I Don’t know where to start or to end my troubles with Dell all I know is that they have been constant and their so called world wide excellence in customer service has steadily declined and declined and declined, no longer resolving the simplest issue is straight forward and this is gaining on more and more % of Dell customers.

Anyways since my last issue with the bezel I have had more graphic card failures and repairs on my M1730 including motherboard exchange and one or two displays replaced, the graphics cards fail the 8800GTX being a 90nm process of manufactory mean they put out a lot of heat and they are certainly not appropriately cooled. the failures so far have been constant, eventually one of the Graphics cards will die and disappear off of the system including bios leaving only the other card (this is a double graphic card system SLI capable). this has happened so many times that eventually the laptop ceased functioning completely. Well After 3 or 4 phone calls and getting the case escalated further and further I finally got to someone I had spoke before and this guy is one of the few decent Support managers. My system was recalled for investigation and because I need the laptop and because I had/have a rapport with this Manager he decided to exchange it for a brand new system, exactly like for like. It all seems too easy to be glitch free. I'll never have what I paid for.

I must remind you guys that I have next day on-site repair contract until 2012. None of my issues  till this date were ever resolved next day within the repair contract terms, I’m not amused. They cheat, lie, promise one thing deliver another and squirm their way of taking ownership of the issues  when they take ownership they hung up on you and stick to their lies like if it was the gospel. TBH Im not a racist guy but does anyone working for some  so calles "support" organization in any Country is really going to respect the Customer Rights and the  Retail Law of the country that is UK? Yea sure and I'm Batman on my spare time... Not so far let me tell you. its just a big koke on you and your Money that you decided to part with in search of a decent working Laptop in my case.

When I received the new laptop it was missing the bluetooth module it took me a month and a half and two letter to get that resolved when I thought that was all of it, I find out that my warranty until 2012 was not existent anymore it took me another 2 months 3 email several letters to get that finally resolved. See the new laptop show inherit the old ones warranty but someone decided not to make it so. If you bother to read that is a direct breach of Dells own terms and conditions UK nr 11.2 Dell shall accept liability for reasonably foreseeable losses arising as a direct consequence of breach by Dell of its statutory duty. However Dell shall not be liable in certain circumstances for example where the causes or potential causes of the loss:

11.2.1 were not reasonably foreseeable by both parties; &/or

11.2.2 were known by Consumer to the exclusion of Dell at the time that the Agreement was entered into; &/or

Well this was reasonable and foreseeable for both parties since its process and procedure of Dell to ensure the old warranty is passed to new machine which was well know by myself and Dell. Took me an untold amount of time and issue is still unresolved its been now 4 or 5 months, I have written to US and no one seems to realize within Dell they have not only breached their service contract but they have also breached own terms and conditions. Incredible. The amount of time and money I lost so far with Dell I could have bought 10 M1730 I joke you not.

Latest one with my current new machine, had screen replacement 2 weeks ago for some reason screen was perfect then suddenly when colors were mixed at some website e.g. my blog header amongst a few was completely unreadable. i got that replaced now I have a great working Samsung display. I hope that lasts. Anyways I reported issue 3 weeks after I found fault since I did every single trouble shooting I could including re-install windows and run diagnostics. When I was sure and had the time and patient I reported it.

Same week I had that replaced the video cards that each core is supposed to run at 500mHz is now running at 200Mhz  (not tehe new drivers fpower setting at fault they should jump to attention on any 3D action and they did not do so) no amount of trouble-shooting has revealed any faults with video card except it 100% clear its faulty I also included speaker troubleshooting since my right speaker is crackling when on on voice/video conversations. Anyways its now going into a week and I have Managed to get a agreement to exchange and repair the issues and I was accepted to get a different video card. the 9800GTX SLI DELL part number 1GNV98X. Now instead of the dual 8800GTX 1GB DDR3, and the proised card I got the 9800GT... Oh boy... the fuckers!!

See the current 9800GT’s besides bearing the same G92 Chipset their offering in UK at the moment is the 8800GTX exact same GPU’s different flash and cooling enclosure same old balls and will no doubt cause same issues since its the same card. it will over heat it will fail like all other 8800GTX’s. nVidia is doing that as a trick to sell off the last of the 800GTX chips.

There are many sites telling you that the 8800GTX is 90nm and others saying that its 65nm, all I know its that it's 90nm chip. maybe one of the latest version is 65nm but lavalys Everest says 90nm at the 8800GTX's and its saying 65nm at the 9800GT but Im not happy that I didnt get what I was promised, thats a direct breach of the agreement Dell and I made and further infractions to their terms and condition not to mention my UK Customer rights.  

I have my contacts within nVidia unfortunately for Dell this person has provided me with all the info I need but I cannot disclose their identity for obvious reasons. if you put the specs of the 9800GT and 8800GTX side by side you will see that its is the same card remanufactured. this is a fact that is splatterred all over the net.

http://www.nvidia.com/object/geforce_8800m.html

http://www.nvidia.co.uk/page/geforce_m_series.html

and then that all the info/specs technical info you can find, is that not a bit odd to begin with? Why hide all the geeky info? There’s only one reason it occurred to mind, that when they remanufacture a chip the average Joe is none the wiser.

Because nVidia know if you put the specs side to side it will be obvious they made it difficult, I have requested this specific info from within nVIDIA Vaults and so far nada zip, ziltch. 

A while back Dell was selling in UK M1730 with a new 9800GTX which funnily enough is a true and only 65nm process card and completely different chip.

I’m still waiting on DELL going on a week to resolve both my video card issues and my right hand side speaker crackling issue which I decided to leave for last because its not that exciting even though they are obliged over the next business day contract to resolve it.

Speaking of which out of all the service calls I had only 3 calls which were resolved next day so so much for not breaking the contract  clauses you pay a fortune for.

Enjoy shopping with DELL and good luck. to your sanity and all!!

If I missed something ill update this later there’s so much I’m bound to have done so even though I re read this a few times before hitting the post button. this is a relatively small post to the amount of issues I’m going through I hope I did not fail in capturing the essence of the case (s).

Until next time.

P.S. I think I may have to write in to Dell this time as well to get this sorted… Oh Joy!