Dell has a new policy- MUST READ

**Kenny P.** · July 18th, 2002, 06:46 AM

Hate to swat the hornet's nest, but...

Just make a copy of the CD and allow that person to use their key code to activate it.

Piss on Micro$oft.

Kenny P.
Visualize Whirled Peas

**SuPpOrT GuY** · July 18th, 2002, 07:00 AM

<blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by techs:
 <blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by GHSTECH:
I would return the harddrive as bad. Since most OEMs ship replacements with the correct image pre-loaded. You could then ghost the drive and back the image up to cd for archiving and return the trashed drive to them. note: this may not seem ethical to some, but most techs would agree that Dell is not working very hard to keep their customers happy by not even offering to sell you a retore disk.<hr /></blockquote>Dell discontinued the practice of loading the image back onto replacement hard drives. I found out when 6 hard drives failed on some Optiplex's (drive defect). Had to reinstall on all of them. Customer changed to gateway after that fiasco.<hr /></blockquote>I agree with returning the harddrive because they would have to reload the os for the customer . the common problem I had with dell systems was the harddrive having bad sectors. The bad part is theses systems were 6 months or less old .

**savagegerbil** · July 18th, 2002, 07:18 AM

Have you tried going to a dell authorized repair shop and seeing if they could order you one? if not, I may be able to get you one. Our company just switched to dell and the sales people are all about getting us anything we need.

**freddy** · July 18th, 2002, 08:35 AM

ok , simular prob in UK ,,,.tiny computer (with restore disk) ,,,tiny go belly up ,,time computers take there warrenties over ,BUT parts are free ,labour is,nt ,,,IE: £270 to change a motherboard ,,board would cost £70 .

customer gets new board ,, fits it, XP says "get lost" ,,,tries restore disk (tiny) ,,that says "get lost" ,,,result no o/s and a bill for a new copy of XP.

conclusion:

pray that your sister/granny etc did not buy a "tiny" machine ,,,,
and send all the curses of the world to "time"

FtF

**The Nightfly** · July 18th, 2002, 08:45 AM

I had a similar problem attempting to reinstall Win XP Home for a buddy from his cracked CD. I was able to install from my own CD using my buddy's CD Key, then activate the OS with no problem.

As for Dell's pathetic customer service regarding replacement of a CD that was scratched when shipped out, you should badger Dell with calls and E-mails every day until they relent and replace your CD. Write a letter to PC World's Consumer Watch column, and to Maximum PC's Watchdog consumer advocate column. Contacting your local Better Business Bureau might also help. Sending your angry letters to Dell before you send them out to the magazines may be enough to persuade them to replace your CD to avoid bad press. Dell prides itself on its reputation for "excellent" customer service.

Finally, you can call Dell and tell them that you think the problem reinstalling Win XP is due to a faulty hard disk or CD-ROM drive in your system. Insist on an on-site service call from a technician, which can cost Dell as much as $300. Dell will balk at first, but they must provide on-site serive if you insist upon it, since this a legal right granted to you under their warranty. In the end, they will be happy to give in and send you a replacement CD to avoid a costly service call.

Dell obviously has no respect for its customers, so don't hesitate to play hardball with them. The squeaky wheel gets the grease.

**techs** · July 18th, 2002, 09:57 AM

Just a reminder. I want to use Dells cd in case it has dell customizations. Dell is no longer reloading os on failed hard drives. Dell said they would make an exception and will send the disk at no charge.
The reason I posted this is how absurd it is to tell someone they must buy a new retail winXP if their cd goes bad 90 days or more after purchase. Microsoft will even sell you a disk replacement. While apparently you can use another winXP disk with your productkey what about people who don't know this, or don't know anyone with Windows XP?

**Visgothy** · July 18th, 2002, 12:24 PM

an other option would be to try to repair the CD. There some blockbuster that are selling little machine to kinda polish and remove scratches from CD's.

**Jeeplady** · July 18th, 2002, 11:29 PM

well the latest is that if u buy an HP system they will sell you the restore disks for a small price but u have to call a long distance number & get put on hold for eternity. as for dell saying you have to buy a retail is very poor customer service. and besides winXp isnt all it is cracked up to be. I prefer win2000 Pro very stable. I have tried WinXP it looks nice but preformance is lacking.

**sanford** · August 16th, 2002, 02:21 AM

Is Microsoft going to press a different disc for everyone?

**-Senectus-** · August 16th, 2002, 03:15 AM

IBM do the same thing..

Even worse is that now they ship the OS install image on the hard drive.. If you format the drive or a virus wipes the drive, you have to for out 180.00 AU$ for a new license/CD.

Suck don't it.

Next time buy a Dell with the "freedos" option and throw a store bought copy of Windows on it.

**condor** · August 16th, 2002, 09:47 PM

Here are a few ideas.

1. if the disc is just mildly scratched you can try one of those "disc doctors" gadgets - they actually work !

2. get a copy of XP from someone (copying the CD is not illegal as long as you have the license to use it !!) then use the CD key from your Sticker (if you don't have a sticker then it's not a legal copy !)

3. if you can't do any of the above don't buy a retail copy of XP, go buy a Duron or Celleron CPU (you can get one for $20) then buy a copy of Win XP OEM (those sell around the $80)
true that it sux but at least you don't have to pay retail price plus you get a perfectly legal copy of WinXP you can install on another computer or give someone.

Still DELL SUX !!!

**techs** · August 17th, 2002, 03:32 AM

A further thought just occured to me- since Dell oem winxp don't require product activation doesn't that make the actual cdrom different from an oem disk I buy from my supplier?

**ADS_Tech** · August 19th, 2002, 05:03 PM

True, but ive had a similar problem with a Mesh machine - customer had lost all his discs moving house, then buggered up his system - but I just used HIS licence key from the Mesh MS XP sticker after installing from another XP OEM disc in the workshop.

**techs** · August 19th, 2002, 05:35 PM

Originally posted by Judge__Dredd
True, but ive had a similar problem with a Mesh machine - customer had lost all his discs moving house, then buggered up his system - but I just used HIS licence key from the Mesh MS XP sticker after installing from another XP OEM disc in the workshop.

Makes you think that it is possible that certain product keys are oem types that don't require activation, not different discs?

**Supertech2** · August 20th, 2002, 02:17 PM

As a customer of Dell's over the past two years I have bought a dozen pc's from them and have found customer support intelligence to equate to that of a counter person at Mc Donald's.

The proper thing to do when you buy from Dell in the future is to take the PC out of the box and make an image of the hard drive and burn it to cd's. I use Partition Magic, Drive Image, and three blank cd's at most. Now when things go wrong I pull out my cd's and restore the hard drive to new.

Thread: Dell has a new policy- MUST READ

Thread Tools

Display

Bookmarks

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions