Dave Mack
Senior HTF Member
- Joined
- Jan 28, 2002
- Messages
- 4,671
Hey guys, computer opinion needed.
My girlfriend has a Dell Inspiron 1150 that is about 15 months old and luckily she bought the 4 year extended warranty because there have been major problems and now we're talking about selling it privately and ditching Dell once and for all.
From what I can tell from online forums, this model has terrible problems with overheating due to bad design and Dell just won't admit it and keeps having consumers do the repairs by sending parts and links to sites to follow for directions. http://www.officinado.com/new-review...iron-1150.html
The latest saga is that about 2 weeks ago the laptop just switched itself off (as it often has been doing from overheating.) But this time windows was damaged and there was an error message that a windows driver was damaged and windows needed to be reinstalled. Turns out the computer came with windows installed so Dell had to ship the CD to reload. The IT guy at my girlfriend's job has been kind enough to help and backed up everything onto a DVD, photos and all. Dell actually sent a tech to put in a new heatsink fan but on that day the backup had not yet been done so she didn't load windows. Meanwhile the IT guy thought the hard drive might be fried and a diagnostic we ran ourselves had a few errors come up, so my girlfriend emailed dell tech to ask for a technician to come and install a new hard drive and end the ridiculousness. Meanwhile Dell's solution was to offer to ship a new hard drive and sent the usual links to their site explaining the supposedly simple way the consumer can repair the product. My girlfriend was so pissed at this point that she called Dell to complain big time about unacceptable customer service where the jist is that the consumer is supposed to do the work for Dell. The Dell rep was nice but ended up walking her through the windows reinstall and drivers reinstall, taking about 2 hours from her workday. This is what paying extra for an extended warranty is good for?
What's annoying now is the computer was purchased with Microsoft Works Suite ($129 extra) and my girlfriend can't find the disk to reinstall and thinks it came installed anyway. Regardless as far as she remembers the computer was not shipped with the disk and Dell's customer service rep suggests simply borrowing the program from someone else to install.
Basically, the design of the unit is faulty, Dell does not take responsibility, and Dell uses the bandaid method of trying to soothe the customer by saying how easy it is for any person to fix his or her own computer. Sorry, but paying $1500 total for a package including extended warranty shouldn't mean taking a screwdriver to one's own equipment and hoping for the best.
So now we're seriously thinking of writing a long complaint to Dell for one last try to see what they'll do before losing customers, but then selling the laptop privately and buying something new and comparable but better, maybe a Toshiba. We have now lost about 2 weeks worth of home computer time and are lucky to have access from work, but as you all know, living sans computer in this day and age is terrible.
Long rant, I know, but this shit is ridiculous. Any suggestions folks?
Thanks!
My girlfriend has a Dell Inspiron 1150 that is about 15 months old and luckily she bought the 4 year extended warranty because there have been major problems and now we're talking about selling it privately and ditching Dell once and for all.
From what I can tell from online forums, this model has terrible problems with overheating due to bad design and Dell just won't admit it and keeps having consumers do the repairs by sending parts and links to sites to follow for directions. http://www.officinado.com/new-review...iron-1150.html
The latest saga is that about 2 weeks ago the laptop just switched itself off (as it often has been doing from overheating.) But this time windows was damaged and there was an error message that a windows driver was damaged and windows needed to be reinstalled. Turns out the computer came with windows installed so Dell had to ship the CD to reload. The IT guy at my girlfriend's job has been kind enough to help and backed up everything onto a DVD, photos and all. Dell actually sent a tech to put in a new heatsink fan but on that day the backup had not yet been done so she didn't load windows. Meanwhile the IT guy thought the hard drive might be fried and a diagnostic we ran ourselves had a few errors come up, so my girlfriend emailed dell tech to ask for a technician to come and install a new hard drive and end the ridiculousness. Meanwhile Dell's solution was to offer to ship a new hard drive and sent the usual links to their site explaining the supposedly simple way the consumer can repair the product. My girlfriend was so pissed at this point that she called Dell to complain big time about unacceptable customer service where the jist is that the consumer is supposed to do the work for Dell. The Dell rep was nice but ended up walking her through the windows reinstall and drivers reinstall, taking about 2 hours from her workday. This is what paying extra for an extended warranty is good for?
What's annoying now is the computer was purchased with Microsoft Works Suite ($129 extra) and my girlfriend can't find the disk to reinstall and thinks it came installed anyway. Regardless as far as she remembers the computer was not shipped with the disk and Dell's customer service rep suggests simply borrowing the program from someone else to install.
Basically, the design of the unit is faulty, Dell does not take responsibility, and Dell uses the bandaid method of trying to soothe the customer by saying how easy it is for any person to fix his or her own computer. Sorry, but paying $1500 total for a package including extended warranty shouldn't mean taking a screwdriver to one's own equipment and hoping for the best.
So now we're seriously thinking of writing a long complaint to Dell for one last try to see what they'll do before losing customers, but then selling the laptop privately and buying something new and comparable but better, maybe a Toshiba. We have now lost about 2 weeks worth of home computer time and are lucky to have access from work, but as you all know, living sans computer in this day and age is terrible.
Long rant, I know, but this shit is ridiculous. Any suggestions folks?
Thanks!