Computer is burning, Dell rep calls me "suspicous"

Argh I have to vent. I have an M17x R2, that I got new just over a year ago. During that time period of the initial year, the mobo, screen, and video cards were replaced. The first tech who came out left so many wires unplugged that the computer wouldn't start up properly, and they had to have a second tech come out and fix the first tech's issues.

Anyways, fast forward to just recently. I haven't been able to get crossfire to work properly on games and several people here suggested it may be faulty GPUs. No problem, I call dell about it. Dell guy says sorry, you're out of warranty. Pay us 700 and we'll send you the cards and you can put them in yourself (now the current cards in the system are about four months old, because they were "new" replaced by the techs earlier) or pay us 400 and send it to the depot and we'll do it for you. I decline, and he says that I can always just renew the warranty. I debate and finally, yesterday afternoon I went ahead and did it.

Fast foward to about three hours after I renewed the warranty. The disc drive locks up on me. Can't get the disc in it out, can't put in a new disc.

Then the computer starts moving slowwwww. Super slow. Ridiculously slow. Like, over a minute to open internet explorer. I figure something is just acting wonky, so I should shut it down, wait a few minutes, then restart it.

I shut the computer down, do a total power drain (unplug, take battery out, hold power button for thirty seconds, etc). Put battery back in, plug back in, hit power button. This is when disaster strikes.

The lights kick on for a second, then I hear high pitched "zziiiip" sound and suddenly I smell burning wire. A small puff of smoke comes out from somewhere in the area of the keyboard (I'm not sure exactly where because as soon as I smelled that ozone smell, I put the computer down and ran to the outlet to unplug it). I take the battery from the system, and freak out a little because I'm worried the thing will catch on fire.

Needless to say, the computer is dead in the water. It never fully caught ablaze but it did smell bad for quite some time.

Fast forward to today. I call the dell rep this afternoon, and he tells me that since the computer is out of warranty there is nothing they can do. Wait, what? I just paid 400 dollars to renew the warranty over 24 hours ago. I ask to speak to his supervisor, because he doesn't want to hear it.

His supervisor is even more rude. She tells me that she finds it "very suspicious" that I was told a week or so ago that they can't fix my graphics card, and now I am calling claiming that my computer shorted out. She demands that I send pictures before she will talk any more about it, and she asks me how I know it was burning wires. She also sees that I called about the graphics card issue a week or so ago, and says that the tech wrote notes that he informed me that if I renewed the warranty they wouldn't fix it. This is a blatant lie, as he told me that if I renewed the warranty that would be one option for my earlier problem.

I say "Because I've been a firefighter for ten years, and I know what burning wires smell like. Couple that with the smoke that came from the computer, and I'm willing to bet that something burned inside, probably wires."

She tells me "Right now I don't believe anything. I need to see proof before anything happens." She then tries to inform me that if I just remove the bottom cover, I can see all the wires in the computer. I'm pretty sure we all know this isn't true. I tell he so, and she says that she used to be a tech so obviously I don't know what I'm talking about.

Anyways, I'm goin to take some pictures tomorrow morning when I get home from work and prove to her that I'm not tryingto work the system. What bugs me is that this is literally about the 8th computer I've purchased from Dell. I've had inspirons, XPS, Alienwares...desktops and notebooks. And somehow, on the highest dollar one I've ever had, she thinks I'm trying to pull the wool over her eyes.

I love it when customer reps all but outright accuse you of lying. Being called "very suspicious"...really great feeling. Meanwhie I have a two thousand plus dollar paperweight.

 

I can't think of anyway to help you, just wanted to say how terrible I think your story is. What a horror. And what happened to innocent until proven guilty? Why do we always have to prove we're not working the system or are not doing something else wrong, and why do we have to prove it to people so unbelievably incompetent?

I had a laptop spark up on me once, by the way. Sounded like pop rocks, reeked of ozone and the smoke was pretty alarming, I must say. So you can tell your Dell rep it does happen, although she of course will not believe you...

Good luck!

 

Get her name and ID, then request to speak with her superior.

 

It's one thing to say its suspicious because if you look at the entire problem it could be questionable. BUT - the fact that this rep went as far to say "I was a tech" and "I can't believe anything" and to give you a hard time and to also argue with you is beyond incomprehensible. Take off the bottom cover? What garbage. No Dell you do that for me. This is what we pay you for.

I can attest that this doesn't work.

 

Sad thing is, she WAS the supervisor. The previous person I'd talked to just kept insisting I was referring to a graphics card issue, and said "We already told you we wouldn't fix that for you" (except I'd been told that if I paid for the warranty, they WOULD).

Anyways I took pics, and sent them to her. Her response was basically "I've forwarded it to a tech and he says this is a unique case. You will need to call them."

I called the warranty people, they forwarded me to alienware gaming. Alienware gaming forwarded me to...guess where? Alienware tech support. I'm now on hold waiting for another tech, who has requested I forward the pics to her (which I did) and has gone off to talk to the same manager I spoke with yesterday. Right back where I started.

 

Any updates? I would be interested to see the outcome of this.

 

Got a box to send into the depot for repair, sent the computer off mid last week. Still haven't recieved a response, will probably call today or tomorrow and see what's up.

 

I think the average time at depot is up to 2 weeks. You may want to contact tomorrow and check on status, etc.

 

Yeah tried to call today but they're closed. Gonna give them a ring tomorrow. Hopefully I can find my fedex receipt.

 

It's the worst-in-class support that finally drove me away from Dell, after buying many machines from them over the years. The straw that broke the camel's back came when, just before the expiration of the warranty, a tech came out to fix the laptop, and left before I could check his work. He reinstalled parts including the keyboard incorrectly, and I called (still within warranty) to get Dell to fix the problem. No service call was scheduled, the warranty expired, and guess what I was told when I called again-- despite the fact that they had caused the new problem? Never again.

 

got my computer back yesterday. Dell replaced some wires and stuff, and it's working great now. The crossfire issues I was having are also gone, and it's working like a charm. The only downside is the disc drive is still locked up but they are sending a tech out this week with a new one to replace it. Hopefully it won't be the same idiot tech as before.

Oh and funny thing, they only sent me half my power cable back. So they're sending me a new one of those too.

 

congrats (i think?) so far. did they honor your new warranty, or do you have to pay for all this as well?

 

Got a new power cable, and the tech put in a new CD drive. He put the bezel back wrong on the computer and almost snapped it, I had to fix his crappy mistake.

They've honored my warranty THUS far. But we'll see what happens when I tell them that somehow the power cable won't stay in (it's got little to no grip, just pops right out constantly) and I'm now getting the Xfire issues again.

 

Dell replaced the whole palmrest area with a brand new one.

They are also sending out brand new graphics cards, a brand new motherboard, a brand new fan (yes, another), a brand new power board (plug keeps falling out), and a brand new AC adapter.

I keep at this rate and I'm going to have a brand new computer. Maybe they should've just built me one lol.

 

Parts replaced.

Computer is now bricked.

Awesome. Have escalatedclaim to dell, hoping for system exchange.

 

So someone at Dell felt bad for me. REALLY bad for me. I'm getting a system exchange. They're bumping me up to a quad core m18x with dual 6990s.

 

heh. was it worth all the pain and suffering?

 

Man I guess I'll find out.

For the record my m17x was brand new, and in the timeframe of about a year and a month had eight visits from technicians and went to the depot twice.

 

Any updates, Did dell replace your system?

 

They say it is being built right now. We will see when/if it gets here.

 

Well almost two weeks later and it's arrived.

It's a refurbished M17x R3. Except for the processor it has less power than the M17x R2 they fried, and isn't even close to what they promised me.

Back to the drawing board, on hold again...sigh.

 

How do you know it is refurbished?

 

Usually (At least when I had my XPS GEN I) dell puts a big red "refurbished sticker on the bottom of the laptop.

 

Precisely as ganzo said. It has a large "REFURBISHED" sticker on the bottom of it (though mine is green) and has REFURBISHED written in the contents manifest.

In addition, it was a scratched screen and a blown speaker.

 

I feel for ya man, any news ? whats happening now ?

 

I think Narthecium is going to the "laptops that look like they're from 1982" department . I saw him posting a bit in the Sager Dept. lately