pics of this sound card...

[apu95]

ive had this problem for a looong time now...so ill make it short.
i ordered a dell system...they shipped it with the wrong card (SB0200 instead of SB0203, yes theyre totally different). the POS dell sent cannot have its drivers updated and sounds scratchy. i called and they said theyd send the correct card (SB0203). well guess what...they sent the same wrong card...TWICE! i have 3 SB0200's which are all pieces of crap....ive decided to take this to a higher level and sue for selling me something i didnt order...
im looking for a picture of the sound card SoundBlaster Live! 5.1 Digital with model SB0203 (theres a SB0220 model as well). i really wanna screw dell up....anyone know where to find this?

thx,
Apu

(I know its a dell, and its a POS but my dad wanted a "warranty")

 

[Un4gIvEn1]

HAHA! Good luck, that's all I can say.

In defense of Dell, I believe that they have the best proprietary systems on the market. I deal directly with Dell and have to say that thier customer service (on the corporate side) is phenomenal. I am Dell certified.

Anyways... Good Luck with the whole "sueing" thing. I am sure that if you can show your invoice with the one part on it and the part that is incorrect they shouldn't give you any trouble replacing it.

 

[Un4gIvEn1]

And by the way? What do you think you may possibly win? They won't award you "pain and suffering." The most you can hope to win would be the amount of the card. Be careful, because a judge may or may not award you attorney fees. And, if you lose, then you are out all of your attorney fees. Is it really worth it over ~$200? You realize that there aren't many attorneys in the world that will even take on a case on only $200 retainer? Like I said... GOOD LUCK!

 

[NegativeFactor]

I deal with Dell corperatly in the UK, they are sh*t!!!

 

[Un4gIvEn1]

The unfortunate thing is that even Dell makes mistakes. I feel for you, really. I did some side work for someone with a new laptop that was giving her problems. They wouldn't do a thing for her. I got on the phone, gave her my tech ID number and they didn't even question my judgement. I feel for the consumers. Dell doesn't have very good home user support. Thier corporate support is one of the best! A part goes bad, I call them by 4pm, I get the new part the next day by 10am. Can't beat that!

 

[apu95]

aw man i hope i can get something unforgiven. in the invoice it says SB0203 and the 3 cards theyve sent me are SB0200...i cant believe that they actually sent it 3 times....i dont know if theyre dumb or they like to piss off customers...

 

[Un4gIvEn1]

Like I said... I feel for you. Dell isn't very helpful to home users.

 

[Krux]

Originally posted by apu95
ive had this problem for a looong time now...so ill make it short.
i ordered a dell system...they shipped it with the wrong card (SB0200 instead of SB0203, yes theyre totally different). the POS dell sent cannot have its drivers updated and sounds scratchy. i called and they said theyd send the correct card (SB0203). well guess what...they sent the same wrong card...TWICE! i have 3 SB0200's which are all pieces of crap....ive decided to take this to a higher level and sue for selling me something i didnt order...
im looking for a picture of the sound card SoundBlaster Live! 5.1 Digital with model SB0203 (theres a SB0220 model as well). i really wanna screw dell up....anyone know where to find this?

thx,
Apu

(I know its a dell, and its a POS but my dad wanted a "warranty")

I'm 100% sure that this won't fly in court, the only way you could sue them is if they tell you they won't take the card(s) back and give you the right one. and they can even do that IF they offer to refund the difference. just call dell again and tell them they messed up again and they will try to fix it theres no reason to "try" and sue them there a multi billion dallor company you wouldn't be "screwing" them up in the slightest and all you could sue for is maybe the price of the card. and its only a 35 dallor card (I have one, got it from newegg) with this in mind here is your picture attatched pic is a SB0220

 

[Un4gIvEn1]

He was looking for SB0203

 

[Krux]

he said either or there both digital 5.1 cards and you prolly can't just look at it and be able to say yup thats a 203 its a 220 unless you read the top of the SPU and since you can't read it from the picture there is no way you can tell.

 

[Zedric]

Originally posted by Un4gIvEn1
The unfortunate thing is that even Dell makes mistakes. I feel for you, really. I did some side work for someone with a new laptop that was giving her problems. They wouldn't do a thing for her. I got on the phone, gave her my tech ID number and they didn't even question my judgement. I feel for the consumers. Dell doesn't have very good home user support. Thier corporate support is one of the best! A part goes bad, I call them by 4pm, I get the new part the next day by 10am. Can't beat that!

This is a problem with most computer supports. There are however reasons for it.

Home user often "think" they know "stuff". They heard "stuff" from "that guy that knows stuff about computers". Assuming they know what they are talking about can often be much more expencive than it needs to be.

If you talk to a tech, the chance of him/her being right is much higher. Then you can go ahead send whatever he/she requests.

This may sound crude but that's the way it works most of the time. This is of cource a problem since some home users acctually do know what they are talking about. Hopefully the support can notice this on the phone. Sadly many of the support people aren't good enough at it to tell themselves.

This is the state of the computer buisness today and to be honest it sucks.

Well enough ranting from me. I'm sure there are other opinions about this.

 

[Un4gIvEn1]

Yeah, the problem with the standard consumer techs is that they do not require them to know much more than how to read thier webpage. You can find almost anything you need on it, why know?

 

[jonifen]

companies who sell pre-built machines tend to treat their customers as if they've not got any/much knowledge of computers probably for the main reason being that if they knew how to build a PC, they'd probably do it themselves.

However, they've not quite got the grasp of the "warranty" concept - and why people would want to buy something from them purely because of the warranty.

The situation is probably that their machines were meant to come out with the sound card they sent you, but the n00b who did the writeup about it in magazines/internet websites etc typed the wrong code in. Yes, if this is true, then they should send everyone the sound card quoted on the advertisement because in the UK it would be a violation of the Trade Descriptions Act 1984 (I assume there is a similar act in place in the US & Canada?)

Chances of you winning a case against them are extremely slim... the only way you would win is probably if the judge had also bought a machine from dell with the wrong bits in :huh:

If you have a hard copy of where it says your machine will have been built with the sound card you're after (screenshot/printout of the advert/invoice or whatever), then fax/post it to Dell's customer services department explaining that you're not happy with your treatment by them as you've not received what you asked for, and you have been twice sent the wrong sound card.

Without a hard copy of what you refer to when you tell them they gave you the wrong sound card, I wouldnt say you have a chance of getting anything different.

However, you could always sell the 3 sound cards on ebay and buy the correct card with the money you make but if Dell want the 2 extras they sent back, then you may have to.

 

[JohnnyGreb]

As bad as it sounds, and by no means am I a fan of Dell ('cept corporate) the lawsuit route is a waste of time, money, and resources. Even in a "best case" scenerio where you win damages for any amount, you've effectively just increased the price of any future products that you, or anyone else buys from Dell. But that's a whole other topic....

Basically, at this point, what I would do is hold on to all the cards you've been sent. Call Dell and get a mailing address for customer complaints. Write a letter stating all the hassle and problems you've had, giving as much info as you can; dates, who you talked to (if you know), and nicely request a refund for the retail value of the sound card so you can get it yourself. Tell them that you'll send back the other cards when this is done. Also, make it a point that you will be letting everyone know what kind of service you got, and that you'll tell all your friends not to buy Dell.

This may not work, but it might, as a friend had a problem with Dell a couple years back.
A friend of mine bought a complete system through Dell but when he got it the monitor was defective. He was getting nowhere on getting a replacement monitor. He spent about 2 weeks back and forth on the phone with lots of people. He finally wrote Dell a letter and got a replacement monitor 6 days after he mailed it with a reply letter basically saying "sorry for the problems, we hope you'll consider us for future purchases."
Of course, he's not bought anything from them since, but at least it was resolved in his favor. , Oh, and the defective monitor they never asked for it back.

Best of luck

-Ryandor