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*Long rant warning* 
Well, I am pretty mad.. First the problem with my brother's computer.. Whenever he turns on any game (Call of duty 4 or any other game), it runs fine for a bit then instantly the computer goes into power save mode. I pretty much tried everything to help him fix the issue (few people on google said to change power options to never go into power saver mode and set computer to not hibernate, etc). I did all of that, yet it keeps turning off. I even went into BIOS to see if there are any options that force the "power save mode" to turn on if there is too much cpu usage or something. Nothing.. nada
It seems like it is a fairly widespread issue on Dell computers after a fairly extensive google search. I was guessing that maybe its the crappy generic powersupplies that companies like Dell use or something else entirely?
Next I contacted dell support, and the outsourced guy (probably in India.. where he might make $3 a day) asks me for service tag and service code, name, etc. I am talking with him for over five minutes giving all of that information. Then he asks me what my issue is so I tell him that my computer crashes and it says "Power save mode" after it happens. I ask him what do you recommend I do.. Next thing he says is "Sir, I am sorry but I cannot answer that unless if you're willing to pay $59 since the warranty is up." I say in response "but it's only been up less than a year ago. I am not asking for hardware replacement but just simply what do you think the issue could be? Do you have others calling for similar issue? I looked around and I saw it is a pretty wide-spread issue"
He says "I am sorry but I can't answer that either. If you are willing to pay the $59, I will be able to assist you."
Then I say "Excuse me but I have ordered dell computers before for other family members in the past so I am a long-time customer. Can't you even give a simple idea of what you recommend I do? We spent all this time going over service tag and everything else." I am sure if he looked through his records he would see that I have ordered 2 dell computers in last 3 years (and a laptop before that)
"No sir, I can't do that until you pay the $59. I am very sorry. What is your name again please?" To me, he seemed to be getting a bit irritated but it was tough to tell.
Again, I give my name, and then says he can't help me further unless if I pay the $59 fee. Then he says "Is there anything else hardware-related I can help you with?" I hang up on the guy. I look at the time spent talking: it was close to 8 minutes (bit under 8 minutes)... So we spent 8 minutes talking about service code and figuring out what my name is, but the guy simply couldn't recommend 2 sentences of what I could look at? What? And $59 just for that on a computer that is less than 1 year past warranty? And that's their computer tech service? HAH!
I had no idea this is how bad it was! I prefer my pc that I built on my own over this. Even a company like Gigabyte would be willing to help figure out where a problem lies even if it may not be directly with their motherboard and related with some other part such as powersupply or RAM. Heck, you get a 3 year warranty from most of those other hardware companies. I bought this pc from Dell for my brother thinking that I wouldn't have to open it up and troubleshoot for 2 hours if any problems arose, and Dell support would help.
Unfortunately, the 1yr warranty from Dell turned out to be a waste. I mean crap.. you have to pay $59 just for a simple phonecall to answer a question as soon as the 1yr warranty is up? But they have no problem with sitting on the phone for 8 minutes wasting time on these other nonsense questions? Asked me for my name about 4 times and even asked me to explain the problem. Then asks if I am willing to pay $59 for them to answer a question. It's laughable! Never recommending companies like Dell to anyone! I'd rather troubleshoot problems on my own than spend extra bucks for this.
Sorry but I just had to get this off my chest. It is irritating to recommend Dell and HP and other companies to family members and relatives just so that they could get technical support. They spend extra money thinking they will get support for years, and it turns out to be some outsourced company making hundreds of millions this way. The $59 they charge as soon as the one year warranty is up for a support call should pay the day's salary for about 15 people that work at the Dell technical shop in India working 10 hour shifts 6 days a week (yes, they work 6 days a week in India - only sunday is their weekend). Sad. And I can just imagine Dell customers that fall for this (if my dad had called the Dell customer service on behalf of my brother, I am sure he would have agreed to the $59 ripoff that may or may not help fix the problem). Disappointing what has happened to once-great companies in this country in past decade and half.
/rant.
Well, I am pretty mad.. First the problem with my brother's computer.. Whenever he turns on any game (Call of duty 4 or any other game), it runs fine for a bit then instantly the computer goes into power save mode. I pretty much tried everything to help him fix the issue (few people on google said to change power options to never go into power saver mode and set computer to not hibernate, etc). I did all of that, yet it keeps turning off. I even went into BIOS to see if there are any options that force the "power save mode" to turn on if there is too much cpu usage or something. Nothing.. nada
It seems like it is a fairly widespread issue on Dell computers after a fairly extensive google search. I was guessing that maybe its the crappy generic powersupplies that companies like Dell use or something else entirely?
Next I contacted dell support, and the outsourced guy (probably in India.. where he might make $3 a day) asks me for service tag and service code, name, etc. I am talking with him for over five minutes giving all of that information. Then he asks me what my issue is so I tell him that my computer crashes and it says "Power save mode" after it happens. I ask him what do you recommend I do.. Next thing he says is "Sir, I am sorry but I cannot answer that unless if you're willing to pay $59 since the warranty is up." I say in response "but it's only been up less than a year ago. I am not asking for hardware replacement but just simply what do you think the issue could be? Do you have others calling for similar issue? I looked around and I saw it is a pretty wide-spread issue"
He says "I am sorry but I can't answer that either. If you are willing to pay the $59, I will be able to assist you."
Then I say "Excuse me but I have ordered dell computers before for other family members in the past so I am a long-time customer. Can't you even give a simple idea of what you recommend I do? We spent all this time going over service tag and everything else." I am sure if he looked through his records he would see that I have ordered 2 dell computers in last 3 years (and a laptop before that)
"No sir, I can't do that until you pay the $59. I am very sorry. What is your name again please?" To me, he seemed to be getting a bit irritated but it was tough to tell.
Again, I give my name, and then says he can't help me further unless if I pay the $59 fee. Then he says "Is there anything else hardware-related I can help you with?" I hang up on the guy. I look at the time spent talking: it was close to 8 minutes (bit under 8 minutes)... So we spent 8 minutes talking about service code and figuring out what my name is, but the guy simply couldn't recommend 2 sentences of what I could look at? What? And $59 just for that on a computer that is less than 1 year past warranty? And that's their computer tech service? HAH!
I had no idea this is how bad it was! I prefer my pc that I built on my own over this. Even a company like Gigabyte would be willing to help figure out where a problem lies even if it may not be directly with their motherboard and related with some other part such as powersupply or RAM. Heck, you get a 3 year warranty from most of those other hardware companies. I bought this pc from Dell for my brother thinking that I wouldn't have to open it up and troubleshoot for 2 hours if any problems arose, and Dell support would help.
Unfortunately, the 1yr warranty from Dell turned out to be a waste. I mean crap.. you have to pay $59 just for a simple phonecall to answer a question as soon as the 1yr warranty is up? But they have no problem with sitting on the phone for 8 minutes wasting time on these other nonsense questions? Asked me for my name about 4 times and even asked me to explain the problem. Then asks if I am willing to pay $59 for them to answer a question. It's laughable! Never recommending companies like Dell to anyone! I'd rather troubleshoot problems on my own than spend extra bucks for this.
Sorry but I just had to get this off my chest. It is irritating to recommend Dell and HP and other companies to family members and relatives just so that they could get technical support. They spend extra money thinking they will get support for years, and it turns out to be some outsourced company making hundreds of millions this way. The $59 they charge as soon as the one year warranty is up for a support call should pay the day's salary for about 15 people that work at the Dell technical shop in India working 10 hour shifts 6 days a week (yes, they work 6 days a week in India - only sunday is their weekend). Sad. And I can just imagine Dell customers that fall for this (if my dad had called the Dell customer service on behalf of my brother, I am sure he would have agreed to the $59 ripoff that may or may not help fix the problem). Disappointing what has happened to once-great companies in this country in past decade and half.
/rant.