What is it about Dell and schools? Last year we had a story (see "Dell Gets a Failing Grade in School") about the failure rate of Dell computers in a high school. Now our recent discussions about useless extended warranties prompted another reader to relate his experience with a Dell intended for use at college.
"My daughter's $2,400 desktop Dell for college was expected to last four years, and was covered by an extra-cost, four-year in-room warranty", the reader wrote. "The PC lasted from September to January of her freshman year before the hard drive failed -- 4.25 months. The drive was warranteed for 12 months by Dell and by Western Digital, but Dell refused to admit the drive was bad despite all the evidence. On top of that, the drive was one of a huge bad run of WD Caviar drives everyone knew about, including me. So I had it in writing Dell would NOT use this drive on the machine!"
"They never came to service her machine, not ever," the reader wrote. "What they did was tell her to re-format the drive and re-load Windows. They told her to do this more than a dozen times, and she did it, all under the SAME incident number -- so they knew. Then she became disgusted and brought the PC home to me. After Dell gave me the format-and-install run-around three times, I threatened suit for fraudulent warranty. Then they sent someone. He installed ... a new Western Digital Caviar drive! It lasted 45 days before a massive failure."
By this time both the reader and his daughter had learned their lesson. "I returned that one to WD under their warranty, put the replacement drive they sent up on eBay, and bought a better drive for the Dell. Not much point to that -- daughter would never touch it again. She went through Kenyon using the desktops they provided in the dorms. Maybe I've been lucky, but in 70 years I've never dealt with a worse company than Dell."
What worthless warranty stories do you have to tell? Post your comments on my website, phone the Gripe Line voice mail at 1 888 875-7916, or write me at Foster@gripe2ed.com.
Read and post comments about this story here.
This whitepaper explains the terminology and concepts behind Data Replication technologies and establishes some sizing rules through worked examples. Learn the new paradigm in disaster tolerance—protect data anywhere.
Download now »
Server virtualization is a popular option for dealing with mounting datacenter costs. Another equally promising approach is the use of an Application Delivery Controller. Citrix NetScaler provides a low-cost way for organizations to reduce their server count and accrue cost savings from a reduction in space, cooling, power and personnel.
Download now »
The emergence of WLANs has created a new breed of security threats to enterprise networks.
Included in HP ProCurve WLAN solutions is security technology that alleviates threats from WLANs through:
* Monitoring wireless activity inside and out of the enterprise
* Classifying WLAN transmissions into harmful and harmless
* Preventing transmissions that pose a security threat to the enterprise network
* Locating participating devices for physical remediation
Effectively address data protection challenges, implementing solutions that help store and protect business–critical data while cutting costs and improving efficiency and reliability.
Download now »
Sign up to receive Business Resource Alerts
Recommend This
