Credit where it's due

Well, I am happy to report that Dell has come through! After a week and a half and several follow up calls from Mitch -probably the best person Dell has- letting me know it was being built and was on it's way, the new computer arrived. (I have 10 days to send back the old one, free shipping.) It looks almost identical to my previous one. I noticed a few small scratches, but they had warned me it would be refurbished.

Then I checked the components.

After telling me the specs would all be the same, they sent me the new one with double the ram, a larger hard drive, and a more powerful processor. Dell really wanted to make me happy.

So there it is; hopefully the whole story. The good, the bad, and the ugly. It's been pretty frustrating overall, but for now Dell deserves some credit for going above and beyond. Well done.

Finally

I stopped here after 10 posts (not that I am out of material, there is plenty more...) to contact Dell and basically give them one last chance to make things right before I spread this blog all over creation. 

The first guy, Jay, said he would transfer me and then hung up.

The second guy, Nino, said that I didn't have enough ram. Now I agree that a gig of ram is not tons, but it is certainly enough for ordinary computer use (I save my video editing for my mac; we're talking basic word processing, web browsing, and music playing) and shouldn't result in a chronically paralyzed system. 

I told him I wanted a new computer. He said he wanted to help set my expectations and that they don't replace computers, period. He said my best bet was to talk to the customer care department the next day (of course, closed at 5) and maybe they would think about giving me a partial refund, depreciation considered. 

"Is there anything else I can help you with sir?"

"Yes, would you like to read my blog?"

"Yes sir, what is the address?"

I spelled it out and he repeated back, "Ok, thats 'piece of dell dot blogspot dot com.'"

"You got it!"

"Ok, I will add this to your case file."

 

Then I waited a day, ran the full diagnostics and disk check again just to make double sure that it wasn't a simple problem, and called Dell Customer Care. I told the girl, Mitch, that I wanted a new computer. She put me on hold for 10 minutes to look at my case file, and came back saying right away that they were going to send a replacement computer. 

I just received an email saying, "I’d like to inform you that I’ve processed the request for the replacement. The system will be built and to set your expectation, it’s going to be for the same system and cofiguration that you ordered however if the system isn’t available anymore, then it’s going to be the upgraded version."

Well, alrighty Dell. It's about time. I will relent from further postings unless the replacement computer also doesn't work; then they won't hear the end of it until I get a full refund. I will still keep this blog up though, because it's important for people to know. 

Run Dell Run!

This is another error message that commonly frequents my screen.

Usually I only get one or two at a time. However, on this particular occasion, I was deluged by a tremendous amount of not-Running that my Dell was doing.

You'd think 27 times would be sufficient, but no, it wanted to tell me 28 times:

Can task manager manage this?

My installation of a program seemed to be freezing up (not unusual), so I tried to open task manager. Apparently task manager doesn't like me.

But I'm not really sure because all it would say is:

Defend yourself!

So besides the strange problems I'm having waking up my computer from sleep mode, screen saver, or when I close and open the lid -it's set to do nothing- (the screen flashes on and off for maybe a minute before slowly coming back to life), or the random times it decides to shut down or restart itself without asking, I am still having problems with Windows Defender!

This is the explanatory message I've received for months whenever I tried to update it:




However, just this week my Piece of Dell volunteered this helpful notice while I wasn't even using the machine:

Out of the box

Would Dell actually install programs on your computer that aren't compatible with your computer?


How can they give you pre-installed software that doesn't work!?!?

Java's not important is it?

I've been battling with Java ever since I've had this thing. Of course Dell won't help me because, after all, it's a software problem. I've posted some screen shots of my burdensome quest to update Java:

First the installer wouldn't even open.


Secondly, the installation wouldn't complete.


Thirdly, when I finally got it to install, it presents a perfectly clear explanation as to why it still won't work.


Internal error 2762. Right. I should have known.

What was I thinking

Ok, here was my thought process when I decided to buy a new laptop:

"Hm, I've had an HP laptop for 3 years. It's been good to me, but it's time to replace it. Let's see what deals there are... Oh another HP is around $650. Wow, thats a lot cheaper than the $1500 I paid for the last one. Wait, the newest Dell laptop is on sale for a little over $500! Whoa! A gig of ram, dual core processor... Hm, lets think about this... I've heard bad things about Dell but they've had years to improve and as long as I get a really good warranty, how could I go wrong? A 3 year come to your house the next day and fix it should be all I need in case anything goes wrong. But still, buying a Dell... but it's so cheap... and it looks pretty..."

And thus clever marketing and seductive low prices led me astray and I succumbed to buying a sneaky little Piece of Dell. It pains me to admit that such a foolish train of thought ever traversed my mind, but I do it for the good of others, that they may learn from my mistake.

This pretty much sums it up

Since none of the windows updaters worked and they couldn't figure out why, the folks at Dell decided that instead of giving me a different Piece of Dell that actually works, they would help me manually download and install the updates that I need. This process of following the links they gave me and the steps to install them produced the best error message I have ever seen:

Does your updater need updating?

I think the source of many of my Piece of Dell's problems has been its inability to update. Windows updater and Windows Defender constantly team up together and say, "We like us the way we are, and we don't need no stinkin' updates!"

So after googling this error code and finding nothing, I called Dell and asked them. What is Code 8007277B?

Their answer: "Um, I'm not sure."

Their solution: "You need to reinstall Vista."

Thanks guys, I hope they pay you well.

Click

After that 3+ hour bonding experience, the manager wanted to ask me how my experience with Dell support was. My plans for the evening were already shot so I said "sure!"

I got about halfway through my story when she interrupted and said, "Ok, thank you sir for your feedback."

"Um, that's not everything."

"Thanks for calling Dell customer support."

Click.



Well I've had plenty more fun times with my lovely laptop and if they won't listen, I'll just go ahead and publish everything. If I can keep at least one person from donating their money to Dell, then my blog will not be in vain.

So, be on the look out for new postings, exciting new error message screen shots, and above all: Never ever be seduced by the low prices and shiny boxes I affectionately call Pieces of Dell - they will eat your soul!

Are blue screens compatible with Vista?

Thus begins the unfolding saga that is My Piece of Dell.

This screen is the result of trying to use a micro SD card in the card reader. Regular SD cards worked fine, but a micro SD card in its SD converter resulted in this beautiful cobalt screen.

It took me an hour on the phone with a Dell representative for him to believe me that there was no readable text on the blue screen. More than an hour and a half after that, after being told this was a software problem and that I needed to wipe my hard drive and reinstall Vista (their fix for everything) they finally concluded that I needed to test my micro SD card on a friend's computer to see if it was my card. I told him that I had two brand new micro SD cards (Kingston and PNY) and they both worked in my camera and get the same blue screen every time in the Piece of Dell. It's not the cards.

He then suggested that maybe Vista wasn't compatible with micro SD cards.

I asked, "Wouldn't you know, or wouldn't there at least be some documentation if Vista universally could not work with micro SD cards?" He said no and asked me again to find a friend's computer and test it.

I said, "No one at Dell knows whether you can use a micro SD card with Vista and you have no way of finding out?"

"No, is there a friend's computer you can use?"

"You are telling me that at Dell's headquarters, with all of your resources, there is not a single laptop you can try using a micro SD card on and see if it gives you a crazy blue screen? And no one connected with Dell has at any point tried to use a micro SD card? Instead you are asking the customer to go find a friend, test a basic compatibility question, and let you know?"

"Um, let me go talk to my supervisor."

(At one point in this 3+ hour conversation, I had to go to the bathroom and the representative admitted he had to as well, so we made a plan as to how we would figure out who got back first and wait for the other person. It was quite the bonding experience.)

So, after talking to several people we finally figured out that my computer hadn't updated the video driver. Of course. The video driver. That makes sense.



"Sir, would you like to take a customer satisfaction survey?"

"Why yes I would...."