- Sep 14, 2002
- 2,470
- 1
- 81
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
"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