Dell Computers and Customer Service

Wow, has it really been 18 days since I last posted?? Scary! Well, today's topic should shed a little light on why I have been gone so long.

I become a Dell customer one year and five months ago when I purchased an Inspiron 300m notebook from them. Being so happy with my purchase, I then I bought a printer. Still happy, I referred my mom to Dell. She bought a Desktop. I bought her a printer. I referred lots of people to Dell, some of whom actually purchased Dell products.

Then one day back in July 2004, I saw this little smiley face that was beginning to be burned into my LCD. I searched the Dell Community Forums and saw that many others had the problem. Being that it was a known problem and I was still under warranty, Dell happily and somewhat quickly replaced the LCD and gave me a free bluetooth card for my trouble. I was saying hoooooooray for Dell! So I bought I bought a Dell Axim x30 Pocket PC. And for a time, life was good.

That's right, I said for a time. I (perhaps stupidly) let my warranty run out after 1 year. Five months later(2/26 to be exact), I noticed that while my notebook was plugged in and on it was running on batter power. I figured the adapter came unplugged or loose or the outlet went dead. Not the case. So I contacted Tech Support. I did some more tinkering (flashed the BIOS, removed the battery, etc.). Nothing worked. So I bought a new A/C Adapter. It came (after a brouhaha over shipping) after 5 days of having no power to my computer. I very excitedly plugged it in and viola! NOTHING. The shipping brouhaha did result in my getting a nice $50 concession coupon for my next purchase. How nice.

So, I contacted Tech Support who said that my motherboard needs to replaced and I need to call two numbers to get that set up and since I am out of warranty, I would have to pay before I sent it in. So I called Out of Warranty Service. They very cheerily told me that the cost to replace the motherboard was $699 plus tax. I said no no, Tina is not going to pay that amount of money for that. I searched the Dell Community Forums again and found that a good number of Dell notebook owners had the same exact problem. I thought to myself "Dell wants me to pay $699 to replace an unreliable product???" I DON'T THINK SO.

I contacted Customer Care (they don't really care) and the first rep I spoke to actually advised me to buy another cheaper dinky notebook (worth less than the cost of the new motherboard) and sell my old piece of junk on eBay. Ummmm no. Then he offered me a $50 rebate on the repair or a $100 coupon. Ummm no. His supervisor offered me $75 towards the repair. Still, no. I contacted Tech support, who could offer me no better.

I contacted Customer Care again. This time I got offered a $100 rebate on the repair. Aha! Now we are moving up in the world, but still, NO. I wanted a free repair or the option to purchase an extended warranty that could be made retroactive to cover this repair. All they kept saying is "no, sorry, you are out of warranty".

What does all this mean? You get what you pay for with Dell. Cheap prices, cheap product. Many companies nowadays make a good chuck of their profits off the sale of warranties, so it really isn't too bad a deal for Dell. I would say don't buy a Dell if you are not willing to purchase an extended warranty. But if you are going to go ahead and shell out more cash, why not go for a studier, more reliable product? I am currently looking into either a Sony Vaio or a Mac PowerBook. I will most likely go with the Vaio, but who knows.

I will be sure to let you know what I get and give it a review. In the mean time, I will post a review (finally) of Places Left Unfinished at the Time of Creation. Next on the reading list is either Sister Helen Prejean's Death of Innocents or The Rising from the Left Behind series. But I digress, it is time for the bottom line.

Bottom Line: Don't buy Dell, I NO LONGER recommend them, I own a dead Dell.

"The Da Vinci Code" by Dan Brown

Ok, so it took a little longer than promised to get this book review up, but, after a brief delay, it is here. Expect to wait a bit longer for a review of Places Left Unfinished at the Time of Creation by John Phillip Santos as I am still not done with that.

So, The Da Vinci Code. It has been a bestseller for something ridiculous like 95 weeks. It has got it fair share of rave reviews and stark criticism. The book has also sparked a bit of controversy. Currently, everyone's favorite Opie, Ron Howard is getting set to make a movie based on the book. Right now Tom Hanks is slated to play the lead. So what the heck is all the hubbub about?

But first, the good ole synopsis. This time around, I am just going to steal (gasp!) what was put on the book jacket. No copyright infringement intended, blah blah blah. "While in Paris on business, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon receives an urgent late-night phone call: the elderly curator of the Louvre has been murdered inside the museum. Near the body, police have found a baffling cipher. While working to solve the enigmatic riddle, Langdon is stunned to discover it leads to a trail of clues hidden in the works of Da Vinci -- clues visible for all to see -- yet ingeniously disguised by the painter. Langdon joins forces with a gifted French cryptologist, Sophie Neveu, and learns the late curator was involved in the Priory of Sion -- an actual secret society whose members included Sir Isaac Newton, Botticelli, Victor Hugo, and Da Vinci, among others. In a breathless race through Paris, London, and beyond, Langdon and Neveu match wits with a faceless powerbroker who seems to anticipate their every move. Unless Langdon and Neveu can decipher the labyrinthine puzzle in time, the Priory's ancient secret -- and an explosive historical truth -- will be lost forever."

Whew. That was rough. You got all that? Good. So at first I was a bit intimidated by the advance praise ... "This is pure genius" said Nelson DeMille (no, I don't know who he is). That little snippet and words like "intellectual" and "intricate" seemed to suggest that this book is one of those that the less brainy would not get. Further adding to the smarts of the book was a big ole FACT section right at the beginning of the book. Apparently Opus Dei and the Priory of Sion are real (nope, never heard of either till I read the book -- you can google them like I did, convenient search bar located above) and the description of art, architecture, secret rituals and documents are accurate. Either I am brainier than I thought or that was a silly suggestion. The book was an easy read (well, except for the bits of French) and was even divided up into chapters suitable for the reader with ADD (not that those with ADD are not brainy).

So all that being said, I repeat, what's with all the hubbub, bub? Well, it is a good book! Like I said before, the best books are the one that make you keep reading till the end. I was more anxious to reach that last page with this one than I was with The Secret Life of Bees ... and that's saying something. The book is fast paced, full of action and best of all piques curiosity. There's a bit about Da Vinci's The Last Supper that made me pause and look up some images of it on the web. The "secrets" and information that Brown revealed to the reader is enough to make him or her do a little extra research and find out more.

Now, I mentioned before that the book has sparked some controversy (once again, a simply google query will satisfy your curiosity). Two things have stood out. First, a lot of people have taken this work of fiction of absolute truth. These people have cited Brown saying as much on a talk show of some sort. Second, Catholics are none to pleased about the portrayal of Catholics (especially Opus Dei) in the book. Do I have something to say about this? You betcha! 1) Either Dan Brown is naive enough to believe that it is absolute truth OR he is cunning enough to know that saying it is truth will spark interest in his book ... and thus more sales. Hmmmmm. 2) Ok, so Opus Dei and the Vatican don't look so hot. We Catholics ought to be used to harsh portrayals and criticism by now. I don't think we should take it so personally. It is just entertainment for goodness sakes. If it is not true, then it is not true. Let it go. At least people are reading.

Anyway, on to the last words ...

Last Words: It is a good read, I recommend it, a copy sits in my modest library!