  Tech Support Saga My dad bought a D*ll computer this last January for Christmas. We have owned a D*ll before (a 486). It was a good computer and we had no complaints with the tech support. So when he went to buy our newest computer, he decided that the machine he wanted was a D*ll. (We have owned a G*t*w*y and two C*mp*qs too) We ordered it and it arrived very quickly, and all in one piece despite a warning that parts may arrive separately.
Starting in March he began to have weird error messages starting with the computer refusing to boot up. Multiple use of Ctrl+alt+del was the only way to get it going. Then we got an UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME error. I got it working simply by turning it off and letting it sit. This advice was obtained by Goggling the error message. It was the least invasive of methods suggested to repair the problem, including a confusing article on a version of this error code posted on Microsoft's site. Then we got a string of IDE and SATA drive failure messages on bootup (We don't have a SATA drive). It was like the BIOS settings kept changing. I called D*ll's tech support and of course they blamed the error on us, and gave suggestions on how to fix it.
I'll spare you the details, but since march I have had to call D*ll once or twice a month for hard drive-related errors. At one point I was even instructed to open the case and unplug the drive to clear the static from it (or so they said). The tech promised us this would solve the problem and that if it happened again they would replace our hard drive.
No matter what the problem is the techs invariably blame it on a phantom corrupted file, new software/hardware (in spite of the fact that none was installed), or "power surges". I find this interesting because we have two other computers in the house and none of them have had any of these "very common" problems. We were pretty tired of these bootup errors by the time we received another UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME error this last weekend. I spent the evening on the phone with a tech who was giving me bullshit about how I probably messed up Windows XP by opening a corrupted email (it's the phantom corrupted file again!).
We know better than to open emails with files attached to them. I asked him if he could see the history of calls for this system and pointed out to him that the common denominator in all of the problems was the hard drive (or the HD controller?). I also pointed out that I have an H*wl*tt P*ck*rd with XP and I have never had a problem like this with it. This didn't seem to make any sort of impression however, and he made me use the Windows XP disk to run Chkdsk on the hard drive, which he claimed was to fix the phantom file that I had so carelessly corrupted by opening an email.
He assured me that he would call me in an hour after the chkdsk was done running and that the computer would reboot. 2 hours later and no call from D*ll support, chkdsk had quit 25% of the way through due to errors, and the system still refused to reboot. Out of desperation I tried restarting it, pressing F12 at the D*ll screen where I had seen a place where you can run a diagnostic on the hard drive.
When I did so it said it had failed, and I got a "code 7" or something like that. I had no idea what this meant, but I called D*ll back. The woman told me to do exactly what I had just done (F12, IDE check) and I told her I had got a 7. "Oooh. " She says. "Your hard drive has failed. " Really?! Might we have a bad hard drive?
I would never have guessed it after four months of sporadic HD errors!! So my dad gets on the line with this woman and she tells him how they are going to do the HD replacement. She gave him a phone number for the company that sends out techs to do the work, and a case number. She assured us they would call on Monday to schedule an appointment. Monday comes and no call. I call the phone number the D*ll tech support woman gave me and I get a "This number has been disconnected" message. I call D*ll customer support to complain. She gives me another number to call. I call it and get a woman with a very bad attitude who tells me that their network is down so they can't tell me anything. So that's where we are. 
