DELL Monitor Warranty is Ace!

Big.Wayne · 1 Mar 2008 at 00:32

Hello,

just thought I share some info with your LCD lovers!

Recently I noticed some strange brown shadows appearing on my LCD, hard to describe it but I guess some of the pixels have lost their illumination power or whatever, the effect is particularly noticable when I have a lot of white background showing.

Not sure what causing it but I'm sure it never used to be like that :confused:

I bought the DELL 24" LCD as soon as they were released early 2005, it's *The Daddy* 2405FPW (rev A01) and has served me well. . . .

Anyway got on the phone to DELL technical support (Scots bloke) and explained to him the problem. After about 5 mins of basic trouble-shooting Scotty McDell said he will send a courier around next week with a replacement model and take my old one away, all I needed to do was hand the guy the bare monitor and stand which he will pack himself, couldn't get any easier actually.

McDell also said it was a good job I called and got this sorted because my three year warranty expires in less than two weeks! (13th March 2008)

Not sure what the replacement will be like (condition/refurb etc?) but he said they replace like with like, although they don't have any 2405FPW Rev A01 anymore!

So there ya go, I thought the customer service was pretty good, replacing a slightly faulty product that was nearly three years old! :eek:

The moral of this story is, pay close attention to the warranty you are getting with your new LCD, I never thought I would need to use it but I did. The fact OcUK offer a four year warranty with DELL monitors is something special! :cool:

Cupra · 1 Mar 2008 at 02:12

thats good to know with my 30" Dell

Big.Wayne · 21 Apr 2008 at 18:31

Oh dear, I think I spoke to soon. . . getting this RMA complete has turned into an epic saga!

My Original 24"

Attempt #1: Expecting courier to arrive and replace my monitor. On the morning of the supposed collection said courier phones me to check my address. I give him my address in Chelsea to which he informs me he has a different address in north london and that he can't drive all the way across town so I will have to contact DELL again and arrange another drop!

speak with DELL on phone who are very apologetic and arrange a re-delivery this time with the correct address!

Attempt #2: No show from the courier, no call no nothing?

Back on the phone to DELL . . . .WTF!

Attempt #3: No show from the courier, no call no nothing?

Back on the phone to DELL . . . What's going on?

Attempt #4: No show from the courier but get a call in the afternoon to explain courier can't make it for XYZ reasons? Arrange next attempt with miltary precision. . .

Attempt #5: Get a call from courier the day before who wants to triple check address. Actual day arrives and Courier calls to inform me he will be with me within the hour! Said courier arrives with big brown box and takes old brown staining 2405FPS (a01) and replaces it with another 2405FPW (a05). That night I get to check out the refurbed unit and noticed there was a big flare of white at the top of the screen (backlight or whatever its called).

Next day I get a call from DELL checking how I am and is everything alright with the display, I inform them I'm not particulay happy with the replacement unit as its got a floodlight type effect at the top. Some humming and harring from the guy at DELL and he then informs me he will arrange a replacement and most likely it will be an upgrade of some sort due to the amount of hassle I have experienced.

Attempt #6:So again I get a call day before, its the same courier just doubkle checking my address, he wonders if it is a mistake as he has already done a drop here. Today he arrives with another big brown box and pulls out one of these!

Wow, that looks a lot better than my original 2405FPW, even the stand is better! So I switch off the monitor I am using, unplug the leads and connect the newer model, have a flick around windows and make some colour adjustments etc, at this point I start to feel chuffed that DELL looked after me and swapped out my three year old jobby for something newer and more shiney!

However, as much as I would like that to be the happy ending the story continues. Installed some software that needed to reboot the PC and to my dismay the monitor went into power-saving mode as soon as the PC restarted, no POST screens, No BIOS etc, just amber light!

Much fiddling around, try new DVI cable, try connecting 2407WFP to another computer (same issue) bah! Finally I plugged a 20" DELL widescreen back into my machine, booted up and everything working. While Windows in sitting in my desktop I unplug the 20" and replug the 24" back in and it works! However as soon as I reboot the thing just goes into sleep mode.

Back on the phone to DELL, go through several trouble shooting measures before they decide to send me out another monitor, that arrives tomorrow.

I can't figure out why the monitor can't start with the computer but will work fine if I attach another LCD for the boot process and once its hit windows I can plug in the 24" and it will? Tried it on two computers same thing, the 20" widescreen works fine as expected on both systems. Seems there is some component/function in the 24" electronics that is borked perhaps?

sprognak · 21 Apr 2008 at 19:43

I've always had crap support from Dell I'm afraid, although never with monitors. Samsung on the other hand - wow! 18 month old screen, spring fails on the stand leaving it pointing constantly 15% down. I phone them up and ask for a new spring, next day, 10am courier's on the doorstep with a brand new monitor+stand and waiting to take my old one!

Replacement was brand spanking new, not even refurb.

mrk · 21 Apr 2008 at 19:52

I will never forget the first time I bought my 2007WFPb from Dell years ago, my mum saw the courier DROP the box on the floor off the van!!!

Dell found out about this and gave me £30 cashback so the monitor only cost me £270. It later developed a fault so Dell replaced it with an A03 model which had banding some months later so they replaced it with a A04 which to this day is perfect (with its new owner, natch).

But Hazro so far have been the best, so pro-active and even called me back multiple times and left me a voicemail describinmg exactly the process they are following and what happens next.

Spot on stuff.

wombraider · 21 Apr 2008 at 20:32

My 2 cents

Last March bought a 2407 A04 for me birthday
1st Unit has a problem with flickering when using vga ( first day )

Phone dell for replacement

2Nd unit REFURB with dead pixel and dirty casing

Phone Dell explain I bought a brand new faulty monitor want a brand new working one.

3rd Unit ( brand new ) , has dead pixel and carp backlight bleed

Phone dell they sent another one out

4th Unit (brand new) , 4th time lucky its all good :-)

Bought a new 3008 last week from OCuk ( with terrible back light bleed on 3 out of 4 corners )

Phone dell last week , yep we can geta new one in 7-10 days , phone next week to arrange delivery.

Phone Dell today , and delivery will be in JULY , so they expect me to put up with a carp screen for 3 MONTHS until they can replace it with a new one.

Not impressed , I am sending it back to OCuk for replacement instead of dell.

Dell Ace ? , hmm , maybe Ace Hole

Burned_Alive · 21 Apr 2008 at 23:14

I had a great experience with iiyama for warranty, 3 year warranty about 2 years in, both monitors develop the same fault within a week of each other. Contact iiyama who explain its now a well known fault and they have a fix. 2 days later courier arrives with 2 refurbed fixed monitors which are as new and pixel perfect (originals were too) and takes the old ones away, 2 years later monitors are still working fine, *touch wood*. Very happy customer.

smilertoo · 22 Apr 2008 at 00:02

I got funny shadows on my dell 20" but it was 'burn in' or brown in, whatever it is on a tft.
Left it showing various moving bright pics as screensaver and it fixed it.

setter · 22 Apr 2008 at 01:12

i was very lucky the time i had to rma a 3 month old vx2025. the problem was a line of dead pixels about 6 inches high. courier picked it up, 2 days later a brand new 2025 delivered, considering the one i sent back had a few knocks here and there i was expecting a refurbished unit as a replacement, but was pleasantly surprised, still working flawlessly on my brothers rig almost 2 years later.

Big.Wayne · 22 Apr 2008 at 01:58

Interesting feedback guys thanks!

Hmmm . . . I need to pick up a few new monitors for various peeps soon and perhaps I am thinking that DELL may not be the best choice anymore?

I am tempted to give Samsung LCD's whirl as their warranty and aftercare sounds very good and I would prefere a Samsung badge stuck to the bezel instead of a Dell!

Just sitting here doing some late night surfing on the temp 2407WFP-HC, I'm stuck at 1680x1050 res and I am unable to reboot my PC otherwise I'm stuffed until the courier arrive tomorrow.

Heres hoping for a nice screen that works!

benji182 · 22 Apr 2008 at 12:43

i had an awful experience with DELL trying to get my new monitor replaced after it broke and they sent my broken replacements and the the wrong monitor.

not that i need to buy a new monitor any time soon but i would definitely be looking at other brands although now the monitor is working its great.

darkcinder · 22 Apr 2008 at 13:02

Dell from my experience have an ace customer service and warranty cover

Big.Wayne · 22 Apr 2008 at 13:56

Attempt #7:Courier has just arrived and swapped out borked monitor. Sadly the replacement looks a little worse for wear but before I started freaking out I wanted to see if I could reboot my PC without the LCD going into sleep mode . . . . . . . and yes it works. Seems most likely that monitor #6 had some faulty electronics or something?

Replacement wasn't very well packed and has one or two dents to the facia, the DELL logo is cracked and the entire panel itself is covered in crud! looks like someone gave it a quick wipe over with a chipfat rag! :eek:

My original monitor although three years old was immaculate, no fingerprints, no grime and no dents!

Oh dear not sure what to do now, will have to wait until tonight to really test this unit when its dark. Seems to a downgrade from my upgrade, dunno what the difference between the 2407WFP and the 2407WFP-HC is, regardless I'm can't say I'm happy atm. . . .

philjohn · 22 Apr 2008 at 14:00

If its a 2407WFP rev A04 I'd keep it, meant to be better than the 2408 or 2407WFP-HC (which has a problem with overdrive ghosting, have a look on youtube for a video).

Big.Wayne · 22 Apr 2008 at 14:05

Yeah it is, but the screen and case is so shabby, is the actual panel good then?

darkcinder · 22 Apr 2008 at 14:08

I just recieved my 2407WFP-HC today and it says rev-a00 but manufactured in feb 2008 and i have not had a single problem with ghosting so far.

Big.Wayne · 22 Apr 2008 at 14:16

darkcinder said:
2407WFP-HC

I had that unit yesterday and I did notice some really aweful ghosting in windows, like a trail on the mouse cursor and strange tearing when scrolling an IE page up/down.

After Tinkering with the colour options on the 2407WFP-HC I must say the ghosting all but disappeared.

Just having a cup of coffee and a belgian waffle to consider my next move. . . .

mrk · 22 Apr 2008 at 14:22

I recommend the Hazro

Big.Wayne · 22 Apr 2008 at 14:24

thanks mrk but I'm not sure DELL will replace this with a Hazro.

mrk · 22 Apr 2008 at 14:27

Worth a try