Friday, July 07, 2006

Never Again Will I Deal With Dell

A guy from Dell stopped by today to install a new hard drive to replace the one that died. Since it was under warranty, it was free. The problem I found was this guy basically said if we didn't have the operating system software, he wasn't going to install it and would simply give us a blank drive. He did find a disk though and began installing Windows.

We wanted him to install all the software needed for the dyno, but he refused and said it was against company policy. I found this offensive because it's fully their responsibility when a drive that is guarenteed to last for at least 3 years dies after just 3 months. It's just the same with my dad -- if he worked on someone's bike and it wasn't right, my dad would make sure it was fixed properly, especially if it is an inconvenience to the customer.

The Dell guy left with Windows installing, telling us we could simply follow the on-screen instructions to finish it. He didn't install any of the software we lost when the drive died. That company policy talk is just an excuse -- he could do it, he just didn't want to.

On top of that, we have to send back the old drive in 10 days or we'll be charged for another drive. Then the guy basically says that Dell will "refurbish" dead drives and resell them. He didn't actually say it in those words, but my step mom said "and that's the reason you're here". The guy denied that they "refurbish", and she said "no that's exactly what you're telling me". Who knows where that drive could have come from. I guarentee one thing, I will never do business with Dell ever again. I won't buy their printer ink, their computers, or anything they make. There are better computer manufacturers out there anyway.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

....Like Apple... *Brick*

Anonymous said...

Ouch, that's gotta suck.

Can't say I've had the same problem, though. I've been using this here Dell laptop for a year and a half and it hasn't failed me yet.

Anonymous said...

And that's why I build my boxes from scratch. That way, I only have myself to blame if something screws up.
Of course, you could also go dumpster diving near companies that are rebuilding or laying off people. They often toss decent computers, just because they're "old". Gah...