Getting a Laptop was one of the items in my initial buy list, Now.. choosing the right laptop was pretty difficult, from expensive ones like those of Toshiba to hardware options like Dell whose brand names are more popular. It took me around 3 months to decide on which laptop to get for myself. Thought of all the options and made up my mind for a Dell Premium Laptop more specifically the XPS 1210. It had all the things I had ever wanted in a laptop, camera built in, a 7400 Geforce card for games, 2gb ram, memory card reader, sim card reader, two head ports, and a12.1 inch screen. While I fixed my mind of the laptop, my office colleague was also going to buy the same laptop. He knew a cheaper place who got it from the dealer of Dell in Kuwait, So I was like… saving a few bucks wont do any harm (Only if I knew better1). We went to the shop, got the laptop, got it for around 10 KD cheaper I think, The laptop costs a cool 600KD. For that moment I was the happiest guy in the world. But that was short-lived. By the time I reach home and start working on it, starts the worst computer problems I ever had in my entire life. Anything I try to do, whether it’s to open programs or surf the net I used to get the blue screen (I later researched and came to know its more commonly known as the blue screen of Death. It’s a situation where one just can’t do anything but restart the machine. Since those days I used to be busy, I used to go during the weekends to get it fixed. Oh yah forgot to mention that another feature I liked about the laptop was that it had a three year warranty with it (Only if I knew better2).
Zak Solution Software Service (Location 1-Hawally)
First I went to Zak Solutions Service Center in Hawally, there I met this really smart guy (not really) who said its some problem with the software, He said he would restore the system to original settings and said that I would loose whatever I had saved. Since I wanted the laptop fixed at any point I agreed (I should have known better3). The guy reinstalls the software’s and I go packing home.. and then again on working on the laptop.. Within two hours I get the same blue screen of death problem. Was I Pissed off now???? Pissed off was not the word I wanted to describe the smart guy who fixed my laptop. Next Thursday I was back to the service center, met the same smart guy again, told him and repeated the same problem, Now the smart guy takes the laptop inside and does some work ( It did look like) and brings it back to me saying it wont happen again. I was seriously praying it would be all okay now and was hopeful the smart guy in Hawally knew what he was doing. It took me another two hours on reaching home to realize that the smart guy couldn’t do shit. So, next Thursday I go again, meet the smart guy again, tell him the same problem again (yah he forgets ppl fast) this time I guess he ran out of excuses and luckily I meet another employee who says the blue screen is proberly because of some faulty Ram or Hard Drive hardware and that I should visit the Zak Solutions hardware service center in Shuwaik. This point made me really think that now my troubles would be over (If I knew better4)
Zak Solutions Hardware Service (Location 2-Shuwaik)
Okie so next Thursday came, This time I made a move to the Shuwaik Service center, There I meet a even smarter guy (yeah u know better) who gives me a receipt and tells me to come after three days. Third day I come and he tells me the problem was Windows Explorer 7. At this point I was like, screwed, Millions of people use Explorer 7, My dad’s dell laptop uses Internet explorer 7 my home desktop PC I use Internet Explorer 7 and this smarter guy say that the problem is Internet Explorer 7. I tried explaining to the guy of its wide usage without problems, even with my friend who had the same kind of laptop. But he wouldn’t budge, I guess he was just paid to warm his ass in his seat and repeat the problem as stated in my receipt. I ended up with the belief that okie fine if the problem doesn’t come again then its okay. (But I should have known better again) I didn’t know what to do to this smarter guy, I mean how lame can a person get!!! I ended up having the same problem when I reached home.
Then again for the free Thursday, I am back to the same smarter guy there. This time I clearly tell him that the problem was not Internet Explorer 7, and show him the problem. I can’t do more than show can I?. He as usual prepares a receipt and tells me to come after three days, In the United States the same dell premium system is guaranteed to be fixed within 24 hours. I guess this is not the United States, Its Kuwait. Anyway, This time he calls me after three days and tells me that I have to reinstall the whole software and I was like I don’t think that would solve the problem. As usual he thought he knew the problem like the back of his hand and said it would be fixed this time. This time I had an argument over the phone (Imagine the amount of time and money I wasted to get to know that these guys don’t know shit). Add to that, the smarter guy says I got to pay 15 KD for reinstallation!!! (three years warrantee on system and here I am paying for repairs for problems I had no part of) I guess this was one of the very few times I actually shouted at a guy. I thought I should take it more rationally and no point in fighting if I wanted to get my laptop fixed. I wanted him to agree to refund me the money if the problem comes again, for which he said a blank NO. I was like fine fix it and I prayed hoping this time it works fine.
It finally worked fine. This time I was actually working towards trying to make the problem appear again at home. Next day I realized I shouldn’t have worked so hard because it started showing the same problems. Right now I am at a point I lost hope with the service guys and that fixing the laptop through some external competent professionals would save me time, effort and money rather than going to Zak Solutions for help. Till now of all bad services I have ever had (few actually). Zak Solutions in Kuwait reaches new heights.
Right now I am checking out my laptop with friends who know better, Hope my dell laptop gets fixed this year. I believe for any company, that all products of a company won’t be defect free, but if defects should be there, It should be promptly taken care of and by COMPETENT dealers. Dell is a great brand, they have the right products, the right prices but the dell branch in Kuwait is nothing less than incompetent to deal with the services that come with Dell USA.
It has been maybe 6 months since I brought the laptop, but have not used it for more than 10 to 15 hours on it because of problems relating to
1. Causes the blue screen Error (99% of times I used)
2. Work Life Constraints.
Right now my advice to people buying laptops.
“Neva buy a Dell laptop from the dealer in Kuwait”. This line would be the smartest decision I said in the blog today.
Reference
(Only if I knew better) was used repeatedly for which morals I realized in buying a DELL product was:
1 = Neva bargain with a high specification product for a few Kuwaiti Dinars, It’s almost surely not worth the bargain.
2 = Warranty is a good thing. But if you are been warranted by people who don’t know how to fix a defective product, You got yourself a big problem.
3 = Always keep a backup of your Documents, because atleast that cant go wrong.
4 = Having trouble with incompetent people never ever disappears.
