I purchased a Dell Inspiron from Dell in 2007. Unknown to me at the time, the system had an analogue monitor ( I was not informed of this nor did the spec list highlight it), yet also installed was a very high spec graphics card which I had asked for during the initial enquiry and build. I also paid for and got a monitor upgrade from a 19″ to a 22″  Basically, I would never get the benefit of the card as you can’t pass a digital signal through analogue!. Dell certainly thought they could delude me and included a very ‘high spec’ £2 adaptor in order to try!!!. They failed. I had no knowledge of any of this until I had the system inspected by a technician.

This is the technician’s report after inspecting my machine…

A few months ago, my system developed a fault. Computers during bootup, check diagnostics to ensure all onboard hardware is working and if it isn’t, you know about it then. Mine simply wouldn’t boot up so being out of warranty I had to employ a technician who I had to obviously pay. On his inspection of the machine he couldn’t find anything obvious to blame but later did say, he believed the keyboard could be of fault as mine wouldn’t work and after taking it away it worked with his own.  He said that I should purchase another just to be sure.  Suffice to say, I never did after it booted up ok after and still today I use that same keyboard with no issues. He did find though on inspecting the inside of the tower, the graphics card was very high spec yet my monitor was analogue and naturally questioned this. When I went to Dell with this for an explanation with the technicians report, they said they were not prepared to discuss or even look at it as the system was 2 years old and why had I left it two years to complain?. The easy answer is, myself like most people are not a ComTia A+ technician and therefore have no interest/knowledge of what lies within the tower. I have no interested in a computers inner workings other than if the system can perform the task I ask it to. Mine wasn’t, hence the investigation by someone I had to pay. The findings I found I believed contravened the Sale Of Goods Act in that I had not got what I asked for. I should have been advised to buy a digital monitor and had I not been prepared to do that, I should have been told the graphics card would be an expensive paper weight. The point was I was never given the option yet I was charged for the graphics card regardless!.

Now, I am experiencing problems again with this computer and the system will not boot. I have checked diagnostics, the BIOS settings etc and all appears fine. I am convinced the problem is software related. Dell are now saying my system’s software warranty is out of date, yet the hardware warranty is good for 12 months more. I simply asked for a rescue disk as i am having trouble getting windows to boot and stupidly, didn’t make a rescue disk image for such occasions. Lesson learnt.

Overall, I’m disgusted the general view in the IT world amongst professionals is that Dell simply wash their hands of you once you’ve transacted with  them. They take the money and run. I know a lot of companies do this. I just expected more from such a company with a globally respected name. Afraid not. I have told Dell of my concerns and what I think they should do to rectify the problem especially as problems occured prior to my warranty expiring and they seek it appropriate to fob me off or charge for technical support.

My advice, HP, Advent, Sony and of course Apple Mac will get my undivided attention next time when I upgrade and I am convinced I will be treated far more fairly. My purpose soley by blogging this subject is to raise awareness. All good companies I expect at one time or another have their share of disgruntled customers. I’ll be the first to admit that. In my case I just want what I am owed and what is infact right and fair.

To Dell I find the whole incident poor and would rate them very negatively, naturally. Look around when buying a PC, look online and at testimonials and ratings – they are there for a good reason!

**Success with no help from dell….**

As most systems today don’t ship with a Vista disk and only sometimes with a recovery one, I managed to find a link to a rescue disk posted on a blog for both 32-bit & 64-bit versions of Vista. You just download the file, save it on the desktop and then burn it as an image to a CD/DVD using Nero or whatever you have and then, boot from it on start up. You may possibly have to adjust your settings (if the system won’t boot at all like mine wouldn’t). As the machine starts, press F2 or F12 as I recall, to access the ‘boot from option’. Once you’ve done this and the system is restored, simply reset your settings to boot from the hard drive

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