Anyone with return policy experience?

I've been reading up on dell since my wife bought her laptop (rather hastily) from them a couple days ago. I grant that she got a very good deal on her 15inch Inspiron Special Edition, but I have become aware that many users are having issues with the laptop and windows 8, which comes with her version of the Inspiron.

She has her heart set on windows 8, so I am preparing myself to make a stink about the situation to the good people at customer service (sorry if any of you work there) should these issues arise. What I would like to know first; however, is what kind of options she has in this situation. The return literature I read seems to be rather draconian concerning anything less than defective hardware. Do you think they would try and hit us with a "restocking," fee if the OS was not cooperating with the hardware out of the box?

Anyhow, hopefully I'm just worrying too much and she'll have a great new laptop by the by, but in the event that I am right I'd like to know how to best avoid a mess in this situation. Thanks in advance.

 

I bought a brand new customized laptop during the black Friday craze (2012) and realized that I forgot to add the built in camera feature (I assumed it came with it). So I just called Dell customer service up, told him that the laptop wasn't right for me and he had no problem taking it back without having to pay a restocking fee. I guess the big point is that you be respectful and courteous.

 

Case by case. Yup

 

also not having opened the box really helps.

 

Well that's the rub. I've got only forum accounts of how the laptop is not cooperating with windows 8 and I would need to open the box to confirm if customer service won't essentially cop to selling us something that has such issues. I think my wife would also be upset if I just sent the thing back without making sure that it was defective.

I guess the only way to know is to give Dell a call ahead of time.

 

I just wanted to provide some input and recent experience with Dell on warranty/accidental damage and returns.

On March 1st, I decided to get my wife a new notebook, her old X60 ThinkPad runs fine, but she really like the touchscreen aspect of Windows 8 on my ThinkPad Tablet 2.

So I went the Dell Outlet, found a XPS 12 for $1039, but then got on chat to see about a better price, got 20% off, $831. Request an additional of 2 year warranty. bumped up the price to $1028 with tax. Great, placed the order.

Then I realized, I did not add accidental damage. So I call, give them the order #, "no problem, sir, the order needed to be invoiced and then the accidental damage can be added”
Weekend Passed, got the notification on email, that it was shipped on Monday. I called, transfer after transfer, I finally get the right department, after explaining my situation. I was told the cost for accidental damage would be $225. Now, going back to the original order, the warranty of 2 years was about $198, with accidental for 2 years was $279. So how did $79, turn into $225, this was after order sale of accidental damage. So I stated that I was gonna return, I was put on hold 3 times, and changed the price from $225 to $225 three times. So then I transferred to another department to see about returns. On hold again, explain my situation, again, this time, they offered me $110 to keep it and apply the credit toward the cost of accidental damage, so now it will cost me $105. I said forget it, then I was told to call back once it is received. I received it on Thursday, well my wife did, I called, and after 3 transferred, and being placed on hold to get me to keep the notebook. I finally requested a return label and shipped it back that same night.
Lessons learned, make sure order is correct and verify.

I now have to wait 15 days for a full refund. I am looking at a Asus VIVO Tablet RT instead, Dell just lost a customer. Funny thing, at my Govt. Job, we have nothing but Dell.

 

I just recently bought the XPS Tablet with Windows RT (Win 8)

Did not like it all, Hated Windows RT, called Dell and returned the unit for a full refund, no questions asked,

First time I ever returned a computer from Dell

 

It's always best to buy by phone and get a sales rep who seems honest and flexible and arrange in advance for terms of making changes or full return. Get it in writing and if they won't put it in writing it's a sure thing they won't honor what they tell you. Dell consumer sales is very decentralized from service and they really are difficult in cust service so you should not buy unless you have a salesperson to turn to in case of problems.