{"id":101,"date":"2005-07-13T10:14:36","date_gmt":"2005-07-13T17:14:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thecompany.net\/jason\/?p=101"},"modified":"2005-07-14T10:08:37","modified_gmt":"2005-07-14T17:08:37","slug":"dell-sucks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thecompany.net\/jason\/posts\/2005\/dell-sucks\/","title":{"rendered":"Dell Sucks"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Dell
\nIn November 2004 I purchased a new notebook computer. I had always used desktop computers in the past, but figured that it was time to get a nice, portable computer. I didn’t even contemplate where to get the computer — I immediately went to the Dell site and bought a Dell Inspiron 1150<\/a> (note the review on that page — not by me — about how it died within four months… I should’ve researched more).<\/p>\n

For the first couple of months the computer was great. I got to watch Sex and the City<\/i> on my airplane trip back to Minnesota. While at home, I was able to sit in the living room, watch cable TV, and do some work without having to sit behind a huge case and an even huger monitor. I loved having a notebook.<\/p>\n

Then sometime in March or so my notebook started having problems. If I had a bunch of applications open (Photoshop, Trillian, Internet explorer — not a lot<\/strong> of applications, but whatever…), the computer would automatically shut itself off, causing me to lose my work.<\/p>\n

When I rebooted I got error message #M1004 saying that my computer had overheated, and that I should check to make sure that there isn’t dust in the fan or something blocking the flow of air. Check. No problem with that. I even used some condensed air to clean the fan. No help.<\/p>\n

Prior to buying the Dell, I had known that Dell was pretty notorious for bad service, but I guess I had no idea.<\/p>\n

I called tech support to let them know about the problem I was having. They, of course, told me to check the fan and the flow of air. Then they had me check my BIOS version (of course I had the latest — I’m neurotic about having up-to-date software). After trying a few other things, they concluded that I needed a new motherboard. The guy on the phone started taking my information so I could send it back. I was excited. My computer would finally work! Then he said, “Actually, let me put you on hold.”<\/p>\n

He came back a few minutes later to inform me that my warranty had expired last month and that he was sorry and had to transfer me to the out-of-warranty service department. Oh, and this was on a Saturday.<\/p>\n

The out-of-warranty service department, of course, was closed.<\/p>\n

Being that I am a pretty resourceful guy, I figured that I could try to solve this problem myself. I went to get thermal paste (you put it between the CPU and the cooling unit\/fan in order to help the CPU stay cooler). I also raised my computer up using a slinky so that the bottom wasn’t touching my desk and so the fan was totally clear. This helped for a while.<\/p>\n

Then the last few days Seattle got a little warmer. And now my computer is dying more frequently than ever.<\/p>\n

I just called the out-of-warranty service department to see how much a new motherboard would cost. They said $499. I said for that price I could get a new computer. She said, “Yes, but it wouldn’t be Dell quality.” And I said (and trust me, I’m usually not an angry customer…), “I hope it’s not Dell quality. This is ridiculous. I’ve had it for less than a year and it’s basically unusable!”<\/p>\n

I tried to somehow get them to work out a deal, but had no luck. The best she could offer was for me to send it in to “the depot” for $199 and they could maybe determine that it is a problem with the fan or adapter — which, I feel confident to say, is not the problem.<\/p>\n

I explained to her that I purchased a Dell because of their reputation for good quality and whatnot. I never would’ve expected that a new computer would go bad so quickly. That didn’t help.<\/p>\n

She, again, offered the “depot” option for $200, to which I said, no, that is half of a new computer, so what is the point. At that point she said there was nothing else she could do and we got off the phone.<\/p>\n

I think I have two options to pursue:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Call again and see if another representative can help me, and then talk to a manager if that doesn’t help.<\/li>\n
  2. Write a letter explaining, more thoroughly and eloquently that I buy new computers once every two years or so and that many people ask me advice when purchasing new computers. I will never recommend a Dell — and, in fact, advise not to buy Dells — when people ask my thoughts on computers. (As a side note: when I went home for xmas last December, my mom wanted a new computer. I tried to talk her into a Dell, but she wanted it immediately and went with a Compaq. Also, my aunt recently purchased a Dell desktop on my advice. And finally, my sister is looking to purchase a new computer soon.)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    What I really want out of the deal is a new notebook — this one, clearly, sucks. But if that isn’t possible, at least replacing the motherboard would be reasonable, I think.<\/p>\n

    I’m not very good with customer service stuff, so if anyone has advice on what I should say\/do that would be awesome.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    In November 2004 I purchased a new notebook computer. I had always used desktop computers in the past, but figured that it was time to get a nice, portable computer. I didn’t even contemplate where to get the computer — I immediately went to the Dell site and bought a Dell Inspiron 1150 (note the … Continue reading Dell Sucks<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[36],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecompany.net\/jason\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecompany.net\/jason\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecompany.net\/jason\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecompany.net\/jason\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecompany.net\/jason\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thecompany.net\/jason\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecompany.net\/jason\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecompany.net\/jason\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecompany.net\/jason\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}