UPDATE: I GOT DELL TO SWAP MY 75GXP WITH A 60GXP!!!

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crt1530

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Apr 15, 2001
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Well, wouldn't you know, my THIRD 75GXP hard drive just crapped out. I payed $2,800 for this computer less than 9 months ago.

After twice recieving remanufactured 75GXP hard drives from Dell, I decided that I had had enough of the 75GXP line. I called up Dell and after hanging up on two Indian CSR whose English I could not understand, I finally got an English-speaking CSR. Though this person obviously had NO idea what they were doing, I hung around and coached him through the process of diagnosing a bad hard drive.

As soon as "Matt" confirmed that my hard drive was indeed bad, I asked to speak with his manager. I waited for an inordinate amount of time and finally spoke with Matt's superior, DJ. DJ seemed to know what he was talking about. He informed me that Customer Care Representatives were "THE ONLY" people who could send me a different hard drive. Technical support people were only authorized to send me a refurbished 75GXP drive that I KNOW will crap out on me.

After waiting to speak with a Customer Care Rep, I am summarily informed that there is NO WAY they can send me any other hard drive. According to this woman, only the Tech Reps can do that.

So, I made my FIFTH and final call of the day. I spoke to a very helpful man with a southern accent whose name I cannot remember. He was able to comprehend my situation and went and talked with one of his superiors. THERE WAS NOTHING HE COULD DO. He was very apologetic, and I knew that it was not his fault, but I was, and still am seething.

I plan on writing Mr. Michael Dell and informing him that I will NEVER buy another Dell computer and that I will not recommend a Dell system to the myriad people who ask for my input on matters of the computer.

I have lost close to 100GB of information with these three hard drives and do not feel that I am being unreasonable.

Thread locked. 20 years old and necro'd for no discernible reason - AT Mod DAPUNISHER
 
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Renob

Diamond Member
Jun 18, 2000
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I dont me to hack on your bad luck but you need to BACKUP your data, it will save you bigtime. BTW good luck with your next drive
 

crt1530

Diamond Member
Apr 15, 2001
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Burning 50+ CD-R's to backup data is absurd, and I don't think I should have to have a $200 BACKUP drive because Dell insists on sending me bunk hardware.
 

Adul

Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
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IBm had a problem with the 75Gxp line. they disontinued it in favor of the 60GXP series. 45 GB where particularly bad.

I seen every HD manufacturer go through their ups and downs. It IBM's turn this time.
 

pjs

Senior member
Oct 10, 1999
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I'll have to keep in mind crt1530's "wonderful" experience with Dell the next time someone asks me "what computer should I get". Dell will not be a recommendation.

Paul
 

benjamit

Senior member
Dec 22, 2000
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Burning 50+ CD-R's to backup data is absurd,

are large amounts of info backed up on drives?
raid?
 

dcpsoguy

Diamond Member
Nov 5, 2000
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Please guys.

Dell's service is excellent. I have had a Dell Webpc for a year and a half, and I have never had one problem with it. This in my opinion is better than any other OEN, because my old Gateway used to bring 3 or more problems a year.
CRT's incident happens one out of a thousand times. Give me a break, Dell cant be perfect. Also, IBM's hard-drive cant be perfect either. You must accept this fact. If you cant, too bad

 

TheHorta

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Jun 5, 2001
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Not to rub you the wrong way or add salt to your wound, but someone relying on a hard drive, a device known to be ruthlessly unreliable even to this day, regardless of manufacturer, to archive his or her data who refuses to spend a few hundred dollars on a decent TBU deserves what he/she gets. You're basically bending over naked in a gay bar with your hind parts covered in Vaseline and a bullseye tattooed to your butt.

In other words, you're begging to get screwed.

Either you don't value your data, in which case crying about 100GB of lost data is a moot point, or your reasoning faculties are seriously impaired.

I suggest purchasing an Ecrix VXA-1 66GB (33 uncompressed) 8mm AME tape drive. I have one and it's the best thing since sliced bread and toasts the snot out of my Seagate Scorpion 40 (ST2491LW) DDS4 drive in both native capacity (50% more) and transfer (roughly 11-12GB per hour uncompressed). They retail for only $800, and I've seen them for $600 or less. One word of advice however: do not buy VXA tapes. They're expensive as heck ($70 each for 33GB). I've seen the identical Sony's (the OEM for the VXA's) for <$30 each.

Additionally, the AME tapes are indestructable! I mimicked Ecrix's claims with one of them to see if they were lying or not. I did a full backup of one of my data RAID arrays, then I proceeded to drop the newly used tape into a cup of hot Starbucks Sumatra, with half and half. I left it in there for 1+ minute for good measure. I let it dry overnight. The next morning, I boiled a small pot of tap water and, while it was still boiling, dropped the dried-coffee encrusted tape into the pot. I let it boil away all of the previous-day's coffee for about 2-3 minutes, again for good measure. I took a pair of tongs and removed the tape from the water and waltzed right over to the freezer and tossed the hot, wet tape in. That evening (about 9-10 hours later) I retrieved the frozen tape, caked somewhat in frozen water, and put it on the counter to thaw. About an hour later I took my wife's hair dryer to it and gave it a good blowdry. I let it sit for about 36-hours to make sure that all of the water inside had evaporated, check it out and pop it into my VXA-1 tape drive. I loaded up Seagate Backup Exec 8.0 (upgraded to 8.5 now), hit restore (to a bare partition) and VIOLA!, it restored every byte of data without corruption!

Do THAT with DDS, Travan, etc!

I doubt it!
 

Sugadaddy

Banned
May 12, 2000
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<< Dell's service is excellent. I have had a Dell Webpc for a year and a half, and I have never had one problem with it. >>



If you haven't had any problems with your Dell, how do you know their service is excellent?
 

vohwink1

Member
Nov 14, 2000
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If you have that much data...

1. Why aren't you backing up that much data? Only fools don't back up at least their important data.
2. Why did you spend that much on a pre-built computer? Its true with ANY company that when you need customer service chances are you won't have the best luck. Customer service across the board has gone to sh** the past few years.

I wouldn't blame DELL as much as the IBM drive itself. They did replace your first two without problems right? From my experiences DELL has been the BEST prebuilt manufacturer I've ever come across. My dell dimension xps r350 have been running for over 3 years still on stock parts. Once I had a CDROM crap out right after I bought it, called them and 2 days later I had a new one sitting on my doorstep. The quality of their products have been able to withstand anything I can throw at it. Running it as a server for 2 years, transfering terrabytes upon terrabytes of data, stable, etc... And the FEW times I had to call people were helpful.

I would be dissapointed also with that situation but after 2 hard drives go bad like that, I would have just spent another 150 bucks and bought a nice new maxtor or something instead.
 

TheHorta

Member
Jun 5, 2001
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I should do it again and videotape it.

Talk about a testimonial.

Would anyone be interested in seeing such a &quot;test?&quot;
 

dcpsoguy

Diamond Member
Nov 5, 2000
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Actually, I was comparing Dell's systems, not Customer support. Although, I have heard nothing but good things about Dells tech support
 

John

Moderator Emeritus<br>Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
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Regarding Dell PC's.....

You get a new part within the first 30 days of your PC purchase should it fail. After that you will get refurbished (which a majority is a new part anyhow, only called refurb). Why don't you simpy say the HDD is making clunking noises, and you would like it replaced with a different model of equal or lesser size.

*I am a former Dell Senior Technical support rep. for major accounts.
 

TuffGuy

Diamond Member
Jul 6, 2000
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from personal experience, dell and micron have the best customer support. don't blame dell, blame ibm.

word of advice. relax. take it in stride. getting pissed will only help you get a stroke.
 

crt1530

Diamond Member
Apr 15, 2001
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John, I asked the customer care representative flat out if they would substitute the 75GXP Refurbished drive for another reburbished drive of equal or lesser value. Their answer was that they will ONLY ship the same drive that came with the orginal system.

Also, I do not blame Dell for the hard drive. I blame Dell for not letting me get a different drive. I have now had THREE, NOT TWO, drives fail. Sending me yet another hard drive that will almost certainly fail is STUPID. Every time they send me another hard drive, it costs them money(they pay shipping both ways). Why they would not just send me another hard drive is beyond my comprehension.

As for my backup practices, spending $800 to backup my data does not seem reasonable, but thanks for calling me stupid, Horta.
 

mithrandir2001

Diamond Member
May 1, 2001
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I currently own a Dell home system and have used Dell systems solely at my past two jobs. Based on these experiences, I would have NO hesitation whatsoever in buying another Dell. AFAIC, Dell is the finest mass producer of PCs on the market. Their systems are well-engineered, well-built and have remarkable stablity and reliability. Unfortunately, I don't have much to comment on their tech support, because I've only called them once in the last 5 years. They are the Honda Accord and Toyota Camry of PCs.

The only problem with Dell is that they are a huge public-traded company. Dollars and profits drive their business and they may not always make the best decisions in ensuring customer service. Frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if they are less amiable with personal users (who spend $2K on a system every 4 years) than corporate accounts (who spend millions a year). It's a sad fact, but a part of reality.
 

Ark

Senior member
Oct 9, 1999
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Firs of all, Dell is not as bad as other companies.
Our company uses Dells (desktops and laptops) for few years now after spending thousands of dollars on the &quot;next door basement build junk&quot;
We are really happy with quality, value and SUPPORT.
So far just very few problems and we had very quick response from CSR.
As far as brand change - if system was build with IBM, they will send only IBM to eliminate any incompatability issuies.

It happens, drives fail, not only IBM. Just get backup.
You don't have to spend $800 for it: get another HD for $100 (40-60GB 5400 rpm) and ghost info to it with high compression.
 

Synapse

Banned
Jun 8, 2001
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look, the main issue is that especially if he went with the 75GB version of the drive, THERE IS NO OTHER VENDOR MAKING A 75GB 7200RPM DRIVE. PERIOD. The 80GB maxtor is a 5400 RPM drive. The only one possibly available would be Western Digital WD800BB , an 80GB 7200RPM unit. And I believe most of us are familiar with Western Digital's hard drive recalls, I actually worked the queue for awhile at Dell dealing with the recall of a large batch of WD drives. So, there's not really a viable option. You'd be going to a vendor with a greater reputation of quality problems, that dell may no longer have a working relationship with...
 

grant2

Golden Member
May 23, 2001
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<< look, the main issue is that especially if he went with the 75GB version of the drive, THERE IS NO OTHER VENDOR MAKING A 75GB 7200RPM DRIVE. PERIOD. >>



It doesn't sound like he's asking for a 75g-7200rpm drive, just any other drive of equal/lesser value.

He's got every right to be mad, he bought a $2800 LEMON, just how much lost data &amp; computer downtime is he SUPPOSED to happily put up with because of staff laziness and/or dumbass exchange policies?

 

crt1530

Diamond Member
Apr 15, 2001
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Dell is currently selling computers with the IBM 60GXP 60GB hard drive. I would be happy to recieve one of these drives. They will NOT exchange for a 20GB drive as far as I can tell.
 

irbrenda

Junior Member
May 24, 2001
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I have a custom built machine. I have had 3 IBM drives go bad. These were all 37gig 10,200 rpm drives. Some how after 6 months, they each crapped out. I asked them the first time to send me a new drive. I paid over $800 at the time for the drive from Outpost. IBM said no problem, they'd send a new one. Well, they sent a refurbished drive. It died in less than 3 months. I am a sucker because I use the 10,000 rpm drives and I keep believing the next IBM drive will be perfect. I had a Seagate die too so I'm turned off to them also. IBM has a 5-year warranty on their drives, but they do not send you a new one, so I've learned. I do backup though every day, especially since I run my business on here.
 

pjs

Senior member
Oct 10, 1999
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&quot;CRT's incident happens one out of a thousand times.&quot;

If this is indeed a rare event, then it should not hurt Dell to do the right thing.

Paul
 

jamarno

Golden Member
Jul 4, 2000
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Try challenging the purchase on your credit card, even if more than 60 days have passed. Also submit complaints to ConsumerAffairs, the Better Business Bureau, the FTC, and Texas attorney general's office (I believe Dell is based in Texas), and onyourside@pcworld.com .

A refurbished hard drive isn't anything like a refurbished monitor but is actually almost brand new, even more so than a quality rebuilt engine, with the aluminum casting being the only reused mechanical part, and very likely even the electronics are all new.

Get either a plug-in drive bay for a second drive, or network your computer to a cheap spare. Most people won't make backups unless they're fast or automatic.
 
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