Another Dell Customer Service Horror Story

On 4/30/2007 I purchased a 20" 2007FP monitor from Dell. When I received the monitor it was clearly defective and I contacted Dell to obtain a replacement. It was very dim, and no amount of brightness adjustments would fix it...Dell and I agreed the backlight was defective.

I was informed during the chat that Dell would send me a new 2007FP monitor immediately. They would not return the monitor, even though it was defective, unless they tried one exchange or I ate 15%. I have in writing that Dell agreed to send me a brand new monitor too, since I was within my 21 day return policy.

On 5/10/2008 I was finally able to pick the package up from the main office of my apartment complex.

Dell shipped me the WRONG product, and shipped a REFURBISHED product at that. They sent me a refurbished 2007WFP, and I'm not even opening the box.

After speaking with Dell Technical Support, Dell Customer Support, XPS Technical Support, and a few other departments Dell is unable to resolve this issue. I've been transfered and hung up on too many times, and I just filed a complaint with the BBB since Dell has done nothing to fix this.

So if you are thinking of buying anything from Dell, if you get a defective product do NOT agree to an exchange. Return it, and do NOT get stuck with the 15% restocking fee...argue until they drop that.

 

Dell does seem to have a mixed reaction to it's customer support. They're alot of people , including a review recently done which was on the homepage which put dell at the top and I have never really had a bad time with them either.

You could have been cursed by someone and now your permanently unlucky, or someone somewhere might have a voodoo doll with your face on and a needle in it.

How much was the monitor? If your really unhappy you could try for a refund + credit and maybe re-order if you still want it..

 

$400...and at this point, I'm taking my business elsewhere for another monitor. I used to think that Dell CS was good...until today.

I just got off the phone earlier, and now just got off the chat line. No one is willing to do anything to fix it, so I just filed a BBB complaint too.

Now back to the phone to try and fix it...

 

Recently I contacted Dell CS in India for my friend. His 1525 had a very bad back light bleeding coming from the bottom of the monitor.

The CS Rep said that it is a new design feature that Dell incorporated in 1525

I fought for 4 days and at the end they agreed to replace it.

 

I read the story of a Dell 30" which had to be replaced due to lighting problems.They did replace it in end after long discussions.

 

Ummm...

That's not a defect, that's a feature.

 

It all depends on who you get. Last night my M1530 video card died again. I contacted Dell this morning and I got lucky to get a lady who just said don't even bother fixing it, I will get you a new one. You have to keep trying till you get someone good. I know you have tried.

 

Well...I did keep calling after I posted. Someone finally got the picture and offered to return both the original and the replacement and do a full refund.

Sheesh...

Now I'm thinking about whether I should even purchase another monitor from Dell. I'd like to have a 2nd monitor, but at this point I'm not sure it is worth it...I've purchased (and returned) too many Dell monitors recently for various problems.

Update
And for the heck of it, I plugged in the refurb 2007WFP just to see if it might be worth purchasing brand new. Can anyone say "grainy screen?" Looks and feels just like the grainy screen problems reported all over the Dell threads...

 

.....Sorry for all your troubles, Greg.

It's too bad you had to go through all that torture over something that was clearly defective.

Hopefully this time, they will get it right for you...Even though that is what they should've done on the first contact

 

Whenever you have that issue, if you are within the 21st days of the invoice date ask dell for a NEW monitor, if you dont ask for it for default they send you a refurbished one.

 

I did ask for a new one. I still got refurb, and got the wrong thing.

Today, the Dell reps I spoke with basically said the original tech was wrong to promise a new one.

 

I just bought a scratch/dent Dell XPS M1730 from the Dell Outlet. However, it had a number of cosmetic issues along with a "stained" LCD center (1" dark area, at least 7+ pixels smudged). Fortunately I purchased the complete care extended warranty. I notified Dell XPS Premiere Support, and they agreed to send the following via overnight DHL:

1) gray wing plates (the unit came with scratched blue plates)
2) LCD screen (I received a Samsung)
3) keyboard bezel
4) LCD back plane (one of the LED's was burned out on the old frame)
5) new screen bezel

Despite the unit being scratch/dent/refrub, all of the replacement parts looked new (complete with protective plastic peel-aways).

Unfortunately it took over a week to get the right components (they kept sending red/blue wing plates instead of the requested gray models). However, they finally came through yesterday. Everything is now in place, and the laptop looks cosmetically new. I don't know the quality of Dell's other CS departments, but their Premiere XPS Tech Support Dept is pretty good in my book.

 

I love how they say "Dell Outlet rigorous rebuilding and retesting process". How could they not notice these issues?