BUYER BEWARE: Dell

[Jeff]

My wife has a Dell Inspiron 1150 notebook. She was having problems with her power adapter, so we bought a replacement.


Sunuja_01127289 The adapter that was shipped with the system is 65w.
11:02:10 AM You they are both 65w
11:02:27 AM You the replacement adapter i bought is the same part # as the one that was shipped
11:02:37 AM Sunuja_01127289 Okay.
11:04:16 AM Sunuja_01127289 Jeff, my records show that the notebook requires a 90 watt adapter.The issue could be resolved if you switch to a 90w adapter.However, if that does not resolve the issue, you will have to replace the motherboard.


Turns out that my laptop required a 90watt adapter and now Dell doesn't want to do anything to fix it.

Buyer beware

[Keith75]

I feel for you. Maybe you just need to call back and get another person or a supervisor.

Back in the early 90's when we bought Dells instead of building our own machines I would occasionally call their tech support and their solution to everything was "just format your HD and do a re-install". The funny part was that they would tell you that like it was as easy as flipping a switch.

Keith

[Strongbow]

Hang on!!!

I've just checked and the Dell Inspiron 1150 laptop comes with an "8-cell (65WHr) 'smart' lithium ion battery" that requires a 65W power adapter, it would be HIGHLY DANGEROUS if you connect a 90W adapter to it as the lithium ion battery could explode or it could catch fire!

Spjeff69 , It's time to write a stern letter to someone more senior there. That type of support is seriously not acceptable from any manufacturer.

[Jeff]

Yes, it is quite terrible. Accoriding to Dell.com, the replacement power adapter is a 90 watt adapter.

My father-in-law bought her the laptop for highschool graduation. I will try to work on it tomorrow some. I should post the entire chat conversation here, it is quite funny. It lasted over 2 hours and I got nowhere.

How's that for customer service??

[swhite4784]

lol I work for Unisys witch is an aouthorized DELL warranty repair facility and ive seen it all...and no I would not buy a dell.

[DMMc]

Dell Has ALWAYS had issues in Tech support. Since they moved it to India I do not even want to think about it. It's not that the techs of staff there is unqualified but PLEASE if you are going to be speaking to "Joe American" get someone who can speak and understand American English.

This is now becoming an issue with many companies including some you would never suspect. SBC / AT&T are out sourcing a large portion of their Internet related support and I have to say it is NOT an improvement.

[Dee]

I bought a Dell Dimension - Cost 1,500 approx...a few years ago...did not need a printer or any other bits...had a problem recognising printer...but because I did not buy the printer from them...no support...
several other niggles - then I upgraded os within a few weeks of buying......no support because you altered the system!!!!!
I will NEVER buy DELL again!

[BlackAdder]

Dell is just like most of the OEM's in that if you don't spend a fortune your getting pre packaged junk. :-(
just my opinion

[Dee]

In 2001, £1500 was a fortune....to me at least! :-(

[BlackAdder]

Sorry...didn't mean to offend anyone, my first Packard-Hell was way over 1500 in 97.....

[Dee]

Could it be that you've confused £ with $? There's still quite a difference!!! :lol: $1500 is around £800...whereas £1500 is around $2740!

[Jeff]

Did a little more research and came up with this:

http://www.aqstech.com/1150pj.html

Dell really sucks.

[taters]

Dell sucks :evil:
Not sure about their laptops, but the last couple of their low and mid-range desktops I've seen (the insides) are absolutely horrible. Bad chipset, bad memory config, bad upgradability, evil Intel Extreme Int. video, blah blah blah. Really, unless you buy one of their top-of-the-line XPS', you will get some really crappy hardware.
Not sure about their Tech support but sounds like it's horrid as well. :roll:
I would recommend checking out their forums and a range of other places around the web - someone must have a clue about it.
(that's how I've found out what the 5yr-old eMachines, which was given to me, had inside of it and what it could and could not support)

Edit: Looks like you already found a solution, nevermind >_>

[gamer007]

Heh, surprisingly my friend has a Dell. Never had a problem with it. He did reformat once, but I don't think it was a problem with the computer. He's had it for several years now when 3.4Ghz was top-of-the-line, so I think 2-3 years ago.

I do prefer homemade computers. Get the parts myself, know what brand each part is, etc. Also cheaper. :cool:

[drezha]

My brother has a Dell desktop and isn't that bad.

Admittly I upped it with a GFX card and an extra 40Gb hard drive and I thing he's stuck a 512Mb RAM stick in at some point during it's quite long life (Celeron CPU :shock: )

No problems what so ever and the case design is quite good. All modular etc. :) Hats off to them for that.

[Strongbow]

spjeff69, DELL didn't listen then...

http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=32723