Typical dell for ya..

Exactly greenday.

I purchased a new Dell Inspiron about 15 months ago. Immediately started having problems with the laptop, and called Dell on a regular basis. Every phone call lasted about 2 hours and included multiple transfers due to different departments, different problems, heavy accents, false promises, etc. (one call lasted 168 minutes including 24 transfers before finally being transferred to a dead line). After countless driver reinstalls, 3 new AC adapters, 2 new mouse/keyboard replacements, 1 new motherboard, and 2 technician home visits, Dell only finally replaced the laptop because I filed a report with the Better Business Bureau (which I had only ever done once before in my life).

I received the new laptop in April 2011. Two months later in June 2011 the laptop had a complete hard drive failure (couldn't even reboot windows) and I lost all of the data. Because my original purchase had a 12 month warranty Dell refused to replace the hard drive (or even talk to me on the phone for that matter) without charging several hundred dollars. After another Better Business Bureau report they replaced the hard drive (which Dell's own technician admitted that their hard drives commonly fail). I expressed continued concerns that the new laptop was defective and could easily have other problems come up, but they refused to add a new one year hardware warranty or to refund my purchase price (I would happily return this laptop in exchange).

What I have noticed is that unless you file a report to BBB they won't even give you the time of day. Once the report is filed they will fix any immediate problems, but still won't back their own merchandise. A very sad turn around from a company once voted best in customer support. I was an 11 year customer of Dell, but this experience and being treated like a nobody will cause me never to purchase from them again.

My advice is to stay away, but if it's already too late for that you're going to need to do something drastic (like file a BBB report) to even get Dell to talk to you. Good luck!

One thing I have noticed in all my years owning and fixing other people's computers: they only fail with people who do not know how to operate or maintain one.