Req comment on Dell Inspiron 1420 D

[Derek Broughton]

Wade Smart wrote:

> Kenneth Loafman wrote:
>> Derek Broughton wrote:
>>   
>>> Kenneth Loafman wrote:
>>>
>>>     
>>>> Derek Broughton wrote:
>>>>       
>>>>> Dell has steadfastly refused to even respond to requests for service
>>>>> under my extended service contract - next day on site service has
>>>>> taken six
>>>>> months so far.  Nice of them to support Ubuntu, but that isn't going
>>>>> to be enough to get me to go back to them...
>>>>>         
>>>> I've had Dell systems for years, both at work and at home.  I've never
>>>> had a problem with extended service at all.  I recently had a DVD
>>>> writer
>>>> replaced, next day, 7 days from the end of the contract.  It was
>>>> running Linux, and not on one of the 'supported' systems.
>>>>
>>>> What was the rationale they used for refusing?
>>>>       
>>> They don't refuse.  They refuse to respond.  I had an ongoing email
>>> dialogue, which they stopped responding to.  By phone I get to "We'll
>>> have
>>> to have a wireless person call you back" and then they don't.  They
>>> don't respond to snail mail, either.
>>
>> Sounds like its past time for a complaint to the BBB and a suit in small
>> claims court.  They owe you at least a refund on the extended warranty
>> plus court costs.

Yeah, we did the BBB complaint and I'm still trying to decide if the
small-claims court option is worth the trouble.  For everybody else's sake,
of course, it is...  :-)

> My own quick problem with Dell is, we sent back 400 computers after they
> ALL had the same problem. Dell wouldnt fix them. But, the state stepped
> in and the school district got their money back. They just wouldnt
> return our calls or our registered letters.

Yeah - my situation too.
> 
> One funny thing though, when I with the other tech on this school job
> she was on the phone with Dell and they said, "Im sorry. If you have
> another operating system other than Vista installed, you'll have to
> reinstall Vista before we can help you." And then she said, "WE GOT IT
> WITH UBUNTU ON IT FROM YOU." And the Dell person just went really quiet,
> asked a question of the person sitting next to him, and hung up the phone.

That would be funny if it wasn't so pathetic.

I have to admit, I don't know if there was a "Terms of sale" "agreement"
included with the laptop like the one I got with the AC adaptor I purchased
later, but it says something to the effect of "by purchasing this product
you agree to have any dispute handled by mediation and not sue us". 
Regardless of the legality of such an agreement, if they'd ever actually
offered mediation I'd have taken it, but my suspicion, borne out by Wade's
experience was that any hint that you'd take action of any kind gets you
blacklisted.  

Hey Dell, does it not occur to you that having to put such a
stupid "agreement" in the package implies a huge failure on the part of
your service department?
-- 
derek