OT- Dell horror! Help or advice please!

"Ivor Jones" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> "xCx" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)
>> Ivor Jones wrote:
>
> [snip]
>
>> > Actually, Dell is based in Ireland. Put the 0870
>> > numbers into www.saynoto0870.com for the Irish
>> > geographic equivalents (I found it far cheaper to call
>> > Ireland direct on my VoIP line than calling the 0870
>> > number..!)
>>
>>
>> Cheers Ivor, I've saved some money ringing the Ireland
>> number instead of the 0870, there's a lot of Indians in
>> Ireland though! All the calls just divert over to India
>>
>
> Hmm, well I'm pretty certain the guy I spoke to when I ordered my laptop
> last year was Irish, he sounded Irish anyway and gave his name as Donal..!
> Of course I suppose he *could* have been working in India...!
>
> Ivor

If it was Donal Fotherington-Smythe-Ponsonby the Third then yes, he probably
was...

In message <(E-Mail Removed)>, Grumps
<(E-Mail Removed)> writes
>Whereas, when I soaked my Sony camcorder in salt water, I phoned Sony and
>chatted with a very helpful bloke in their spare dept who shipped out the
>parts the same day.
>
>
Yeah, try that with a Vaio. Seriously, Sony are *very* protective of
their computers, if it's not registered with them they won't even talk
to you, they won't sell spares for Vaio, even to authorised repair
centres it just has to go back to them. If you want to send it to them,
you have to give them a credit card number before they'll issue an RMA.

--
Clint Sharp

In message <(E-Mail Removed)>, Paul Cummins
<(E-Mail Removed)> writes
>Under the processor, normally.
But not limited to... I've seen *lots* of Dell boards with dodgy caps...
Having said that, I've also seen IBM and HP/Compaq boards with the same
faults... YMMV, if you really like the look of the machine or you get a
killer deal... You can haggle with Dell sales so the killer deal does
happen.

>
>Dell have officially denied there is an issue, so it must be true.
LOL, all I can say is haggle with them about the warranty and make them
aware that you *know* there are issues, you may well get a nice
surprise.
>
>

--
Clint Sharp

On Wed, 1 Aug 2007 17:32:00 UTC, (E-Mail Removed) (Paul
Cummins) wrote:

> One with some cheap generic capacitors.
> That ran hot.
> And burst.
> Under the processor, normally.
> Most UK sales had the latter, and lasted less than 400 operating hours.
>
> Dell have officially denied there is an issue, so it must be true.

Yup, my Dell machine at work failed like that. We were given a stock of
motherboards by Dell, for quick swap-out.

--
[ 7'ism - a condition by which the sufferer experiences an inability
to give concise answers, express reasoned argument or opinion.
Usually accompanied by silly noises and gestures - incurable, early
euthanasia recommended. ]

"Clint Sharp" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)
> In message <(E-Mail Removed)>, Grumps
> <(E-Mail Removed)> writes
> > Whereas, when I soaked my Sony camcorder in salt water,
> > I phoned Sony and chatted with a very helpful bloke in
> > their spare dept who shipped out the parts the same day.
> >
> >
> Yeah, try that with a Vaio. Seriously, Sony are *very*
> protective of their computers, if it's not registered
> with them they won't even talk to you, they won't sell
> spares for Vaio, even to authorised repair centres it
> just has to go back to them. If you want to send it to
> them, you have to give them a credit card number before
> they'll issue an RMA.

Yes, a friend has just had this problem. His Vaio desktop crashed and all
the USB ports failed so he can't even restore the Ghost backup he has on
an external USB drive. Sony won't consider anything but sending the whole
thing back to them.

Ivor

"Ivor Jones" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> "Clint Sharp" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)
>> In message <(E-Mail Removed)>, Grumps
>> <(E-Mail Removed)> writes
>> > Whereas, when I soaked my Sony camcorder in salt water,
>> > I phoned Sony and chatted with a very helpful bloke in
>> > their spare dept who shipped out the parts the same day.
>> >
>> >
>> Yeah, try that with a Vaio. Seriously, Sony are *very*
>> protective of their computers, if it's not registered
>> with them they won't even talk to you, they won't sell
>> spares for Vaio, even to authorised repair centres it
>> just has to go back to them. If you want to send it to
>> them, you have to give them a credit card number before
>> they'll issue an RMA.
>
> Yes, a friend has just had this problem. His Vaio desktop crashed and all
> the USB ports failed so he can't even restore the Ghost backup he has on
> an external USB drive. Sony won't consider anything but sending the whole
> thing back to them.
>
> Ivor

As a follow up to my problems with my Vaio, it needed a new motherboard.
My son sourced a similar one from the manufacturer who built the one in my
machine (Asus) - which cost the princely sum of 40 quid and just required a
bit of hacksaw work on the mounting lugs to make it fit the Sony case.
God knows how much Sony would have charged for repair!

George

In article <(E-Mail Removed)>,
"Ivor Jones" <(E-Mail Removed)> writes:
> "Clint Sharp" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)
> > In message <(E-Mail Removed)>, Grumps
> > <(E-Mail Removed)> writes
> > > Whereas, when I soaked my Sony camcorder in salt water,
> > > I phoned Sony and chatted with a very helpful bloke in
> > > their spare dept who shipped out the parts the same day.
> > >
> > >
> > Yeah, try that with a Vaio. Seriously, Sony are *very*
> > protective of their computers, if it's not registered
> > with them they won't even talk to you, they won't sell
> > spares for Vaio, even to authorised repair centres it
> > just has to go back to them. If you want to send it to
> > them, you have to give them a credit card number before
> > they'll issue an RMA.
>
> Yes, a friend has just had this problem. His Vaio desktop crashed and all
> the USB ports failed so he can't even restore the Ghost backup he has on
> an external USB drive. Sony won't consider anything but sending the whole
> thing back to them.

Concur. Buying a Vaio these days is more hassle than it's worth, unless
it really is a result of having so much money you can afford to spend it
on a `vanity item' (and have a real notebook available as well).
--
SAm.

On Wed, 1 Aug 2007 17:45:33 +0100 George Weston
from the village of (E-Mail Removed)
felt we might be interested in the following...

> Try to get bits for a Vaio computer and you'll be unsuccessful.
> Their stock reply is - send it to us and we'll repair it.
> No quote, estimate or anything given - and they will not supply replacement
> parts, even when out of warranty.
> When mine went tits-up, my computer-savvy son obtained some "almost the
> same" - but better quality! - parts and fixed it for much less than Sony
> would have charged me.

So where was/is the problem? I don't see you had one. You got it fixed,
cheaper than Sony COULD have done it for, yet you feel the need to
'complain'?


--
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XPS M1710 / 2.16 GHz dual core / 2Gb DDR2 / nVidia GeForce 7950GTX

"/Tx2" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) T...
> On Wed, 1 Aug 2007 17:45:33 +0100 George Weston
> from the village of (E-Mail Removed)
> felt we might be interested in the following...
>
>> Try to get bits for a Vaio computer and you'll be unsuccessful.
>> Their stock reply is - send it to us and we'll repair it.
>> No quote, estimate or anything given - and they will not supply
>> replacement
>> parts, even when out of warranty.
>> When mine went tits-up, my computer-savvy son obtained some "almost the
>> same" - but better quality! - parts and fixed it for much less than Sony
>> would have charged me.
>
> So where was/is the problem? I don't see you had one. You got it fixed,
> cheaper than Sony COULD have done it for, yet you feel the need to
> 'complain'?

No, not complaining; I did enough of that to Sony at the time, to no avail.
And yes, it was a problem at the time, which took a great deal of time,
research and effort in order to obtain a work-around to a problem.
I was just quoting another instance of big brands being obstructive,
restrictive and anti-consumer when it comes to fixing things that go wrong.

George