IRS E-Services

[Black Bart]

Dell

I have three -- no trouble with any of them yet, although I did call support once and it was such a tangle-weaved web that I sincerely hope I don't ever have to call about a PC breakdown.

[Jiggers]

Dell

I have had 3 good Dell plus a laptop. None were cheap because I bought top of the line for my office.

Then I bought a Dell back in May for my home. Not top of the line, but what I considered I needed for my wife to e-Bay on and do photos.

PROBLEM from the start.

Extremely slow coming on, doing anything. I knew it wasn't correct, and took over a month of fighting with someone in India each time on getting this corrected.

Finally succeeded in convincing Dell that there was a problem. They reluctantly agreed to send a tech person out, even though they advertise next-day in home service that you pay for. They at first refused.

They ended up replacing the hard-drive and it works like it should.

Their tech service in India stinks and a few other choice non-printable words.

I will have to really look hard at ever buying a Dell again.

[John of PA]

Which Dell, that is the question!

Jiggers, you hit the target here. Dell has some really great prices, but they are inferior quality machines. I bought an expense Dell and it is working fine. Go with the larger chip (Pentium D), and larger RAM memory, and faster Ghz. and a larger hard drive. This runs up the price but your getting a machine of HP quality (or what HP quality should be, thanks for the HP update S.T.). I believe a high end Dell is as good as any others.

[veritas]

We call a local IT company. They build the machine then bring it to us and install it. We pay a little more but I don't have time to waste working on computers. If we have a problem we call they come and fix it usually the same day. We have purchased dozens of computers and I can't remember have a "crash". They maintain the network, backup systems, virus-spam protection. I do what I do. They do what they do.

[DaveO]

I have built a few machines myself

We have had problems with about all brands of "of the shelf" machines. HP has been a good one. Emachines have been the worst.

For my own use I will always build or buy from an IT store. Once you have been inside the guts of the machines you can see the difference. Mother board failures are way more common on the mass produced machines.

We have also had terrible luck with the repair service of Best Buy to the point I will never again walk into one of their stores.

[Black Bart]

Repairs, etc.

We have had problems with about all brands of "of the shelf" machines. HP has been a good one. Emachines have been the worst.

For my own use I will always build or buy from an IT store. Once you have been inside the guts of the machines you can see the difference. Mother board failures are way more common on the mass produced machines.

We have also had terrible luck with the repair service of Best Buy to the point I will never again walk into one of their stores.

It seems like you're just on your own with these things. I've tried several different computer shops over the years and sometimes they'll fix things right for a while, then the "sharp" techie leaves and you're out of luck again. As far as dealing with India about anything, it's just almost impossible.

E-machines -- tell me about it. Years ago I bought one on sale for $400 (a good price at the time). "What a coup," I think. It conks out. I call California HQ -- they say just send it back; they don't fix them, they replace them. I did. Then, model #2 goes out. Call. Send it back, they say. I do -- they ship another one. Third time is charm. I use it a long time 'til it starts running as slow as Christmas. Take it to a shop. Guy says "These are made in South Korea out of such cheap junk that I don't even see how they run." But, he fixed it anyway for a small fee. I later gave it away (still too slow) to some kid.

Best I ever had was a '92 model IBM -- zero problems. It hummed like a sewing machine for years. I still use it to print labels (it's DOS).

[Black Bart]

Locals

We call a local IT company. They build the machine then bring it to us and install it. We pay a little more but I don't have time to waste working on computers. If we have a problem we call they come and fix it usually the same day. We have purchased dozens of computers and I can't remember have a "crash". They maintain the network, backup systems, virus-spam protection. I do what I do. They do what they do.

I wish we had your shop here. The last time I had something repaired, it quit again after getting back to the office. I called the shop, explained, asked what they thought was wrong. The guy said "I don't have the slightest idea." He got an "A" for honesty, but that's all. Called the cable guy and he fixed it.

[RLymanC]

Local Tech Store

I had my local computer shop build all of my machines, (3) five years ago. Still running, never have had a crash.

Purchased WinXP Pro and loaded all my software on a brand new blank hard drive. Not one thing is loaded on drive that I didn't put there.

I feel most of the crashes are from all the "Junk" that is loaded on HP. Dell, Etc.

Nuthin like a clean disk and start from scratch

[S T]

I agree

I have had several techs "frown" when they find out that it was Dell purchased, as they don't just load the Windows Operating System, they have all of Dells drivers, and other stuff in there as well.

I guess from what I have heard that Compaq might not do that, but that was 2 years ago, I know that HP does it, and HP merged with Compaq.

So is the end result that if you can find a really good, reliable IT, that would be the way to go and have the machines built and serviced by that person or company? The question is how to find a good, reliable IT?

Actually I think that the Computer Industry is running for a very close 1st to the Auto Industry/Sales.

Sandy

[S T]

E Services

I am beginning to "love" e-services. Thursday, I was on e-services for a while, had several POA's that I had faxed in, and was able to switch from client to client and pull up transcripts and print for file. Some clients that I needed to post a comment or inquiry on, which that feature works very nicely within just a day or so, and some clients just to pull transcripts so I could check to see if the changes had been made to the client's account.

does take some time, if you have not already faxed in the POA, and try that on line like Bill Tubbs suggested, but better than holding on the phone.

Wish Calif would put something like e-services in place, I am still waiting for a return phone on a client collection problem.

Sandy

[Unregistered]

I
Actually I think that the Computer Industry is running for a very close 1st to the Auto Industry/Sales.

Sandy

Too bad Toyota and Honda aren't in the computer business, too.

[geekgirldany]

I've got two Dells. One is desktop other is laptop. Got great deals on both. Found some coupons and paid about $650 each plus another $200 for extended warranties.

I don't think Dells are as big of a joke as they use to be. If you buy one of the better models they are really a good computer. I've had mine two years and no problems. I've had HP and Emachine. Like someone else said Emachine is the worse. HP is pretty bad. Had two within a 5 year time period.

I just replaced the motherboard on my cousin's 3 year old Dell. I believe it got hit by lighting. Found a new motherboard on ebay for $50. I guess the bad thing about Dell is the parts. You can't just buy generic parts you have to buy their parts for replacement. Atleast on power supplies and motherboards. Also their tech support stinks!!