M1730, Dell engineers, how qualified are they ?

I have an ongoing issue thats a bit of a head scratcher to do with the 2 right hand side USB ports, i said to Dell on the phone that the engineer could do with testing the power output of the USB ports on my laptop to see if this was part of the problem.

Anyway to cut a long story short an engineer turned up the other day to replace my right hand side USB ports for the 2nd time, i said to him before he took them out could he just check the voltage to see what the power output is, this was his reply.

"We don`t carry voltage test equipment and we havn`t been trained for things like that and i wouldn`t know how to do it anyway".

On the basis of his reply above, what are Dell enginners trained to do ? Is it just to take a few screws out and replace basic parts ?

Surely they need to know things like volt testing which is basic stuff when your problem shooting with computers, how are they supposed to get to the root of certain problems if they can`t do some of the basic stuff ?

I presumed Dell engineers would know everything from top to bottom about Dell products and would be capable of diagnosing a problem, from my experience they just basically replace parts and don`t have the abilty to go any deeper to try and resolve issues that previous parts have failed to cure.

 

The customer is required to do more diagnostic testing than the "technician" from Dell knows how to do... By the way I think they only go through a short course to learn the basics of changing parts and keeping static out... I have seen a couple of them that ruined a motherboard because of static, but why should I care it got me an entire new computer about 2 generations newer...

 

They then turn round to you and say "I`m sorry but your warranty has been invalidated due to you tampering with the machine".

 

You're giving them way too much credit if you think they can actually repair anything.

Especially with businesses like Dell, it's almost always cheaper to replace something rather than repair it, so its not all that surprising that their technicians don't know how to diagnose the problem and fix it.

 

lol... Haven't gotten that yet...

 

So basically they are not engineers in the word of an engineer as they can`t problem shoot and resolve issues, they just replace parts where they have been on a training course to show them how to dismantle a laptop ?

Not great is it for when you need someone to resolve a conflict issue or a reocuuring problem after parts have already been replaced but its not resolved anything.

 

There's a difference between Dell Technicians and Dell Engineers.

Engineers work for Dell full-time and are usually responsible for R&D. They have little to no contact with end-users.

Technicians are usually contractors. They must be "Dell Certified" which is a certification test they take each year that ensures they know about the machines they are working on.

The test is actually harder than you would expect. I took it for fun, and realized that it would be impossible for me to pass without actually studying. The reason is that the test is VERY Dell specific. Instead of asking "what would you do if you thought the HDD failed", it asks "What test would you run if you thought the HDD failed - (a) Basic Diagnostic, (b) Special Diagnostic, (c) Some-other-random-name Test. Whereas my answer would have probably just been run CHKDSK.

The test also is very in depth on specific Dell hardware. You have to know the exact layout of most Dell machines, meaning that it will test you on where the components are in a specific machine. For example, I can easily recognize where the processor or RAM is if I am allowed to open the machine and look, but I would have no clue what to say if you asked me out of the blue, where, specifically, the processor is on a Dell Insert-Machine-Here.

 

Lithus

It doesn`t fill you with confidence though when you have had a long standing issue that needs problem shooting and the engineer turns round and says ""We don`t carry voltage test equipment and we havn`t been trained for things like that and i wouldn`t know how to do it anyway".

My USB ports need testing to see what voltage they are giving out as the right hand side ones are failing when something is connected that requires USB power, the left hand side one and the rear one are ok and don`t give any problems. They have been replaced twice already and the problem persists, they need problem shooting as to why they are failing after new parts yet it seems a Dell engineer can`t do this, whats the point of sending out an engineer to replace parts that are obviously not curing the problem, it needs looking into deeper like what power they are giving out, testing the motherboard and to try and find out the reason why they are failing etc.

Surely someone involved with electronic equipemnt like an engineer would know how to do this and not turn round and i say "we don`t carry the equipemnt and i wouldn`t know how to do it anyway".

It costs me money to take time off work to be here for an engineer as i`m self employed, surely at some point the persisting problem needs to be resolved as to why the parts are failing rather than keeping on sending engineers to replace the same part.

 

You forget that they're only allowed to do what Dell tells them they're allowed to do.

And no, Dell Technicians usually aren't the brightest people in the world. It's like any other entry-level technician job.

 

That contradicts what you said above where you said the test for Dell technicians/engineers is harder then people would think, if your not the sharpest tool in the box then i doubt many people would pass their test based on what you have said.

 

No, it's not contradictory at all. As I clearly said, the reason it is hard is because of how specific it is.