Linda Artesani runs a bookkeeping business and bought a high-end Dell laptop to run QuickBooks Desktop, but faced a swollen battery, recall repair, overseas support calls, a misdelivered shipment to Reno, and unexpected fees. She's had zero problems with her Mac, iPad, and iPhone over a decade and wonders if QuickBooks Online actually works differently on Mac.
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Hi there, Linda Artesani, Artesani Bookkeeping, and I just want to do a little tutorial. Instead of it being on QuickBooks, I just wanted to talk a little bit about PC, Mac, which one I believe is better, and a little story about what happened to me with my Dell laptop. So I have to have a PC because I have the need sometimes to convert a file from Windows, a Windows file or a file from QuickBooks Desktop to QuickBooks Online. So I need to have QuickBooks Desktop available in my laptop, and I took a long time researching what's the best laptop to use. I settled on a Dell, they call it a notebook, and I settled on one that is supposed to be one of the best. I am not a PC person. I've had very bad experiences with PCs in the past. Where it'll last a year and pretty much you toss it aside because it stops working. And I don't usually buy a cheap one. I usually spend a couple thousand dollars on my PC. If I could have the perfect world, I would have none, but I still have to have them. So I bought this Dell and it's rarely used unless I'm doing a conversion. So, and sometimes I'll take it traveling. I did take it traveling when I went up to Rhode Island at Christmastime. Came back and used it. I use it very infrequently, and I happened to open it up and I noticed the touchpad was pushing up from the bottom. So it was pushing out and the battery was swelling. So we got a recall. They came and wanted to know if I would fix it myself or have somebody come by, which I did. So I had it repaired. Guy spent 2 hours changing the battery and fixing the damage that was done from it being pushed out. And again, I put it back on the shelf and didn't use it, didn't need it. It's season, so I'm really busy with work doing mostly cleanup in QuickBooks Online, which is my favorite program. And 99.9% of my clients are QuickBooks Online based. I had to open it up again for that one, one pesky client that's still on desktop. Went to turn it on, the battery ran out. Brand new battery that was just replaced. So I contacted Dell and they sent me a box, $39 or $49, sent me a box and said ship it here and we'll fix it for you. I sent it to them. They fixed it. They called me up and told me I needed a new battery. Said you just put a new battery in and I did not want to pay for another new battery. Said something was wrong with the motherboard. I have no way of knowing. It was working fine until the The gentleman fixed it from Naples that came here and changed the battery. Everything was fine and it took him a very long time to fix. So I have to tell you, with Dell, I had about 20 phone calls on this one issue. I sent the computer in, they kept calling me and clearly I was speaking to people in India, very well spoken, but it just kind of gave me an uneasy feeling that maybe I sent my computer to— I mean, you could You can go on the internet for a lot of things. I did it with a brand new computer once. I went on and downloaded what I thought was going to be Google Chrome and it was a fake Google Chrome and I had to redo my whole computer. So they called me, not kidding, 20 times on this one order. I sent the computer in. They said it was out of warranty and they sent me this back saying thank you for your order. I had to pay $178.08. Which includes that delivery. Actually, it does not include that $45 delivery service call. And they did whatever they claimed to do on this computer. So they told me it was going to be shipped out and I should have it by today, which is Friday the 26th of January. So here's my order details. Package, what they said was wrong with my computer, which I really think was either broken by the tech person that fixed the recall thing, but— Well, it was working fine until that man came and fixed it. But anyway, so I— they called me today and said your computer has been delivered. We see that you've received it and I hadn't received it. So I said no, my computer was not delivered and then the man hung up on me. So I went into my order details because it really gave me an uneasy feeling and I went into my details and I took my tracking number and I popped it into FedEx and Sure enough, it was delivered on August 1st, 2017, and today's January 26th, 2018. It was signed by someone named D. Landis, and it went to Reno, Nevada, and I live in Estero, Florida. So I called them up. I've spent so much time this week talking to support. I got bounced around my call because they wanted to know my service code. Apparently with a Dell, you have to have a service tag number. If you don't know your service tag number, which by the way was hidden on the bottom of the computer, which I didn't have, So how could I give them that number? But if you don't have that number, you can't really get around their Dell service system. So I will never buy another Dell again. I do have an Apple, which I've had for 10 years now. Probably should get a new desktop Apple, but it works really well. I have no problems. The computer that I'm recording this on, it's wonderful. I have an Apple iPad. I have an Apple phone. I have never had Any trouble with any of these devices. The only devices I've had trouble with are my PCs. That being said, I worked with QuickBooks Payroll this week on an issue with a new payroll client and the man had to log into my screen to fix something and he said, oh, you have a Mac. The web program doesn't work the same on the Mac as it does on a PC. I can't see how you move your mouse around. Because he was going to have me move my mouse, which is what they generally do. They don't generally take the mouse out of your hands and work on your computer. I don't know if I believe that. I wish— I would love some feedback from somebody that can tell me if that's actually true because I'm thinking web-based, it makes no difference who— where I'm logging in to QuickBooks Online. It's the same program if everybody logs in. If I log in from my iPad, my PC, it shouldn't make any difference. But he says— he told me that some screens are different with your PC. So I'd love to hear any feedback on that. Thank you so much for watching. Bye now.
