Never Dell

Dell is considered to be a very good brand, offering an excellent customer service and high-quality products. Believe me, it is a bullshit, and everyone who says to me that Dell is a good and reliable brand will make me angry.

Now I am going to tell a story full of despair and dissapointment. I purchased a small netbook via Dell webpage in order to save few bucks. That proved to be an ominious mistake, because it would have been fairily easier to bring it back to a shop as to apply my warranty directly at Dell.

I was looking forward to getting my new laptop as a small child, but the very first moments carried away all my initial joy. I realized that something was wrong. My laptop could not be turned off, and it was unbelievably slow. I could not understand how it is possible since I did not install any programs on it and a fresh version of Windows was suppsoed to work smoothly. I understande that having just 1GB of RAM is significantly less as having 2GB which I have on my desktop, so I should not expect any wonders from that. Yet, as I found out later, the whole Windows was completely screwed up. It booted 3 GB of RAM on the HDD by having opened only Internet Explorer and MC Affee Antivirus, running in background. I tried to fix it up by restoring windows to earlier points or to factory settings, but those attempts were fruitless. Another problem was that due to shut down failure, I could not update Windows and install several programs . Later I got too many system failure notices and I felt like my Windows had been istalled for 2 yeras, instead of two days. Nevertheless, I decided not to think about it anymore because I had other things to do regarding my trip around Canada. Just in case I saved my instalation Windows CD on my SD card and packed my laptop for the journey. Two days later I experienced a great difficulty to do anything on my netbook, the whole Windows was so slow that even such a patient person as I am could not stand for it. I said enough, it is time to reinstall the whole Windows. I put the SD card, started reinstall and since I had done this many times before, I didn’t expect any problems. After I deleted the old Windows version, one problem or another started to cropp out. Some important installation files were missing and I became very aware if I would be able to start the Windows. Firstly it looked like Windows worked normally. I was even able to turn the laptop off, yet never turn it on again.

After I turned on my Dell, Windows started booting, but the screen went blank and there was no remedy for that. I tried to turn it on in safe mode - it froze by a missing file. Even after I suceeded in getting to advanced Dell settings and tried to start Dell Windows Restore, it did not work at all. I cannot understand why they make a secret partition with a backup instalation for Windows on it when it does not work at all!

So I ended up with a non-working laptop that I bought especially for my trip around Canada. I wade through the whole userguide and help center on Dell s webpage but there was no solution for my problem. I could not ask for further technician assistence, because my limited warranty does not cover it. No chance to ask for a piece of advice, no chance to call directly to Dell. I wrote to many internet forums, but the only answers I got were rudimentary questions and nobody was able to even think of a possible solution. My only hope was to go to Toronto, where the headquarters for Dell is situated. The address written on their webgape is to be used if someone wants to apply their warranty and send their product for repair. I had to reschedule my whole trip in order to get there. I hoped that they would be able to help me. I came there on Saturday, I knew that there would be nobody there, but I just wanted to find it and be sure that I can get there on Monday withoug any problems. The building is in an industrial district at the outskirt of the town; it took a while to get there. I came to a reception guy and explained my problem. He looked compassioned but he could not help me much - there was nobody in the building whom he could call.

Later I was brooding over my problem and it seemed to be easier to have it repaired in Futureshop, even if I had to pay 100 bucks for it. I was supposed gone to Halifax on Sunday, but If I wanted to go to Dell on Monday, the next train to catch wasn t untill Wednesday. Suck it up, I sad and went to Futureshop. A guy at the corner assured me that for that price they would restore my Windows and istall all necessary drivers, so literally, my laptop would be like a new one. It is an irony that I always repair and maintain my friends computers for free and now I was about to caugh up 100 buck for it, but whatever, I desparately needed to have it repaired. When I came there on Monday, I was said that the laptop cannot be repaired, the hardware does not support their Windows versions and they do not have the right one. You can barely imagine how pissed off I was. I got a refund and decided to postpone my trip once again, get to Dell and finally work it out. Unfortunately, after I came to Dell, I realized that Dell owns just three floors from that tremendous building having that glamorous Dell sign on it. In fact, they do not solve anything in Canada, they have just some administrative offices and send everything back to their factory in the USA. I am just asking, why the hell they did not write on their webpage that warranty is not applicabble in person, or did not at least mention that they do not repair anything there. Dell has a huge building in Slovakia and they can solve everything there - how is it possible that in such a big and rich country as Canada is they do not have anyone to repair? I desparately asked at their frontdesk if there is anoyne who might be able to help me. "try to call our customer support", a lady at the frondesk said. I tried that several times, spent a fortune on those calls but in fact, I could not reach any representative even in 15 minutes. So - no help on call, no help online their customer service guideline that they are so flattering with did not help me at all, I could not reach any help even in their main center, so I am asking, what kind of customer service this shitty company offers? I am not talking scathingly because I am mad - this is something completely inexplicable for me. I could not get so poor service in Slovakia, and here in Canada I felt as if I were dealing with an amateur, developing shifless company. I deplored buying this netbook so much - why was I so snotty and bought a fancy brand if a no-name brand laptop could have worked much better? I had never been so much dissapinted by buying a product before. I had wasted my time and money by staing in Toronto for nothing. Therefore I want to warn everyone - be carefull by buying a something from Dell - it might not reach your expectations.