Dell really DOES suck! (well their service)

I've been doing business with Dell for over 4 years, ever since I made the choice to do my PC rollout with them I've been ordering from them. The only things I've really ordered from them have been PCs, Laptops, Monitors and a NAS. Though I remember, when I first ordered my PCs, which was a nice sum of money for them, I had a pretty cool Rep. She was always quick about ordering things I asked and she had some brains.

Now, I started noticing over the years (and at first it was just theory) but now I feel it is confirmed, the less you buy, the crappier service you get. Not to mention, the stupider Sales Reps you get that usually don't give a flying rats arse if you buy from them or not.

I am serious, ever since I've purchased less, I've had the most moronic service reps I've dealt with. Here, lets start calling out names, my rep, "Fred", sucks monkey arse. Get this, he would email me replies to another email address that I no longer checked at all...though I kindly reminded him about 5 times that I had changed my email and to update his contact list, I would still get emails to that old email address that I no longer checked. You can imagine the confusion it caused on several of our orders. Finally it appeared he got that small task correct, because I actually started getting replies to the correct email address.

But now, its hard for me to even get a response from the Dell reps LOL. I emailed "Fred", (this has happened several times mind you), to get a quote for a couple of laptops (looking to spend about 3-4 K. So I email him on Monday:

I need a quote for two notebooks, for home users.

They need the following:

Windows XP
Internal Wireless
40G HDD
512 MB RAM
Celeron (just for basic usage, not heavy media)
2 Batteries, must last at least 2-3 hrs if not more
All standard ports (usb, pcmcia, ethernet, modem etc)
Flash drive (thumb drive 128mb)
Office 2003 (Excel, Power Point, Word) Student Edition if possible since it is for students
CDRW

And they need a carrying case, one for each.

Thanks.

Ya know, a simple to the point email, the type that says, "I want to order something, I kn0w what I want, send me a quote so I can buy." Well....3 days pass, no reply. I even checked my Exchange Server to make sure the emails were not stuck in queue (I am such a considerate guy!)

So I send another email, to "Fred" just in case--but with a firm tone:

I asked for a quote a couple of days ago. I expected a response from you that same day, is there any reasonable excuse for such a long delay? Also remember, I receive email on this address.

And guess what, no reply. WTF? Is he dead or something?! I highly doubt it--if he were alive anyway he would still neglect his customers--thats whats crazy!

So no reponse, so I send another email. Keep in mind, my boss wanted this quote a few days ago, so I am also working under the gun--but I cant get a freakin quote! I email another sales rep (storage I believe):

Who can I speak with on customer service? I’ve been trying to get a quote for the past 2 days and I can not get my Sales Rep to respond.

Thanks

And guess what....no reponse! Wow, who woulda thunk? So I get pissed off finally and Go to my guy over at PC Connections. Always been there and has always wanted me to buy outside of Dell.

I finally get 3 quotes from him, all on the same day (nice) and I can be an anal mofo--so I'm told, so thats pretty impressive in my opinion.

I finally choose what I want, get them ordered, and I just got all my hardware I asked for, its actually sitting next to me right here. Let me take a picture (pauses):


w00t, take a look Dell, I bought from HP--which was my sworn enemy for merging with Compaq resulting in my layoff! :-O However it was a pretty kick arse laptop(s)....

Anyway, stay away from Dell if you can. They have killer prices, but now you know why, they sacrifice customer service it seems (ugh!). I can't say too many bad things about their machines, I've used Dells for a while now and I've never had a problem with them, they have always been scalable and reliable for me. Its just their service sucks. Their Power Supplies could be better, and also the type of ram, but whatever, I am not here to complain about their machines, I respect their machines (generally) however I have no respect for their crappy service, HP bought my service with a smile and I am good with that. This doesnt mean I am going Pro HP, I've had my share of HP stories, but until then, GO GET MY PC WITH A SMILE LIKE THEY DO IT ON THE COMMERCIALS!!!:@

Pocket PC -- PDA -- xv6700 -- Annoying

So anyway, yeah as I said before, I am managing the company's mobile phones, about 50 of them. For the most part there is not much to it except talking on the phone a lot with Verizon, Support or "ESN" changes. Since it is a corportate account, I dont have to worry too much about waiting on hold, the Verizon support usually pick up the line rather quickly.

I had some time to evaluate the Pocket PC XV6700 with the slideout keypad. I used it for about 2-3 months or so. For the most part it was a decent pocket pc, though my complaints grew quickly.

My first intention to use the Pocket PC for was its abilitiy to VPN. I saw it as an opportunity to use Terminal Services to connect to my server and fix small problems. Well here were some things I did not know before hand which I later found from using the feature.

• Terminal Services on the server must be set to a lower encryption setting, at least "medium." (this kinda sucks, otherwise it will not work from the PDA)
• Dialup sucks--it is slow.
• Many tedious steps in order to just make a vpn! For example, you had to first set the name and password for the connection. Sure you could save that information on the settings (but who wants to do that?) And even if you DO save your VPN credentials on the device, it conflicts with the regular internet dialup connection credentials, so then it pops up with another login prompt to supply the correct credentials. For some reason when you just want to use the internet on the device, it will begin connecting but it will attempt to use your VPN credentials. Its rather annoying!

Also, as I began to use it more, I found it difficult to dial numbers. Its no problem (and to be expected with a pda that uses a stylus) that you must use the stylus or just get good and using precision with your fingers to dial numbers or choose options! That was probably the most annoying thing, navigation! If you needed a specific option, it was quicker using the stylus BUT it was a pain, pulling the stupid thing out and using it. Whats worse is when you are driving, its much more difficult to dial a number quickly, it really forces you to focus more on the PDA than on the road. Of course we are not supposed to be dialing and driving at the same time anway but for a busy professional--who has time to stop and pull over to dial a number? A busy person that uses his phone a lot would want a phone with an easily accessible keypad.

Another thing I found that could use improvement is that fact that it holds in storage all applications, programs and tools you use on the device in memory, allowing these to become a sort of a memory leak (even though technically it is not since it is designed that way.) It is designed that way so that the next time you open the specific application or service, it opens quickly. Though it does more harm than good in my professional opinion. Why? Well since it allows programs to clog up the memory it causes the devices to become slow! Also, it does the same to websites you visit, the next time you click on internet explorer (just say a few days later) the same page is open from the last time, talk about a lack of privacy LOL. What is worse, during that time it keeps the connection alive (dialup). If you have a data plan you wont get charged for it until you actually use kbs but still, who wants the connection kept alive for hours?!

As for the cool looking key pad that slides out, I found it useless for the most part. If you are a guy like me that needs to get things done quickly and effeciently, the keypad is useless. For one, you have to slide it out. For two, you have to wait for the PDA to switch views, a few seconds to (landscape). Then you type. It is much quicker if you just pull out the stylus and start using the transcriber or the mini-keyboard on the screen. I prefer the transcriber though.

Yes, there is more. Adjusting the volume is annoying! While you are in a call and you cant hear the person, you first move is to turn up the volume. You do so and it makes a light beeping noise--actually they sound like *tink-tink-tink-tink!* Even seconds after you've let go of the button to turn it up, it continues to tink! Like it qued many tinks LOL! If you have it you know what I mean, it is ANNOYING!!!

One final thing that was annoying. On a Palm TREO 650 for example, if you send/recieve pix or videos, it works great and over the air. On the Pocket PC xv6700 with Windows Mobile 5.0, it seemed to work slightly different. AFTER hitting SEND (pic or vid) it would automatically first connect you (or attempt to if you are using a VPN, remember, credential issue), to the internet. If successful, then it would send it, it would notify you it was sent. Then on the recepients phone, (let us assume he TOO has the same phone), it would automatically dial his dialup and connect his internet connection without the person's permission. Then it would finally begin downloading the file.

So we have two main problems here. Cost and security. Cost if you dont have a data plan with unlimited data access, you will get charged PER KILO BYTE! It gets expensive quickly. There is no way around this, if you want to send pix or receive them and you do this alot, GET A DATA PLAN (about 40 bucks more a month.) Otherwise you will be spending too much money.

Now security, if anyone wanted your device connected to the internet, they would just have to send you a pic or video via email (anonymously) and get you online. Then if they knew your IP they could easily find a way to exploint your crappy phone. Sweet huh?! What is WORSE is that remember how I said it will STAY connected until you reset the phone? And who wants to reset the phone after ever internet use?! So yeah that sucks.

Its like, "oh you're not online!? Let me get you online!"

Now things that didn't annoy me much. Bubble popper was cool. Also, the Transcriber was awesome! It worked great, and if you played a little with it, it would eventually get to know your sloppy arse handwriting that it would get so good at transcribing your crap-slap-happy handwriting into text that it would speed up many of your text msgs or notes.

Yes taking notes was a breeze too, i used it a few times, (i wish i had more notes to take, it was fun to use.)

The convenient button for audio recording worked well too and at a very good quality. This is useful when you want to breach privacy and record people without them noticing! :-O

The camera was ok, it took decent pictures, it did have a cool panorama feature, which I never used--go figure.

Overall this device is "ok" and probably more popular among the teenage groups since it "looks cool." For a professional, I do not recommend it at all, I manage 5 of them, they all complain for various reasons, some are willing to go back to a normal cell phone.