When laptops go bad.

Aaron · Post by **Aaron** » Mon Nov 28, 2005 1:10 am

So I ran into problems a couple nights ago with my Dell Inspiron 9200 laptop. 2.1ghx Pentium M hyperthreading, ATI Radeon 9700+, 17.4" widescreen, 512 DDR.

So I leave it on most of the time. I rarely turn it off, maybe once every couple months. It is left on the power cord. So it was at a friend's house plugged in when I left it, and when I came back a few hours later it was turned off. WTF? So I guessed it wasn't getting power and battery ran dead, but the battery tested at 100% and the charger was getting power.

When I tried to turn it back on the power light just flashed, but the system did not power up. WTF? Well a few hours later, my friend gets it to turn on just by randomly pressing the power button by luck. It hasn't had this problem since. But now it does not recognize any of the 4 USB ports, but does give power to them. For examply my Sony optical mouse, it get spower, lights up, but it doesn't work. The printer doesn't communicate, and neither does my USB receiver for my remote control. WTF?

No software for these 3 USB devices needs to be installed, and they all worked prior to the power thingy.

And Dell tech support is being gay, they say my 1 year tech support is expired when I have 3 weeks left.

Series8217 · Post by **Series8217** » Mon Nov 28, 2005 1:13 am

SUCKS FOR YOU!

Did you try reinstallign windoze with the "Recovery Disk" they give you?

Post by **eHoward** » Mon Nov 28, 2005 1:14 am

throw it out the window.

DiggityBiggity · Post by **DiggityBiggity** » Mon Nov 28, 2005 1:29 am

Dell exported ALL of their customer support to India... Thanks Conservative trade policy!

Your concerned leader

Diggity"Just another way the CONS have fucked us"Biggity

Aaron · Post by **Aaron** » Mon Nov 28, 2005 1:42 am

Series8217 wrote:SUCKS FOR YOU!

Did you try reinstallign windoze with the "Recovery Disk" they give you?

I firmly believe it is a hardware problem, and I HATE reinstalling Windows and it never fixes shit (Benn there done that, 4 times...)

eHoward wrote: throw it out the window.

Howard, the act of defenestration upon my computer is not the solution. And it won't fit.

Diggity, you are correct. I really don't mind, and in fact they can be very interesting to talk to when we are waiting for something/someone and we can talk casually. But most of them can be very hard to understand. Their service is top notch, and they treat you well.

Aaron has no complaints on the tech support other than long hold times and the language barrier.

zonyl · Post by **zonyl** » Mon Nov 28, 2005 9:15 am

http://www.knoppix.com/

Burn the ISO, boot. If your stuff works, then windows is screwed and you should take a hard look into using a different OS.

Aaron · Post by **Aaron** » Mon Nov 28, 2005 10:07 am

Uh oh, another Linuz supporter :la:

I don't like linux. I respect it as a good reliable OS, just I really like the way XP Pro works. I don't think it is a OS or software problem, but we shall see, as I'm on hold now...

zonyl · Post by **zonyl** » Mon Nov 28, 2005 11:01 am

aaron wrote:Uh oh, another Linuz supporter :la:

I don't like linux. I respect it as a good reliable OS, just I really like the way XP Pro works. I don't think it is a OS or software problem, but we shall see, as I'm on hold now...

Im not advocating switching your OS if it works for you. I am suggesting booting that ISO on your laptop to verify the hardware works. It runs completely off of CD and has drivers for everything included, and makes no permanant changes to your harddrive. No need to be on hold, you can find out right away if it is hardware. Verify that the mouse and other junk in the USB port work with this CD.

If it is a software issue and thus doesnt work for you, then you should consider changing the OS to something else that works (Windows 2000, Mac OS x86, Linux, BSD, whatever.) A computer without a useful OS is just that (as useless as what you got)

Aaron · Post by **Aaron** » Mon Nov 28, 2005 11:08 am

I will go ahead and try that then, as Dell isn't being much help here.

Their chat sounds all great and shit, but takes forever, 10 people in que before me, my wait time is estimated at like 2 min 30 sec, and so far I have waited 15 min. And with each person less in the que line, the time gets longer. And I am on hold for customer care, been on hold for 20 minutes so far.

So do I order the CD or how do I try it?

Aaron · Post by **Aaron** » Mon Nov 28, 2005 11:24 am

MOTHER FUCKER.

So I get in with a chat agent, and type out a few messages explaining the problem.

He gives me one response, a shitty one, then leaves the session. WHAT THE FUCK?

Meanwhile I was on hold on phone, finally got through, then the guy had to transer me to another department, and of course the call was dropped.

OH MY GOD.

DiggityBiggity · Post by **DiggityBiggity** » Mon Nov 28, 2005 11:27 am

Thank you India!

:thumbleft:

Your concerned leader

Diggity"Dell sucks my balls"Biggity

Aaron · Post by **Aaron** » Mon Nov 28, 2005 11:34 am

So I'm on hold again, and they keep telling me to go online for faster support or to restart my system.

I ALREADY FUCKING DID BOTH OF THOSE.

This is such a pain in the ass, and I don't have time for it. I may just take it to the OSU IT dep, it is free, but they take a little while, and I need my f-ing computer. But they normally take a week or so to get anything done on it, and I don't have that time with no computer.

Dell really pisses me off sometimes. When the system works, it works great, but holy goddamn it is a pain once it doesn't work. It was the same way with the old 9100 computer.

stimpy · Post by **stimpy** » Mon Nov 28, 2005 12:19 pm

DiggityBiggity wrote:Thank you India!

:thumbleft:

Your concerned leader

Diggity"Dell sucks my balls"Biggity

One of these days, I hope companies will realize that cheap customer service isn't worth what they're paying for. Every time I get connected to a "Customer Disservice Center" in India, I know for damn sure my blood pressure is going up, and my problem is still going to be there in the morning.

zonyl · Post by **zonyl** » Mon Nov 28, 2005 1:17 pm

Did anyone see "5th Element"? Everytime I see/hear someone complaining about a problem with their computer, I think of the Zorg explanation about creating intentional chaos "so mommies and daddies can feed their kiddies tonight"

zonyl · Post by **zonyl** » Mon Nov 28, 2005 1:21 pm

stimpy wrote:
DiggityBiggity wrote:Thank you India!

:thumbleft:

Your concerned leader

Diggity"Dell sucks my balls"Biggity
One of these days, I hope companies will realize that cheap customer service isn't worth what they're paying for. Every time I get connected to a "Customer Disservice Center" in India, I know for damn sure my blood pressure is going up, and my problem is still going to be there in the morning.

Hey now.. I was a decision maker in one of those companies that uses Indian resources for service

The real problem is: One day I hope consumers will realize that cheap prices == cheap products. How much did you pay for that Dell and how much would you have paid for relative perofrmance 10 years ago with all american parts and service? I remember when laptops cost you around $5-6K and the price drop you see now is definitely not inflation.

Indian customer service is not only what companies expect to pay for, but it is also the level of quality consumers should obviously expect with pricing. Its far too easy for some to pick "2.0Ghz Pentium M laptop" from a price comparision website and pick the cheapest one they find. They are all equal as far as they know, right?

----

So you booted up the Knoppix CD and you found out ??

stimpy · Post by **stimpy** » Mon Nov 28, 2005 6:00 pm

OK, well how about my wonderful experiences with XM Radio? I've been a subscriber since 2001 with 2 accounts, so obviously paying for the service is not an issue to me. In fact, I didn't even bat an eyelid when they raised rates. But now if I have an issue with my billing or my hardware or Vishnu knows what they'll turn over to them next, I've got to deal with "Ken" in Bombay, who can't manage to turn away from his script long enough to comprehend what my problem is. Where do I go "up market" to get better service?

I've got Sirius, too. Although I think programming on Sirius blows, especially on the Rock stations, but their customer service is in Texas. You really don't have to pay people in Texas or Oklahoma all that much more to man Customer Service centers in order to keep your customer retention up.

Losing customers gets expensive.

Aaron · Post by **Aaron** » Mon Nov 28, 2005 6:27 pm

Dell is standing by the fact that the 1 year warranty is expired because the computer was originally shipped out on October 26, 2004.

When I bought it off eBay, it was labeled as "Brand new, factory sealed, 1 year warranty" by a powerseller. I purchased it on December 15th, 2004, in which case my warranty would still be active. I have emailed the seller, and if he doesn't get back to me within the next day, I will contact eBay about the bad seller, and get his name/address/phone number.

In addition, I will file a small claims lawsuit for false advertising for the cost of the laptop.

In addition, I will contact Paypal and get my money refunded. If Paypal refuses to do this, even though he made false claims on his listing, I will stop payment on my credit card.

Sorry, but exhaust raping assfuckers like him and Eb do not slide when my finger is on teh clicka. He said 1 year warranty, not 9 month.

Series8217 · Post by **Series8217** » Mon Nov 28, 2005 6:32 pm

aaron wrote:Dell is standing by the fact that the 1 year warranty is expired because the computer was originally shipped out on October 26, 2004.

When I bought it off eBay, it was labeled as "Brand new, factory sealed, 1 year warranty" by a powerseller. I purchased it on December 15th, 2004, in which case my warranty would still be active. I have emailed the seller, and if he doesn't get back to me within the next day, I will contact eBay about the bad seller, and get his name/address/phone number.

In addition, I will file a small claims lawsuit for false advertising for the cost of the laptop.

In addition, I will contact Paypal and get my money refunded. If Paypal refuses to do this, even though he made false claims on his listing, I will stop payment on my credit card.

Sorry, but exhaust raping assfuckers like him and Eb do not slide when my finger is on teh clicka. He said 1 year warranty, not 9 month.

File a complaint with BBB or something about Dell's shitty customer service too.

Aaron · Post by **Aaron** » Mon Nov 28, 2005 6:39 pm

I will, but IMHO it isn't so much their fault, except that a registered and licensed dealer should be able to make the warranty start when he sells it, not when he buys it from Dell.

Series8217 · Post by **Series8217** » Mon Nov 28, 2005 6:41 pm

aaron wrote:I will, but IMHO it isn't so much their fault, except that a registered and licensed dealer should be able to make the warranty start when he sells it, not when he buys it from Dell.

It isnt there fault that you go online for tech support and they don't answer your question, you wait longer than you have to, and they outsourced the customer service jobs to India where calls always get dropped? Of course its their fault!