Why MY packard bell sucks , a sad story !
Peter van Hoof
Almost two years ago I bought my packard bell Pack Mate 6500 at that time
among the top of the line pb
15 inch 2020 monitor, 2 gig hd, p166 ,28.8 modem, 16 bit sound, remote and
16mb ram. spent the most money I ever have for a system
That's when it all started
System history:
Few days after purchase:
Discovered a discrepancy in the cd-rom drive speed ratings
On the box and tag in the store 6x drive ... little label on the drive 4x
drive,
being not exactly impressed with it's speed call pb service, a few weeks
later tech at my doorstep brings the same drive, he doesn't know what the
speed rating is and I think oh well not that important and let it go.
2 months after purchase:
Monitor (pb2020) clicks off during working with it , blinks back on a few
times and then completely gives up.
Call pb and they show up a few weeks later with a new one
About four months after purchase:
I am finally able to reliably crash my machiene, had crashes all the time
but was never able to reliably repeat it.
Call packard bell, get connected with a tech after waiting 3 hours, go thru
the standard procedures of reinstalling the system etc. 4 hours later after
calling back this friendly man a few times discovered I have a bios version
that shouldn't have been released, find a upgrade and :) it works ,
Hat off for this persistant service person, he didn't give up.
1 year and 2 months after purchase:
The monitor dies on me again, and exactly in the same way, no more waranty
buy another one NOT a PB
spend 500 for a new one (didn't want a pb).
1 year and about 4 months after purchase:
The combi card (modem and sound) dies, there are no error messages there is
just no sound and no carrier on the modem line. Dig in my pocket again
( this is really starting to tick me off now !
Spent a hundred or so for a new modem and a sound card.
1 year and 7 months after purchase:
The hard drive and the hard drive i bought a few months after buying my
computer because i was running out of space die at the same time. i expect a
controller failure but hooking them up to my old computer does not help,
financial data (quicken) and the backup on the second harddrive lost (I
know, I know, should have been on a floppy as well) not to mention a lot of
money in hardware. borrow an obsolete 200mb drive from work and this works
fine on the controller, the question is do I dare to invest another couple
hundred bucks and risk blowing it up?
I was hoping that after the two years I usually keep my computer my wife
would get another two years out of it but no such luck. It's sitting next to
my desk till I decide what to do with it.
And its not that i'm a moron with computers or things like this happen all
the time
I cleaned out my basement 2 years ago and threw out all my completely
obsolete but still working computers
a zx81, a spectrum a 8 bit laptop a 286 a 486, that all lasted forever.
Even though pacard bell might be an ok computer, I dont think I will be
buying another one
This thing just cost me toooooo much.
Peter van Hoof
Timothy R. Linde
Sounds like a problem with the power supply to me...
It's rare, but every once in awhile you get a power supply that'l pass
along if not amplify just about every little spike and drop in the
circuit.
Other machines worked fine ? Had a new furnace, AC, or dishwasher
since then ?
Even a vacumn cleaner can cause enough of a flux that if you've got a
flaky power supply in your machine that it'll slow kill about
everything in it.
Suggest getting one of those line filtering/surgsuppressors, they
usually are built into the bigger UPS boxes.
TRL
If you need to hire a PC Specialist please check
http://w3.one.net/~timelord/resume2.html
for a current resume.
Peter van Hoof
Timothy R. Linde wrote in message <34a6e1d2....@206.112.192.102>...
>Sounds like a problem with the power supply to me...
>It's rare, but every once in awhile you get a power supply that'l pass
>along if not amplify just about every little spike and drop in the
>circuit.
>
>Other machines worked fine ? Had a new furnace, AC, or dishwasher
>since then ?
>
>Even a vacumn cleaner can cause enough of a flux that if you've got a
>flaky power supply in your machine that it'll slow kill about
>everything in it.
I have a line suppressor in my power center , works fine with my new
computer and did work fine with the acer i had before the pb
The power supply (only tested momentarily) seems ok, though I dont have any
idea how stable the supply is longterm
Runner1983
sorry to hear that.
KShuller
> a few weeks
>later tech at my doorstep brings the same drive, he doesn't know what the
>speed rating is and I think oh well not that important and let it go.
This is your problem. You should have taken it back immediately.
Everything you have related indicated that the computer was a lemon. When you
declined to return it, it became your problem. Have you learned anything???
Guess what? Walmart is now confining their return policy to 15 days. It used to
be 45. Buyer beware. There is a reason for this and WalMart carries many brands
besides PB. Bottom line, if it has ANY problems during the return period, TAKE
IT BACK.
Kathy
Peter van Hoof
an update
I carbon copy'd pb on this one and got a reply , I dont know if it's
going to do me any good but at least they acknowledge receiving it
[start quote]
Peter,
Thank you for taking a moment to write and update us on your situation.
We sincerely regret the frustration this situation has caused you. We
will forward your message to a managerial representative in order to help
improve our processes at every level. Packard Bell strives to provide
the highest level of support possible and hopes that you will allow us to
restore your confidence in Packard Bell by providing quality customer
service.
Thank you for contacting Packard Bell
Bob Borth - Packard Bell Technical Support
=================================================
[snip commercial info]
[end quote]
...... i'll let you all know what next.
Peter.
In article <67ptpn$6hh$1...@news3.microserve.net>,
"Peter van Hoof" <p...@microserve.net> wrote:
>
> Almost two years ago I bought my packard bell Pack Mate 6500 at that time
> among the top of the line pb
> 15 inch 2020 monitor, 2 gig hd, p166 ,28.8 modem, 16 bit sound, remote and
> 16mb ram. spent the most money I ever have for a system
>
> That's when it all started
>
> System history:
>
> Few days after purchase:
> Discovered a discrepancy in the cd-rom drive speed ratings
> On the box and tag in the store 6x drive ... little label on the drive 4x
> drive,
> being not exactly impressed with it's speed call pb service, a few weeks
> later tech at my doorstep brings the same drive, he doesn't know what the
> speed rating is and I think oh well not that important and let it go.
>
-------------------==== Posted via Deja News ====-----------------------
http://www.dejanews.com/ Search, Read, Post to Usenet
carl
I recently noticed lines across my monitor and after further research and advice
from a repair technician it was diagnosed as retrace lines.
I placed a call to P.B. support and talked to a very nice support technician who
tried to explain to me why Packard Bell could not ship me a new monitor. I
explained to him that it would cost me $180 in lost wages 300 miles travel just to
drop the monitor off and that I could buy a comparable monitor for $200
When I asked him why dell and other companies ship replacement parts to customers
and they do not he said I don't know. I then asked him if it was because Packard
Bell does not trust their customers he said yes that was the reason and they do
not trust their customers. I then thanked him (he was very patient and courteous
he just could not help me). He gave me a solution id# in case I decided to pickup
my new monitor wich I have not done.
Bottom line is they do not trust us. They make it difficult at every turn but
they have taught me a lot about computers without their lack of support I would
not have had to do any of this for myself.
The product itself is excellent entry level equipment. I just have a hard time
dealing with a company that does not back their product and treats their customers
like they are going to steal the silverware
BTW dell ships replacement components to their customers, they will also guide you
through extensive trouble shooting up to and including opening the thing up and
going over jumper settings and replacing sound cards etc.
I am no advocate of Dell or any other manufacturer in fact I now build my own but
when it comes to support Packard Bell still has made little improvement.
carl
Ron P
Well, I think its all in who you get. I called once because I couldn't
figure out why my hard drive and CD-ROM wasn't recognized on startup.
The techie walked me through the BIOS and we couldn't get it fixed.
After about an hour on the phone, he finally gave up and told me to take
it to the repair center. I waited about an hour, called back and talked
to another guy who walked me through opening up the case, moving 2
jumpers around, restarting, moving the jumpers back then restarting
again and boom, no problem. Updated the bios and no problems since. He
even explained to me exactly what we were doing as we went along. Its
part of whats in the support software in front of them *along* with
hands on experience they each have. I think this just might go with any
manufacturer. Dell ships replacements because they can afford it. People
buy their machines for performance and pay for it. PB suffers from
negligible margins because they are "start-up" machines and sell to a
very competitive low profit margin customer base. Lessoned learned for
me, but they have been good to me to date.
John K. Vinson
Ron P wrote:
The simple fact of the matter is the Price of support is usually
included in the price of the big ticket item you purchase. I have
purchased IBM Parts with that great 3-7 years warranty and when the part
craps out I call the 800 number and the customer service rep states that
"You need you Sales Receipt" I need your credit card number to secure
the shipment of the replacement part for the damaged one etc.
Personally I have no problems with this Packard Bell since I have gotten
rid of the junk that came with it (Modem, Sound Card,etc.) upgraded the
memory and have placed 2 hard drives in for a 8 GB of hard disk space,
56K Modem, New Keyboard, New Glide pad to replace the mouse, New CD Rom
24x ATAPI, better, new Sound blaster you get the picture.
The only thing left in the machine was the mother board which holds
allot of devices and the Bios which I have upgraded twice. Hell I even
got logo.sys changed to not show Packard Bell on Start up. Most of the
machines in my department that we use and use and use are HP Vectra's
or Dell's
None of them have had one single problem.
In closing remember " You Get What You Pay For" Pay for Junk and low
cost you get Low Cost junk. Buy Quality machines and you will PAY
quality for that. So crying about a starter computer really is doing the
user no good. It may get rid of frustration although ;-)
Happy New Year
Peter van Hoof
John K. Vinson wrote in message <34AA5F31...@capital.net>...
[snip]
>
>The simple fact of the matter is the Price of support is usually
>included in the price of the big ticket item you purchase. I have
>purchased IBM Parts with that great 3-7 years warranty and when the part
>craps out I call the 800 number and the customer service rep states that
>"You need you Sales Receipt" I need your credit card number to secure
>the shipment of the replacement part for the damaged one etc.
>
>Personally I have no problems with this Packard Bell since I have gotten
>rid of the junk that came with it (Modem, Sound Card,etc.) upgraded the
>memory and have placed 2 hard drives in for a 8 GB of hard disk space,
>56K Modem, New Keyboard, New Glide pad to replace the mouse, New CD Rom
>24x ATAPI, better, new Sound blaster you get the picture.
>
>The only thing left in the machine was the mother board which holds
>allot of devices and the Bios which I have upgraded twice. Hell I even
>got logo.sys changed to not show Packard Bell on Start up. Most of the
>machines in my department that we use and use and use are HP Vectra's
>or Dell's
>None of them have had one single problem.
>
>In closing remember " You Get What You Pay For" Pay for Junk and low
>cost you get Low Cost junk. Buy Quality machines and you will PAY
>quality for that. So crying about a starter computer really is doing the
>user no good. It may get rid of frustration although ;-)
>
>Happy New Year
>
I think you are mistaking in calling a $2200 computer a starter computer and
it's hardly a good price for just a box with a motherboard and power-supply.
and after a good year and a half that's the only thing that's left of my
"starter computer".
I do understand that there are better and higher priced machines, ones that
us common folks cannot afford for which you can PROBABLY get better service.
Just imagine though how your wife (in case you have one) would feel if she
found out after three weeks she found out her turbo dishwasher isn't really
a turbo washer, that after 8 weeks the door falls off, she has to reboot the
microprocessor in it a few times a day, replace the racks in it because they
rust and finally just after the one year warranty runs out she would have to
have the door, plumbing and wiring replaced. If you would give her a comment
like this she would probably make you eat the remainder of this dishwasher !
I do realize that a computer is far more complex than a dishwasher BUT the
story I wrote about my system is not what should be expected from a Packard
bell.
Peter
michael
How old was the monitor? Packard Bell does ship replacement product.
On Tue, 30 Dec 1997 20:15:34 -0800, carl <cr...@spamblock.net> wrote:
>I recently noticed lines across my monitor and after further research and advice
>from a repair technician it was diagnosed as retrace lines.
>
>I placed a call to P.B. support and talked to a very nice support technician who
>tried to explain to me why Packard Bell could not ship me a new monitor. I
>explained to him that it would cost me $180 in lost wages 300 miles travel just to
>drop the monitor off and that I could buy a comparable monitor for $200
>
>When I asked him why dell and other companies ship replacement parts to customers
>and they do not he said I don't know. I then asked him if it was because Packard
>Bell does not trust their customers he said yes that was the reason and they do
>not trust their customers. I then thanked him (he was very patient and courteous
>he just could not help me). He gave me a solution id# in case I decided to pickup
>my new monitor wich I have not done.
>
> Bottom line is they do not trust us. They make it difficult at every turn but
>they have taught me a lot about computers without their lack of support I would
>not have had to do any of this for myself.
>
>The product itself is excellent entry level equipment. I just have a hard time
>dealing with a company that does not back their product and treats their customers
>like they are going to steal the silverware
>
John K. Vinson
Peter van Hoof wrote:
Peter:
Lets read this from a "Common Folk" I purchased a Packard Bell like I
said 2 years ago, and I also like you had the Customer Service Nightmare
with PB Support. In fact if you belonged to Compuserve at the time I was
so sick and tired of the service I was one of many on the Packard Bell
News group who had quite a few gripes about the lousy service they
actually provide.
I stated and left the paragraph in the mail here " I replaced all the
Junk from My Packard Bell and It now works wonderfully" Listen to this
again (Read this twice) I replaced everything except the Mother board
and Bios and all is working well now.
For your concerns as to your computer not being a starter computer lets
just say I call my machine the same thing when I purchased it. I can
fix these dopey machines, and the people I work with can fix these dopy
machines, and we only fix our personal computers on occasion. Packard
Bell machines are worst in the repair department then less say Hewlett
Packard or Dell but I have upgraded my machine so it works great. hell
the 6 year old HP on my desk at work is also working great and its never
had a repair in its life.
Additionally when my wife (Yes I have one) and I purchased a Chrysler
for around $7,000.00 it was a starter car. It was all we could afford 13
years ago. Hell it was in the garage being fixed more than we drove it
around. In fact we purchased Chrysler Plymouths 5 times since then and
they have all been crap.But we liked the salesman over the years.
But hey lo and behold we saw an ad for an Isuzu 5 years ago
and we looked it over and we noticed it was 3 x's what we paid for a car
13 years ago. That car still looks like new, it has no major problems,
and the quality of the car (The engine, the seats, the tires, the paint
you name it) are superior to any Chrysler we have ever owned and we had
5 of them. Hell they say the Japanese make a better car, better TV,
Better toys you name it. I paid the price and I am enjoying my
purchase. I bought a Packard Bell ok I learned, I won't buy another
one. Why? not because they don't come with hardware and software I might
like to have but because the SERVICE is Terrible.
I feel sorry for your state of events, but what good other than venting
your anger did it do?
Your computer is dead or on its way, you spent good money and now its
gone. Learn from experience and chalk it up to warning others not to
make the same mistake you did.
Hey bring Suit against Packard Bell, report them to the Attorney
Generals office or Better Business Bureau. Fight back!
John
carl
8 months old. they will not send a new monitor directly to me. but will have one ready
for pick up if i decide i want it. unfortunately it will cost me about twice as much to
go get my new monitor than it will to buy a brand new svga monitor.
carl
i have no complaints about the technician just the policy of the company involved. the
guy tried to help me but was limited by the policy of the company.
like i wrote earlier i PB makes good entry level equipment but there support sucks. I
wonder how many good technicians they have ran off because they really wanted to help
people.
any body can trouble shoot by reformatting and reloading we don't need some computer
expert on telephone to tell us to do this.
the best advice i can give a new pb owner is to learn how to reinstall the old way. the
learning process involved with that will render pb support useless with the exception of
hardware failures and i have stated one problem involved with that already.
Ron P wrote:
> Well, I think its all in who you get. I called once because I couldn't
> figure out why my hard drive and CD-ROM wasn't recognized on startup.
> The techie walked me through the BIOS and we couldn't get it fixed.
> After about an hour on the phone, he finally gave up and told me to take
> it to the repair center. I waited about an hour, called back and talked
> to another guy who walked me through opening up the case, moving 2
> jumpers around, restarting, moving the jumpers back then restarting
> again and boom, no problem. Updated the bios and no problems since. He
> even explained to me exactly what we were doing as we went along. Its
> part of whats in the support software in front of them *along* with
> hands on experience they each have. I think this just might go with any
> manufacturer. Dell ships replacements because they can afford it. People
> buy their machines for performance and pay for it. PB suffers from
> negligible margins because they are "start-up" machines and sell to a
> very competitive low profit margin customer base. Lessoned learned for
> me, but they have been good to me to date.
>
> >