The whinge thread

[Bunnylump]

Well, if they don't, then phase two begins. It's a little like phase two for Father Jack Hackett, and is NOT a pretty sight.

[clvrlad]

It doesnt need to be in warrenty
A warrenty adds to your rights not replacing them (well unless they are better for you)
As Part of the sales of goods act
It must be
Fit for purpose
And last a reasnoble time

Less that a year for a new laptop isnt a reasnoble time

Look on money savings expert (cant remember the url and on my phone so cant check) but they have your rights pretty well explained

[eirian]

well, I probably need to do something similar with Dell - my harddrive went last Sept (think it was around 18 months old). Replaced that, but it keeps switching itself off as well - usually when I'm trying to do more than one thing, which is, after all, why I paid extra for the RAM. Trouble is, if we get an engineer to look at it, they'll probably see where Scurra tried to take the back off to find the harddrive when we had to replace it
Still might try a rant at them as the harddrive really shouldn't have gone that quickly.

If you get anywhere, let me know! (mind you, might have to ask you for the telephone number you used as I've no idea where my paperwork is)

Hope they fix it for you...

[Scurra]

I didn't "try" to take the back off, I did take the back off!

[Bunnylump]

How would they KNOW you'd taken the back off? Did you try to do it with a hacksaw?

[LAT]

I have this vision of Scurra with a hammer and chisel trying to force the back off.

[giraffe]

Mine is also a Dell. Probably 3 years old though, and it has a different problem each day.
OH suggested it needed to be rerolled. I think that was the term he used, but don't really know what he meant.

[LAT]

Mine is also a Dell and also about 3 years old I think.
I got to keep my office notepad (?) but it has been wiped of all data so I need to spend some time putting things back on it and finding all my internet favourites again. It's great for travel but I do find the screen a bit small. So far I haven't even taken it out of it's sleeve since I brought it home.

[eirian]

I didn't "try" to take the back off, I did take the back off!

depends which bit of the back you are talking about You took the bit we needed off, but didn't take the whole of the back off, despite your best efforts (although no chisel, hammer or hacksaw in sight, just a screwdriver)

[giraffe]

I may not be around much for a few days. I think my laptop has died completely this time. Won't do anything, keeps freezing, or going completely black, or giving me a black screen with white typing on it saying there is an error and it is going to correct it. Sometimes it does all the loading up bits and then turns itself off and starts again.

(Am typing this on another machine)

[Bunnylump]

Well, according to the Dell SOFTWARE man I spoke to, if the computer is freezing / producing black screens etc. it is most likely to be a software issue rather than hardware. Whereas if it's switching off altogether (i.e. no power) then it's 99% sure to be hardware. Perhaps you should get someone to return it to factory settings and reload the stuff back on? Not that I know what the heck I am talking about, I hasten to add. It's just that is what people have been saying to me. So before I forget everything about it I'll say the same thing to you.

[giraffe]

My husband has decided to buy me a new laptop for my birthday. (In theory I might be able to open files then ) Then we will have my machine renovated if possible by the nice little man that comes and sorts them out for me from time to time, and we will ditch the really ancient desktop one that the children moan about being so slow. There have been problems for months with my laptop, so I think I should have had it looked at before it became terminal.

I'm a bit worried about printing though, as K has a laptop and it won't speak to the printer. I think the printer is too old for her 18 month old machine to cope with, so if I have an even newer one that might not print either.

[LAT]

I bought a new printer/scanner in the sales at Sainsbury's for £40. Admittedly we haven't taken it out of it's box yet but it seemed very good value. It's wifi too. We just need to decide where we will put it.
I find myself torn between being pleased that I can pick up a new printer so cheaply, and cross that they are so cheap that it seems almost better value to get a new one than to buy refill inks for an old one.

[Bunnylump]

We've just got one of those wifi printers (it does other things too like scanning and making cups of tea). Stupid thing is that every time I use it my printer tells me that it cannot connect to the printer. So I cancel the print and try again. Same message. I go through this stupid process at least three times and then, when you least expect it, a print pops out.

[giraffe]

Yes it is tempting to buy a new printer, but even though the old one is about 7 years old it seems to work as well as the day it was bought. (touch wood!) It prints, copies, scans and faxes, although we only ever use the printing and copying. I wouldn't want to be without a copier, that gets a lot of use. When I was working from home it got quite heavy use when I was invoicing, and I used to print hundreds of tickets, flyers etc for the school committee on it too, so if I go out of my way to get it working with the laptops it will probably blow up the next day.

[MBH]

we will ditch the really ancient desktop one that the children moan about being so slow.

The slowest part of the computer is the character at the keyboard For normal office stuff I'm betting the speed is fine (and I also bet it can talk to your printer).

With my 'family' PC having died before Christmas I need to decide what to do. Laptop is most obvious route but I really dislike using them - so irritating. Since I use them on the bus at work I don't think it's a case of "you'll get used to it"... 8 years in and I still hate slowing my typing down so much.

Give me a REAL computer any time - says the high-tech Luddite - LOL

[Bunnylump]

Girafflets are probably moaning about the time it takes to download things and to move from page to page. My two refuse point blank to use our main computer because, basically, they are impatient.

[giraffe]

No it really is slow. It takes 20 minutes sometimes from switching it on to getting onto the internet or getting started with typing something. The nice little computer man took it away and tried to sort it out, took off a lot of things that he didn't think we wanted on there to try to speed it up, but it was still awful. We have had it for a long time, so I suppose it is just out classed by modern machines. Once it is up and running it isn't too bad, but loading anything takes ages and some things it just doesn't seem to cope with and stops working at the point every time.

[Bunnylump]

Well, Dell have just gone up in my estimation. A lovely engineer (who I could understand this time) phoned this morning to say what time he would be here, and then came at that time. I do suspect slightly that they might have deliberately sent one of their calmest, most pleasant engineers because they had a mental woman going into orbit on the phone the other day because he said he normally only covered the Milton Keynes area. Anyway he came armed with a new heat detecting shut off unit and a new motherboard (I thought that was what they had on spaceships, shows how much I know!) He was quite happy to speak on the phone to Brian (who explained what had happened properly). He told me that he hoped this would fix the problem, but if it recurred, NOT to be put off contacting Dell again. I explained about the two and a half hour telephone conversation to India and he sympathised. He said that they would e mail me a customer satisfaction questionnaire. I reassured him that HE would get a glowing report but the (as it turns out) contracted-out call centre would get a truthful grading as well.

So, watch this space.

And Eirian, it is worth persevering and NOT accepting the carp that they feed you. Just be prepared to stand your ground and to go into a phase two Jack Hackett if necessary.

[LAT]

Fingers crossed he's done the trick.