolling slide at all.  I usually have to shut the machine down or leave it alone for awhile for it to calm down.

3.  The machine freezes.  Again, in any application, but frequently while loading internet pages.  Sometimes it is only for a few seconds, but I frequently have to shut the machine down using the power button.  Its behaved this way from the first day -- long before I loaded any software. 

Thanks for your interest.

BillBingham

SUCCESS!!!

Thank you everyone for your interest and suggestions.  I'm really grateful. 

Dell has made me an offer I can't refuse.  If I buy a new system of my choice, they'll let me send the old one back for a refund.   Its a bit of a hassle, but Microsoft will upgrade new purchases of Vista -- free of charge when it is released, and this allows me to buy a new service contract which will start from day one (6 of that contract months were used up while Dell was unable to fix the machine).  Also, I've made some upgrades but paid the same as the last computer. 

The experience has brought up some interesting "buyer beware" warnings. 

1) With regard to the service contract, Dell doesn't seem to thnk they need to actually FIX malfunctioning computers; they feel they fulfill the terms of the contract if they ATTEMPT to make repairs -- no matter how long the process or what the final outcome is.  Buyers should know this.

2) After all the good comments suggesting Vista may be at the root of the problem, it seems that the company that does Dell's Hardware Tech. Support is woefully ignorant about software.  They have software support and tech support, but apparently one side knows nothing about the other.  Perhaps this whole thing could have been avoided had they been better educated in that area.  That's really bad management -- and costly too.

3) The company that does Dell's Tech Support doesn't have a personal interest in solving problems.  Its their job, and they do it -- but most of them are not going to get personally involved or go out of their way.  They do hang up on clients if the client is annouing them, or transfer them to non-existant extensions.  Clients need to remember that those guys are getting yelled at all day by angry customers, so courtesy and understanding really help make them want to go the extra mile.  This is where I screwed up; I had good reason to be frustrated, but it wasn't the technicians' fault.

Again, Thanks for all your suggestions and interest.

BillBingham

I just stumbled across another user today who had simiilar issues, and his solution was a clean reinstall of his OS. He said the OS install was corrupt from Dell. That is a possibility here as well, and also supports what Hunter has said - a clean reinstall may help.....

If you have not ever done a clean reinstall with the disk, I'd strongly recommend doing so......

Yeah, software and hardware are treated separately, and the software is only covered by a pay service, not the free warranty... That is why I am surprised they never at least had you do the complete reinstall to rule out software issues.

Glad they are being flexible and helping you out. Enjoy the new machine.

By the way... Hang around these forums for other questions you may have. There is a lot of good information to be had....

Really so sorry to hear you troubles. Dell Tech Support sucks as I am sure you know by know. Dell Tech is like a crashing airplane! Put your head between you legs and realize everyone will die on impact! I only by Dell now if I am prepared to do all my own tech support. I have had many Dells and once upon a time Dell was awesome, Those days are long long gone. Once the box is out the door the say goodbye forever!