« A tiny red burst of heaven | Main | Faraway, So Close »
Thank you for choosing Dell
I sent our new Dell laptop in for a minor repair last Tuesday. You may recall that the battery was loose and its constant jiggling drove me nuts. I was floored when the computer arrived back from the service center just three days later, on Friday. The problem seemed to be fixed (although now that I have used it for a couple of days, I think it's coming back, but at least I tried).
On Saturday I tried to transfer a photo from my cell phone to the computer via Bluetooth. We paid a little extra for Bluetooth capability when we bought the computer because it's nice to be able to connect to our mobile phones and use a truly wireless mouse. (Incidentally, all Mac laptops come standard with Bluetooth.) I just couldn't figure out why the computer's Bluetooth module wouldn't turn on. It worked great before I sent the computer in to be fixed.
Thinking that maybe the Bluetooth card had come loose from its connection, I found the computer's service manual online and figured out where the card goes. Hey, it's in the battery compartment! The battery compartment has gotten a lot of abuse in the last week, said the voice in my head. I probably just need to re-seat the card's connections. Right?
Well, you know where this is going because you've seen the photo. The card was not just disconnected -- it's gone. The service folks must have taken it out and forgotten to put it back in. It's a tiny little thing, not much bigger than a stick of Trident gum. The connector shown above is 7/16 of an inch wide.
I called Dell; they're sending me a new Bluetooth card. Once again, very friendly. But seriously, WTF? More evidence that Macs rule.
Who wants to bet that when I plug the new card in, the battery-jiggling problem will be worse than ever?
May 1, 2007 7:52 PM
They're just trying to test your expertise...
I don't know if you've ever had to get a Mac fixed, but Katy was having some problems with her battery in her Mac. It was a HUGE pain getting it fixed. It took a long time, many incompotent tech folks, and they ended up completely mis-diagnosing the problem.
I don't say this to argue that PCs are better than Macs--I actually use both quite happily, but more as an argument that customer service as a practice is heading downhill fast.
I've been using Macs since 1989 (whoah) and I have never had anything go wrong with one (knock on wood!) except for the hard drive issue, which was my own fault, and which luckily I was able to fix myself. My main gripe with the Dell is the lower standard of quality. I'm sure Apple's tech support is just as annoying as anyone else's.
Of course, I did choose this computer (we need a Windows machine at home for various reasons), it's not like anyone held a gun to my head. It replaces an HP laptop that completely died after less than 2 years... now THAT thing was a piece of crap.
Ugh - I am on Daniel's mac right now - Why? because my Dell laptop died in just under two years. I hope you bought the extended warranty. I didn't.
eek. I have a dell laptop.. so far so good - it's 1.5 yrs old. But my roommate had an issue with dell service - she too had something wrong, and sent it back in that empty box. when they corrected the problem, they 'forgot' to send back the dvd player that was in her computer to begin with. When she called, they said "no, you didnt have one" to which she replied "um YES I DID". after serveral back and forths... sending the comuter back AGAIN... anyway i think she FINALLY got one re-installed but was seriously angry with the 'great customer service' she (didnt) received.