Searching for Better Dell Support | The Coffeehouse

zian
Exploding heads since 1988

I've been through the normal Dell tech support (chat/e-mail/phone) and an advanced resolution expert (aka the people behind the "Unresolved Issues" web page) with no resolution to many of my issues.

I'm thinking about contacting the FTC and BBB at this point. Does anyone else have suggestions for other people or organizations to contact?

Background Info:
Dell E1505
Located in the United States
Purchased via the Dell Premier page for the University of California at Irvine
Standard 1 year warranty (no on-site service included)

dahat

Write the CEO (Michael.Dell@dell.com maybe?)

I kid you not. They've got a crack team of customer support people reading his email and after well over a month of dealing with the lower levels, wrote the man an angry email and within 48 hours I had a call back from one of his underlings and within a week my problem was solved.

You might also trying emailing their Customer Advocate division.

DigitalDud

What were the unresolved issues? I have an E1505 also so it is interesting.

ZippyV
Fired Up

Most of those issues can be solved by updating your drivers. About those self-moving cursors, that's probably your optical mouse. I got 3 mice from Microsoft and they all do that in random circumstances.

zian
Exploding heads since 1988

Thanks for the suggestions, dahat. I'll draft a letter on Monday and try sending it to the customer advocate e-mail address before I go to the executive level.

Not Resolved:
Black screen coming back from hibernation
External monitor comes back to life but the main LCD doesn't after hibernation
Failure to go into hibernate/standby while a screensaver (that came with Windows XP) is running
Cursor moves on its own

Slightly Alleviated:
Problem with sound and internal noise (possible resonance with internal parts?)

Given up (for now):
Problem reading xD cards that are >= 1 GB

Edit:
I was also one of the people who fell for the Creative "soundcard" scam.

Riaz
What do you want to big bang today?

Just a FYI, I live on a third world rock, yet I think Dell's service is superior here than in the US.

The reason is that Dell does not operate directly here, but goes thru a number of resellers, each of whom wants to get the call to go fix my computer when it fusses - simple competition.

zian
Exploding heads since 1988

That's what I suspect too. I'm thinking about switching to Vista just so I can get the latest version of the ATI Mobility Radeon drivers.

About the mouse:
I thought it was my Kensington Optical mouse but I noticed that it would happen even when the external mouse wasn't connected.

About the main LCD problems:
I wouldn't be surprised if it was a problem with the internal switch that detects if the monitor is closed or not. I've noticed that the screen doesn't always turn off when I close the laptop.

Thanks for reminding me about that. It's been so long since a (very helpful) Dell tech showed me how to open up my laptop.

I'm going to open the computer up and see if the switch is OK.

Edit: The switch seems to be OK. It goes down when I close the lid and up when I open the lid.

Edit 2: E-mailed the Customer Advocates on 8/21.