Incompetence at Dell Computer - a rant

I bought this Dell computer in October. From the minute I placed it on the desk, I had a problem making it interconnect with the h0me network. I mush have spent 16 hours on the phone with various Dell service techs - some of whom charge for their "service". Eventually, I was able to make it work by disabling the Norton Internet Security package including it's inherent firewall.

Yesterday, we had a momentary power interruption. When I rebooted the machine after power was restored, I found that Norton was insisting on giving me an error message that the firewall was deactivated. Because this error message reappeared every 15-20 seconds - in the center of the desktop and on top of whatever I was working on, it effectively made it impossible to do anything withi the machine. So I called Dell.

The first problem was that they insisted that I had to pay to be able to talk to their help desk. I bought a four-year service package, but apparently it only covers hardware (that was NOT clear on the web site when I ordered it). Then the guy who answered the phone was clueless and wanted to do some "research" - promised to call back in 2 hours. Didn't do it! Finally, last night I called Dell to demand that they reverse the charge on my credit card on the basis that the help desk didn't even try to solve my problem. They pleaded for a second chance, and the dude in India (Maged) did try. But he eventually said that he needed to do some "research" and promised that someone else would call back this morning.

Today, I spoke with Erica in Ottawa - finally, someone who recognized that if the problem was that Norton wasn't working right, a potentially likely solution involved removing Norton, and then reinstalling it. She walked me through that process - good thing because it was anything but intuitive!

Bottom line - two months later, and after spending $200 on telephone support, the problem finally appears to be solved. Norton Internet Security now allows the network to function with the firewall, and the nuisance error message has disappeared.

But the entire process was totally frustrating. Tonight, there was an ad on TV about how much support Dell provides to purchasers of their systems. Bull!