••• DOA - Dell Owners Anonymous - Dead On Arrival - Post your Dell horror stories here •••

[breadandwine]

With the current lawsuit against Dell over shipment of 11 million faulty computers, I wanted to broaden the story to the Dell situation more generally. For a long time, and not just in response to a current news story, I have been hearing one horror story after another about Dell computers. This is actually problematic for me personally because it makes it harder to connect with people I want to connect with since they are always having problems with their Dells.

The biggest horror story I have heard was a woman I met a while back who used her Dell for a photographic business she runs. She told me she has spent FIFTEEN THOUSAND DOLLARS repairing her Dell computer. She's not too computer savvy and I wasn't able to ascertain what kind of Dell she actually owned.

This may be an extreme case but I keep hearing horror stories about the supposedly "cheaper" Dell computers. Basically, it seems to be all about ripping off everybody in order to cut costs which is certainly not cheaper in the end. It occurs to me that the Dell could be called "the BP of computers" because of all the penny-wise, pound-foolish shortcuts they keep taking.

But what I have heard is anecdotal. Who has other stories or experiences about Dell that they care to share? I'd love to hear more about this.

It's true that the biggest problem were the 11 million Dells with faulty capacitors and while other companies also had some of these faulty capacitors, from Japan, Dell was by far the worst in terms of their having the most problems with capacitors.

Let this thread be your official Dell horror story thread for SHARING. Sort of, "Dell Owners Anonymous."

[NeedleCast]

1. Maybe I'm the odd man out but my Dell Laptop has been great

I've had it three years and other than an LED light for the power button burning out, it's been an excellent system.

[BonnieJW]

11. Mine too.

I have a Dell laptop and a Dell desktop at work. No problems.

[Denzil_DC]

57. Not wanting to tempt fate

but I'm writing this on a Dell laptop that's been fine for nearly three years, across the desk from me there's another older one that's been going for over four, I've recommended Dell to several friends, and to my relief they've had no problems either. On the couple of occasions we've needed to consult their support line (for software, not hardware, issues), they've been as good as I'd hope for.

Not sure what it proves except buying ANY computer can be a crap shoot. If a manufacturer makes millions of them, chances are a number are going to show up with problems (and Dell wasn't the only company burned by the faulty batches of capacitors on mobos). How a firm deals with problems when they arise is the real issue, and I'm quite prepared to believe some people have had bad experiences--welcome to the world of IT support.

[breadandwine]

103. Denzil_DC, you and some of the other posts here sound like cases of incredible lowered expectations.

"Computers stink, that's just the way it is" is sort of what you're saying. "Some computers will fail." No. Dell shipped ELEVEN MILLION that failed and they are now being sued for it. They KNEW they were faulty before the shipped them and that is the substance of the suit.

[FirstLight]

2. Please don;t tell me this!

I just had to replace my last computer that crashed last month...since my mom was the 'investor' we went to walmart and got a dell inspirion.

so far, so good... I am refusing to think that anything bad can happen!

[breadandwine]

3. For starters, one of the reports out now mentions Dells sold at Walmart.

It's being reported that Dell's warranty is based on when they shipped the Dell to Walmart, not the date you actually BOUGHT it from Walmart. So if it was sitting in a warehouse for a long time, tough luck.

Part of the problem is that solder is put on the mother boards and then the mother boards are baked to make the solder dabs melt into the right configuration. But with the faulty capacitors from Japan the baking degraded those capacitors, which should normally not happen, so the capacitors began leaking after a short while - AFTER people bought the Dell.

[FSogol]

4. Over the years my company and I have purchased about 100 desktops and 15 laptops from Dell

and haven't had much trouble from any of them. They seem to be well built and dependable. I was surprised when I saw the news of the lawsuit yesterday.

[Dappleganger]

10. My brother-in-law's software sim business...

uses all Dells and Macs and they've had very, very few problems with either of them.

[tammywammy]

5. I've never had a problem really

My last laptop was 5 years old when it went kaput and I never had problems with it. The lappy I have now the hard drive went out, but Dell was excellent on sending me a new hard drive (it was under warranty) and walking me through setting it back up. No problems on my work Dell PCs either.

Edited to add: Before the two lappys I also had a couple desk tops and never had a problem with them either.

[cherokeeprogressive]

6. I just passed my 5 year old Dell to my nephew... He hit the power switch and it DIDN'T work!

Then he found out he forgot to plug it in. Silly over-anxious kids!

[Dappleganger]

9. Oh, my...that's awful!

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[ET Awful]

7. I have Dell servers, laptops and desktops at work, with very few issues.

The main issues I've seen have been faulty keyboards on older model laptops and on older desktops that used IBM hard drives (before IBM quit making them and sold the business to Hitachi).

Now, the IBM hard drives were "Desk Star" models. They had such a high rate of failure that people in the IT community dubbed them "Death Star". This was not just a Dell issue, it was a problem with the design of the Desk Star hard drives. They had an astronomical failure rate and I had several of those drives die (both in Dell machines and in other machines).

As to issues caused by Dell hardware. . . I haven't really had any except for the keyboard issues I mentioned above.

The capacitor issues were not limited to Dell computers either, but were very widespread for quite a while.

That said, I'm still not a big fan of Dell. I don't like where their corporate dollars go, and I don't like their products. I'm kind of tied to Dell machines for work, but wouldn't buy one for home.

[Dappleganger]

8. Here's my Dell story...

We just retired the oldest Dell pc to a food kitchen at the age of 8 years (ok, we replaced the hard drive. big whoop!). The oldest ds had his brand-spanking new Dell desktop (which he'd purchased with his bag-boy money) completely FRIED by lightning which struck our next-door neighbor's house last summer. He had just pulled it out of the box and had it set up for an hour or so before he went to work...the strike happened shortly thereafter. He called Dell and told them about it, they sent a technician out two days later and replaced the motherboard within 20 minutes time. Not a single problem since.

Oh, and Dh just loves his new Dell laptop and has had no issues so far.

Ok, not much for a horror story, right? My only complaint about Dell is they use too much packaging for their products and need to be more like Apple in that regard. Oh, and please STOP with the coupons and sales!

[jayfish]

12. Several Dell servers, desktops and laptops where I am employed.

No issues to speak of. One of our Dell file servers is nearly ten years old and hasn't missed a beat.

FSH

[NeedleCast]

13. I nominate this thread for all time backfire!

[breadandwine]

22. Post #13, read post #14.

.....

[TrogL]

14. We had 250 Dell desktops delivered to the office about 10 years ago

Every one was either DOA out of the box or failed in the first week.

[breadandwine]

26. 250? Man that isn't even Russian roulette. With Russian roulette at least one stands a chance...

......

[TroglodyteScholar]

62. What did Dell say about that? n/t

[TroglodyteScholar]

85. Maybe you missed my first post. How did Dell respond when you contacted them? n/t

[breadandwine]

86. Maybe other posts on this thread will give a clue to the kind of reactions Dell gives.

Lots of garbage and runarounds when Dell gets contacted.

[trotsky]

15. Prior to my current job I only used HP/Compaq servers.

I have far fewer hardware failures with Dells than I ever did with HP or Compaq.

Laptop and desktop failure rates seem on par with other manufacturers I've used. Long ago Toshiba used to be king in this area, at least from my experience, but they are in the middle of the pack with everyone else now.

[ThatPoetGuy]

16. My Dell experience.

My Dell stopped working. They said they were going to send a repairman. I waited all day for the repairman. He never arrived. Then I noticed a box on my front stoop. They'd sent me another computer. Then they billed me. They charged me $1,500 to replace a $700 computer, without my permission, when they said they'd send a repairman, since the computer was still under warranty.

Dealing with them on the phone was a huge bureaucratic nightmare. I would never, ever deal with Dell again.

[PufPuf23]

17. Purchased 3 pcs from Dell for business and home between 2001 and 2008

and all have been fine and still function; although the 2008 was much flimsier in construction than the first two and came with Vista.

Companies put out good products and then sometimes the commitment to quality fades.

I have purchased two Toyotas: (1) a new 1984 4x4 for my own use turned into a truck for my business and sold to a then employee in 1995 with 180,000 miles. I have not talked to Dave since 2005 but the vehicle had over 300,000 miles then; and (2) a used 2001 4x4 Tacoma that is still going strong and has only 80,000 miles. The 2001 Toyota replaced a Dodge RAM that had repeated problems and recalls.

I have purchased 3 new Jeep Grand Cherokees: 1994 (great vehicle) damaged in an accident; 1999 (a dog that had repeated electrical and transmission problems and an airbag that once went off on its own mind) traded in for a 2001 at a favorable price from dealer that had sold me the lemon (a vehicle that now has 82,000 miles and the only problems ever were the rear door had a short and two flat tires).

Note: Much of my travel is in a remote mountainous area with poor roads and major weather.

[Nite Owl]

18. Sorry but I am a very satistfied

Dell customer.
My first laptop was a Dell, back in like '98. Not one problem. Last desktop was about 5 when I got this one. Nothing was wrong with it but it was s l o w technology wise. The hard drive did go and was replaced right away, no problems with getting it replaced. This desktop is going on 3. It's doing ok but it's deserving an upgrade to Windows 7 soon.
I also had an Averatec laptop that is 7yrs old and still going, never a problem with it either. Maybe it's me, I don't go to sites that can give you viruses etc.
New laptop is a Mac. I love it. It't running Windows 7, not in love with the Safari experience.

[NoPasaran]

19. They say on Halloween night a headless Michael Dell

Rides horseback the lanes and alleyways of Round Rock

[tammywammy]

23. lol n/t

[Mudoria]

20. I've had 3 over the years... Never had a problem or had to call CS

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

21. Knocking on my fake wood here, My Dell Dimension 4550 has been great except for when one of the

memory modules died. The module wasn't Dell's as I added it afterward.

My son had a Dell laptop, and the keyboard disintergrated, letter by letter, number by number on him.

[DainBramaged]

24. We have Dell's here that have run virtually 24/7 365 for more than 7 years

And I just bought a Dell netbook as a gift for a friend. I recommend Dell computers every chance I get. I am also upgrading a GX620 I bought (busted up in shipping) for use as a low end gaming system for a friend's kids. I am posting from a heavily upgraded 4600C Dell.

[breadandwine]

25. DainBramaged, you say you love it but it got busted up in shipping you say.

Isn't that sort of a criticism of Dell, NONETHELESS?????

[DainBramaged]

41. I blame UPS not Dell.

(sigh)And I JUST finished installing Vista Business and 4B of ram.

[Initech]

27. I've had a couple of POS Dells, will never go back.

The first the motherboard went dead, but they fixed it for free so I cant really complain there. The second, there was a defective pixel out of the box and they wouldn't fix it for anything saying it was a shipping error.

[breadandwine]

29. Initech, why is a shipping error not their responsibility?

....

[Initech]

51. The machine had a defective pixel. That was their fault.

[kas125]

28. Mine is six years old and still works, but my son's laptop is

a totally other matter. We got him a new Dell laptop when he went to college. Three years in a row his computer stopped working when he had to study for his finals. The first time, they fixed it. The second time, they replaced it. The third time, they had us send it to a repair center in Tennessee. Three times Dell contacted us and said it was repaired and had been shipped to us and would arrive within four days. All three times it didn't. I called again to say it hadn't arrived and was told that it could not be repaired because they didn't have the parts. After over four hours on the phone that day, and asking for the supervisor and then HIS supervisor, I got someone in India who said his name was Alphie. I asked him if he taught his employees to lie. He said, "no, of course not." So I asked him why they'd told us it had been repaired and sent to us when it was never even repaired and he had no answer. I asked for the phone number of the repair center in TN and he told me that they didn't have a phone number, they had to contact the place by email. I asked for the name and the address and within ten seconds, while we were still on the phone, I googled and found the number. I told him that it was fucking ridiculous, if I ordered a computer from Dell now, it would be mailed to me TODAY, so send us a new one. He said he couldn't do that. So, I told him to get his butt off of his chair, go out to the floor and have a technician BUILD one that was just like my son's and send it TODAY. I expected him to hang up on me any second because by that time I was practically hysterical and screaming at the guy, but he did it. We got another computer in a couple days. Then, I called the repair center in TN and was told that my kid's computer had been lost and that's why it wasn't sent back to us. So, he got the new computer and then I got a really nasty letter from some woman at Dell in Texas demanding $1500 dollars for getting a new computer and not returning the old one. I was furious and called the woman who sent the letter. She said she hadn't sent it, it was one of her employees. I asked her why the hell she's allowing her employees to sign her name to letters when they have no idea what is really going on and she had no answer. It was one of the most frustrating things that's ever happened to me, hours and hours over many days on the phone with those people... I will NEVER buy another Dell computer and I will tell everyone I know not to do business with them. Ugh, I truly detest Dell!

[JHB]

105. Sounds like a typical "Customer Service" flaw at work...

Don't know for certain if it's the case here, but it sounds like stories from the '80s when call centers really started using computerized systems to monitor employee performance (to "increase productivity"): like typical "managment idiots" they looked at one number, time on the call with the customer. If the employee didn't resolve the call within a set time period, it counted against them. Naturally, the time period was too short to resolve anything but the simplest matters. Management used that because it produced "objective" numbers they could measure easily, and everything else was ignored because it couldn't be easily quantified.

So naturally the employees covered their butts by "resolving" the calls within their time limit. Which usually involved stalling the customer: telling them one thing but inputting a code to send them a form letter saying they needed more inormation, etc. Shunting the problem off to where it won't produce numbers that could cost them their job, but producing multiple calls over one issue (and a very pissed off customer).

Another example of the banality of evil, business style.

[breadandwine]

112. JHB # 105 - The banality of evil - good way to put it. Very profound comment.

Here's another way to put it:

See no evil.
Hear no evil.
Evil.

Welp! Two outa three ain't bad!

[JHB]

113. I think the phrase fits the corporate world far better...

...than it fits its original usage. (Eichmann was not simply an innocent bureaucrat caught up in the wrong place.)

But in the corporate/business context?

How many people lose their livelihoods, or have their lives and families thrown into chaos based on "business decisions". And somehow a few bland phrases makes it OK:

"We have a fiduciary responsibility to the shareholders"...
"We ran the numbers..."

You don't have to be evil to do evil. Particularly when there is no accountability (or just one inadequate measure of accountability -- the market).

Yep, "banality of evil" fits it like a glove.

[breadandwine]

114. Very good points.

Although I would add that the important thing is action.

People who do evil acts could by definition be described as evil.

And people who do evil acts regularly, as part of their world-view ("greed is good" etc.) can't hide behind their phraseology.

[JHB]

116. Perhaps, but I think making the distinction helps get through to people...

...whereas not doing so makes it easier for them to dismiss you as a whacko, radical, or ideologue.

The percentage of active villains is pretty low, but the prevailing ideology and structure pushes a lot of others into doing things they may not want to do, but think it is "necessary" given the boundaries within which they act.

[a la izquierda]

30. My mini, less than a year old...

is a huge pile of shit. It may as well be a $400 doorstopper. I can't have two programs open at once without it constantly freezing, then crashing. It gets viruses and malware at the drop of a hat (my other laptop does NOT).
I hate this piece of crap.

[whistler162]

80. "It gets viruses and malware at the drop of a hat"

And my hammer misses the nail most of the time.

[Jokerman]

31. I'll never buy a Dell again.

The Dell notebooks I purchased for our organization five years ago had the worst reliability record of any hardware I've ever bought. Some of them were in for warranty work as many as FIVE time in three years. Over half of them failed within a year after the warranty expired.

To make matters worse our Dell rep is a lying piece of shit who brags about his connections to the crooked republicans who run the state.

[hobbit709]

32. A friend of mine used to run the "Failure analysis" section here in Austin.

Every time they traced the problem to a faulty part, the bean counters overrode the engineers because the good part would cost a few cents more. They finally fired him because he wouldn't shut up about it. He's making more money under much better working conditions now at NVidia.

[NikRik]

33. Sorry my 5 year old Dell has been great !

I purchased it at a very good price also alot of PC power for the price ! The harware is not all OEM like some PC's . I can replace any hardware failure with a brand of my choice.
Stats XPS400 2.8GHz Dual Core Pentium D,3 GB's DDR2 Ram, H.D. 250GB's (Samsung),ATI Graphics and TV Tuner card,2 DVD drives 1 a DVD/CD burner both made by LG. I have checked all of the hardware on this PC and it all gets very high ratings ! With any brand of PC's there will be some lemons for the scale of PC's DEll puts out I believe they have a pretty good track record !
Take Care ,NikRik

[EvolveOrConvolve]

34. I've purchased about $100,000 of Dell equipment in 2010

That includes blade servers, desktops and laptops. The only problem has been 1 laptop with a bad motherboard that Dell promptly replaced.

Over the years, I've noticed fewer problems with Dells than with other brands.

[breadandwine]

35. So, EvolveOrConvolve, what's your take on the 11 million faulty computers Dell shipped ---

that they're being sued for?


See NY Times story----


http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/29/technology/29dell.html?ref=technology&pagewanted=all

[breadandwine]

38. Wait --- I just found the answer.

"Come on! This is America! There will always be frivolous lawsuits!"


----Tony Hayward.

[EvolveOrConvolve]

47. Honestly, I don't care all that much

I don't have one of the 11 million faulty computers - the point is moot from my perspective.

You asked for people to post their stories about Dell. Mine are all positive. :shrug:

[breadandwine]

49. Actually, not to get technical, but I did actually ask people to post their Dell HORROR stories.

Technically speaking, you're off topic.

But at any rate, look over this thread and you will see that although some people had no problem, the number who did is rather surprising. It kind of looks like buying a Dell is one big crap shoot. And then look at the people on this thread who had enormous hassles with calls to their bureaucracy over various matters.


So you don't care if 11 million Dell customers got ripped off?

In the words of Phil Ochs:

"Look outside the window there's a woman being grabbed. They've dragged her to the bushes and now she's being stabbed. Now maybe we should call the cops and try to stop the pain, but Monopoly is so much fun I'd hate to blow the game."

[EvolveOrConvolve]

54. Boy, that's a lot of illogic in one post

Sure, you asked for HORROR stories, but you posted on an open message board. Did you really think that all you'd get were negative stories?

Dell sells 10's of millions of computers every year. It's impossible for every person to have a 100% positive experience. If I were one of the 11 million people who received bad computers, maybe I'd care more, but probably not - Dell has a pretty good track record with me for customer service.

And your Phil Ochs quote? It's ridiculous. If you can't see the difference between the purchase of electronic equipment and a women being stabbed, then...

[breadandwine]

60. EvolveOrConvolve, your own posts states: "you asked for HORROR stories."

It would seem that the illogic is yours.

[EvolveOrConvolve]

75. And I qualified that with the caveat that you're posting on an open message board

Did you really expect everyone with positive stories to stay quiet? Whatever vendetta you have, keep at it. Just don't expect everyone to jump on-board simply because you've asked them to.

[Denzil_DC]

59. In your OP you said this:

"Who has other stories or experiences about Dell that they care to share? I'd love to hear more about this." So I can't see how that was off topic, technically or otherwise.

Sorry we've not all been able to come up with horror stories for you in among our other anecdotal stories or experiences.

[breadandwine]

61. Any impartial reading of this thread results in the conclusion that an awful lot of people had bad

experiences with their Dells.

If the number of people who had positive or neutral experiences was 51% or more, am I supposed to be thunderstruck with admiration for Dell?

Then why is Dell being sued for shipping 11 million faulty computers?


Some people have low standards.........

[Denzil_DC]

63. Try starting a thread asking about any other brand

I suspect the horror stories would be comparable.

[breadandwine]

64. Denzil_DC, read post #61.

....

[Denzil_DC]

67. I did already

That's why I replied to it!

I don't really know what this is supposed to mean in context: "If the number of people who had positive or neutral experiences was 51% or more, am I supposed to be thunderstruck with admiration for Dell?"

Seems you ran this "push-polly" thread and a lot of us (I really can't be bothered calculating the percentage, but it looks like a very clear majority) have reported good experiences with Dell machines and Dell as a company (Dell's owner's sucky politics are a different matter).

Information-gathering like this usually brings out predominantly people who have actually HAD problems, so the results are even more interesting if you bear that in mind.

No offense, but I'm not really bothered whether you're thunderstruck with admiration or not. Given the apparent preconceptions you started out with, I'd have been very surprised indeed if they'd changed in the face of anecdotal evidence.

I'm just glad to see that my own experiences aren't unique (IOW, I haven't been hallucinating), and that I haven't been doing my friends a severe disfavor when I've shown them our own computers and recommended they look into Dell as a possible supplier (none have been disappointed, all have liked the keen pricing, laptops still going strong, yadayada).

[breadandwine]

71. Denzil_DC, people put their lives into their computers. Would you play Russian roulette

with your life even if only one of the ten bullet chambers had a bullet?

If only 10% of those posting here had disasters with their Dell, you really want to buy a Dell? And yet looking over this thread there are a lot more than 10% of Dells mentioned here with serious problems.

And then there are those 11 million faulty Dells shipped, over which Dell is being sued. And stupid Dell actually shipped 1000 faulty computers even to their own law firm that is defending them against the suit -- and then wouldn't rectify the problem! This is a company so out of touch with reality, how do you feel comfortable trusting them?

Dell is the BP of computers.

[Denzil_DC]

73. This is just silly

I did plenty of research before I bought our computers. Dell isn't the only firm that's had reliability issues, as numerous people have pointed out. My livelihood depends on our computers. My life doesn't. My decision has been vindicated by my experiences.

I am now going to unrec this thread (not that it seems in danger of going anywhere near the Greatest page), not least because you've repeated your ridiculous sloganeering comparison with BP once too often. It's utter hyperbole, and actually quite offensive given what's going down in the Gulf right now--a distasteful twist on Godwin.

You began with your preconceptions, and no amount of testimony from people who actually own and use the freaking things daily--some in large numbers--is going to change them, so I'll save the wear and tear on my fingers and keyboard and go look for something more interesting to read or do.

[breadandwine]

74. Unreccing? I'm all choked up, Denzil_DC.

......

[Denzil_DC]

110. Since this silly thread's resurfaced

and I have a little time on my hands ...

"If only 10% of those posting here had disasters with their Dell, you really want to buy a Dell? And yet looking over this thread there are a lot more than 10% of Dells mentioned here with serious problems."

Ridiculous.

You actually criticized someone above for not posting a "horror story," but outlining their positive experiences with Dell. Your OP title explicitly asked for "horror stories" (though the blurb underneath it didn't specify that, but asked an open question about people's experiences).

How, then, is it a representative sample if you're getting a certain proportion of "horror stories," though obviously a far lower one than you'd hoped for, and one you repeatedly inflate?

That's a rhetorical question, as that's about all the extra time I'm willing to devote to this.

[breadandwine]

111. Denzil, it really looks like you've got your finger on the masochism switch.

A toggle switch no doubt......

[pipoman]

117. Hmmm

did I miss your threads asking for Compaq, HP, Toshiba, Apple, and every other brand's 'horror stories'? If not....actually, even if you did, threads on an internet message board is hardly definitive of anything, you do understand that right?

[IDemo]

69. I'm at about half that, mainly laptops

And over $100k for PC's, laptops and servers from all manufacturers (at the request of others). Ironically, my workstation is a dust-laden Dell from the "capastrophic" era, and other than being dead slow next to the screamers I buy and build, it runs just fine.

[Hawkeye-X]

36. Here's a recent Dell story that my father is fighting with them about.

Last October, at a request of his client, Dad bought 5 Dell Vostros equipped with Windows XP, with a free future upgrade to Windows 7, once it is avaliable. He spent almost $5,000 for it.

Client decided it's time for an OS upgrade. Dad obliges, and dutifully calls Dell requesting the upgrade for Windows 7. The customer service evades Dad and tells Dad that the offer to upgrade to 7 expired. Back and forth, back and forth, request for supervisor, same back and forth, back and forth, more bullshit was fed to my dad.

He's still fighting with Dell about, even wrote to the Rethug himself bitching about this.

No answer, and I'll ask him if he's succeeded in getting Dell to allow the upgrade.

[breadandwine]

37. Don't you understand, Hawkeye? You have to give charity to the rich.

Otherwise they won't be successful.


Then they won't be able to "trickle" on you......

[OwnedByFerrets]

39. If she spent 15,000 on repairing a computer....

she probably thinks they Nigerian scam emails are for real too.:eyes:

[cbdo2007]

40. I've never owned a dell. I've had great luck with my HP computers so I'll stick with them.

[ZombieHorde]

42. I use a Dell, I don't have any problems. nt

[Betty88]

43. Sorry but 4 desk tops and 3 laptops no real issues

the two oldest desktops were used for years till they simply were not powerful enough and needed replacing. The two next desktops were used for 4 years then passed on to family members and are still going, I'm thinking 6 or 7 ears old at this point. I'm writing this on my Inspiron 9300 that is about 5 years old a works great, passed the another laptop to my mom just a few weeks ago it is only 3 years old but we needed something faster with better video. We just got a mini that we love. The newest laptop is a studio 15something, it works fine but does not look or feel as well built as our older laptops.

Over the years I have had to replace hard drives and a power supply but never had any major issues with any of the machines. I built our newest desktops and will continue to do so but not for any reason other than I have learned to do it and find it cheaper and fun.

[eilen]

44. Never owned a Dell

However have had problems with Gateway, HP, and Asus.

All involved much difficulty with customer service. Nightmare phone sessions. etc.

My husband has a Toshiba now but it is running slow and freezing up quite a bit. It is a large gaming laptop. My son's Asus' AC adaptor has died AGAIN -- not even a year later after the first one bit the dust.

I have a mac book that I purchased 4 years ago. It needed a hard drive replaced once, something else happened too but I forget but it was fixed and I have replaced the AC adaptor once. It was easy to do-- I just went to the Apple Store talked to a person face to face and they fixed it. I think that is why I am partial to Apple products. Not that I think they are better corporate citizens but their operating system works without fail and doesn't make me wait 15 minutes to boot up, then another 5 minutes to decide to launch the program I clicked on.

[breadandwine]

45. Uh-oh. The "M" word. Can't have Macs, now, can we.....

.....

[eilen]

48. Well,(evil grin) I plan to never purchase a PC again

as I can run all Windows type programs on my Mac now. That leaves Dell out.

[breadandwine]

50. Better watch it. The Mac lynchers will be coming soon.

Also the people screaming that they paid too much for their iphone since Apple eventually cut the price.

[eilen]

52. well, I paid too much and knew it when I did

That's what you get when you want to early adopt and show off to everyone at work. I had fun and it is still being used by my son 4 years later. My son still prefers MS.

[breadandwine]

53. It is said that Macs are cheaper in the long run than PCs because they break less and last longer.

...

[eilen]

55. Since I have had mine for 4 years and have seen

my husband go through 3 laptops (is on 3rd now) and my son is on his second laptop and is also without his desktop (gateway)which died, I would concur based on my experience.

[jayfish]

78. How is it that they "break less and last longer" when they use commodity parts?

There are no special Apple parts. They use the same hardware from the same manufacturers as any other off the shelf PC. Could it be that since they are certainly more expensive; Apple owners treat their machines like glass?

FSH

[DainBramaged]

79. The elves at Apple hand pick every part for every owner if they've been good to Steve Jobs

[breadandwine]

82. Macs are hardly identical to PCs.

....

[jayfish]

83. Okay then, if you say so. -NT-

FSH

[Heddi]

46. I"m on my 3rd dell -- 1 desk top and 2 laptops. Not a single problem with any of them.

We got the desktop in 1999 and got rid of it around 2004. In 2004 we got our first laptop (which we still have, which runs like a dream) and in 2006 got our 2nd laptop (which I'm typing on right now).

Not a single problem with the machines, with the software, or the 2 or 3 times I've had to use customer service/IT.

I'm not a fangirl of Dell, but the products that I've gotten (Dell Dimension dekstop and 2 Inspiron lappy's) have been just fine and have served me well.

[superduperfarleft]

56. Unrec for use of those stupid symbols followed by a predictably melodramatic OP.

In b4 whining about unrec.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

70. Unreccing for mention of unrec...

but I agree with your sentiment.

Stupid smilie: :evilgrin:

[LaurenG]

58. Dell desk top

brand new, took it out of the box turned it on, tuned it off and went to bed. The next day after work I tried to turn it on and get started but it was dead. I called, waited for 30 minutes spoke to the IT guy who told me how to get it open then asked me to unplug all the cables, ribbons, etc and then re plug them, one of the ribbons wouldn't plug back in so I took a closer look and the pins were bent, he blamed that on me. It eventually turned on again but was a piece of crap that never worked correctly, gave me the blue screen of death constantly and finally died within 2 years. The worst machine I have ever owned.

[SCRUBDASHRUB]

65. Bought a Dell Inspiron and it lasted a little over 2 years (motherboard died).

Oh, and it died the weekend after I got laid off in January of this year to add insult to injury.

[breadandwine]

89. SCRUBDASHRUB , Dell is being sued for faulty capacitors on motherboards and the like.

But this involved 11 million computers shipped earlier than yours. This would seem to indicate that the problems are not confined to the period for which Dell is being sued.

[Bluebear]

66. Dell motherboard died in 2 years. Still under warranty, never could get it fixed

Some local repairman had the new motherboard sent to him, Dell would not send it to me directly. That repairman never called me back, Dell was going to set up a new service call for me and I never heard from them again.

[butterfly77]

68. No surprise..

this is Bush's buddy. My daughter bought one a few years ago and it didn't last long. I told her before she bought it I had saw a story with Bush and the ceo and that was enough for me. I had also heard other stories from people who said it was trash..

[kestrel91316]

72. There must be something wrong with me. I love my two Dells

(one desktop and one laptop). Anything that has gone wrong with them I can pretty much trace back to my OWN stupidity, but they are performing just fine AFAIAC.

Of course, in comparison with my previous computer, a Gateway with Windows ME, a 15 GB hard drive, and Pentium 3 processors, loaded down with AOL viruses masquerading as software, anything would seem fabulous......

[moriah]

76. My old Dell suffered from the "put pressure on front left of laptop causes crash" defect....

Due to poor design, a piece of plastic pressed into the system board from the bottom. It would eventually crack the system board, so even the slightest pressure to the front left (where a lot of people typing on the laptop keyboard rest their left palm) would cause the system to reboot. I Googled the problem, determined that it was what was happening with my laptop, called it in, described the defect in detail, and was assured of a system board replacement and filing down of that piece of plastic. It came back and continued rebooting -- all they did was replace the heat sink!

I had to speak to a 3rd level tech, leave written instructions and links to forums discussing the known issue between the keyboard and monitor, and send it back again for it to get fixed.

If I hadn't been a computer tech it would have taken likely two or three more service calls to attempt to repair it.

[Owl]

77. 8 year old Dell here. Replaced power-supply once. Old Pentium still works fine.

[breadandwine]

99. Owl, Crabby Appleton, post 97, mentioned a power supply problem that turned out to be capacitors

and not power supply. Any chance you misdiagnosed the problem?

[Owl]

115. Nope. Installed new power supply and it's been fine for years now.

[CanonRay]

81. I have a desktop and a laptop

No problems

[Webster Green]

84. I guess I got a good one.

My Dell Dimension E521 is great. I bought it dirt cheap from the Dell Outlet 4 or 5 years ago. I've souped it up as much as it can take, and it screams, with no problems ever. It has the original Dell motherboard.

[romana]

87. Well, my Dell experience was a nightmare

I'm definitely in the camp that loathes and despises Dell with a white-hot burning passion. In 2005 I bought a new Dell desktop XPS. It ran great for about 4 weeks, then it just died. Dell sent a guy repeatedly to replace bits and pieces of it, to the point where I put the guy on my Christmas card list, I saw him so often. We literally replaced every single component in the unit twice with no luck. Finally, we sent it back to Dell and they sent me a refurbished model with a slightly larger hard drive as a replacement.

Four weeks later, that one died, too. The service tags on the replacement machine were for Dell small business, not Dell home computing, and after spending a week of my life on the phone to various people in India, they finally agreed to replace the second one.

The third one ran fine for about six months, then the RAM suddenly died. I replaced that myself. I went on vacation for two weeks in the summer of 2006 and came back to the BSoD on the unit.

At that point, I threw that piece of crap into the dumpster and built my own computer. When it comes to Windows machines, I've never looked back, and just build my own now.

I swore never to buy Dell ever again. It was an expensive lesson, but I learned it well.

FWIW, I had a surge protector and battery backup on my Dell. I had the same setup for my Mac and an old Gateway I had sitting around as a second Windows PC and I never had a lick of trouble with either of them, so I know it wasn't that. In fact, I still use that Mac and that Gateway to this day.

[breadandwine]

88. And this is exactly what I keep hearing over and over.

....

[City of Mills]

90. Lost about 15-20% of the Dell PCs at our college to the capacitor problem

We made two large Dell PC purchases between 2002-2005, first batch were Optiplex GX260 and second was Optiplex GX270. Sometime around 2007, the GX270s began failing at an astounding rate, in a typical classroom of 20 PCs, we were losing 4-5 per classroom, all within the same time frame. It was an unbelievable mess...Dell shipped us batches of replacement motherboards which we replaced...I must've done about 50 of them myself that particular summer. The capacitors on these motherboards were swollen, and many had burst. For what it's worth, the older GX260's did not seem to suffer from the problem. We switched over to HP after that nightmare, though we still have several of the old Dells in service (scheduled for lifecycle replacement this year).

[City of Mills]

91. I do want to add

The problem we experienced only affected that one model of desktop...we still buy/use Dell exclusively for our server infrastructure, and they have been very reliable.

[breadandwine]

93. One thing that amazes me about this thread is the the qualifying statements, nothing personal

to any individual comment.

"I had a lousy Dell but the problem was fixed, it was confined to just this part of the machine, only one of the models went bad, we had many Dells but only 20% of them went bad" etc. etc. etc.

I am coming to the conclusion that some Dell owners have really low expectations. They ASSUME that you have to live this way.....



What if someone were to say, "I only buy GM cars. Only 20% of them have brakes that fail....."

[Owl]

92. I'm on my 3rd Dell. All have worked just fine. No horror stories.

[Egnever]

94. Well prepackaged computers will always have weak spots

Having said that Dell is now worse than any of the other pre package suppliers and better than a few if you really want a piece of crap buy a HP

[breadandwine]

95. Egnever, why do you think HP is even worse than Dell?

....

[breadandwine]

96. "Weak spots" is not "well prepackaged" ........

....

[Crabby Appleton]

97. I work in IT for a large multi-national, we spend several million

dollars on PCs each year, 6,000 to 8,000 PCs and notebooks each year, lots of servers. We got hit hard by the bad capacitor problem in Optiplex GX270s with nearly 100% failure. When they first started failing it looked like a video or power supply problem and it took a while for our in-house techs to figure out the nature of the trouble. Dell has a separate phone number and tech support for very large customer that is easier to get replacement parts from then the normal channel, and no, it won't do you any good to have the number because as soon as they look up the service tag they know if you belong in the premium tech support area. However we wasted a huge amount of time of both our IT techs and users doing motherboard replacements.

[breadandwine]

98. Thanks, Crabby Appleton. Similar stories up and down this thread.

The more I hear the more it sounds like buying a Dell is one huge crap shoot.

[anneboleyn]

100. I owned one Dell laptop. I will NEVER EVER buy a Dell again.

The laptop was plagued with serious problems from the first month. It took months -- months -- to get results from customer service despite daily phone calls, endless time on hold, and numerous emails. I was sent parts to replace, as a delaying tactic, that had nothing to do with the laptop's obvious major problems. I knew that I was being manipulated. Every time I called customer service (Dell outsources its customer service), I was put into endless loops, talking to new people who asked me to repeat the same story again and again. I was handed off from person to person. Customer service people were profoundly unhelpful, often acting confused by my account of the computer's problems and trying to get me off the phone as quickly as possible with some meaningless gesture designed to pacify me (we will send you a new part X -- try this!). Judging from my own experience, it seemed to me that Dell didn't care at all about the individual computer owner, only big business accounts.

I eventually gave up on the laptop, and I now own my HP laptop and love it. It has been wonderful. My experience will Dell was so terible that I will never, ever, buy another Dell product.

[breadandwine]

101. Wow, Anneboleyn. That's one of the worst stories here.

This underscores my belief that despite our glorious free markets there are many economic actors out there who are simply not profit maximizers. Much of what you are describing probably actually cost Dell more money than if, at the outset, they had fixed things right. "A stitch in time saves nine."

[breadandwine]

102. •••DELL'S SUPERIOR BUSINESS MODEL•••

http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/topics/global.aspx/corp/careers/workingatdell/businessmodel?c=uk&l=en

"We’ve based our success on a simple concept: we maximize our understanding of our customers’ needs, and then fulfill them with superb value; high-quality, relevant technology; customized systems; superior service and support; and products and services that are easy to buy and use."

This is the greatness of Dell:

FACT-FREE MARKETING!!!!!!!!

[breadandwine]

104. 11 million faulty computers shipped. But YOU could be the LUCKY one!

YOURS might be okay....

[madokie]

106. 2001 dell dimension 4700 here

I had one hard drive fault but it was replaced under warranty. I've vacuumed it out a couple times and added a meg of ram. Its been flawless other than that one maxtor hard drive. Switched over to linux from xp about 4 or 5 months ago and with linux I see no reason to upgrade now as it was like I had bought a new computer when I made the switch.
If I'd have known of Michael Dells political leanings when I bought this one I wouldn't have bought it. simple as that.

More than likely when I upgrade this computer I'll build my own rather than buy a pre-built one but as it stands now I see no reason to do that.

[BlueMTexpat]

107. My Dell "horror stories" ... ?

Well, I am responding on my Dell laptop, now going on for four years old and it's still doing just fine. I have carried it back and forth across the Atlantic many times and driven across the USA with it. The only time I have had problems with it was when I didn't have a good internet connection - all other functions/apps worked just fine.
It's not that I am a major fan of Dell - or of any other corporation for that matter - but it just happened that Dell has had the right computer for the right price at the right time for both my husband and me. I have a Dell PC, purchased in 2001, at my home abroad and it still works just fine, albeit much slower than the newer ones. My husband's laptop, purchased in 2004, is also doing fine. He just purchased a new Dell PC for his home office here and loves it. Btw, he is an electrical engineer by training and thinks that Dell computers are generally good value for the money.

**********
Last week, we popped into an Apple store in the local mall and had a lot of fun playing with the iPads there. I have a lot of tech-savvy friends who swear by their Macs and I can certainly see the appeal. The reason that we ultimately went with Dell was that "back in the day," Apple software didn't always mesh with that of Microsoft or didn't have some of the same capabilities and we needed computers that would be universally compatible. I believe that most, if not all, of that has changed now so that the ground has been levelled.
If you don't like Dell, don't buy it. If you don't like Apple, don't buy it. But don't badmouth a brand just because you like another. If you have a computer brand that you swear by, great! Get it. The essential is that any computer do what one wants/needs it to. One can find "horror stories" and duds with any brand.

***********
In some cases, the problems could also either be with the user or with the treatment that the machine receives rather than with the computer itself.

[ecstatic]

108. Dell was great once upon a time. I have an 11 year old desktop

that still turns on. I rarely turn it on though... too slow.

Also, Dell was once the preferred vendor of a major university I attended. Of course, that changed many years ago (I guess due to a noticeable shift in quality).

On edit: It appears they are back to using Dell as one of 3 preferred vendors.:shrug:

[Joanne98]

109. My Dell is five years old. No real problems.

[pipoman]

118. Well...

A lawsuit, even a class action, certainly isn't proof of anything at all. I think I'll wait to see exactly what comes of this suit before making a judgment. Class action product liability lawyers are notoriously schemers and scammers who attempt to use the media and anecdotal horror stories to receive a settlement offer which will pay them millions and their clients peanuts..given the choice of believing a large company and a class action lawyer, I choose a coin toss.

The biggest horror story I have heard was a woman I met a while back who used her Dell for a photographic business she runs. She told me she has spent FIFTEEN THOUSAND DOLLARS repairing her Dell computer. She's not too computer savvy and I wasn't able to ascertain what kind of Dell she actually owned.

Frankly, this sounds and smells of excrement..First it sounds like you are referring to a pc? Who would be stupid enough to spend 15k on a pc? I mean I do photo editing to and it doesn't require a 15k piece of hardware. Maybe software...maybe, but software will transfer to a new machine. Anyone who owns a 15K PC knows what kind of machine they own. The whole story could, I suppose have a reasonable explanation, I'm only saying that on the surface, it don't smell right.

But what I have heard is anecdotal.

What you've heard in this thread is anecdotal too. Further, you can post threads in chat rooms 'till your fingers fall off and it will still be anecdotal.

Isn't it time for you to reveal your axe? I mean, on first glance I thought this might be an interesting thread. The longer I looked at your responses it is abundantly clear you have a big shiny axe, so com'mon, did someone drop a Dell on your cat? Do you sell HP's? What is your dog in this fight?

[pipoman]

119. Oh..

and a few years ago I read a study done by, as I recall, some consumer group which found that a huge majority of pc problems at service centers across the country are user error, abuse, or failure to use security software. I didn't go looking for the article, but if anyone actually doesn't buy it I would go looking for it when I get a minute.