Dell complaints

darbsllim · Graduate Dellhater Joined: 05 Jan 2008 Posts: 64

I just got this computer, the guy tells me it's like 3 months old or something - but when i got it, I noticed the bottom has tonnes of marks, and the windows XP sticker looks like it's 3 years old not 3 months.

Do you guys think you could help me out if I took some pictures?

http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=170186518762&ssPageName=STRK:MEWN:IT&ih=007

thats the laptop I bought

StrangeFarer · Graduate Dellhater Joined: 16 Nov 2005 Posts: 70

Go to the Dell site for transfer of ownership, here:

http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/change_order/tag_transfer?c=us&l=en&s=gen&redirect=1

Move the ownership of the unit over to yourself that way.

Then, log into the support.dell.com site, and register your unit with them. Once you do, you'll be able to see the remaining warranty, as well as what the unit was originally ordered with. You'll know if the guy was lying, as it will also tell you the date of purchase from Dell.

If he's not lying, then you have some options- the first of which is, call in, and tell them that the unit slipped off the desk and skidded across the floor, damaging the bottom plastics. Let them know that you're not sure if there was any more damage than that. Tell them that you have CompleteCare accidental damage coverage on the unit, and that you'd like to exercise it, and have it repaired. They may have you send it in to the Depot for evaluation. Do it. The Depot will look for ALL damage that might have occurred due to a droppage, and they'll fix it all, because they don't want the thing back in their hands due to not finding something the first time- they're only paid for the first trip on an issue- if they screw up, they eat any further repairs out of their own cost centers.

If he IS lying to you, file against him with EBay and Paypal, and they'll handle it from there. He stated IN THE AUCTION that it has CompleteCare AND that it's only a couple of months old, AND that it's the same thing as an XPS unit. That's a lot to state, and to back up. If he's wrong about any of it, they'll grill him.

Good luck!

darbsllim · Graduate Dellhater Joined: 05 Jan 2008 Posts: 64

dude you rock - I'm doing that right now! Very Happy

darbsllim · Graduate Dellhater Joined: 05 Jan 2008 Posts: 64

hmm I need his name and email address - how would I get that from him?

Can I just call Dell up and ask how much warranty is left by giving them the service tag?

StrangeFarer · Graduate Dellhater Joined: 16 Nov 2005 Posts: 70

You don't HAVE to give the email addy. Just punch in the info you have and see if it goes through. If not, then email him and ask him for the info to change ownership.

darbsllim · Graduate Dellhater Joined: 05 Jan 2008 Posts: 64

I submitted the form it says it takes 5 business days - I don't even know if I have the real info I just used whats on his ebay account.

Lol the guy's such a liar though.

He told the truth about it still being under warranty:

CompleteCare, Limited Technical Support & Next Business Day (WANG whatever that means) all have 528 days left on them.

However he did lie about the stupid thing - said he bought it brand new 3 months ago - on the site I did a check on the service tag and it says:

Ship Date: 07/07/2006

If someone wants to go take a look at the original configuration screen for me, it doesn't make sense to me, I'll give you the service tag and show you how I got to see the details.

Service Tag xxxxxx

Go go:

dell.ca > support > Warranty Information

Thanks - theres a ton of info on the original system configuration tab - but I can't make sense of it... I do know that it's a year and a half old though - not 3 months.

StrangeFarer · Graduate Dellhater Joined: 16 Nov 2005 Posts: 70

All right- one great thing is that you're in Canada. They do onsite CompleteCare repairs there, so no shipping off is needed.

Second...the things to check against what's currently in the machine are listed below. If any have changed for the lesser, he needs to explain why:

Quantity Parts # Part Description

1 U9625 PROCESSOR..., 80539, YONAH, T2400, 1.83, C0
Your processor type and speed.

1 N9158 CASE..., CARRYING..., NYLON..., EXTRA LARGE..., V2
The carrying case Dell sent him.

1 HK249 KIT..., SOFTWARE..., OVERPACK..., WXPHSP2C, COMPACT DISKETTE W/DOCUMENTATION..., ENGLAND/ENGLISH...
The Windows XP Home Service Pack 2 CD Dell sent him.

1 UD264 BATTERY..., PRIMARY..., 13.2V, 6C, LITHIUM..., SANYO...
One Dell 6400 battery, already out of warranty.

1 UC823 ASSEMBLY..., DVD+/-RW..., 8X, IDE (INTEGRATED DRIVE ELECTRONICS) ..., NEC CORPORATION..., INSPIRON...
DVD burner drive. +- RW, made by NEC.

1 DF056 LIQUID CRYSTAL DISPLAY..., 15.4WXGA, GLARE WIDE VIEWING ANGLE..., TLF, SAMSUNG...
The LCD type- bottom-end WXGA. Nothing fancy.

1 TC260 HARD DRIVE..., 80G, 9.5, 5.4K, Serial ATA..., FUJITSU..., M60
The hard drive manufacturer and size.

1 TH744 MODULE..., SOFTWARE..., POWERDVD..., 5.7, INSPIRON...
The Dell-branded PowerDVD install CD.

1 FC212 MODULE..., SOFTWARE..., SONIC DIGITAL MEDIA..., MYDVD, LOW ENCRYPTION..., DELL AMERICAS ORGANIZATION..., TRANSACTIONAL LINE OF BUSINESS...
The Dell-branded Sonic Solutions MyDVD install CD.

1 Y5679 MODULE..., SOFTWARE..., Adobe Acrobat..., READER, 6.0
The freebie Acrobat Reader installed- probably no CD.

1 NC293 CARD (CIRCUIT)..., NETWORK..., MINICARD..., 3945ULD, MOW1
1 PF234 MODULE..., CARD (CIRCUIT)..., MINICARD..., 3945ULD, DELL AMERICAS ORGANIZATION...
The Dell wireless 3945 802.11 B/G card.

1 Y5522 DUAL IN-LINE MEMORY MODULE..., 512MB, 533, 64X64, 8K, 200
Looks like possibly a single 512MB DDR memory module in it. Might be two 256MB cards, filling both slots.

1 WF148 CARD (CIRCUIT)..., GRAPHICS..., 256MB, M54, I6400
The video card he ordered with it.

1 CD940 KIT..., SOFTWARE..., WORDPERFECT..., 12, PLUS-TRIAL
1 HD756 MODULE..., SOFTWARE..., WORDPERFECT..., 12, PLUS-TRIAL
And the trial version of Wordperfect 12, because he's a cheap-ass. Go download OpenOffice and uninstall this crap. www.openoffice.org

darbsllim · Graduate Dellhater Joined: 05 Jan 2008 Posts: 64

Well the current configuration according to dxdiag is what he says on the auction.

It's a dual core 2.0 ghz, 256 MB ATi RADEON X1400, 2 gb ram, 120 GB hd

so my guess is that it was either upgraded or it's the wrong service tag on the bottom of the laptop.

darbsllim · Graduate Dellhater Joined: 05 Jan 2008 Posts: 64

Hey so a followup to this thread.

I'm ready to finally get some tech support and go through the hell again.

However, do you think Dell will cover the newer parts, or will they only cover the original parts?

HellResident · Chancellor of Dellhateology Joined: 20 Nov 2005 Posts: 245

It's possible. Or it's also possible he bitched at tech support about his nvidea chips blowiing up and got a replacement. Or a tech pulled the wrong system board out of the parts list when dispatching on another issue. Either way Dell will compare to the original parts list when doing any warranty exchange. Sometimes they'll send a little better of something if they dont have the lessor in stock, for example if they dont have an 80 gig drive they might send a 120 gig as there's no difference in price to them.

I ran into this recently when a REPLACEMENT hard drive....also died ( Dell hard disks are crap!!!!) also died. So over the few months it operated I got used to a 120 gig only to have it replaced with....a 80 gig. Like I said they will always compare tot he original parts listt as much as is possible.

HellResident