How A Squeaky Wheel Triumph Over Dell.

Dell Inspiron Laptop. It's cheap. It's pretty. It's probably a lemon. After 57 days of trying to resolve all the hardware issues, my nephew is the proud owner of a $2000 doorstop.

UPDATE: My nephew received a phone call today (yes, TODAY, the day after Xmas) from DELL's consumer advocate- Anna Simpson- informing him that DELL had decided to replace his computer with a similar or better computer.

UPDATE: Dec 26th: The refurbished computer DELL's Consumer Advocate is offering? It comes with a 90-Day Warranty. A 90 Day Warranty. Hell- IT'S TAKING LONGER THAN THAT TO RESOLVE THIS.

UPDATE: January 2008 I will say that Dell has behaved admirably even if their products don't seem to be worthy of my confidence. They will warranty the new laptop for a full year.

He doesn't seem to be alone. The Consumerist.com has detailed other Dell owners with similar problems.

This is the letter my sister has emailed and snail-mailed off today (Christmas Eve) to Dell executives:

SERVICE TAG # xxxxxxxx
CASE # 178495042
CASE #177892942
CASE # 179880390
WARRANTY REFERENCE # xxxxxxxxx

In just the past 57 days:

•    We called Dell technical support because we were unable to turn on the computer.   Dell telephone-based technical support diagnosed the problem as a bad motherboard and set an appointment for a Dell technician to replace the motherboard onsite.

•    The Dell technician came to my home, replaced the motherboard, and ran some diagnostics. Because my son, who is studying in Mexico, had not brought the CDs, Dell technical support told the technician that his job was done.   Dell technical support insisted that the technician not take any further action because it was the owner’s responsibility to load the operating system. We were told that we needed the original CDs to load the system.   The technician tried to convince Dell technical support that it was a hardware problem but he was not allowed even to attempt to load software. He therefore could not ascertain the exact nature of the problem with the computer and he left.   Fifteen minutes later, when I tried to boot the computer, it would not turn on at all.

•    I again contacted Dell technical support and Dell phone support determined that the hard drive was bad. I was told to return the computer to Dell for repair and that DHL would bring a box when it picked up the computer for return to Dell.    DHL arrived without a box. I had to arrange for a box and new pick up the next day.

•    I received the computer back untouched with a note saying that the hard drive needed to be replaced and that Dell was out of hard drives at that time. Dell assured me a hard drive would be delivered as soon as one was available. I received the hard drive a few days later.

•    We again contacted Dell technical support again and they attempted to convince me that they could talk me through installation of the hard drive.   I refused because of the ongoing issues with this computer and the tendency on the part of Dell to assume that problems are user based. I insisted that Dell set up an appointment for a service technician to install the hard drive.

•    This turned out to be a good decision because after the technician installed the hard drive, he was unable to install the basic software. The technician kept getting the error message “no bootable sectors”.   He called the home office and was told that my original Dell CDs, which my son had sent to us, were bad and that Dell would mail a new CD to me.

•    I received that CD and was again unable to install the software. Like the Dell technician, I kept getting the error message that there were “no bootable sectors”. I again called Dell technical support.   After many attempts and diagnostics, they arranged for this computer to be sent back to Dell for service with the assurance that it would not be returned until it was fixed. I was told not to include the battery, a/c adapter, or cds. I was assured the computer would not be sent back until it was working properly.

•    I received the computer this morning with a note stating that Dell had replaced the heat sink and the system board, but that the hard drive (that Dell had just replaced) was defective and AGAIN out of stock.   I was told that Dell AGAIN would be sending me another hard drive in the mail as soon as one was available.

So now – Dell has replaced the hard drive, the motherboard, the system board and the heat sink and has determined that the hard drive it just replaced was bad. Since hard drives are again out of stock at Dell, I was told another hard drive would be sent as soon as one was available. So, I will have another hard drive to install with no guaranty that this second hard drive will work properly. To add insult to injury, after all this, I still don’t have a working computer.

In the interim, we tried to extend the hardware warranty. We went to Dell’s website and it gave us the option of extending the warranty, which we did. Instead of extending the existing warranty, we were charged for something called “Dell on Call” which assists only with software issues and in no way covers hardware issues.    In light of the fact that Dell has consistently insisted that the problems with this computer were software-based and only after repeated attempts was forced to acknowledge that the problems were a result of extensive hardware defects, and given our recent history where new hardware under warranty replaced by Dell turned out defective, we believe that Dell is attempting to avoid its liability with regard to a computer which has in essence NEVER worked properly since the day it was bought. This is shameful.

This computer has never worked properly. My son has been without a laptop a great deal of time.   We have repeatedly called Dell technical support, which always determined there was no problem. It was only after great effort that involved hours of telephone time and even more frustration that we got Dell to send a technician who acknowledged that the problem was with the hardware. As of today and after everything that has been done, this computer is still not working. In fact, it is in worse shape than ever and because of the confusion over the extension of the warranty is now not under warranty. Everything except the box has been replaced – in some cases, twice – and the computer still does not work.