(no subject)

[heidi]

So my computer has been problematic since I got it, but it's been getting worse since July. Finally, Dell bit the bullet and realised that they've spent more money on tech support for me than the computer actually cost, and sent a tech to my house to replace the hard drive, as it was, in their opinion, the reason I was having the Blue Screen of Doom on a machine that runs *vista*.

Yeah.

He was here for 20 minutes and it seemed to work until I actually started moving stuff onto it.

And I got a blue screen of doom again.

I hate this damned computer.

Comments

[brandifer.livejournal.com]

ACK. I must have missed it if you posted about computer shopping and were considering buying a Dell, or I'd have warned you off. I rarely force unsolicited advice on people, but I make an exception for them.

About two years ago, Drew solicited bids for a lot of about 40 new computers for a system they were installing on the casino floor. Dell's bid came in lowest. Drew had heard bad things about their computers and horror stories about their support, and recommended they take the 2nd lowest, but was overruled by the GM to save the almighty buck.

Within the first year, over half of the computers had required new hard drives. Several of them puked motherboards in the first 8 weeks. Power supplies fried, sometimes repeatedly in the same box. Monitors poofed. (And these were being used as slot floor terminals, NOT heavy duty by any stretch of the imagination).

At first Dell started screaming at us, saying we had to be misusing the poor little dears. Legal action was called into play to keep them honoring the warranties. As part of the deal, the GM had received a spanky new high-end for his desk. When THAT blew, the GM finally said he should have listened (how any times have we heard *that*) and forbade any more company purchases from Dell of any kind.

I know it's too late for this to help you at all, but maybe someone else will benefit.

HUG!

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

Your icon is me.

The thing is, I have had Dells before, and they've lasted lovely 18month - 2year time-frames - I mean, they'd last even longer but I've needed upgrades and moved them to other places and people. But this is just *bad stuff*. Sigh.

[ozratbag2.livejournal.com]

I've just gone through the computer woes myself, though I now have a nice new - no blue screen...yet - Toshiba.

I hope Dell just give you a new one - or your money back, but it's the hassle of transferring everything that is the bigger headache.

*passes over chocolate - you're going to need it*

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

I saw your post! Good luck with it!

[smilie117.livejournal.com]

Am curious as I forgot - what kind of Dell did you get?

Woe for computer woes and blue screen of death O_o

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

E521, which seems to be somewhat problem-plagued, but no more than anything else they make. I've had Dells before, and never had an issue like this, which I think makes it all the more frustrating.

[smilie117.livejournal.com]

Woes.

Yeah we use Dells all the time here at work - even the laptops now when I got an upgrade about 2 months back as they're all moving to uniformity - I don't recall any issues but *knocks on wood* I don't usually deal with them direct.

I also have a dell laptop I bought April 2006 and it's moving along well though I don't do too much on it but has been working ok for me - again *knocks on wood*

Just woes to you =/

[dramaturgy.livejournal.com]

There's got to be a special place in hell for the people who designed Vista.

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

The problem here doesn't seem to be vista, though - it was a bad hard drive, and possibly also a bad motherboard. Bleh.

[elfundeb.livejournal.com]

Computers are a colossal pain, aren't they? What computer do you have? I'm looking to replace my old laptop (now 2 1/2 years old and barely functional, but I suppose I got my money's worth out of it), and was thinking of a Dell.

[rookie131.livejournal.com]

I hate Dell with a passion that burns with the intensity of a thousand suns.

I got a Dell color laser for my business. After 4 visits from the lovely Dell repairman, they told me they couldn't fix the problem (of course, the down time was costing me money). They said they would send a replacement printer. Thing is, when I got it, I printed the page that told me how many pages it had printed and it was over 10,000 more than the printer I sent back. I called and complained and they pretty much told me too bad.

Then, when the warranty on the piece of crap expired, I couldn't renew it through their website. I called their customer service and they told me that because it was 2 days past the date it expired, they couldn't sell me a new warranty. Then, they told me they could, but the price was $50 higher than what it should be and they said it was the only thing they could offer.

BTW, I've got a supercharged HP laptop and computer and I'm very happy with both of them.

[ancarett]

I'm sorry! It sounds like you really ran into a bad machine and, of course, tech support hell with the constant problems for this one. I would hope that they would wholesale replace the system. About six years back I had the motherboard fry out on a Dell and it only took a week to get things fixed (it would have taken less but they tried new RAM and a new CPU before they gave up and agreed with me that it was the motherboard).

I have four and five year old Dells still running strong as well as a nine month old laptop that's giving me a bit of a headache as the battery is having problems. I have to get back in touch with tech support and get them to agree it needs replacing since it's still under warranty.

I will hope we both get lucky and get the whole mess fixed ASAP.