Mudita Journal

Dell Sent Me to Hell. …Twice. Suggestions?

April 5, 2007 · Filed under: Personal, Reviews
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I’ve had my current computer, a Dell Dimension 4700, for about two years now, which means it’s time for me to renew my warranty coverage if I want to continue receiving technical support.

Overall, their technical support — the few times I’ve needed it, always right around the warranty expiration date — has been passably good, and my current computer is working fine. At least, it’s worked fine since I put the pieces back together (at my expense, since it was a rush) after my hard drive died last November.

So I tried calling 877-896-5427, the phone number the technician had given me yesterday me for warranty renewals. At the prompt, I entered my customer number and order number, at which point I was transferred to a mailbox — and then the line was disconnected before prompting me to leave any message.

No problem. The tech support guy I spoke to last week just happened to provide me with an alternate number (800-247-4618 x1 x7262189) for renewing my warranty.

This number worked great … until I pressed the number corresponding to my “business size” (less than 400 employees), was transferred to a mailbox that was “currently full,” then routed to “the attendant for this mailbox,” then informed that “no attendant has been specified for this mailbox” — and then informed that “this session is about to end,” which is apparently a new euphemism for I’m about to hang up on you.

Did I mention I was trying to give Dell money? If it’s this hard to buy an extended warranty, maybe I should reconsider my strategy.

Typically, after two years, the new generation of computers is so much faster, and cheaper, that it’s time to just buy a new computer anyway. So I looked at the Dell web site to see how their new computers look.

None of the computers I looked at in my price range ($1K or less) seemed to represent a significant improvement over my current system, which is a 3GHz Pentium 4 Processor with 1GB dual channel SDRAM and 160GB hard drive. Plus, Dell seems not to offer the option of sticking with Windows XP instead of becoming an unwitting in-home beta-tester for Windows Vista.

All this raises the prospect that perhaps I should either (a) keep my Dell a little longer despite having no warranty coverage or technical support, or (b) buy a computer from someone besides Dell — for the first time in probably ten years.

Anyone have suggestions for a good place to buy a $1K (or less) computer that would represent a significant upgrade from what I currently have? Good customer support would be a plus, too, of course.

Posted by Joshua Zader · Trackback URL · Link
  • http://joeduarte.blogspot.com Joe Duarte

    An iMac would be an excellent choice, and you can get them for close to $1,000.

    For Windows machines, various Costco bundled offerings are a good value. They usually have some HP desktops with LCD displays. I would go with HP, since as you and so many others have mentioned, Dell’s service has tanked.

  • http://www.zader.com Joshua Zader

    Thanks for the recommendations, Joe.

    And I’m glad somebody out there hears my pain and has responded with a suggestion. *sniff*

    An iMac is probably in my future, but for now I’ve seen too many times when Kathy (who loves her Mac) has to e-mail an attachment to me or to her PC laptop first, for redirection, before the recipient can open it successfully.

    So as a primary business instrument, I’ll be sticking with a PC for now.

    We don’t have a Costco membership but we belong to Sam’s Club, so I’ll see what they have there in the way of HP desktops.

    Thanks again.

  • http://QuerkeyTurkey.blogspot.com Catmoves

    I’ve been reading in many forums about the late failure of Dell to help purchasers. Many people have complained about it, a number have simply bought new computers from another firm (or nerds who build them for you). I know that a few years ago, my Wild Thing spent almost four hours on the phone with a Dell Tech who got her computer straightened out. And there was no charge, either. Good Luck, whatever you do.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_SOYUAARIWJUNHOA3XZU6KNQAAY Anonymous

    I realize this is an OLD post, but if it helps…

    1) Don’t overpay at DELL. Find a Frys’ Electronics nearby, else try pricegrabber.com.
    2) Hard drive failure before 5 years is a lemon drive. see #1 above.
    3) Try dual-booting to Ubuntu (my preference) or Fedora, or other Linux.
    Its free, a better product regardless of price, and there’s great forums for ‘tech. support’

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