I purchesed a Dell 9200 Inspiron on March 6th. I received it about a week later and the computer would not play the game I bought it for. I had tested the game on computers slower and faster and on other Dell's before I bought it and it played without trouble on them.
I am a rodeo minister and the two things I need this computer for is to play this bullriding game and to run my Bible Study program. It will only run parts of the Bible study program and it does that sporadically. I will not run the bullriding game at all. I contacted Dell the same day I received my computer and they told me it was a problem with my game. Fair enough, so I called the game manufactur.
They told me that if it played on every computer I have tried without problem then it should play on my Dell. So it must be something with my Dell. Just to make sure it wasn't the game I bought I new game to make sure mine wasn't scratched or something.
The same thing happened it still wouldn't load. So I went to our local computer store that sells used computers. They had one 9200 and several other Dell notebooks. We tried both games on all the computers and guess what, the game played without a problem. On a 9200 almost identical to mine the game loaded and played.
So I called Dell back and asked why that is, their tech support told me that they are only trained in hardware issues and I would need to contact their help desk. So I called the help desk and they told me that I needed to buy software support from them and their software techs would be able to resolve my issue and allow me to play my game.
So I payed $49.95 for 72 hours of Software Tech support to resolve my issue. After being on hold for over 30 minutes, and this was about the 6th time I have been on hold for over 30 minutes since I bought my computer, a tech got on the line and had me explain what was going on. Feeling relieved that I was finally going to get my issued resolved, the tech thought for about 10 seconds and told me that there was a problem with my game and I needed to contact the game manufacture to resolve the problem. And then asked if there was anything else they could help me with.
I was so mad, I demanded my money back. She transfered me to the Customer Care, which during the process I was cut off and had to call back and was on hold for only 15 minutes this time. So I talked to the customer care person and they told me that I was helped and I couldn't have my money back. I must admit I got mad and yelled, then she put me on with someone else. And then about 2 days later a friendly gentleman, and I believe the first American or at least the first person that didn't have a thick middle east accent talked to me.
He was from Tech Support and asked what was going on. I told him and he gave me my money back. His name was Kevin and if he reads this, thank you. He also explained my computer situation to me like this. Just like some cars are lemons, there are computers like that too. Problems arise that seem to be unfixable and he suggested I call Dell and tell them that I am sending my computer back and either send me a new one or give me my money back. That night I thought I would give the Chat Support over the internet one last try. I talked to some guy in India, I know that because he told me that is where he was at, and he told me to run my restoration CD. I told him I didn't have one, so he said he would mail me one.
I finally got it in the mail and it was for Windows XP Pro, not Home Edition so it wouldn't work. It would be a good time to mention that Dell failed to send me anything but a receipt and my computer, no warranty papers, no CD's, no nothing.
So I got on chat support again and another guy from India, again he told me, and he showed me how to burn a CD from my computer that will work as a restoration CD. I did that and now my computer has the recycle bin, that is it. I click on programs and it is empty, no sloitaire, no nothing. I click on My Computer and the C-Drive and it is empty.in fact the hardware to run my CD/DVD is gone. So yes I try and put a CD or DVD in and the computer can't run it. No more watching movies, no more music, I can't even load a program on to get on the internet, nor can I load the hardware to make my CD-DVD program work. I called Dell and demanded that my computer be replaced or my money given back, they told me it was after my 21 day period.
I was so mad, for three months I have been on the phone or on chat support at least 3 times a week trying to fix my computer and they tell me sorry! Again I learned that if you yell they will put you on with a manager.
So the last 2 days I have been on the phone for over 8 hours being transered, cut-off, and on hold between the Customer Care and the Tech-Support. Last night they had me run an hour long test on my hardware that came up negative, so the tech support guy told me that he would call me back after I tried to reboot windows. He never called me back and it still doesn't work.
To back track just a minute, before I ran the hardware scan, I talked to a manager and he told me very clearly 5 times, because I made him repeat it, that if this didn't fix my computer and if my game didn't play that he would exchange my computer. After the hardware scan came up negative, he renigged and said "Sorry, there is nothing more we can do to help you."
So now I have a $1,659.00 computer that wont do anything but keep a door open in the summer breeze. And it is crashed because of what they told me to do. It isn't even in the same broke condition as when I received it, it is worse and because they couldn't resolve my issue in 21 days I am stuck with it.
Duke
Cheyenne, Wyoming
U.S.A.
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