YADT (Yet Another Dell Thread)

Connoisseur

Platinum Member
Sep 14, 2002
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So I'm setting up my friend's brand spanking new Dimension E521 in his new house. I hook it up, turn it on and get the following error:
"Boot Device Not Detected. Please insert boot disk and press F1" (not the EXACT message but pretty close)

I think "OK either the BIOS isn't properly detecting the HD or the HD wasn't plugged in properly." I call Dell Support assuming they can fix this quickly. Here's how it goes (cliffs at bottom):

1) I get an Indian guy named "Tony". I give him the service tag, all the personal info, and spell out my name about 5 times. Finally, the guy goes through the standard BIOS checks (resetting it, making sure Device 0 is turned on etc. etc.). Nothing works. While that guy puts me on hold for a couple of minutes, I said "ehh might as well check the HD seating" and pop open the side of the case. Guess what? NO HARD DRIVE. My friend's $1700 dell was shipped WITHOUT a hard drive. I say "WTF?!?", get "Tony" back on the line and casually mention that the computer DOES NOT HAVE A HARD DRIVE. He says "That's impossible sir..." At this point, my friend's cell phone dies. I then use my cell phone to call which leads to call #2...

2) So this time, I get ANOTHER indian guy named "Shaun". Once again I spell my name 5 times and give ALL the other personal info. At this point i'm only getting slightly irate. I tell him right off the bat, "THERE IS NO HARD DRIVE". Once again, the guy refused to believe me and made me go through a bunch of BIOS tests. I keep reiterating "THERE IS NO PHYSICAL HARD DRIVE IN THE DAMN COMPUTER". Finally the guy says, "Sir this is a missing component issue. I must transfer you to customer care to resolve this problem." I'm pissed but I agree. I get transferred and it leads to chat #3...

3) Now, i get an Indian woman named "Michelle". This woman seems to have some sort of mental disorder because every time she takes even the smallest piece of information, she tells me to hold a minute. She ONLY replies back if I say "Hello? Are you there?" So now, I spend another 20 minutes JUST SPELLING MY NAME (my whole name is only 9 letters btw) and giving the service tag number (up to this point, I've spelled my name and given the tag number a grand total of 30-40 times). Once again, I tell her that "THE COMPUTER IS MISSING THE HARD DRIVE". After digesting this for 10 minutes, she comes back to me and says "Sir this computer must be from the business division. You'll have to call them tomorrow." At this point, I flip my lid and start some yelling action. She keeps saying "Sir I cannot do anything, this is a business computer." I say: "Hell no this isn't. This is a personal computer. FIX THIS NOW." After 5 minutes of this, it turns out that she typed in the service tag number incorrectly (even though I spent 10 minutes spelling it over and over). After that fiasco was over, she comes back after another hold and says "Sir, this is an INTERNAL missing component. We only deal with EXTERNAL missing components. We have to transfer you to tech support." Hopefully, you can understand that this got me miffed once again. I yell at her saying that that's the department I got transferred FROM in the first place and demand a manager. After refusing to let me talk to a manager she keeps telling me that I need to talk to support. I say fine but the next person better solve my problem immediately. I then get her name and direct number and this is the best part... I ask her for her last name and she says "Sir, we don't have last names here." After a good chuckle at that, I continue. Which leads to chat #4...

4) I now get a new Indian guy named "John". I gather myself a bit and before he can say anything, I say "John. Before you say anything, let me tell you a story..." I then relate the events leading up to my chat with him and then reiterate "THIS COMPUTER DOES NOT HAVE A PHYSICAL HARD DRIVE. PLEASE DO NOT GO THROUGH ANY BS BIOS CHECKS WITH ME. EITHER GET ME A HARD DRIVE NOW OR GET ME SOMEONE WHO CAN." This seemed to finally get the message through that I needed a fricking hard drive. After some down time, he came back to me with "Sir... we'd like to ship you a factory imaged version of the hard drive in 3-5 days." I went: "No, you're sending a technician tomorrow to install the drive." After arguing with me about all the "Great software" that comes with the factory pre-configured version, he agreed to send a technician to physically install the drive and OS. He gave me the technician call center # and dispatch number. Afterwards, I talked to the "manager" (another Indian guy named "Thomas") and, after blasting them for their incompetence, he decided to give my friend a $100 gift certificate. Which leads to today...

5) I told my friend to call the Technician number with the dispatch # to check on the status of the technician. Turns out the number "John" from Dell gave us was no longer in service and the dispatch number was invalid. My friend calls Dell back and they say the earliest they can get a technician there is tomorrow or Wednesday... Yay Dell.


Cliffs:
1) Friend's $1700 dell shipped without a HD
2) Got the run-around from tech-support and customer care
3) Apparently, they think that giving indian people Christian names makes things so much better.
4) Support people don't know what they're doing
5) Finally got someone to send a technician to install the HD today
6) Technician number is invalid and they can only send a technician tomorrow or wednesday
7) Dell sucks. Thank God It wasn't my computer

 

DanTMWTMP

Lifer
Oct 7, 2001
15,908
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i've had some furious run-ins w/ Dell support, but man, that's pretty bad. Just reading through it made me pretty pissed, lol.
 

Connoisseur

Platinum Member
Sep 14, 2002
2,470
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Originally posted by: DanTMWTMP
i've had some furious run-ins w/ Dell support, but man, that's pretty bad. Just reading through it made me pretty pissed, lol.

Yah. In case anyone was wondering, I did not exaggerate any of the numbers or conversations. I kept it as accurate as I can recall because I honestly want to send this to the BBB (slightly edited of course).
 

deerslayer

Lifer
Jan 15, 2001
10,153
0
76
In all seriousness, I try to avoid calling any kind of tech support. I've had to call Asus and Gateway on several occasions, and they aren't much fun either. Asus sent me a part for a video card twice. The part didn't match the part I needed. Finally, after the second wrong one came I called them back (irritated by this point) and someone finally told me that the part that I needed for my video card had been discontinued and this was the acceptable replacement. In the 4-6 phone calls I had already made to them they never mentioned that this part was not an exact replacement. There was no documentation with the part specifying this was an acceptable replacement either.
 

ElFenix

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Mar 20, 2000
102,393
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eh, you didn't yell that you were going to take them down like you took down enron and mci, so it doesn't beat the best call i ever heard when working there (yes, the calls get passed around)
 

yuppiejr

Golden Member
Jul 31, 2002
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Interesting problem with the missing components, when I was assisting in the training & setup for our facility in Bangalore we had a huge problem with brand new PC's arriving sans RAM, hard disks, CPU's - or all 3. After we accumulated 24 of these looted desktops we contacted Dell and got them to replace the whole shipment of 300 AND send a tech to unpack and inspect and certify each replacement before out techs set them-up for imaging. You'd think they would at least run each PC through a quick POST test before shipment to identify obvious problems like this...

On the Dell rant, try getting warranty service on your Dell Laptop out of the country... it would seem a warranty is NOT a warranty outside of the US unless you want to jump through a few service tag transfer and other paperwork hoops. I ended up swapping parts with a "local" laptop of the same model to fix the problem and submitted the warranty claim on that service tag instead. Can't imagine what a non-tech head would do if his laptop died on an international road-trip... something to consider if you are thinking of going Dell and travel outside of the country.
 

irishScott

Lifer
Oct 10, 2006
21,562
3
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lol wow. And I thought Verizon was bad (took me 6 hours to convince them that my DSL modem was fcked and there was no problem with my phone line).

Most memorable line:
One guy said: sir, your phone line is obviously disconnected. Please call your phone company.

After glaring at my busted modem in disbelief for a few seconds I preceded to tell him (with a clear note of tightly held back agression in my voice) that

1. I only have one phone line. If my phone line is diconeccted, HTF am I listening to your sh!t?

2. Verizon IS my phone company dipsh!t. FIX IT!

I then hung up and called again.
 

Connoisseur

Platinum Member
Sep 14, 2002
2,470
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Originally posted by: yuppiejr
Interesting problem with the missing components, when I was assisting in the training & setup for our facility in Bangalore we had a huge problem with brand new PC's arriving sans RAM, hard disks, CPU's - or all 3. After we accumulated 24 of these looted desktops we contacted Dell and got them to replace the whole shipment of 300 AND send a tech to unpack and inspect and certify each replacement before out techs set them-up for imaging. You'd think they would at least run each PC through a quick POST test before shipment to identify obvious problems like this...

On the Dell rant, try getting warranty service on your Dell Laptop out of the country... it would seem a warranty is NOT a warranty outside of the US unless you want to jump through a few service tag transfer and other paperwork hoops. I ended up swapping parts with a "local" laptop of the same model to fix the problem and submitted the warranty claim on that service tag instead. Can't imagine what a non-tech head would do if his laptop died on an international road-trip... something to consider if you are thinking of going Dell and travel outside of the country.

Well, assuming I read correctly, my friend isn't planning on leaving the country with the computer anytime soon. I suggested that he get his wife to yell at the support people and get something more for compensation than just a $100 gift certificate. The damage is already done, however. From their experience, my friend and his wife have ordered 4 previous computers from dell and apparently none of them worked out of the box. I'm not sure why they ordered ANOTHER one given this track record, but they've learned their lesson. No more Dell's ever.

Personally, I just build my own system. Granted a lot of people don't want to go through the hassle, but still: I'd much rather know what's going into the system and be able to fix it on the spot myself.
 

Connoisseur

Platinum Member
Sep 14, 2002
2,470
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Originally posted by: irishScott
lol wow. And I thought Verizon was bad (took me 6 hours to convince them that my DSL modem was fcked and there was no problem with my phone line).

Most memorable line:
One guy said: sir, your phone line is obviously disconnected. Please call your phone company.

After glaring at my busted modem in disbelief for a few seconds I preceded to tell him (with a clear note of tightly held back agression in my voice) that

1. I only have one phone line. If my phone line is diconeccted, HTF am I listening to your sh!t?

2. Verizon IS my phone company dipsh!t. FIX IT!

I then hung up and called again.

LOL wow. Yeah that was the gist of my conversation. The tech supports just kept saying "Sir that's impossible. You're just making a mistake. there's a hard drive in the system." I kept repeating "I know what a hard drive looks like. There's a blue sata cable that's attached to the motherboard that isn't attached to anything on the other end. There IS NO HARD DRIVE." Took them a while to figure out resetting the bios for the 10th time just wasn't cutting it.

 
Jun 19, 2004
10,860
1
81
I get customers all of the time who come into my shop almost in tears because Dell had them Format and reload their machine and the customer had no idea that would delete their data.

The other day, on my Dad's workstation it gave a bad fan error. He called me. I told him the fan had a proprietary connector and I didn't have any, and plus, it also could possibly be a bad motherboard since no fans were spinning.

turns out it was a bad board and my dad tried to use his "NEXT DAY IN HOME" warranty....they said they wouldn't have anyone avail onsite for 2 weeks. My dad read them the riot act and they sent someone the next day. I mean, he did pay for that anyway (well, his company did, but still).
 

giantpinkbunnyhead

Diamond Member
Dec 7, 2005
3,251
1
0
Holy Hell. I hated dell with a passion BEFORE reading that... that SUCKS. And it's crap like that, that has pushed me to building my own damn computers. Seems like good customer support exists NOWHERE anymore.
 

hanoverphist

Diamond Member
Dec 7, 2006
9,867
23
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i use dells for customers, mainly due to them having a support contract with dell giving them awesome pricing. one time they supplied me with a brand new workstation, 19" flat and all the trimmins. it was preloaded with NT4.0 (software req back in early 2000s) and they shipped it with a USB keyboard and mouse. When I called their tech support it went to the 2nd level of support before they even caught on WHY there was a problem with them shipping any USB peripherals with a NT box. luckily, I get to speak with actual engrish speaking people here in the US. govt and business use get the local support.

ive bought 2 dells at home, first lasted 7 years without even a single tech call. never reinstalled, reimaged or anything. still works, only reason i bought a new one was the vid card started failing. new one has been up and running for almost a year now, same deal. no calls, no problems. mebbe ive just been lucky. /shrug
 

Ipno

Golden Member
Apr 30, 2001
1,047
0
0
I work for a major US company who orders many millions of dollars worth of computers from Dell each year so I have direct dial into platinum enterprise support, just sent my dell rep your story maybe he'll get a chuckle.
 

mb

Lifer
Jun 27, 2004
10,233
2
71
I will always always always always use the online chat for support if I ever need to. It is much easier to communicate with them that way. That said, I've never had a problem getting the help I need.
 

iversonyin

Diamond Member
Aug 12, 2004
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The question is WHY THE HELL YOUR FRIEND PAYS $1700 for A DELL IN THE FIRST PLACE?! I got a similar story with paying for my laptop a while back. But most of the time I don't run into these kind of trouble. You should've told your friend that Dell support sucks and if you know computer so well, you should've build him a computer in the first place.

OR BE SMART AND TELL HIM TO ORDER A HP.
 

Connoisseur

Platinum Member
Sep 14, 2002
2,470
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Originally posted by: iversonyin
The question is WHY THE HELL YOUR FRIEND PAYS $1700 for A DELL IN THE FIRST PLACE?! I got a similar story with paying for my laptop a while back. But most of the time I don't run into these kind of trouble. You should've told your friend that Dell support sucks and if you know computer so well, you should've build him a computer in the first place.

OR BE SMART AND TELL HIM TO ORDER A HP.

I had no idea they were in the market for a computer until he showed me the dell boxes in his living room. While I have heard of many SOFTWARE issues with dell, I never imagined it would ship with a missing HARD DRIVE. Also, I refuse to build computers for other people unless i'm willing to give them round the clock support for any issues, which i'm not. As far as HP is concerned, I'm not well aware of their support track record.
 

homercles337

Diamond Member
Dec 29, 2004
6,340
3
71
I dont get it. Why didnt you just walk down to MicroCenter and pick up a cheap disc, format, install windows? Then tell dell to send a disc, insert and format. Now your buddy would have a backup disc. Your problem would have been solved in an hour, rather than days or whatever. When i used to buy dells (still do for laptops) i format and install the OS before i do anything with those things.
 

fallenangel99

Golden Member
Aug 8, 2001
1,721
1
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The same conversations would have happened with U.S. based customer service reps also. :) Just the funny Indian accents make the whole.. episode manageable I guess.
 

Zolty

Diamond Member
Feb 7, 2005
3,603
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The real dell tech support number = 1-800-822-8965
I can't say they are better but they do speak English as a native language.
 

Connoisseur

Platinum Member
Sep 14, 2002
2,470
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Originally posted by: homercles337
I dont get it. Why didnt you just walk down to MicroCenter and pick up a cheap disc, format, install windows? Then tell dell to send a disc, insert and format. Now your buddy would have a backup disc. Your problem would have been solved in an hour, rather than days or whatever. When i used to buy dells (still do for laptops) i format and install the OS before i do anything with those things.

a) Right... spend $50-$100 of money for something my friend shouldn't have needed in the first place after he already spent $1700 on a machine that should have been fully made, working out of the box and be backed up with "good" support. My friend lives in North Jersey in this tiny town. No Micro Center and then Nearest BB or CC was probably a good half hour away. I was also in a hurry to go home to watch 300.
b) The only OS disc that came with the computer was Vista. I have no experience installing it and I understand it has issues with installation and takes something like 4 hours. I did NOT have the time to sit there through that process.

Anything else you wanted to criticize on?
 

Soundmanred

Lifer
Oct 26, 2006
10,780
6
81
He should have bought another computer to use while waiting to have his fixed and then sold it for half of what he bought it for when he got the Dell up and running!
Duh.
Where are the problem solving skills around here?!
/sarcasm