I hate Dell
 

I am on the phone right now with Dell tech support for the third time in two weeks trying to get to resolve a technical issue . I have already wasted a combined total of 5 hours talking to them and still there is no resolution. They just keep robotically repeating the same steps every single time I call back, even though we have already gone through all of them on the previous call.


The worst part is that one of the main reasons why I bought a Latitude was because Dell advertisers US-based supported for Latitude laptops . Today alone I've spent a total of 1.5 hours bouncing between India and US. Indians just keep going over the basic steps of reinstalling windows, that doesn't work, they transfer me to US. US says that my computer (Dell Latitude D620) is supported by India. I already spoke to supervisors in both departments and they just keep transferring me. I am ready to scream.


Are there any laptop manufacturers which still offer reliable, US-based support?

Too bad IHateDell.com and DellSucks.com are taken - I am ready to start a site.

What's your issue and what have you tried so far?

The computer locks up. At boot, the only thing it shows is "Resuming Windows..." - and that's it - doesn't go any further.

Already tried running Windows repair, completely re-installing Windows, running hardware diagnostics, booting into Safe Mode (didn't boot) .

After a little more then 2 hours on the phone today, I finally got someone who agreed that it wasn't likely to be a software issue and will dispatch a technician to take a look at the laptop.

Hopefully the technician actually fixes it. I can't believe it took 5.5 hours on the phone to get to this point.

FYI, I've a Dell D610, and have stopped using resume windows. I ether shut down fully or use stand-by. The reason, I installed a 160GB disk at the start of the year, got everything moved over and running, and a resume operation trashed the boot sector somehow a few days later. Luckely I still had the old 100GB disk in a caddy ready to go.

Personally I'm not happy with the resume function on my Dell D610 at the moment.

Aidan

I have a Dell D620 and I'm happy with it. My company has only Dell (Laptops and Desktops) and usually no worries. All laptops are bought with 3year next day support. Problems can occur with any system and caused by whatever, but if it's clear that it has soemthing to do with Hardware I have a technician coming from Dell the next day who fixes the stuff. Even if it's out of warranty for reasonable prices.

As far as I know you can have bad service or good service with any brand! So far my experience with Dell is positive.
Just my 0.02$
W

PS: I only use Hibernating and once a week or after a software/patch installation the Shut down. Works flawless.

I've had much better success with Dell tech support via email.

-David

Sounds like a corrupt hibernation file. Try and boot the machine with the install CD/DVD and open the recovery console. On your C drive you'll find the hibernation file called hiberfil.sys, just delete it.

Then make sure you turn off hibernation and pick normal sleep mode instead. (uncheck enable hibernation in the power settings).

Five years ago I had a Dell laptop that kept freezing on me. It took 18 months of repeated useless calls to "tech support" before they acknowledged that the problem was a bad hard drive. The experience drove me away from Dell completely and my family now owns five Macs. I can't believe that after all this time Dell still operates this way. No wonder the company has been languishing lately. Reminds me of a sign I saw at a store once- "The pain of poor quality lasts far longer than the pleasure of low prices".

Could be an issue with anti-virus software. My dad's got a Dell desktop, and he was never able to use the hibernate/standby functions until he uninstalled Norton.

Me, I just chose the least-invasive AV package Dell's got (PC-cillin), and then uninstalled it in favor of AVG.

I have a inspiron 600m laptop with xpPro and had similar problems. Got rid of Norton and my problems disappeared. Using ZoneAlarm now.

Zone Alarm has been known to cause problems too. Just not as many, or as bad, as Norton does.

That was it! Thank you very much!
I removed the file and the computer is booting up normally!

I can't help but wonder why no one at Dell was able to suggest this solution.

Because it isn't in their scripts.

When you take the creativity and thinking out of support you'll only ever help 25% of your customers. But that doesn't seem to bother Dell.

Because people who are smart enough to solve problems like this are almost always smart enough to get a higher paying job than telephone support.

Dell just amazes me. The technician they promised to send never showed up.

Nearly all of Apple's support is US-based. If you call during 7 AM-10 PM Central you will most certainly reach a US-based agent. During other times you're likely to reach an agent in Europe, probably from the Ireland campus. They're still on-site at Apple, either as contractors or as Apple employees.

Apple dabbled with a campus in India for a while but ultimately decided against it. Too bad. From what my colleagues who had been going over to train the agents said, Apple was actually launching the campus in a pretty smart way and selecting cream of the crop agents who were getting really thorough training. I was excited to see an offshore model developed with forethought that actually worked. oh well.

For the most part Apple doesn't use scripts and strives to resolve issues in one call. All calls are tracked, and notes are kept documenting each call using a template that agents fill out. Hold times are zero to minimal, and repeatedly consumer ratings groups like Consumer Reports and others have found that Apple usually identifies the problem and resolves the issue successfully.

I just googled "resuming windows lockup" (without the quotes) and the #1 result has your answer about deleting hiberfil.sys (but you have to click "next" to find it).

reinstalling windows
 

I had 3 Lattitudes in a row which always died from CPU overheat (with secondary damage to the graphics engine and the motherboard).
Dell did the same thing to me, especially when calling abroad, their foreign call centres always insisted on wiping Windows.
Of couse after the first chip being roasted, I knew the source and just wanted to a new CPU asap when it happened maybe 3-4 times a year.
The lesson learnt: upon each incident call, have the first agent give you all the instructions such as wiping Windows, delete all your files, recharge the batteries 75 times etc.
Then hang up, call again and claim to have done "all in your power".
With my Dells, I went through 17 new cores, 5 motherboards, and 2 graphics cards without ever touching Windows again in 5 years.
For two years now I use Inspirons and am very happy with them :eek:.
Dell is like UA, it is a call-and-call-over-and-over-again company.

Among my many duties at work, I also purchase most of our computers, and I always purchase from Dell. In my experience with their tech support operation (which is, luckily, infrequent) I have not been routed to India except maybe once.

The key to getting the better, USA-based support is to purchase through the business section, which I'm guessing most of you do. Second, Dell's menu of support options changes frequently (e.g., US-based support for Latitudes is an option). When I have opted for the higher end support, I have always gotten better than average support.

As for the quality of products, their optiplex desktops are rock solid. Laptops can be hit or miss. However, this has also been my experience with IBM (Lenovo) and Toshiba laptops. Like it or not, laptops are a compromise product that simply do not and probably cannot match the reliability that can be achieved with desktops.

Finally, I agree with those here who have given a thumbs-up to Apple laptops. Apple laptops are easier to deal with and support if you largely on your own, or if you have no pull with Dell.

Last, but not least -- never hibernate. Hibernate is a total joke. Leave it on or shut it down. Worse yet, most laptops come preconfigured to hibernate. Turn this setting off as soon as possible after getting the machine.

dmjaffe---bought a D620 for daughter a few years ago via a college/Dell site. It was 300.00 cheaper and came with "premium" support. Had an issue configuring wifi early on, and spent/wasted an hour with India tech support before they accidentally disconnected me. Called back, tried the "premium" option on their phone and got a US guy who fixed problem in, no kidding, 30 seconds.
Regarding US based support, I think HP has US support. I have recently bought 2 of these and called once on each one for something and got someone from California, I think. Definately not India.

yeah, i've always had good luck with dell tech support and that is the primary reason i've stayed a customer. glad it worked out for you...

Either that or they put those guys on the XPS phone system.
So far I love my dell, mainly due to some major coupon stackage on an Ubuntu system I'm now dual-booting with XP media center. Dell hardware will auto-authenticate seemingly any type of XP you put on it, no matter from where you get it, which was what I needed having lost my original XP discs.