

Dell support service can’t tell between a 720p and a 1080p display - fox91
http://foxtn.tumblr.com/post/47282407613/dell-support-service-cant-tell-between-a-720p-and-a

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themgt
I heartily support these sort of viral "would you get a load of these
assholes" public shaming about large companies that become like the DMV with
the way they deal with customers.

It seems like one of the few ways for the little guy to fight back.

~~~
dsfasfasf
In 2001 when I was shopping a for a new computer I was talking with the Dell
Rep. over the phone about different types of monitor. There was one that was
200 dollars more expensive than the other. I asked the Rep. what was the
difference and this was her response "mmmm, one is more espensive" in a
couldn't care less kind of tone. Horrible customer service. And the comparison
to an incompetent government employee is pretty apt. Dell deserves to be
ridiculed for this.

~~~
IanCal
True, but there are also good stories with Dell. My housemate a few years ago
had a Dell laptop which would no longer charge. Out of warranty they offered
to fix it if he sent it in, but he was heading out of the country over
Christmas. They sent out a technician to fix it at our house within a few days
and everything was sorted.

That was excellent service.

Not everyone has good dealings with them, but it's not all bad.

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neya
I am with you on this one, but bear in mind, the technician who is supposed to
replace your display possibly only knows the part numbers instead of their
specs.

I faced a similar situation too (some years back) - I own a Sony Vaio and my
display had some issues too. Basically, under the hood, the display is either
an LG or a SAMSUNG if your laptop is by a good brand (LG/SAMSUNG makes the
best displays, Apple, Sony, everyone else uses displays made by them), or it's
made by some cheap Chinese company if your laptop's brand is not so reputed.

Also, the same laptop has multiple replacement parts for the same item. In my
case, my display was originally a Samsung, but my replacement was an LG. But
the appearance of the parts looked exactly the same, but underneath, my
replacement display was 1080p, whereas originally it was 720p. Though, my
maximum display settings still allow me to use only 720p.

Think about it, just a slight variation in part numbers could mean a LOT!

This is when I learnt that despite a laptop belonging to the same model
number, it could have various part numbers for the same item. Hence, these
technicians end up memorizing the part numbers instead of the technical
specifications of the parts. I am not talking in support of the technician
though - By all means, he IS SUPPOSED TO KNOW what technical features are
inside, but given the appearance and complexity of the part numbers, this
could be very difficult for one when dealing with thousands of components
every month. Give the guy some benefit of doubt, but don't forgive Dell, ever.

Cheers!

~~~
bpicolo
I owned a Sony Vaio z series. Support was the worst I've ever faced. Their
faulty hinges broke and I had to send it in for a 400 dollar, 3 month long
repair. Not recommended.

~~~
neya
I think it's subjective based on personal experience, I jsut edited out my
comment. :)

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rayiner
The problem here is also that Dell randomly switches parts around on these
things without changing the model name. If even their own support people can't
keep it all straight, how are customers supposed to be able to? Apple gets
away with it because they refresh the whole line at certain intervals, so
"late 2010 macbook air" really means something, and also they point out stuff
you should care about (e.g. Retina displays, but not e.g. CPU upgrades).

~~~
fox91
But ehy, every Dell pc has a service tag which identifies every pc (with that
tag they even know the name of the owner) so they are supposed to know every
part of the pc

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pixl97
The problem with Dell is they change part numbers so fast that a particular
part number replacement not be available, you then run not well trained techs
trying to figure out which newer part number actually works and is equivalent
on your model.

Last year I purchased three XPS 17 laptops within 3 months of each other for a
client. Each time I had to choose slightly different options as they didn't
offer the exact same configuration each time.

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auctiontheory
> In conclusion: don’t EVER send your laptop to a Dell lab.

Simpler: Don't buy Dell.

I thought this was common knowledge.

~~~
Shorel
Back in 1999 the common knowledge among geeks was actually 'buy Dell'.

They had better internal cabling than the competition, and have been
leveraging 1999 since then.

~~~
warfangle
Back in 1999 the common knowledge among geeks was actually "build your own."

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lostlogin
Build your own laptop? That's somewhat harder than the desktop build - the
geeks I know never ventured into laptop builds.

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fox91
UPDATE 2013-04-08: I got a phone call from a recorded voice that said that my
laptop have been shipped and I would get it in 24h.

UPDATE 2013-04-09: I got another phone call from the Dell support center that
confirmed the shipment but they said that may laptop have not been fixed. They
are shipping it as it was a month ago! They are sending me a new laptop in
about 2 weeks and in the meanwhile I can keep my old one. I asked if they were
sending me some sort of gift or a refund for all the trouble but they said
that, as they’re a support center, they can’t and if I want I can send a
letter to their lawyers. Another terrible story from Dell support service.

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slewis
Sounds miserable. If they'd give you a loaner for the duration it'd be a
little better.

I and others have recently had employees at the Apple store encourage us to
utilize their no restocking fee policy to effectively get a "free" loaner
laptop while ours were under repair.

Maybe Apple should encourage people to do this even when they're having
computers from other manufacturers repaired. How often do people end up just
keeping and paying for these "free" loaners... ?

Edit: loner -> loaner, Thanks ColinWright!

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ColinWright
Not to be "that guy", but you mean "loaner" as in "something on loan", rather
than "loner", which is "someone that prefers to be alone."

Having just come back from a conference where I was humbled by the other
delegates' ability to speak English, I was hesitating to offer corrections.
However, I was told in no uncertain terms that they wanted to improve, so
provided it didn't interrupt flow, I offered corrections. I hope you feel the
same. I'm also happy to delete this comment once I know you've seen it, thus
helping flow.

~~~
Samuel_Michon
Definately! More folks should loose there inhabitions and speak up. If noone
points out grammer and spelling errors, than how will people ever learn? I
think your a saint, its really grate that you took the time to right this
down. Thanks alot.

Also: <http://theoatmeal.com/comics/misspelling>

~~~
ColinWright
Translation: it doesn't matter how you spell, or how you write, it's the
message that counts, so as long as people can make sense of it, you're OK.
After all, there's no such thing as correct spelling or grammar, so feel free
to do anything you like.

Obvservation: there are people - like myself - who don't read phonetically.
Spelling such as in your (clearly ironic) reply just serve to slow my reading
and make it less likely that I'll care about what you say. If it's your
intention deliberately to alienate a portion of your possible audience, then
by all means use whatever spelling you like.

This will degenerate into the usual pointless debate, so just let me assert
that I'm not a grammar nazi, and I don't claim there is "one true language". I
simply offer the point of view that some spellings will make your writing less
effective for some of your possible audience.

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Samuel_Michon
I was just poking fun, I completely agree with you. I work in publishing:
editing is a major part of my job. My mom is an author, my dad is a literary
agent. Friends used to joke that I was born with a red pencil in in my hand –
that was before I learned not to correct their spelling without being asked to
do so. You can be always right, believing you're very helpful, and end up with
very few friends ;)

~~~
auctiontheory
Friends are are overrated.

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joshnerius
I also purchased one of the new XPS 13 1080p models as a replacement for a 15"
MBP. From everything I had seen about this model, it was one of the first
"Ultrabooks" that approached the MacBook Air in terms of build quality,
pleasing and stylish aesthetics, and of course the 1080p screen.

The first unit they sent had horrible backlight bleed in the upper right and
lower left corners of the screen. Dell's first 'solution' was to offer to send
out a tech to replace the screen. I requested a new laptop, since after all,
it was only about a week old at that point.

I received the 2nd unit, and while there was no backlight bleed in the upper
right or lower left, there was similar bleeding on the lower right and upper
left this time.

I'm truly disappointed at what is otherwise a fantastic piece of hardware. It
seems that Dell was more concerned with getting a 1080p model in their catalog
than ensuring that they could actually build the things successfully.

I'm trying for a 3rd, after which I'll stop trying and go buy an MBA.

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cientifico
Personally I don't buy to this suppliers. They do laptops and hardware in
general by the trial an error method. They release often new and new models.
So many, that probably they don't even know how many models they have. That
means that instead of having good hardware, they have a lot of crappy options.

Actually is more about marketing. They want to have a lot of models, so they
can have more laptops to fit better to the custom specs of each client.

This happens not only in dell, also in asus, hp... If you want to buy in any
of this companies, ensure you buy the most common laptop.

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highace
That's disappointing to hear. I was a few days away from pulling the trigger
on one of these but maybe I'll just lump up for the 13" MBP retina after all.

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benmanns
It might be about time for a chargeback.

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neumino
If you get a new laptop, get a X1 carbon. It's linux-friendly, light and has a
really good keyboard.

~~~
Samuel_Michon
It's also larger and has a lower res display than the notebook OP chose. But
maybe, after his experiences with DELL support, he would be willing to settle
for that.

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auctiontheory
You restrained yourself from pointing out that it's "an" X1 Carbon. Good job.

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cacca
vai fede!! te sei ciapà via mal :)

