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When a download from support.dell.com breaks your computer, customer serivce should do more then tell you ta call tech support

160 points posted to Service and Support by laxboy10 Apr 5

I have an xps m1550. It was running perfectly. Then on support.dell.com, I saw that there was an urgent BIOS update. I downloaded and installed. The installer reset my computer and took me to startup repair, which was unsuccessful. Because this problem is clearly DELL's fault, I called to complain. I called tech support then called customer service. The only thing that customer service could do was transfer me to tech support. I then asked to get transfer to a manager and was on hold for 35 minutes so i hung up so i because i am not made of time. Dell support can deal with my issues because its their job and they are getting paid for it. They should not expect customers to spend hours repairing problems that are their fault without some they of compensation. I have better things to do with my time than fix issues that should not have even happened in the first place and that were 0% my fault.

ALL I WANT IS A WINDOWS XP DISK.

aikiwolfie
Apr 5		 I agree Dell should fix this for you. But consider this. When you installed this "urgent" BIOS upgrade, was your computer acting strangely? Was it crashing every two seconds. Or was it running as you'd expect it to?

My rule of thumb with BIOS upgrades is only install what you need. If your PC runs fine without it, then you don't need it.

These BIOS updates also highlight a particular failing of Windows. Windows is sold with one of the most restrictive licenses in the industry. So even a simple BIOS update can fool Windows into thinking it's been loaded on to a different computer. Which means you need to reactivate it. So you'll be spending some more time on the phone.

Now I'll be honest. When I upgraded my motherboard with my Ubuntu installation it wrecked my network settings. For whatever reason nothing I tried to fix it worked. But that wasn't a problem. I just reinstalled the OS. No phone calls. No frantically scribbling down stupidly long activation codes. No limit to the amount of reinstalls I can do. No fuss.
stormrider451
Apr 5		 Yea Aiki but if the BIOS download says: "URGENT" as he states, then thats totally a different story. To someone who doesnt know a lot of computers, if you see DELL recomending you something with URGENCY then probably 99% will do it. They should fix his computer, no doubt about it. The person is not at fault at all, not one bit. I know you dont think he is at fault, but saying that you shouldnt install BIOS updates like that is not common knowledge to the majority of people.

Heck, its new to me. I isntalled a bios update on my computer the other day and my comp was running fine before. And I aint the worse in terms of computer knowledge. Good to know though, it makes a lot of sense. If its working fine, why submit your computer to that radical of a change? But Dell shouldnt put URGENT unless its totally necessary.
aikiwolfie
Apr 6		 What people have to remember is that OEMs like Dell and actual users live in totally different worlds. What was this update supposed to fix anyway?
laxboy10
Apr 6		 I spent a few hours reinstalling my OS and programs. For that MAJOR inconvenience, I would at least expect dell to APOLOGIZE to me and accept responsibility. Not say, that they can help me fix it. Of course they are going to help me fix it, they broke it and I paid for a warranty.

What’s also really frustrating is when I had issues with other dells in the past they blame the problems on 3rd party software like aim, iTunes, Microsoft office, ect. Because everyone has that installed in their computer I know it’s not the problem, they just look for excused so they don’t need to accept responsibility.
libertyshadow
Apr 8		 So a faulty BIOS update didn't fry your Motherboard?? Consider yourself lucky.

Dell, please don't make BIOS updates Urgent unless you make a tutorial on how to put Freedos on a flash drive and boot from it (or make sure your tech support knows how)
 
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