Dell Lied. - A scam being pulled on E1505 buyers. Yes, really.

Note 1: Below I explain the issue, but I put up evidence as images, and short audio clips at http://DellLied.googlepages.com as well as updates.

Note 2: Yes, I am blatantly trying to spread the word (not spam, I'm not selling anything) to help others who were either duped by the same issue or were considering buying an E1505 from Dell. If the site operators/webmasters are willing, I'd greatly appreciate it if you would post this issue on the main page. MANY people have been duped by this issue and are banging their heads into walls with Dell trying to get it resolved.


The basics: Dell Home advertised an audio upgrade on their website (and to phone order customers) for the E1505 notebook. The upgrade was called the: "Integrated Soundblaster Audigy Advanced HD Audio" but it wasn't hardware. Dell charged money for it. The notebook doesn't come with Integrated Soundblaster Audigy hardware at all. And the driver is free to download from their website driver support page for the E1505. Which Dell doesn't mention on the phone, or during the online order process.

This is called a scam.

Yes, multiple Dell reps flat out lied about what was being offered, and when the option was taken, Dell did not deliver what they stated was being sold. I have proof posted at the URL above. And many people fell for this scam. I'm getting more e-mail from others who were duped every day.

More Details:

Until recently, the Dell website did NOT say "Software Edition" the way it does now in the purchase options (and it's still rather murky to understand it's not "a Soundblaster soundcard" for non-techies).

It's a driver for the Sigmatel 9200 audio controller that IS integrated on the motherboard.

The driver they charged me $25 for as a sound card is actually a Creative (company that owns the Soundblaster brand) software driver.


On the phone, they called it a "sound card". On the Dell website until recently, unless you clicked on "help me choose" , they didn't mention is WASN'T a soundcard.

And then, Dell Home sales, customer care, and technical support do not do much about it. Ignoring E-mails, avoiding the issue on the phone, only offering to refund the money for the driver they should never have charged for in the first place, and basically blowing off the issue. Although, most of the Dell reps.. didn't even understand the issue, or know it existed. This included their technical support.

if you want to know more, check the URL at the top of this post, and if you want to say "hey, look on their website stupid, it says software edition" just remember, they only added those two words recently, and I spoke with 5 reps on the phone, specifically asking questions about the system specs (because I wasn't able to connect to Dells website at the time), and every rep I spoke with pre-sales including one techical support rep, told me it was an Integrated Soundblaster Audigy Sound Card, their words, not mine.

Also, the E1505's come with an ExpressCard slot, not a PCMCIA or CardBus slot. So those versions of the Soundblaster Audigy add-on cards will not worl for E1505 owners.

If any of you have an online presence in the form of a blog, column or other informational site, please post and comment on the http://DellLied.googlepages.com site. (and hey, mention you found it through notebookreview.com if they leave this message here, it's worth giving them the linkage..hell if you haven't already, link to them anyway, they provide a good thing here.)

Hopefully other people will read this and and won't be caught by the same issue.

 

I don't know about you, but my e1505 came in today and I'm pumped! They game me Integrated High Definition Audio, for free, and I ordered a 128MB Mobility ATi X1300, and the gave me a 256MB version! I cannot believe it! They gave me $400 off, and a backpack, and a gig uprgrade for free, with my awesome comp, all for under 1200!

 

They truely should make it more clear what the $25 "Integrated Soundblaster Audigy Advanced HD Audio" really is, nothing but an overpriced software.

 

Relax man. I also paid 20 bucks for the upgrade as I figured it would be a gaming machine so I wanted the best sound possible. Sure, I made the wrong decision there, but overall this e1705 is the best laptop I've ever owned. And with a couple 1 dollar coupons I got from ebay, it was only $1100 (2100 before coupons). Dell ripped me off, and I ripped them off. So we're even =)

 

Haha. yea same. I got mine the week before they started messing w/ the prices and restricting the use of 750 off coupons on 2.0GHz E1505's

it's alrite. dell gave me a good deal anyways.
I got the config (in my sig) for $1281 after the $750 coupon w/ recovery discs and a free swiss maxxum bag! it's also pretty funny how they sent me media center os first time by accident

so w/e. we're even. no need to get all mad over $25 if they give you $750 off, free shipping, a free SWISS BAG that costs $50-60, and the recovery discs!!!

totally owns some overpriced sony

 

it's true, they tell "noobs' 35% off when they just jack up the price, lol...

 

thats actually pretty interesting... i didn't get the $25 upgrade but that is EXTREMELY misleading. when i was looking over my specs and upgrades before adding it to cart, i thought that it was a hardware upgrade as well.

the same thing goes for dell's recovery discs. they put the option on the config page to get the CDs for $10 when they literally give it to everyone for free if you just call them in ask. its sounds like a cheap trick to charge people for getting the CDs and to save money on people who dont know about the calling in to me...

 

Hey, this is kinda wierd. I dled the Creative Sound Blaster Audigy driver off Dell's support page on my DESKTOP. During installation, an error popped out w/ "no supported devices." What if that sound blaster thing was actually a small chipset for audio, otherwise if it's only software, why doesn't it work on my desktop?

Or maybe it's only compatible w/ sigmatel's sound chip.

One way to find out: Try it on a Dell E1505 WITHOUT the Sound Blaster upgrade. If anyone has a E1505 w/o the SB Audigy upgrade, download the driver and tell me if it works or not.

 

i guess it would be a big issue if one would not have bought the computer based on this being hardware or software. would you? I dont think soething liek that would make or break a deal with me. They are refunded the price, which is expected, and if you make a stink, they will let you return it for no loss in $. But you will have wasted your time, so I can feel your pain on that. I dont think it was a scam set up by dell to trick customers...the guys on the phone just didnt know what was really going on with their products...common

 

Theyd ont jack up the price. Dell has a harset price, when you see a price in red it has additional discounts. ie $200 off $400 off w/e. When you apply a 35/30% off coupon it says can not be combined so it erases those and puts the coupon on. It isn't deceptive its a "read what youre doing" thing. And afaik the SB HD explicitly says software Integrated Sound Blaster® Audigy™ HD >>Software<< Edition

 

He addressed that point, it did not say software before.

 

somehow i managed to figure out the fact that this wasn't hardware BEFORE I purchased my laptop more than two months ago...maybe it had something to do with doing a mimimum of research in places like this forum BEFORE purchasing...i guess Dell has to put more thought into devising a better scam, i saw right through it...

 

I did it and it worked fine. Crap software that I actually paid $19.99 for on Creative's site, but it did work. Not sure what value there is in making your laptops audio sound like it's in a bathroom though.
My laptop was bought back in late March and at the time they were only offering the "SondBlaster HD Audio" on a couple other systems, but I didn't have the choice when I configured my e1505. I wanted to see if it truly was software and bought the program/drivers off Creative's site and as I said above it worked just fine. Useless, but it did work. I actually un-installed them though, because I use bluetooth to stream music to my BT stereo headphones and a BT receiver on my home stereo and the creative software screwed this up.

 

They have it directly in their title (i checked the E1705/E1505) and if you click on the "help me choose", it has a detailed description of it being software, so i don't get where you can say that dell lied.

We had a discussion on this ages ago, but you have to think. An SB PCMCIA card costs about 100 bucks, so that sends off red flags right there if you are getting it for 20 bucks.

If they included it somewhere else than the sound section, then users would never know that the option existed.

 

I hadn't known about this site before making the purchase. I did read a few reviews, and a couple of them ALSO said that the upgrade was an integrated sound card upgrade. I guess the reviewers fell for it too.

In addition, I went straight to the (supposedly) highest authority on the
E1505 notebook.. the manufacturer, and spoke with at least 5 of the manufacturers reps, including at least one technical support rep. They all told me the same thing, and called it a soundcard and indicated it was a hardware upgrade.

If I had just spoken with one rep and said "owell, ok" then I would smack myself in the head for "not doing enough research" and I'd think "ok, one guy didn't know what he was talking about" but when the manufacturers own technical and multiple sales staff get it wrong, intentionally or otherwise, and I find out later it's a complaint many people have made to Dell and it wasn't fixed, I can only assume it's a scam, intentional or otherwise.

There is no excuse for incompetence in business that financially benefits the retailer at the sake of the consumer, when it continues to happen weeks/months after the retailer was informed of the discrepency.

 

I'm not saying what happened was wrong, but Dell's tech do alot of weird things. For one they say you can upgrade a integrated video card. They've also said that you can upgrade to a video card that isn't even for your laptop and it won't void your warranty, etc... I've caught their sales support wrong several times.

My point is that you have to be careful with their support. Their tech support is outsourced from India, and they basically read from a book on troubleshooting problems.

It isn't so much the manufacturer. Dell is a gigantic company, so no it is not very consistent with the answers that you get.

 

Hi Southern Girl, I know they have it *now*, I also noted how they *did not* before. Plus, I was not able to access the Dell website at the time I was ready to order, so I placed a few phone calls to make sure I knew what I was getting, and then ordered it. That is where the "lie" comes in for me. Please read the page I posted, and you will see that the situation is not as simple as "well they have it listed now".

Also, most people who know what a "Soundblaster Audigy" is, is not going to assume they're buying a piece of software, and so have no reason to click on "help me choose". That was the situation BEFORE Dell added the "Software Edition", which they added recently.

And I've gotten ALOT of e-mail over this issue from people who were also bamboozled prior to the change in the wording on the website, or were told it was a hardware upgrade from sales reps over the phone.

As for the cost of an item on Dells site.. Dell routinely gives different pricing on options for different notebook configurations. From deep discounts to highly inflated pricing. So seeing a low price on such an item is not unusual when selecting a fully loaded configuration.

I'm not trying to be contrary, but I can tell you didn't read the full text of what I wrote..

 

I apologize. I didn't read all of your post. I've been on the forums for about the last 5 hours, so reading long threads/posts isn't something that I'm up for right now.

I was more responding to the all of the questions about it and just summarizing what had been discussed before in the previous thread.

My apologies.

 

So I've noticed. In the past couple of years, I haven't had to deal with Dell Home. I've dealt with Dell Gold and Enterprise support for business, and the support was always good. I purchased from Dell Home..and..man, what a mess. Won't be doing that again.

 

now is the driver download, the actual software they were trying to sell with all the equalizer stuff?

 

ya when i talked to sales over the net the lady kept insisting i can upgrade an integrated video card just i would have to buy it from parts dept after i bought it lol ;/ die dell! this is why apple has #1 customer service there consistent, trained reps, etc so they know what there talking about friendly and actually helpful ^_^

as far as the topic its 20 dollars not much yeah, but its the whole point of dell misleading tens of thousands of customers and sure while you may not think its harmful or much and thats its "ok" dell makes hundreds thousands off it say 5,000 people ordered that option 5,000 x 20 adds up

 

No problem. My link got posted to digg.com and got over 2100 diggs in under 15 hours, and the e-mail started flooding in. it took me 11 hours to get through the 1st wave of it. After the 3rd hour I was mistyping words like "Hi".

Digg took my link off the lists (didn't delete the digg entery though) without e-mailing me as to why. (which is why it stopped at only a little over 2100 diggs), but people mentioned it might have been because the link was too "bloglike".


:|

 

I can't say, because they don't define what you actually get when you buy it. What they do say is you get the enhanced HD sound, which you do get with the driver.

 

first of all man, just chill out. You are investing way too much time in this. You need to get out, find a gf or somthing.
Second, have you heard the phrase "Caveat Emptor"? it is latin for buyer beware. That is the general philosophy that the U.S. marketplace runs on. You must do research, especially with anything computer related. While i understand that they weren't the nicest people and didn't hold your hand through the sale, they don't have to be. They are there to make money. They also never specified that it was a hardware upgrade, they simply did not specify that it wasn't. Again, that is more than fine in the U.S. marketplace.

They way you have reacted to this is childish. Throwing a temper tantrum, going into forums and bashing a company for your own ignorance. It is slander and trust me, while Dell may be a large company that you think looks over the little people, they don't. If you continue to harrass tech support and if they connect the dots, you will find yourself in hot water.

The fact that you say they mislead you, that is simply not true. You must research each component. They give you some information on their site, but remember: Caveat Emptor. It is your duty to find out EXACTLY what you are buying. You have absolutly NO REASON to be doing what you are doing. You have simply broadcasted you ignorance for the entire web to see... congrats!

Samuel

 

Yo M1CH43L,

umm.. sorry to break this to you, but every e1505 come with the HD audio...

 

Agree there partner...

When I bought mine, Dell reads off a list of items included, and so on.
When asked about the Integrated Soundblaster Audigy Advanced HD Audio I was told "it was software" by the Dell Rep. which I declined. How come I wasn't misled?

If a phone call was made, Dell will be happy to credit your card, as they have to mine for unwanted software. Did you try that?

Please close this thread.

 

I can already tell what is going to happen to this thread. It is only going to cause trouble and fighting on the forums, so I'm going to close it now before it escalates to that point.

SG