LACK of computer support.

[Joe Bob]

I have a biometric/fingerprint reader that stopped functioning after an O/S crash and reload. Dell has told me to stick it or pay $200 to extend my warranty for a year. They even had the balls to send me a customer satisfaction survey.

Authen Tec, sent me this....

On Tue, Apr 12, 2011 at 8:55 AM, Authentec Support wrote:

Hello,

You will need to contact Dell regarding this issue.

I would have given you our driver to try out, but we do not support Vista.

Based on your description, it seems to be a hardware issue. I would suggest you to look into device manager to see if the sensor shows up or not.

Nice to know that manufactureres will back up their product.....

[azasadny]

Yep, I see this same type of "support" from almost all IT vendors, not just Dell. Dealing with HP was the worst "support" experience I had last year. I've all but given up on tech support...

[Joe Bob]

Believe it or not, Microsoft was the most help.......

[azasadny]

Another horrible experience with BestBuy's "Insignia" brand LCD TV. I spent several days trying to get that piece of junk TV to work properly. You know it's bad when the TV has it's own support forum!

[GH85Carrera]

There is a good chance that Google can find your answer. There is probably some forum somewhere with a post about your problem. Someone else has had the problem and found a cure. Try a few google searches before you give up.

[Joe Bob]

Thanks Glen, but I've done so....no joy.

[GH85Carrera]

You need to practice your Google-foo.

Become one with your Google.

[AirKuhl]

Just to offer another way of looking at this:

Based on your post I'm guessing that you bought a system with XP installed and then upgraded it to Vista?

And at some point your biometric authenticator stopped working since it doesn't have a Vista driver?

And you want warranty support out of Dell after your warranty expired but refuse to pay for the extended warranty?

It was pretty cool of Dell, btw, to offer to help you if you buy the extended warranty now instead of saying you should have already had it. Imagine if cars or basically anything else that's not high-tech allowed you to do that.

Anyway, I'm not saying you are wrong or right, just saying that there's more than one way of looking at this. I've been on both sides of this battle and the dumbest statement I've ever heard in my life is "the customer is always right". Tell that to the guy who stuck his laptop in the oven to "unfreeze" it, or the guy who demands that his 10 year old graphics card be upgraded for free to play the latest games, or the guy who dropped his phone in the toilet and demands a new one because it was too small and slipped out of his pocket so it's a design flaw.

[Halm]

Basic question here JB, but after the reload, did you go to SUPPORT.DELL.COM and download /reinstall the driver?

[stomachmonkey]

No excuse for poor customer support.

Last week got an email from someone who bought one of our games for her kids b-day. 50 mile roundtrip to her local Walmart.

Kid opens it up and instead of finding the game disc he finds one of those clear plastic "discs" that you find at the start of a stack.

So she had to do another 50 mile roundtrip to get it exchanged.

The manufacturing issue was not our fault and there is no way for us to be aware of it until the customer complains plus she did get it exchanged.

But still, she was out 100 miles worth of gas and time and aggravation plus the kid was naturally bummed.

Yesterday I sent her a care package with a promotional t-shirt for the game, a mouse pad and a $20 strategy guide.

We lost money on that customer but we did not lose that customer.

She will buy our products again.

Sometimes companies lose sight of the lifetime value of their customers.

[Joe Bob]

Nope, original Vista machine from Dell. I've been able to recover every peripheral with help from Microsoft and/or downloading drivers from the web.

The bluetooth wasn't even detectable until I got the right driver. Took 15 attempts. Then is suddenly showed up in the device manager.

The biometric shows, the correct drivers are here but I get an error message on boot up requesting that I use the USB port to connect the device. The device is internal...%^(

Reader is built into the key board. It's a handy device, but not worth 200 bucks to try to fix.

[Zeke]

I went to HP just yesterday and when I got done with the gentleman from India, I promised to post negatives wherever. The first place I found was HP Support Forums. So I take the time to register and state my complaint in a new thread.

You guessed it, the moderator deleted my thread. Now that's a fair and equitable forum supported by a group of crooks in Silicone Valley. All I wanted was a copy of Windows XP Media Edition that I paid for handsomely when I bought the thing.

Dave, if you're listening, I'm throwing the HP out.

[Joe Bob]

Dell DOES have English speaking tech support, they are just nasty pricks. With the kids and the ex, I have purchased 8 boxes from them over the years.

The one time I need help for something other than hardware support they tell me to stick it.

When this laptop is EOL, I'm not sure what brand I will buy. It won't be a Mac.....just can't get my head around them. Too different from a PC.

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by stomachmonkey

No excuse for poor customer support.

Last week got an email from someone who bought one of our games for her kids b-day. 50 mile roundtrip to her local Walmart.

Kid opens it up and instead of finding the game disc he finds one of those clear plastic "discs" that you find at the start of a stack.

So she had to do another 50 mile roundtrip to get it exchanged.

The manufacturing issue was not our fault and there is no way for us to be aware of it until the customer complains plus she did get it exchanged.

But still, she was out 100 miles worth of gas and time and aggravation plus the kid was naturally bummed.

Yesterday I sent her a care package with a promotional t-shirt for the game, a mouse pad and a $20 strategy guide.

We lost money on that customer but we did not lose that customer.

She will buy our products again.

Sometimes companies lose sight of the lifetime value of their customers.

Yes, but you actually CARE about your customers.

You did the customer support that will keep customers happy and saying good things about you. Dell has gotten so big they can't do things like that for small customers. Each tech support person is on a clock to take the next call.

[AirKuhl]

Originally Posted by Joe Bob

Dell DOES have English speaking tech support, they are just nasty pricks. With the kids and the ex, I have purchased 8 boxes from them over the years.

The one time I need help for something other than hardware support they tell me to stick it.

When this laptop is EOL, I'm not sure what brand I will buy. It won't be a Mac.....just can't get my head around them. Too different from a PC.

I bought a Mac notebook, but I use Windows on it. It was a bit more money up front but the design, build quality and battery life are better. No regrets.

[AirKuhl]

Originally Posted by Joe Bob

Nope, original Vista machine from Dell. I've been able to recover every peripheral with help from Microsoft and/or downloading drivers from the web.

The bluetooth wasn't even detectable until I got the right driver. Took 15 attempts. Then is suddenly showed up in the device manager.

The biometric shows, the correct drivers are here but I get an error message on boot up requesting that I use the USB port to connect the device. The device is internal...%^(

Reader is built into the key board. It's a handy device, but not worth 200 bucks to try to fix.

Ah, gotcha. I was confused because that email you quoted said that they didn't have Vista drivers, so not sure how it was working in the first place unless it was an XP driver supported in emulation mode which would be a very weird thing for Dell to ship.

[azasadny]

I had a few devices that Vista would not recognize. I bought the Win7 upgrade, installed it "clean" and all devices are recognized.

[WolfeMacleod]

Years ago, tech companies used to support thier products, even after the warranty period expired. Creative was pretty good at this.
Then came HP and Dell (perhaps not the first, but the first I can remember) who started charging outrageous fees per-incident after the warranty peiod. Now, everyone has followed suit.

When I had problems last week or so with my router not connecting, I called Netgear. They wanted about $45 to help fix the problem. It's only two years old...
BS. I called the Corporate office and b*ched up a storm. It's thier product, it failed, they should support it. Period. To charge me $45 to tell me to do a reset or change a setting is stupid. I explained that I also run a business, and support my product 100% - even long after the warranty...even to a non-original buyer. Sometimes, even if "user error" has damaged the product.
I even support products that aren't built by me. I've done no-cost repairs on other people's products, as well, if it's something relatively simple.


The router mysteriously started working on it's own again the next day, by the way, just after coming home from buyign a NEW router.
There is no such thing as custoemer support these days.

[svandamme]

eeh, was the laptop still in warranty at the time you called em about the fingerprint thingiemagic, or not?

[Halm]

JB, try Dell support again. I have never had them refuse to trouble shoot one of their products. If it is out of warranty, then yes, you will have to pay for the part and/or technician to replace it. But they will work with you to determine if it is a hardware or software issue. I think you just ran into their "prick of the day."