Dell Vostro 1000: Horrible experience

I purchased a refurbished Dell Vostro 1000 laptop from Dell's Web site in April. Since then, I have had nothing but problems. The computer would work for about ten minutes before it would either lock up or reboot itself.

I called Dell’s tech support and was refused service due to the fact that the warranty wasn’t transferred over to me from the original owner (shouldn’t Dell have done this before they shipped it to me?). It took a week for Dell’s customer service to complete the warranty transfer, during which time I was refused support. Finally, I was able to call support and describe my problems.

After spending a few hours on the phone with Dell’s tech support, they eventually had me ship the computer back to them. They recommended that I remove the hard drive before I shipped it back, which I didn’t see a need to do - so it’s funny that when they returned the computer, they said that a defective hard drive was the problem. I replaced the hard drive (original one was from Toshiba, replacement from Fujitsu), and the laptop seemed to be working, but eventually the same problems occurred (random reboots and lockups). BTW, I had to totally start from scratch with a fresh install of Windows and all drivers, which meant more hours on the phone with Dell’s support.

In short, it has been two months since the purchase, and I still do not have a working computer!! I have spent at least a dozen hours in various aspects of this transaction, to no avail.

What’s additionally frustrating is Dell’s unresponsiveness on the customer service side. I have been attempting to get the Dell customer service employees that I have been corresponding with via e-mail to respond to me for two weeks. I tried to call Dell, but after working through the automated phone maze and getting to a real person, the call was disconnected.

At this point, I really don’t know what to do.

 

That sucks. I guess sometimes you just get the bad rap in Customer Service.

I'd get them on the phone or chat, and tell them you want to return the computer; you want a refund.

 

I agree... find a way to get in contact with them and ask nicely, and if you aren't able to get what you want speak to a manager, at length if need be. Don't give up yet!! Hope this helps.

 

Dude, I feel your pain. And please don't think I am trying to downgrade your problem in any way. But, next time they ask you to do something before you send in your laptop (like remove your HD), you might just want to do it. The HD is probably not the problem, but still.

 

yeah repeatedly, over two weeks. other than that this rarely ever happens.