Dell Horror Story

Mad Mike

In January I bought a Dell 5000 series PC for my brother who is a computer newbie. Weighing up the pros and cons I reckoned that it would make life easier for him (and for myself) to buy a big name computer with big name support.

When the package arrived I went over to set the machine up. Imagine the dissapointment on my brothers face (and my own) when the brand shiny new computer booted up for approximately 10 seconds before shutting down again with a warning about overheating.

I removed the side panel and the processor heatsink fell out onto the floor. Closer inspection revealed that nothing was actually broken but the heatsink was not screwed down to the maotherboard. The screws were all there but not screwed in. I'm confident it couldn't have worked itself free in transit so it was never actually attached.

Now in such cases I normally reccommend boxing the whole thing up and sending it back to the manufacturer but when I thought about the hassle this would entail I decided to bite the bullet and fix it myself. Two minutes work with a screwdriver and the heatsink was firmly in place (complete with thermal grease). The PC booted up fine and has worked properly ever since.

I find this appalingly poor workmanship in a brand leading product. Not alone am I upset about the fact that no one bothered to screw the heatsink down but it is also clear that no testing was done on the finished PC. If the machine had been powered up at all the problem would have revealed itself.

I sent a strongly worded complaint to Dell using their online customer feedback service but to date (6 weeks later) I have received no acknowledgement so I feel no compunction about spreading the bad word.

snappieT

You do realise that you've now sacrificed that "big name support" by opening up the case?


Dell are retards. They still haven't charged me for my €1700 laptop I got last August.

Orion

Mad Mike wrote:

I sent a strongly worded complaint to Dell using their online customer feedback service but to date (6 weeks later) I have received no acknowledgement so I feel no compunction about spreading the bad word.

I used to work in Dell and I strongly believe that webforms are just not read. Send a letter (yes snail mail ) into them telling them of your dissatisfaction with the quality of the Pc they sent to you. They won't tell you you're no longer supported imo as they are the ones who sent you defective goods in the first place.

Mad Mike

snapscan1212p wrote:

You do realise that you've now sacrificed that "big name support" by opening up the case?

Hardly the case for a PC - there are lots of legal things you need to open the case for (install a new graphics card for instance).

Anyway I thought about that and I realised that the time and hassle involved in returning the product wasn't worth it. Good suggestion Macros42. The machine is working fine now so I amn't looking for anything more than an apology.

OmegaRed

I had a dell horror story of mine own! I won't bore anyone with the details but it took three seperate emails before i got a reply!

I'm convinced they don't check half the complaints they get!

tba

My Dell monitor popped and after ten minutes on the tech support line, I had a new one delivered the next afternoon.

I'm happy with their support.

Dempsey

The response to any email i sent were automated replies

Nukem

snapscan1212p wrote:

Dell are retards. They still haven't charged me for my €1700 laptop I got last August.

Watch out banks never forget they are like elephants

davie_b

in fairness would anyself respecting preson with any cred..........bar buying a p.c. for a family member as per case here,would recomend dell and thier wonderfull relationship with celron processors and "Xtreme" built in graphics(me thinks xtreme stands for piss poor?)


dell have far too much explaining to do when it comes to the finished article, they make tiny look good and thats not easy to say......bring back gateway people are fed up!!!!!!!


www.midlans.net

Tusky

Dell touch children.

lomb

intel processors are fully protected against overheating unlike amd chips. they will reduce their clock speed and shut down b4 any damage. no harm done anyway

abccormac

I was expectiing them to have eaten your children or something. I feel let down by the thread title.

Fionn

has anyone spoken to their sales people lately?
I was on to three of them this am difficult to understand them and i guess they had probs with my accent too.
:rolleyes:

uberpixie

lomb wrote:

intel processors are fully protected against overheating unlike amd chips. they will reduce their clock speed and shut down b4 any damage. no harm done anyway

Thats only true for athlon xp's NOT the currant anthlon 64's/Fx's

"Athlon 64 and Athlon 64 FX have also acquired a few long awaited changes of the package design and anti-burn protection. First of all, I would like to mention a special lid that protects the CPU die against physical damage during cooler installation and removing. Moreover, besides the built-in thermal diode, Athlon 64 FX and Athlon 64 have finally got their own anti-overheating protection circuit."

Taken from: http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/athlon64-fx51_4.html

kinkstr

Tusky wrote:

Dell touch children.

I feel your pain

OmegaRed

Fionn wrote:

has anyone spoken to their sales people lately?
I was on to three of them this am difficult to understand them and i guess they had probs with my accent too.
:rolleyes:

Sarcastic comic book guy says "Worst support ever"

Before I built my new computer and was using my dell I had to call dell about 7 or 8 times.

The first time I was talking to and Irish guy and the problem was sorted in 20 mins! Since they moved their call centers to India I had to keep calling to rectify problems that they said were solved! Then they have the cheek to ask you till fill out a satisfaction survey to rate their performance… and they know dam well your not satisfied!

Every so often these dell bashing topics come up but at the end of the day who ever has bought from dell (including myself) only has themselves to blame! The PCs do exactly what they say on the tin (within reason)

Their products are way over priced for what you could buy if you built your own PC! But they do build decent, quite, home/office computers. I don’t think they are that good for gaming (that’s what I’d be interested in and I imagine most of boards.ie members would to) Not even the dell XPS!

The fact that the heat sink wasn’t even screwed on was a right kick in the nads but probably doesn’t happen very often. I know that’s not good enough and I’d be pissed if it happened to me!

Where was I…..

Mercury_Tilt

This post has been deleted.

RicardoSmith

I installed about 700 dells during the summer and only had 15 returns.

I guess if I'd only ever bought one and had problems with it, I might have a warped sense of perspective about it. Loose components are a pretty usual occurance in the IT world. Its amusing you're so shocked about it.

Oh the horror .....the horror...

kinkstr

RicardoSmith wrote:

I installed about 700 dells during the summer and only had 15 returns.

I guess if I'd only ever bought one and had problems with it, I might have a warped sense of perspective about it. Loose components are a pretty usual occurance in the IT world. Its amusing you're so shocked about it.

Oh the horror .....the horror...

I see where your comming from Ricardo but not screwing down the heatsink, in my opinion thats just pure laziness and not what should be expected from such a large company such as DELL

Guy:Incognito

lomb wrote:

intel processors are fully protected against overheating unlike amd chips. they will reduce their clock speed and shut down b4 any damage. no harm done anyway

Id be more worried bout the heatsink rattling around inside the case in transit and tacking chunks out of everything.

uberpixie

kinkstr wrote:

I see where your comming from Ricardo but not screwing down the heatsink, in my opinion thats just pure laziness and not what should be expected from such a large company such as DELL

The person who makes that pc is on minimum wage and is expected to build 20 pcs an hour.

S h i t happens.....

BloodBath

I don't think many people are capable of making 20 pc's an hour, never mind on minimum wage. It's a slightly skilled job that usually pays a bit higher than min afaik.


BloodBath

lost_lad

Before x-mas i Did the A+ with a guy who tests and builds dell PC's for last 3 years. He knew nothing about PC's and didn't even have e-mail. I think that says it all.
Fair enough he was willing to learn for his job and his own betterment but 3 YEARS!!!

pwd

Celerons are ok if you are on a budget and get a lot of RAM.
Although I think they changed the basic design of them recently so that the newer ones are less high quality than the slightly older ones?
I have a 2.2GHz Celeron with 768MB of RAM. It is more than adequate for my needs. Same PC running with 256MB of RAM was a bit slow I found.

Cabaal

lost_lad wrote:

Before x-mas i Did the A+ with a guy who tests and builds dell PC's for last 3 years. He knew nothing about PC's and didn't even have e-mail. I think that says it all.

They don't "need" to know how they work or even how to install windows, putting together a PC is like putting together a very expensive jigaw
Its not rocket science!

Ok knowing about the PC might help but as long as they follow the instructions right they should be ok

Mercury_Tilt

This post has been deleted.

Turlock

<rant>
I deal alot with DELL tech support and have done so over the last five years, our company uses their latitude laptops and we do have alot of them. Up until about a year or two ago their support was pretty bad, they were taking the p*ss with their useless questions (e.g. Screen isn't working, DOA, Have you upgraded the BIOS?) but then they sorted it out, Tech Support was excellent! No more stupid questions they just got to the point and that was it.

Then they moved to India, not racist but if you can't speak my language how the hell are we supposed to talk about technical problems.

Although I suppose in compaqs case it's worse having their highest level of customer support (I was transferred after arguing with a tech who I proved wrong!) unable to understand english, talk about not caring!!!

</rant>

Mad Mike

abccormac wrote:

I was expectiing them to have eaten your children or something. I feel let down by the thread title.

RicardoSmith wrote:

I guess if I'd only ever bought one and had problems with it, I might have a warped sense of perspective about it. Loose components are a pretty usual occurance in the IT world. Its amusing you're so shocked about it.

I am beginning to feel like a drama queen here:

Did I neglect to mention the 3 month old baby who was crawling around the floor and was mutilated by the heatsink as it fell out?

Ricardo I worked in electronics manufacturing for over 10 years and yes human error does happen - loose screws are a particular difficulty. However the last 30 years of manufacturing experience with advanaces like TQM and six sigma have shown that it is possible to control these type of quality problems. In fact a dead on arrival fault like this one is absolutely the easiest to prevent - any control (eg powereing the system up) would have prevented it.

RicardoSmith

Are you suggesting that if you're building and shipping thousands of products that its possible to have a 100% record of no DOA? Can you give an example of a large multinational company that achieves this?

kinkstr wrote:

I see where your comming from Ricardo but not screwing down the heatsink, in my opinion thats just pure laziness and not what should be expected from such a large company such as DELL

Stekelly wrote:

Id be more worried bout the heatsink rattling around inside the case in transit and tacking chunks out of everything.

Its obviously a mistake. Not an uncommon on for computers or any machinery. But did you let them know? Mistakes happen, more so in big companies. How is that news to you guys? More likely this was someone not doing their job in the factory.

Guys, seriously, do some research on the celerons, you really know nothing about them. Find a CPU model number then do a search for reviews on it. Then read them. :rolleyes:

Boro

BloodBath wrote:

I don't think many people are capable of making 20 pc's an hour, never mind on minimum wage. It's a slightly skilled job that usually pays a bit higher than min afaik.


BloodBath

They dont build 20pcs individually, they build in clusters. But yeah, clusters would have targets like that. Some of the stuff you would see or hear about on the lines in dell is just scary. I saw pcs being dropped 3 times from several feet onto concrete and then being just dusted off before being put into boxes.

This would be after the testing and OS install, so generally only one in 25 or 30 would get spot checked.

Also knew a lad who used to chuck fish in boxes for the laugh...

kinkstr

uberpixie wrote:

The person who makes that pc is on minimum wage and is expected to build 20 pcs an hour.

S h i t happens.....

Where didi you get those figures twat head?

MrVestek

Boro wrote:

Also knew a lad who used to chuck fish in boxes for the laugh...

That seems like a really handy service actually, Dell should start marketing it. I dunno about everyone else here but i'd love to get a free fish if I bought a computer. Not that i'd ever buy a computer, and certainly not from Dell. TBH anyone who knows even the slightest thing about pcs know that you never buy pre built computers, and you never... NEVER buy from the following places:
Dell
Dixons
PC World.

All in all, I guess the PC you got was a herring eh? Geddit? Herring?....... ahh here i'm off back to bed...

RicardoSmith

Achilles wrote:

....Not that i'd ever buy a computer, and certainly not from Dell. TBH anyone who knows even the slightest thing about pcs know that you never buy pre built computers, and you never... NEVER buy from the following places: Dell Dixons PC World.

Whats the alternative for companies. Build your own, and pay more per unit? :rolleyes:

MrVestek

RicardoSmith wrote:

Whats the alternative for companies. Build your own, and pay more per unit? :rolleyes:

It'd be cheaper if the parts were bought from the right place, and you'd have it to your own spec. With dell you have to deal with propriatory PSUs, and ****e motherboards with like 2 pci slots, and no agp slot.... if yer lucky.

Dempsey

Aldi & Lidl PC i would recommend to anyone, usually great value for money.

I would recommend Dell, only if the person is looking for a glorified typewriter. I wouldnt buy anything high end off them.

Dell are good for companies who want a load of pcs cheap, not so good for home users

sceptre

kinkstr wrote:

Where didi you get those figures twat head?

Depending on the particular machine, the twathead is right. Don't call him a twathead. The clusters are basically or mostly gone, though individual targets for the dimension 5000 would be lower (I'd guess 15 ph) due to having to screw in the heatsink and so on.

kinkstr

sceptre wrote:

Depending on the particular machine, the twathead is right. Don't call him a twathead. The clusters are basically or mostly gone, though individual targets for the dimension 5000 would be lower (I'd guess 15 ph) due to having to screw in the heatsink and so on.

his post implied this so called person built 20 pc's in 1 hour, i sincerely doubt that possible for a human being, and i also doubt he/she gets minimum wage either

Boro

Actually, dell pc's arent that bad. Great for business, just not particularly good for home users that want to play games. In my line of work, i have to buy/recommend computers/laptops for clients and Dell is definitely the best option out there in terms of price and service.

Pc World/Dixons/Currys are the same btw and ship the same lines of equipment. Dont buy from them unless you like Packard Hells. Although saying htat, some of their HP branded machines were quite nice (if overpriced).

RicardoSmith

Achilles wrote:

It'd be cheaper if the parts were bought from the right place, and you'd have it to your own spec. With dell you have to deal with propriatory PSUs, and ****e motherboards with like 2 pci slots, and no agp slot.... if yer lucky.

You can choose to buy a machine with a standard PSU, AGP and lots of PCI slots. However the majority of users don't use any of those features so don't need them. 95% of the hundreds of machines I've upgraded have never been opened since they were bought.

If you a buy a machine without those features and you need them. Well thats just being stupid. Duh. I have a Dell under my desk that has a AGP, 3 PCI slots, and a standard PSU. I spent about 10 mins doing some research before I bought it. Including the licence of XP and the time taken to build and test a machine, the cost of labour I couldn't build it for less. Even buying the parts 2nd hand from the UK. Mind you I did buy it from the outlet store. But in a work enviroment, if you are doing that 10-100 times for a decent office, labour alone would make a DIY job more expensive.

Problem with the majority of people who moan about Dells is that they think the world revolves around them, and the issues they have in building a handful of machine are the same for everyone else. In fact you are a tiny % of the PC market. For most people Dells are perfect. Most small PC builders went to the wall years ago. Theres only a handful left now.

I have a Dell dual Xeon Workstation at work. Quadro gfx and dual TFT's. glorified typewriter? I don't think so. Would I buy it for games? I don't use a spoon to to cut a steak either.

Boro

kinkstr wrote:

his post implied this so called person built 20 pc's in 1 hour, i sincerely doubt that possible for a human being, and i also doubt he/she gets minimum wage either

20 per person is a tad optimistic maybe. The wage though is above minimum, and when you include shift bonus (20% afaik), becomes quite reasonable. There is also overtime, and double pay on sat afternoons/sundays.

The workers there are hardly underpaid, and as an earlier poster said, its more like putting together a high tech jigsaw than any real skilled labour. Why do you think Dell use all those green plastic clips? Its not for your ease of use - its because it shaves a few minutes off every PCs build time.

IIRC a pc had a turn around time of about 70-90 minutes from components in a box to having software installed and then being put in a box on a lorry.

Mercury_Tilt

This post has been deleted.

Boro

merc wrote:

I recently had a friend who told me how much they were paying for a Celeron Dell. After I rang the sales person and removed the "install on site" fee and the 3 year warranty they were paying a damn sight less.

As a funny aside, i was checking prices on a pc(cheap) for business useover the phone. Asked about a celeron, when sales person at the other end of the phone said to me "why do you want a celeron? you should go for a pentium. Dont you know that you cant get broadband on a celeron? Its not fast enough?" It was around that time that i felt the need to hang up

RicardoSmith

Boro wrote:

As a funny aside, i was checking prices on a pc(cheap) for business useover the phone. Asked about a celeron, when sales person at the other end of the phone said to me "why do you want a celeron? you should go for a pentium. Dont you know that you cant get broadband on a celeron? Its not fast enough?" It was around that time that i felt the need to hang up

Its like the usual. "Do you have the internet on your computer". I usually answer, no I left it at work.

uberpixie

kinkstr wrote:

Where didi you get those figures twat head?

I work in dell. Cheers for the complement.

the_syco

RicardoSmith wrote:

Most small PC builders went to the wall years ago. Theres only a handful left now.

Totally agreed. Look @ Alienware for an example. They provide the top class individual PC's. A bit expensive, tho.

Boro wrote:

IIRC a pc had a turn around time of about 70-90 minutes from components in a box to having software installed and then being put in a box on a lorry.

Aye. IIRC, it takes about 5 to 10 minutes to ghost the OS etc onto a HDD.

uberpixie wrote:

I work in dell. Cheers for the complement.

Lucky mofo.

kinkstr

uberpixie wrote:

I work in dell. Cheers for the complement.

Sorry about the "twathead" remark, i just find it very hard to believe that a person working for dell gets minimum wage and builds 20 pc's an hour, are you sure your not exagerating a little bit?

Mercury_Tilt

This post has been deleted.

uberpixie

kinkstr wrote:

Sorry about the "twathead" remark, i just find it very hard to believe that a person working for dell gets minimum wage and builds 20 pc's an hour, are you sure your not exagerating a little bit?

No. 20 pcs an hour is the expected target for someone trained up.

For lappies 15/16 per hour.

Servers 1.5 per hour.

Now to be fair there is a pay review every 6 months so your wages can go up above minimum wage.

TBH anyone that is in the job long enough to build 20 an hour is getting more than min wage so in that sense it is a wee bit of an exageration :-)

The pay still ain't great though. Plus the people making your pcs are standing for their entire work day be it a 8,10 or 12 hour shift. The only chairs in dell are in the canteen or the offices.

abccormac

I agree totally with mercury tilt here, when you take into account the time you will spend building a pc, the cost of windows etc, etc and you take a little bit of time to configure it correctly it's very difficult to beat dell on price. If you have €1000 or so to spend you can get a very nice p.c. as long as you know what you're at.

sceptre

kinkstr wrote:

his post implied this so called person built 20 pc's in 1 hour, i sincerely doubt that possible for a human being, and i also doubt he/she gets minimum wage either

I know people that do. One person. One hour. 20 machines (desktops, optiplex SX280). For eight hours (proportionally less on the hours when they've a quarter hour break or half-hour lunch break). That's about 140 machines a shift. And the people I know that do it are getting minimum wage for doing it (plus a shift bonus but the basic pay they're on is 7.35 a hour). When they get made permanent (and they will if they like) they'll be getting a bit more, actually because they're hitting their targets every hour they'll probably be getting quite a bit more. I also know people working there that don't manage to get that many of that particular machine built in an hour. But that point is that I know some that do.

And I'm not "implying it". I'm stating it as fact. Given that the machines generally come with the motherboards in place, building 20 Optiplex SX280s (for example - they don't get much easier than that one) in an hour is more than possible. They self-test, no test interaction required apart from putting the power and network cables in the back and pressing the power button. I'd even say that if it wasn't for the fact that they require an interactive test (which takes time) that assembling 18-20 Latitude D400s could be done in an hour as well - after stripping one that a friend of mine has down to the motherboard I put it back together perfectly in 2 and a half minutes (using a regular screwdriver, they have electric ones in Dell-land, though that machine doesn't have all that many screws anyway).