I became sick of Dell back in 2002-2003. We bought a Dimension desktop with a top-of-the line 15" Viewsonic LCD in January 2002. ($600 monitor... YIKES... now the thing looks like ancient tech, big black frame around the screen)
Anyway, the DVD-ROM/CD-RW went out after about 4 months. They had me reformat the hard drive. When that didn't work, they had me do some sort of BIOS reflash, which cured the problem for a week. They then sent me a new computer and I sent back the old one. Problem solved.
Then, the monitor went out three weeks later. Odd rippling patterns and wavy lines and green hues until it became totally unreadable. I was on the phone for 4.5 hours working out how to get a replacement. Dell claims it wasn't their problem and that I needed to contact Viewsonic. Contacted Viewsonic... not their problem because it was sold through Dell.
I then called Dell back and they told me the warranty did not cover user damage to the monitor. 45 minutes of explaining later and 4 way conference call with a Dell Tech Support agent, Viewsonic Tech Support agent, Viewsonic Manager/Higherup and Me they finally figured out that there is no way I could ruin the internal circuitry of the monitor. Dell agreed it was under warranty, but since Dell no longer carried that model and was now going to Dell-branded LCDs Viewsonic would send a replacement.
Two weeks later, two boxes arrived. Two new monitors. One Dell-branded, once Viewsonic. Both asking for my old monitor. Called Dell... they made me pay return postage for their monitor which they sent by mistake. If I refused to send it back unless they paid for postage I would then be charged for the monitor. Viewsonic also made me pay for postage.
Now, in 2005 my mom has the Dell. The DVD drive no longer works and the keyboard is shot so she got a new one of those. Also, the hard drive seems to be going out and makes really loud, obnoxious noises.
I am pretty sure she will be getting a mini soon, but she's got the usual "switcher fears"
So anyway, this is why I cannot stand Dell whatsoever.
20+ logged hours of phone time from the cellphone bills over those few months. Dell was nice when I called for reimbursement. 1200 minutes of cellphone time (from a few months). They gave me a reibursement of $120 (10 cents per minute) once I faxed them copies of the bills.
That is my rant. Then again, I've got a rant about my former iPod mini and how much of hassle it was to replace that. Good luck with your monitor.
