Spanky's Place

1 - ABD (Anything But Dell)?

2 - Hey Devin...Do you know if there is a downloadable diagnostics tool for the integrated NIC that I can install / run in my current configuration?

I went mac. LOVING it.

Also, for what it is worth, the Dell Chat for support is always the worst option. I support over 100 dells in my organization and I have learned to just pick up the phone and call dell the Old-School way. It's a much better experience but that is not to say that it's always great.

3 - @1: More like this: { Link }

@2: Amen to that brother. I went the chat route because I was hoping (yet another mistake on my part) that they could simply give me a URL. How flippen hard could that possibly be?

4 - Hate to say this buddy, but I think they handled it correctly. There is a very small, but non-zero, chance that your 3rd party hard drive is the cause of your NIC problem. Not the OS and drivers on the hard drive, but the hard drive itself. There is a very small, but non-zero, chance that their diagnostic software will not correctly determine the cause of the problem if the 3rd party hard drive is installed in the laptop. Therefore, from their perspective, the results of the diagnostic software simply can't be trusted unless you remove the 3rd party drive. If the diagnostics incorrectly tell you that the NIC is broken when in fact it is the hard drive, they'll end up taking on the cost of an RMA (or home visit if you have an on-site service agreement), the problem will not be fixed, and everyone will be unhappy. So, what they're effectively doing is insist that you put in the factory drive so that they can make a 100% confident determination whether the problem is theirs or yours before going to the next step.

5 - Thanks Richard.

I understand your point about the hardware, and the possibility (albeit small) that the problem is truly related to the non-factory HDD; and on that point you are, as usual, correct.

However, I have to disagree about them handling it correctly. Had the support tech explained the situation and reasoning to me as you did, I would have been a wee bit frustrated, but I would have understood their position.


Ignoring a customer's question 8 times is the exact opposite of handling it correctly. Ignoring a customer's requests for a callback time is even more infuriating.

I, the customer who pays them money, should not be treated as a groveling slave, begging for enlightenment from my master. He (or she) may have used the correct phrases ("Thank you", "We will surely assist you", etc), but if you re-read the chat history and pay attention to the "tone", you'll see there was no respect at all.

The support tech was an ass, plain and simple.

6 - @Devin,
Have you ever got the feeling you know more about they're products than they do? Boy, this conversation brings back bad memories from that last time I troubleshooted an issue with my daughters Compaq pc. Add in the frustration that they refused to take my call because they claimed I was out of support. I had to pull my receipt and fax to them to prove I was within the one year agreement. I worked the phone and chat line. The chat line finally got me satisfied.
Cheers.