The Dell Body Count...

If Dell is listening...

As I have mentioned in my blog, I am an early adopter. MANY people talk to me and ask me for technical advice.

So...
Here begins the Dell Body Count.
I will create a new entry from time to time that lists
How Many People I Have Convinced to NOT BUY A Dell Computer.
If you are reading this blog, and have also decided not to buy a Dell, please let me know in the comments for one of these "Body Count" entries on my blog. I will add you to the total count. Thanks.

To Date:
Five of my Co-Workers will not be buying any Dell Computer, because of my experiences. One ended up buying an MSI Wind.
Two of my personal acquaintances (non-work) have decided to go HP for their holiday Laptop purchases.
Three online friends have also chosen to go with other manufacturers for their netbook purchases.

---

Current Dell Body Count:
10

---

What could this mean to Dell?
Based on how I was personally treated by the Dell company, ten potential customers have now decided to buy from other manufacturers.

If they were planning on buying the same configuration of the Mini I purchased, this could mean:

$530 * 10 = $5300 in lost sales

If they intended to buy a full desktop or a standard sized Laptop, this could mean:

$1400 * 10 = $14000 in lost sales

Do you Twitter?

For those of you that Twitter: I am now starting to Twitter to users out there that are thinking about the Dell Mini. [My Twitter account is: creativecraig]

I have to, based on my personal experiences, recommend the other manufacturers of mini computers (HP, ASUS, etc.), and not recommend Dell.

Since I don't have a working Dell Mini 9, I have a bit of free time to at least talk about my Dell experiences, to other potential Dell customers.

Dell Mini 9 - Failed after 10 days of Use.
First Attempt at repair through Dell - Failed.
Second Attempt at repair through Dell - Failed.
Order for a replacement Dell Mini - Failed (October 27 - December 1, then cancelled by DELL and re-ordered by Dell)
Second Order for a replacement Dell Mini - Failed... so far? (December 2 - TODAY!)

ASUS or HP... Need a real customer of Dell to be in a commercial?

Any manufacturer out there that wants to have a real live customer of DELL be in a commercial about their experiences? Give me a call.

I have ALL SORTS of INFO to share. (See below) :)

Dell Shipped me my Mini on December 9th and I received it on the 10th!...

... is what I would say, if it were true, but Dell is incapable of anything.

So, for all of you keeping track at home, I ordered my Dell Mini on SEPTEMBER 10th, and it stopped working after approximately 10 days.
I could not get it repaired, even though I sent it in, TWICE.

It is now DECEMBER 10th and I STILL DO NOT HAVE A WORKING DELL MINI.

WooHoo!

You know the funny thing is that by the time they return me my laptop (IF EVER!), I will actually need to give them a new mailing address. I knew that I was moving by the end of December, but NEVER in my wildest musings thought that it would take ANY company this long to either fix or replace a laptop.

I even tried to get my money back, but DELL would not do that either!

Maybe someone from Dell read this blog!

Well, I just noticed today that Dell CANCELLED my order that was perpetually stuck in production (that was ordered October 27, 2008). They then re-created the order today (December 2, 2008) with the same specs.
** I'm not sure I like that I now move to the back of the line, but at this point, as I have said before... "I have no confidence that Dell will ever send me my laptop!"

Anyway, the new order says that it should ship on December 9, and I should have it in my hands on December 10th. Yeah RIGHT!!

I'll work out a betting grid and the odds later, so everyone can place their bets on when they think I'll actually get my laptop...

My expectations from a PC Manufacturer and an Open Letter to Dell

To whom it may concern:

I am a buyer of new technologies.
I talk to my friends about the new items I buy, and I am an early adopter.
I am your customer.

I only ask for a few things:
QUALITY
I expect a product that does what it claims. If the product does not live up to its claim, I expect it to be repaired or some solution/remedy found. I am your voice to other early adopters.

RESPECT
I expect to be treated properly and have my concerns addressed, when I call for support, assistance, or guidance. I do not wish to be treated as if I am inconveniencing your staff. I am your customer.

RESOLUTION
If I cannot get resolution to an issue, I expect to be given a suggestion of a next step. There is always something that can be done. If you cannot do anything, you will only lose a customer. I am your bottom line.

If you can do these three things, I will be your customer. If you fail one of these, I am forgiving... to a point.

______________________


Dear DELL(DELL.COM):
I have given you many chances to provide me with a working Mini 9 computer. You continue to delay, so now I no longer trust in your ability to ship me a working computer.

Because of this loss of trust, I have requested a refund of the original purchase price, to be told that it is not possible. I fully intend to return the non-working machine, but that is not sufficient. It IS possible for a company of your size to give a refund to a customer, but you have chosen not to provide that courtesy.

At this point, I, your customer, have been left out in the cold. I have no one that I can call for assistance. I have spoken to every possible person within your company that I could reach. I even asked if there was anyone else that I could talk to, and was told that there was no one else.

I was not provided technical support and each time my computer was returned to you for repair, it was returned to me in the exact same condition: NON-WORKING.

I was not provided customer support, but was made to feel that I was inconveniencing your staff. Support means that you help. I was not offered any help for my situation, only more delays.

To this point, I have not been given any satisfactory solution to my problem, and continue to wait for a computer that will evidently never come.

Your new customers are getting their machines faster than me. Placing a Dell Mini 9 in a shopping cart on your site shows that it will ship in 2-3 weeks. I have been waiting for over a month (10/27 - 12/2).

I now basically have been told by your company that I have no choice in the matter. I HAVE to be your customer, because I didn't ask for my refund before 21 days were up. I now have to sit back and wait for my machine, and just keep it, knowing that if it ever has another issue, I will have to go through this process AGAIN.

Thank you for forcing me to participate in the charade you call support. I appreciate that you stand behind your product so well, that no matter what a customer thinks of it, they are stuck with it... No alternative.

No recourse...

Remember:
I am your voice to other early adopters.
I am your customer.
I am your bottom line.

Well, at least I was your customer.

--Craig Collinson

Perhaps Dell Finance can help me out when no other division of this crappy company can!

Nope!
I got customer support to transfer me over to the Dell Finance division, and got a live person.

I walk them through the whole thing, and then see if there is a way to return the laptop through them, in a sense "disputing this transaction" because I do not have a working product and the manufacturer is not providing a satisfactory solution. Nope. It's Dell. They are one big happy family, and can't piss of their siblings!

So, here is the situation:
I ordered a Dell Inspiron Mini 9 on September 10, 2008.
It worked for about 2 weeks, and then would no longer boot.
Now, It's December 1, and I still have no laptop.
Dell will not provide me any satisfactory solution.
I am at a loss.

I have four co-workers that were thinking of buying Dell Mini Laptops.
One has since bought an MSI Wind, because of my experience with Dell.
Another is looking seriously at the HP Mini.
The last two are unsure what they will buy, but will not be buying a DELL Mini 9 or any Dell laptop.

So, if you come across this post and are researching a Dell Inspirion Mini 9, or any of the broad range of Dell laptops at Dell.com here is my suggestion:

When you buy a laptop, you also are buying the customer service, the technical support and the the people behind the product. From my experience, you would be better served by another company.

-Craig Collinson

I will never buy from DELL EVER AGAIN!!!

Ok. If any of you have followed along for this long. Cheer's to you. I just hope you haven't purchased a non-working DELL Mini 9, like me. This saga continues...

Ok, today I decided to call Dell. I gave them many chances to ship my Inspiron Mini to me, and they have failed miserably. I simply called Dell Customer support and asked that I be shipped a box to return the non-working Dell Mini 9 I have, to have them cancel the existing order for the Replacement (that appears like it will never ship), and have asked for a refund.

You know what they said? No. You had to return it within 21 days. Well, technically, you had my laptop at that time. Nope. Not good enough for them.

"Anything I can do", I asked? Wait 2-3 days. AAAAAAGH! You have to be sh**ing me!

I have no confidence in DELL as a company!
I will never buy another DELL Product!

I continued to talk to the customer support person and even asked to speak to her manager. "Sure, but they have to follow the same guidelines, so we cannot give you a refund."

Put them on anyway!

So, I talk to the manager at Customer support. They spout the same crap about 21 days, and then mention that this is really a technical support issue and I have to talk to them for some sort of resolution. Ok. Hand me off to tech support.

The tech support guys spends about 5 minutes reading the whole history of my "adventures with a non-working Dell Mini 9", before he and I start to talk. He actually agrees that this is an odd case. I should have my laptop by now.

Nice!

Anyway, he says I should wait... Yep! you guessed it... "2-3 days"
I explain to him that I just want a refund and to never have to speak to this company again. He then opens up a case for me, and states that he will put me back in touch with Customer support to see about a refund, but since it is over 21 days... blah blah blah

Ok. Hand me back to customer support.
I think I may have been handed back to the same gal in Customer support I had before, but who knows. Either way, her mouth spoke the same words as the other person. We go around and around for a few minutes more, but I can see I'm not getting anywhere, so I figure I'll give the Dell Finance division another call. Is there a way I can "dispute" this transaction? We shall see.

Hello Dell... Is this thing ON!!!

Ok. At this point, I am done with Dell. You can read through the history of this situation to see how bad they do business. I called today to find out a ship date, and they say... "Please wait 2-3 days..."

Ok... I get it. You have a script.

Well, I didn't take it today. I asked to speak to a manager, and they forwarded me to a group that can fill out a request to research MY SPECIFIC LAPTOP with production. They say this will speed up the process and will get my laptop shipped around 11/28. Here's hoping!

P.S.
I also decided to talk to Dell Finance, and at least will save a few bucks. I financed the Dell Mini 9 (and a few other accessories), and asked them to adjust my account, since I haven't had the laptop for this long amount of time. They pulled up my info and could see the run-around I am getting. Not the best resolution, but at least they will work with me.

Dell evidently doesn't have a repair division, and now they don't have a production department for new machines!

Ok. The three to five days have come and gone, and still no shipping email from Dell. Calling again to see what is up, they suggest that I wait 2-3 more days. Something about a backorder of parts, big demand. Whatever...

At this point, this is getting even more insane than before. I know that if I go to the website TODAY and put together a new order it is only two weeks out, as the estimated ship date. Either Dell is giving preference to shipping new laptops, and leaving the warranty replacements to wait, or they have a bad estimator on their website.

EITHER WAY, I WANT MY LAPTOP!

November 3rd and 4th have come and gone.

Ok. So, I gave them a little slack. Maybe they're busy, but the invoice did say 11/2-11/4 for a ship date. OVERNIGHT. So, that time has come and gone, so they got a call from me today. Guess what. I should just give them 3-5 days, and then it should be on it's way to me.

Well, the amount of time it is taking to get this laptop is costing me money, and is severely inconveniencing me, but I can wait a couple more days.

I'll keep you posted.

The Dell Repair Division does not exist!

Woohoo! I got my Dell Mini 9 back today, and guess what! It's not working. Yep. Still the EXACT SAME ERROR MESSAGE as the first time.

I have come to the determination that Dell does not have any sort of repair offices in Texas. It is an old toothless grandpa that works out of his west Texas house, signing for DELL packages, and then just returning the packages to their origin.

This is just plain ridiculous. How can I return a machine for repair TWICE and have NOTHING done about the real problem. It does not boot windows. If you replace the drive, put WINDOWS on it and make sure it boots. Pretty simple right!

So, now I call DELL Technical support AGAIN to tell them of my frustration. I have now been mailing my laptop in for repair for more time than I actually HAD the laptop up and running. At this point, I think the DELL Inspiron Mini 9 is the worst product I could have ever thought of buying.

If it works, you are safe, but the first time you have to have it repaired, you are screwed! (Just my experience only, but I would at least warn you to do your research!)

So, they want me to try some things to troubleshoot. NO!
They want to send me another box to return the Dell Mini for repair. NO! (I already have two boxes!)

I tell them specifically: "You will send me a brand new Dell Inspiron Mini 9 that MATCHES my original laptop, exactly! Once I receive a working Mini 9, I will return this non-working one."

Amazingly they agree.
I now have an order in place for the replacement machine. It is due to Ship on 11/3 or 11/4 overnight. About Frickin' Time!

Return Box for the Dell Mini 9 --- Round 2

Well, the second box, to return the laptop is here. WooHoo! Glad I sent it in for repair the first time, so they could ignore the repair request, and keep the DHL guys in business shuttling my non-working laptop around the country. Enjoy your journeys little laptop. If only you could boot up and use your webcam to see this lovely country!

Off the laptop goes for another attempt at repair. The technician I talked to yesterday ASSURES me that the laptop will be repaired AND tested before it is sent back.

Does Dell actually fix laptops when they are sent in for repair?

Ok. This is pretty sad. I received my Dell Mini 9 back from the repair division of DELL (in Texas somewhere), and they did not do ANYTHING with the laptop. The machine still boots with the same error and is not working.

Was nice to have the little letter in the box that says that it was quality checked before shipping. WTF?

My guess is they were busy in the shop, or didn't feel like working today, so they just put a new label on the box and shipped it back to me. Thanks for nothing guys.

I go ahead and call Dell Technical support AGAIN, to try to resolve the original problem. I tell them that it's the same non-working Mini laptop, but they still want me to try some troubleshooting. I humor them for the 1 hour phone call, but my patience is wearing quite thin.

Finally, the tech on the other end of the line realizes. "Hey... this laptop wasn't repaired." Thanks... can I have my hour of life back!

So, here goes round two of the saga of the Dell Mini 9 that no longer want's to boot.

Operating System Not found

Dell's tech support -- Brains not found

10/8/2008 - Return Box arrives for the Broken Mini 9

Well, I had the machine for less than 15 days, and now it is being returned to Dell for Repair. My Dell Mini 9 died after only 2 weeks of use!

I received a box to return the Inspiron Mini laptop one day after Dell Technical support decided it should be returned for repair. I packed the unit up in the box with all of the provided packing materials, and the pre-printed packing label, and dropped it off at an authorized DHL pickup site. Hope it's not gone too long!

Uh. Oh! The trouble has begun.

My new Dell Mini was working great until this afternoon. I had Microsoft Office installed, some web tools, etc...
But, then, I received a blue screen of death, and now the machine won't boot. It's as if the hard drive is bad, or no OS. Not a virus, because the Mini 9 comes with Mcafee for 30 days, and all of the Microsoft Patches were installed. I even installed the Dell PC Tuneup software.

The Error Message I receive is part of the Power On Self Test (POST):

Intel UNDI, PXE-2.1 (build 082)
Copyright (C) 1997-2000 Intel Corporation

For Realtek RTL8101E/8102E PCI-E Ethernet Controller v1.08 (080408)
PXE-E61: Media Test Failure, check cable
PXE-M0F: Exiting PXE ROM.
Operating System Not Found

After a few hours of troubleshooting (on and off the phone) with Dell Technical Support, we finally decide I should send it back for repair. They put in a request to have a box shipped to me, with a label, for the return, under warranty.

Well, now it's going to be gone for a week or two for repair. Oh well!

NOTE: One thing I wanted to mention is that I also provide technical support as part of my job. It was obvious that the script this guy at Dell Tech support was following, was not yet updated to reflect this new Mini 9. It was for other DELL laptops. Maybe other Inspiron Laptops from Dell, but not the Dell Mini 9.

Research, on my own showed me that the problem was the hard drive, and that the above message is an indication that the bios tried to boot a CD, the Hard Drive, and eventually tried to boot over a network ethernet connection, but could not find any viable operating system, so it dies with an error.

The Mini Arrives... One Day Early!

I went to pickup my Dell Inspiron Mini 9 on September 24th, in the evening. (It wasn't originally projected to be in my hands until the 25th. Woohoo!) I even called DHL, because I missed them at my house. I had them call me once their driver got back, so I could actually come down and get my new toy!

The box was TINY. Mini is no mistake for this new version of the Dell Inspiron. No mistake this baby is light!

You would not believe how fast I unpacked this little guy. The Dell box was thrown quickly to the side, and the screen was booting up Windows XP, before it hit the ground.

Pluses so far:
- Perfect for a compact computer.
- Full operating system (Windows XP), that loads pretty quick.
- Decent speed, for the size.
- Very Light weight.

Minuses:
- Plenty of extra crapware installed.
- Small drive (16GB is the MAX available at the time of order).

In the Beginning... Dell Made a new Mini Laptop

The laptop was sleek and small. Less than 2 pounds, and available in black or (for a little extra) in white. Just what I need... and ultra-portable computer.

I have never purchased a Dell computer before, but I had heard good things, so I took the plunge!

I skated through the Dell.com website to customize my new Dell Mini 9, on September 10, 2008. The site estimated that I would receive my newly designed Dell Mini around September 25th. The clock began to tick away as I eagerly awaited my new ultra portable computer.

Here were the specs:
- Inspiron 910 Intel Atom processor N270, 1.6GHz, 533Mhz512K L2 Cache
- Alpine White Color with Gloss Finish
- 1GB,DDR2,533MHZ,1 DIMM
- 8.9 inch Wide Screen WSVGA TLLCD
- Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 950
- 16GB Solid State Drive (mini-card Module/PATA)
- Genuine Windows XP Home Edition
- Wireless 802.11g Mini Card
- Integrated 1.3M Pixel Webcam
- Bluetooth 2.1 module via USB I/F (Option)

All for under $580 with shipping and tax.