Dell Notebook Update

[John Weber]

Well I can’t say I’m thrilled, but after about an hour this morning Dell agreed to send an external wireless card. If returning the system was not such a pain I likely should have done that. They basically said I was wrong to the end and now was getting something for free that I should have paid. They also said they were going to give a $100 credit on my CC for my problem (I’ll need to see if that shows up). They said it would be a couple days until the card shipped. So in the end I guess they stood by their product fairly well. The last lady I spoke with was friendly, but stood here ground. I don’t think I’ll buy another Dell, but time will tell, and I hope I never need to use the 3-year on-site service, it seems like it might be impossible to get someone to actually come and work on the computer.

As for the wireless card, I initially wanted built in wireless. Dell seems to offer this either built in or via a mini PCI card; however they are sending an external card. So is there any performance difference between an internal card and external card? I assume an external card might work better, however I really don’t like that card sticking out the side. The old Lucent card I borrowed to use only has a weak single downstairs. I'm hoping it's just the old card, and my single strength will be better. By router can also support 802.11g wireless, so I guess I might consider an upgrade down the road, although even at less then 11MPS the cards seems plenty fast for surfing, etc... Thanks for everyone’s help; it’s really nice to go up against a company with confidence that your friends advised you with.

Thanks - John

P.S. I have some home networking file/print sharing questions I ask later...

[Ed Falis]

John,

I'm not a networking guru, but I wouldn't expect to see too much difference in speed between a builtin and a plugin. The only downside is that you lose one of your PC Card slots, but I haven't found much use for these lately given all the things that get built into the machines. I think the $110 credit means you got out ahead.

- Ed

[Glenn Clabo]

John,
Believe me...you done good. They have not budged on any of our complaints lately. I would say my name is in a database somewhere...but it's not just me who has complained. Hopefully yours will work for a long time and you won't have to deal with them again.

The card works fine. We haven't found a loss of signal throughout the house. It does take up a slot...and sticks out just a little.

Good luck....

[Jim Becker]

Ah, yes...Dell is making me "unhappy" now, too. Just before you ordered your notebook, I ordered a new machine so I could give this one to my Dad. The one I bought him over four years ago is on its last legs and needs to go to that great bit-bucket in the sky.:rolleyes:

What's cranking me off is that my order is held up from shipping because the particular display (a refurb) I ordered is currently unavailable and they cannot, for some reason, ship everything else independently. When I called yesterday (after bouncing around to multiple folks before getting to the supposedly correct department) the young lady informed me that the only way they could split the order was to cancel it and reorder the system and the display separately...which would both extend the time even longer than the currently projected ship date as well as screw up the deal I got on the configuration ordered. Supposedly, since I ordered via the web site, no human can just change the order. Heck I'd even be willing to pay the difference between the refurb display and the "new" one, but they can't even make that change without cancelling the whole schmeggegie. Sheesh! :mad::mad::mad:

Nobody else seems to have the particular combination I want either, or I'd tell Dell where to go and buy elsewhere...what a way to run a business! I used to be a happy customer who recommended them. Maybe that's a thing of the past now.

So I wait and keep answering the notification emails with a "do not cancel" instruction...

[John Weber]

Jim,

I feel your pain. Although I did receive the internal wireless card today - shipped much faster then the computer. I still haven't seen the credit though. I really didn't get any assistance until I started talking about a return. They lady that helped me (although she didn't agree with me) was Sue Runyon. She seemed to be able to make decisions and get things done. You might try to call and ask for her. I got her after the first level customer service could not help me and I asked about returning the system.

Good Luck - John

[John Miliunas]

John, like you mention, I hope you don't *need* to use the on-site service. Unless they (Dell) have some local presense in your area, the ones doing the on-site service are contracted out by Dell. In other words, some local PC repair outfit has a contract with Dell to do their on-sites. We have found that the response time usually isn't too bad, but the level of expertise can and does vary. :cool: