trick_m0nkey
10-11-2006, 09:08 PM
Alright, I know that in the [H] Consumer reviews, dell support has been terrible, and in my own experience with support (a year ago) it wasent so great either.
However, it seems that the continued vigilence of the community seems to be finnaly pay off. I have my own little homebrew buisness where I repair computers for cheap in the comfort of my own dorm. Being a college student, I'm doing whatever I can for money, and I've been able to help everyone that has contacted me for service.
Well, I had one customer who's desktop powersuppy was blown, and I helped him, so then he gave me the toughest one yet, his laptop with the Sony DVDRW that doesnt recognize cds, at all. No matter what I did, couldnt fix the damned thing. So finnaly I swallowed my pride, and decided to contact dell via chat support. I just have to say, it was nothing but pro support, no run around, and after I explained to the tech the steps I took already to solve the problem (by the way, she quickly suggested all the steps that I previously did to the drive, which I had to look up on numorous forums to find out), she immediatly set me up for a RMA.
This story isnt finished yet, I still need to get the replacement drive, but so far, I've been very pleased and hope that this is a sign of things to come. I can right now very much recommend the chat support function from dell.
Here is the chat log:
10/11/2006 08:20:32PM Session Started with Agent (NV XPS Meg B.)
10/11/2006 08:20:34PM Agent (NV XPS Meg B.): "Hello and thanks for contacting Dell XPS Hardware Warranty Technical Support for businesses! Please give me a moment to retrieve your service tag information."
10/11/2006 08:20:44PM Agent (NV XPS Meg B.): "In order to better assist you, may I please have the full physical address (house/building number, street name, city, state, and zip) where the system is or would be located in the event that parts or service needed to be issued?"
10/11/2006 08:21:03PM Jacob Leggett: "ok"
10/11/2006 08:21:31PM Jacob Leggett: "I'm actually not the owner of this pc, I'm a friend who took the laptop to fix the computer"
10/11/2006 08:21:54PM Jacob Leggett: "would you like me to contact him and ask?"
10/11/2006 08:22:31PM Jacob Leggett: "hello?"
10/11/2006 08:22:34PM Agent (NV XPS Meg B.): "Whatever address it would be located at if we needed to service it would be fine."
10/11/2006 08:22:46PM Jacob Leggett: "ok"
10/11/2006 08:23:18PM Jacob Leggett: "censored"
10/11/2006 08:23:24PM Jacob Leggett: "*sorry, 75428"
10/11/2006 08:23:36PM Agent (NV XPS Meg B.): "Thanks! Would you also provide a contact phone number, please, starting with the area code?"
10/11/2006 08:24:18PM Jacob Leggett: "censored is my number"
10/11/2006 08:24:22PM Agent (NV XPS Meg B.): "Thank you. How may I assist you today?"
10/11/2006 08:25:35PM Jacob Leggett: "ok. this laptop has a sony DVD+-RW DW_Q58A dvd burner. This burner can read and write to dvds just fine, however it will not even recognize any kind of cd"
10/11/2006 08:26:54PM Agent (NV XPS Meg B.): "Do you know when it started having this problem?"
10/11/2006 08:27:18PM Jacob Leggett: "I believe since he got the laptop"
10/11/2006 08:27:37PM Agent (NV XPS Meg B.): "Ok. Let me see if there's a firmware update for it. Just a second, please."
10/11/2006 08:28:07PM Jacob Leggett: "ok"
10/11/2006 08:28:16PM Agent (NV XPS Meg B.): "Doesn't look like there is. Have you tried anything since you've been working on it?"
10/11/2006 08:29:26PM Jacob Leggett: "yes. I've been to several forums to find a fix and there is none. One of them is to unistall the Sonic cd/dvd burning software, but I would rather not do that because it is not my computer and I do not have any other software on hand to replace it with."
10/11/2006 08:29:54PM Agent (NV XPS Meg B.): "Let's check some of the drive settings."
10/11/2006 08:30:18PM Agent (NV XPS Meg B.): "Open My Computer, please, and then right-click on the DVD drive and select Properties."
10/11/2006 08:30:27PM Agent (NV XPS Meg B.): "You should see a DLA tab on the Properties window."
10/11/2006 08:30:54PM Jacob Leggett: "ok"
10/11/2006 08:31:06PM Agent (NV XPS Meg B.): "Is the "enable DLA on your drives" box checked?"
10/11/2006 08:31:17PM Jacob Leggett: "yes"
10/11/2006 08:31:24PM Agent (NV XPS Meg B.): "Uncheck that, please, and then click Ok."
10/11/2006 08:31:27PM Jacob Leggett: "I've tried unchecking it as well, still no effect btw"
10/11/2006 08:31:30PM Agent (NV XPS Meg B.): "Ok"
10/11/2006 08:31:44PM Agent (NV XPS Meg B.): "Are you familiar with Device Manager?"
10/11/2006 08:32:06PM Jacob Leggett: "I've also been to the device manager and enabling DMA mode in the primary and secondary ide channels, no dice"
10/11/2006 08:32:10PM Agent (NV XPS Meg B.): "Ok"
10/11/2006 08:32:22PM Agent (NV XPS Meg B.): "Know if it has the same problem in safe mode?"
10/11/2006 08:32:35PM Jacob Leggett: "I've also tried forcing the drivers to recognize the drive as a cd rom, still nothing"
10/11/2006 08:32:43PM Jacob Leggett: "that's a good question I havent thought of that"
10/11/2006 08:32:56PM Agent (NV XPS Meg B.): "Let's find out."
10/11/2006 08:33:20PM Jacob Leggett: "ok"
10/11/2006 08:33:37PM Jacob Leggett: "how will I continue the session if it doesnt work?"
10/11/2006 08:33:50PM Agent (NV XPS Meg B.): "I can suspend the session while you check if you're using that computer to chat."
10/11/2006 08:33:52PM Jacob Leggett: "just return the chatroom?"
10/11/2006 08:34:00PM Jacob Leggett: "ok"
10/11/2006 08:34:01PM Agent (NV XPS Meg B.): "When I suspend this chat, we will have 15 minutes where you will be able to resume and continue working with me. Once you see that I have suspended the session, perform the required steps, reboot and come back to www.dell.com/chat. Click the option “Cha"
10/11/2006 08:34:05PM Jacob Leggett: "lets do that then"
10/11/2006 08:34:06PM Agent (NV XPS Meg B.): "Let me know when you're ready."
10/11/2006 08:34:30PM Jacob Leggett: "ok"
10/11/2006 08:34:32PM Jacob Leggett: "i'm ready"
10/11/2006 08:34:36PM Agent (NV XPS Meg B.): "All right. Suspending chat..."
10/11/2006 08:34:39PM Session Suspended
10/11/2006 08:46:01PM Session Suspension Ended
10/11/2006 08:46:41PM Jacob Leggett: "ok i'm back"
10/11/2006 08:46:41PM Jacob Leggett: "ok i'm back"
10/11/2006 08:46:41PM Jacob Leggett: "ok i'm back"
10/11/2006 08:46:41PM Jacob Leggett: "ok i'm back"
10/11/2006 08:46:53PM Jacob Leggett: "hello?"
10/11/2006 08:47:01PM Agent (NV XPS Meg B.): "Welcome back."
10/11/2006 08:47:03PM Agent (NV XPS Meg B.): "How did that go?"
10/11/2006 08:47:12PM Jacob Leggett: "still didnt work"
10/11/2006 08:47:29PM Agent (NV XPS Meg B.): "Ok. I'd like to set up a replacement on the drive, then."
10/11/2006 08:47:37PM Agent (NV XPS Meg B.): "Can we send that to censored Hall?"
10/11/2006 08:47:47PM Jacob Leggett: "ok then"
10/11/2006 08:48:09PM Jacob Leggett: "ok then. may I call the owner of the pc first?"
10/11/2006 08:48:15PM Agent (NV XPS Meg B.): "Sure"
10/11/2006 08:48:16PM Jacob Leggett: "it will be just a minute"
10/11/2006 08:48:17PM Jacob Leggett: "it will be just a minute"
10/11/2006 08:48:26PM Agent (NV XPS Meg B.): "No problem, I'll stand by\"
10/11/2006 08:50:26PM Jacob Leggett: "ok I'm back"
10/11/2006 08:50:54PM Agent (NV XPS Meg B.): "Ok"
10/11/2006 08:51:05PM Jacob Leggett: "thx for waiting"
10/11/2006 08:51:32PM Jacob Leggett: "he told me that was ok if you send the drive to my address, which is the address I provided you in the beginning, so there shouldnt be any problems"
10/11/2006 08:51:45PM Agent (NV XPS Meg B.): "Ok, good deal. Please give me about 4-6 minutes to set that up for you, and I'll return with your case and dispatch information."
10/11/2006 08:51:47PM Jacob Leggett: "I dont know his address, but would you like his name/number just in case?"
10/11/2006 08:51:51PM Agent (NV XPS Meg B.): "Sure"
10/11/2006 08:51:53PM Jacob Leggett: "ok"
10/11/2006 08:52:25PM Jacob Leggett: "It's censored"
10/11/2006 08:52:47PM Agent (NV XPS Meg B.): "Thanks. I'll go ahead and set this up for you now."
10/11/2006 08:52:53PM Jacob Leggett: "ok"
rma info is censored too :)
10/11/2006 08:55:31PM Agent (NV XPS Meg B.): "Are there any other Dell hardware issues I can assist you with at this time?"
10/11/2006 08:56:33PM Jacob Leggett: "very cool...that is it. You've been a great help"
10/11/2006 08:56:42PM Agent (NV XPS Meg B.): "I'm glad to hear that you're satisfied. Thanks for contacting Dell Hardware Warranty Chat Support! Have a wonderful day."
10/11/2006 08:56:44PM Session Ended
The top of the convo was cut off for some reason, but then I had to restart in safe mode. It was a good idea on her part, something that if I had thought of then I would have done. Kudos to Meg. I didnt even have to ask for a RMA, she just went suggested it. well done indeed. I am hopeful for a quick rma process, but even then if it doesnt go as well, as long as I get it relativily painlessly then I can do nothing but recommend this service.
Edit: They sent me the complete chat log, so update :)
However, it seems that the continued vigilence of the community seems to be finnaly pay off. I have my own little homebrew buisness where I repair computers for cheap in the comfort of my own dorm. Being a college student, I'm doing whatever I can for money, and I've been able to help everyone that has contacted me for service.
Well, I had one customer who's desktop powersuppy was blown, and I helped him, so then he gave me the toughest one yet, his laptop with the Sony DVDRW that doesnt recognize cds, at all. No matter what I did, couldnt fix the damned thing. So finnaly I swallowed my pride, and decided to contact dell via chat support. I just have to say, it was nothing but pro support, no run around, and after I explained to the tech the steps I took already to solve the problem (by the way, she quickly suggested all the steps that I previously did to the drive, which I had to look up on numorous forums to find out), she immediatly set me up for a RMA.
This story isnt finished yet, I still need to get the replacement drive, but so far, I've been very pleased and hope that this is a sign of things to come. I can right now very much recommend the chat support function from dell.
Here is the chat log:
10/11/2006 08:20:32PM Session Started with Agent (NV XPS Meg B.)
10/11/2006 08:20:34PM Agent (NV XPS Meg B.): "Hello and thanks for contacting Dell XPS Hardware Warranty Technical Support for businesses! Please give me a moment to retrieve your service tag information."
10/11/2006 08:20:44PM Agent (NV XPS Meg B.): "In order to better assist you, may I please have the full physical address (house/building number, street name, city, state, and zip) where the system is or would be located in the event that parts or service needed to be issued?"
10/11/2006 08:21:03PM Jacob Leggett: "ok"
10/11/2006 08:21:31PM Jacob Leggett: "I'm actually not the owner of this pc, I'm a friend who took the laptop to fix the computer"
10/11/2006 08:21:54PM Jacob Leggett: "would you like me to contact him and ask?"
10/11/2006 08:22:31PM Jacob Leggett: "hello?"
10/11/2006 08:22:34PM Agent (NV XPS Meg B.): "Whatever address it would be located at if we needed to service it would be fine."
10/11/2006 08:22:46PM Jacob Leggett: "ok"
10/11/2006 08:23:18PM Jacob Leggett: "censored"
10/11/2006 08:23:24PM Jacob Leggett: "*sorry, 75428"
10/11/2006 08:23:36PM Agent (NV XPS Meg B.): "Thanks! Would you also provide a contact phone number, please, starting with the area code?"
10/11/2006 08:24:18PM Jacob Leggett: "censored is my number"
10/11/2006 08:24:22PM Agent (NV XPS Meg B.): "Thank you. How may I assist you today?"
10/11/2006 08:25:35PM Jacob Leggett: "ok. this laptop has a sony DVD+-RW DW_Q58A dvd burner. This burner can read and write to dvds just fine, however it will not even recognize any kind of cd"
10/11/2006 08:26:54PM Agent (NV XPS Meg B.): "Do you know when it started having this problem?"
10/11/2006 08:27:18PM Jacob Leggett: "I believe since he got the laptop"
10/11/2006 08:27:37PM Agent (NV XPS Meg B.): "Ok. Let me see if there's a firmware update for it. Just a second, please."
10/11/2006 08:28:07PM Jacob Leggett: "ok"
10/11/2006 08:28:16PM Agent (NV XPS Meg B.): "Doesn't look like there is. Have you tried anything since you've been working on it?"
10/11/2006 08:29:26PM Jacob Leggett: "yes. I've been to several forums to find a fix and there is none. One of them is to unistall the Sonic cd/dvd burning software, but I would rather not do that because it is not my computer and I do not have any other software on hand to replace it with."
10/11/2006 08:29:54PM Agent (NV XPS Meg B.): "Let's check some of the drive settings."
10/11/2006 08:30:18PM Agent (NV XPS Meg B.): "Open My Computer, please, and then right-click on the DVD drive and select Properties."
10/11/2006 08:30:27PM Agent (NV XPS Meg B.): "You should see a DLA tab on the Properties window."
10/11/2006 08:30:54PM Jacob Leggett: "ok"
10/11/2006 08:31:06PM Agent (NV XPS Meg B.): "Is the "enable DLA on your drives" box checked?"
10/11/2006 08:31:17PM Jacob Leggett: "yes"
10/11/2006 08:31:24PM Agent (NV XPS Meg B.): "Uncheck that, please, and then click Ok."
10/11/2006 08:31:27PM Jacob Leggett: "I've tried unchecking it as well, still no effect btw"
10/11/2006 08:31:30PM Agent (NV XPS Meg B.): "Ok"
10/11/2006 08:31:44PM Agent (NV XPS Meg B.): "Are you familiar with Device Manager?"
10/11/2006 08:32:06PM Jacob Leggett: "I've also been to the device manager and enabling DMA mode in the primary and secondary ide channels, no dice"
10/11/2006 08:32:10PM Agent (NV XPS Meg B.): "Ok"
10/11/2006 08:32:22PM Agent (NV XPS Meg B.): "Know if it has the same problem in safe mode?"
10/11/2006 08:32:35PM Jacob Leggett: "I've also tried forcing the drivers to recognize the drive as a cd rom, still nothing"
10/11/2006 08:32:43PM Jacob Leggett: "that's a good question I havent thought of that"
10/11/2006 08:32:56PM Agent (NV XPS Meg B.): "Let's find out."
10/11/2006 08:33:20PM Jacob Leggett: "ok"
10/11/2006 08:33:37PM Jacob Leggett: "how will I continue the session if it doesnt work?"
10/11/2006 08:33:50PM Agent (NV XPS Meg B.): "I can suspend the session while you check if you're using that computer to chat."
10/11/2006 08:33:52PM Jacob Leggett: "just return the chatroom?"
10/11/2006 08:34:00PM Jacob Leggett: "ok"
10/11/2006 08:34:01PM Agent (NV XPS Meg B.): "When I suspend this chat, we will have 15 minutes where you will be able to resume and continue working with me. Once you see that I have suspended the session, perform the required steps, reboot and come back to www.dell.com/chat. Click the option “Cha"
10/11/2006 08:34:05PM Jacob Leggett: "lets do that then"
10/11/2006 08:34:06PM Agent (NV XPS Meg B.): "Let me know when you're ready."
10/11/2006 08:34:30PM Jacob Leggett: "ok"
10/11/2006 08:34:32PM Jacob Leggett: "i'm ready"
10/11/2006 08:34:36PM Agent (NV XPS Meg B.): "All right. Suspending chat..."
10/11/2006 08:34:39PM Session Suspended
10/11/2006 08:46:01PM Session Suspension Ended
10/11/2006 08:46:41PM Jacob Leggett: "ok i'm back"
10/11/2006 08:46:41PM Jacob Leggett: "ok i'm back"
10/11/2006 08:46:41PM Jacob Leggett: "ok i'm back"
10/11/2006 08:46:41PM Jacob Leggett: "ok i'm back"
10/11/2006 08:46:53PM Jacob Leggett: "hello?"
10/11/2006 08:47:01PM Agent (NV XPS Meg B.): "Welcome back."
10/11/2006 08:47:03PM Agent (NV XPS Meg B.): "How did that go?"
10/11/2006 08:47:12PM Jacob Leggett: "still didnt work"
10/11/2006 08:47:29PM Agent (NV XPS Meg B.): "Ok. I'd like to set up a replacement on the drive, then."
10/11/2006 08:47:37PM Agent (NV XPS Meg B.): "Can we send that to censored Hall?"
10/11/2006 08:47:47PM Jacob Leggett: "ok then"
10/11/2006 08:48:09PM Jacob Leggett: "ok then. may I call the owner of the pc first?"
10/11/2006 08:48:15PM Agent (NV XPS Meg B.): "Sure"
10/11/2006 08:48:16PM Jacob Leggett: "it will be just a minute"
10/11/2006 08:48:17PM Jacob Leggett: "it will be just a minute"
10/11/2006 08:48:26PM Agent (NV XPS Meg B.): "No problem, I'll stand by\"
10/11/2006 08:50:26PM Jacob Leggett: "ok I'm back"
10/11/2006 08:50:54PM Agent (NV XPS Meg B.): "Ok"
10/11/2006 08:51:05PM Jacob Leggett: "thx for waiting"
10/11/2006 08:51:32PM Jacob Leggett: "he told me that was ok if you send the drive to my address, which is the address I provided you in the beginning, so there shouldnt be any problems"
10/11/2006 08:51:45PM Agent (NV XPS Meg B.): "Ok, good deal. Please give me about 4-6 minutes to set that up for you, and I'll return with your case and dispatch information."
10/11/2006 08:51:47PM Jacob Leggett: "I dont know his address, but would you like his name/number just in case?"
10/11/2006 08:51:51PM Agent (NV XPS Meg B.): "Sure"
10/11/2006 08:51:53PM Jacob Leggett: "ok"
10/11/2006 08:52:25PM Jacob Leggett: "It's censored"
10/11/2006 08:52:47PM Agent (NV XPS Meg B.): "Thanks. I'll go ahead and set this up for you now."
10/11/2006 08:52:53PM Jacob Leggett: "ok"
rma info is censored too :)
10/11/2006 08:55:31PM Agent (NV XPS Meg B.): "Are there any other Dell hardware issues I can assist you with at this time?"
10/11/2006 08:56:33PM Jacob Leggett: "very cool...that is it. You've been a great help"
10/11/2006 08:56:42PM Agent (NV XPS Meg B.): "I'm glad to hear that you're satisfied. Thanks for contacting Dell Hardware Warranty Chat Support! Have a wonderful day."
10/11/2006 08:56:44PM Session Ended
The top of the convo was cut off for some reason, but then I had to restart in safe mode. It was a good idea on her part, something that if I had thought of then I would have done. Kudos to Meg. I didnt even have to ask for a RMA, she just went suggested it. well done indeed. I am hopeful for a quick rma process, but even then if it doesnt go as well, as long as I get it relativily painlessly then I can do nothing but recommend this service.
Edit: They sent me the complete chat log, so update :)