Avoid Dell!!!

I bought a Dell computer in April of 2008. Shortly there after I encountered many problems with the machine. The fan was making an awful noise. I called Dell and they promptly came out to my place of business and replaced the fan.

Two weeks later this new fan started making the same noise. They came out and replced the fan AND the motherboard. A week later the new fan started making noise. Noises that sounded like a drill from the dentist - loud! I had to lock the laptop in the bathroom while I met with customers!

In the midst of all of this, my computer stopped hybernating and the only way it would shut down is to hold the power button down. I called again and at this point (they tried to resolve the hybernating problem and was told they couldn't fix it), to my insistance, said that they would replace the lemon computer that I have. This was at the end of AUGUST.

I was promised many times that this new computer would be received the first few days in September. Then I was told the 8th of September, then 2-3 Business days more times then I can count. I have been given a 'special' number to call but no one has ever given me a call back when I have called.

I got a call sometimes, and then, nothing for over a week's time. I was given an order # and then was told it was canceled because of how long it has been. I got a new order number and when I called their automated number said it was already delivered...December of 2004!!!!!

This special extension I was given, I was told if you call that number that someone calls you back within "1-2 hours" but like I said previously, to date, I have never received a call back.

I run a business and also take classes at a local University. And this doesn't account for any personal time that I use my laptop for. All I have ever asked from Dell is a computer that works. I have repeatedly been promised this replacement computer and constantly been lied to. They already have my money so I have no recourse in which to get what was promised to me and what was covered under warantee.

I called Dell on 10/1 to find out the status since my promised call of 9/30 never happened. I was on the phone for 2 hours, transfered 5 times and, after talking with a supervisor was HUNG UP ON. (This is not a new phenomenon, I have been hung up on 4 or 5 times now since this process started...I just now started to keep record of it.)

After a complaint to the BBB, the next night I had an email and voice mail on my home phone from an "Arun" at a new extension. I left a voice mail.

I received a call back 10/3 at my business where Arun proceeded to tell me that I would get my computer whenever it shipped. That is EXACTLY what I have been told since this process started!!!! I was first promised a new computer at the end of AUGUST and it is now October!! He was rude and told me that I could not speak to anyone else, not a supervisor.

I was told that it was scheduled to ship on September 29th. The parts are backordered and he doesn't know when they will come in!!!! And this is their resolution center??? I have NEVER in my life had such a horrible customer service experience.

The hours (I roughly counted them up, well over 30 hours worth) I have spent on trying to get a working computer could have easily paid for a replacement computer. Dell's employee Arun, who is supposedly a "Executive Support Resolver" told me nothing more then the lies I have been told up until this point by other Dell agents.

It is now October 14th, I have NO working computer and no one has contacted me since from Dell. They have my money and I have a computer that is nothing more then a paperweight at this point.

Please, do yourself a HUGE favor and countless hours of agony...buy a Toshiba, buy a HP, buy a Gateway...whatever, just don't buy a Dell.

 

After working for a company that has purchased more than 10,000 dell computers in the past years (im a tech and have to order parts to service them, all which come next day air) i have had nothing but plesent experiences with dell at work as well at home on the 6 dell laptop/1 desktop i have owned. That said, as a home user, i have seen that it really depends on how you talk to the customer support. Once you realize that the guy on the phone cant really do anything but type on a computer and talk to you, it is easier to be compassionate with them and get things faster.

It is unfortunate for you to be in your situation, however, sometimes one has to reflect upon themselves to see how one could have handled the situation differently to achieve desired results. Sometimes this requires a firm persistent tone on the phone.

Honestly, though, i see how your computer could be annoying at the moment. However, i dont see how a laptop that makes a little noise could and doesnt hibernate (software issue - reinstall windows probably would have fixed this) could be considered a paperweight when it still could be used.

 

That's really unfortunate... I hope you get things sorted out soon.

 

Wow...I never in a million years thought someone would jump to the conclusion that I wasn't somehow pleasant with the MANY Dell operatives, nor been extremely patient considering how this has gone on for over 3 1/2 months. I can't believe I am now on the offensive.

I have had ALL pleasant Dell experiences before this point. The company I run owns 20+ Dell Computers that I personally picked out to purchase. My husband's company owns 10+ that he personally bought. My previous laptop was even a Dell.

I absolutely KNOW there is nothing more I could have done differently, especially the understanding tone I used during the first 2+ months of this ordeal. I am STILL in the process of trying to get a replacement computer, or preferably at this point, my money back. In fact, up until about 3 weeks ago I would have STILL bought Dell, as I understand accidents and defects happen. But when they failed to acknowledge me, return my calls and then just lie to me (2-3 business days more times than I can count!), I ran out of patience.

I didn't put in all the excruciating details of the hell I have been put through, the many times I was outright lied to by Dell. One of the minor things that I didn't think even deserved mentioning is the fact that my computer plug has always worked intermittently since I bought the computer. Now it does not work at all. So without power, the computer does not work. With a replacement computer, complete with a new cord promised to me almost 2 months ago, I didn't worry about it, but in the mean time I don't have a working computer.

All of this doesn't change the fact that I was promised a computer almost 2 months ago. They have my money and I have a lemon computer that doesn't work, one that they admitted they couldn't fix, thus offering me a new laptop.

 

Thank you Smooth!

 

I never said nor implied that you were not being patient. I said you needed to be more persistent. Please review that part before getting frustrated.

 

Sorry for your troubles...But what model of Dell notebook are you referring to???


Cin

 

Hi Nancii,

I too am sorry that you are having such a horrible customer experience at the moment. I would like to comment on a final option that you still should have, and also on how I was able to take a similar predicament (lost 3 weeks screwing around waiting for a replacement to a brand new machine).

1. I am assuming that you ordered your computer with card that had a visa or mastercard logo (you get the idea). You can still contact the bank / credit union and call for a charge back on that particular purchase. You can provide what correspondence that you have and tell them that you are in dispute regarding the failure to replace a defective computer. I believe that you generally have at least a year for this action to still be valid. It is a really mean thing to do in a way, but you can make a final contact to Dell informing them that you are taking back your money, and would now simply like a box and a return UPC code so that you can return the product.
Policies at different places vary, and funds may not be returned instantly (it can take a month or more) but if you should find that you can get your money back that way, you can probably go someone else and just get a new machine.

2. I have worked in a tech service environment, and also for a company that spent hundreds of thousands on Dell products. Because we had a business relationship, and top dollar business warranties, we also received consistent, excellent service and enjoyed next day deliveries on any warranty issues that came up. At that level, you basically have access to a service and sales team.
It sounds to me like you at least paid something extra because you got in office tech support when you had your original issue. Since then, it has been decided that you would get a whole replacement computer instead. It also sounds like you have spoken to several different individuals about this. THAT is what I think your problem is. I too have had the joy of getting the runaround by Dell, and I am very aware of how frustrating and awful it is. i have also been told that I would be taken care of, and then received no follow up, no email, no case number, in short, NOTHING that would have enabled me to track the progress of the promise that I was made.
Why am I telling you this? Because what I have learned from all that is that you should never get off the phone until you have a case number. NEVER! Even though they are supposed to email it to you I wouldn't take the risk with an issue so serious. Secondly, you need to try opening a chat session. It is really easy to control your own tone and choose your words carefully and clearly. Dell service seems robotic that way, but by the end of the conversation, you have the ability to cut and paste and save the conversation that you had. You should also receive an email that does the same, as well as providing you with any other information that may have come up. Phone conversations, I am afraid, are pretty worthless most of the time unless you can record it somehow and be prepared to play it back to whoever is going to hear it.
Once you have a case number and begin to build a paper trail, you will have the beginning of a much stronger grievance case. You will also be able to track progress online, or recall the incident with future reps. I was shocked the other day when I was provided with a number and extension to call as this was denied me the first time I ever fought with Dell (as was a 'supervisor'). However, like others stated, and I agree with, I think the key is to be firm but also patient and mostly polite. You need to spell out exactly what you want and prepare to start over and talk to someone else if need be. It helped me a lot to remember that really, all I want is to make sure I get what I want at minimum inconvenience. You may even want to let them know that you are already a long time customer and that you have always been served well in the past.

You get the idea. I've seen the bad side and the good (got a replacement hard drive no questions asked, in 2 business days - do they remember me or something?) You clearly need a new machine, and they clearly have no reason to deny you that. They also clearly messed up the order, or somehow assigned the wrong information. Don't give up - just wait till you are feeling like spending some more time on the phone or online.

 

Which model of Dell did you purchase?

 

If they don't have parts in stock they can't do anything about it. Also you have no clue how BAD the customer service is till you own a HP/Compaq/Toshiba. They are way way worse than Dell. Dell actually has very good customer service. We have bought $1000's of dollars of machines from them, and never had a issue. You are just impatient. You should have asked for a different machine if you needed it that fast.

 

I would say most of the customer service is pretty much the same no matter which company you pick out of the above named companies. I've seen examples of this happening with Dell, Hp, Toshiba, Asus, Acer etc.

 

Having dealt with Dell, HP, Toshiba and Lenovo I had to say that the best experience I had was with Lenovo.

However ... Lenovo and Toshiba kinda lack quality.

I understand how you feel. I've spent a good amount of time on the phone with Dell's customer support. It isn't the greatest. With that said, I've turned into a bit of a Dell Fanboy.

 

There are lot more bad stories than good about Dell, especially with the horrible delays lately. You know they're lying because each week when they push back ship date and I call, I get a different reason why it is delayed. CS swore to me last week it would be shipped today. I told him I would bet anything that when I checked the status, it would be delayed yet again. He didn't want to bet. When I checked, sure enough, another week. No more Dell for me.

 

It is a Dell Inspiron 1525...real pretty purple with flowers, not that it matters!

 

nizmoz...

I DID ask for another machine. I was told that it is against Dell policy for them to ship anything other than the machine I originally purchased. I'll actually go into more details in response to another person's post, but I was fine with the replacement machine for the one I have now for the first month +, I understand that things are sometimes unavailable. But I have had 4 orders placed and then canceled by them.

Please, someone tell me, is it unreasonable to expect a new machine after it was promised to me almost 2 months ago? Is that impatient?

 

Voters of NY...I understand completely!! It sounds like your case is much the same as mine.

mgh_a1...thank you for the very thorough and thoughtful response.

Actually I, just 2 days ago, did contact my credit card company. I will see within the next 30 days what ends up happening. I keep thinking (maybe even hoping) that I will come home to find a new laptop at my front door and I can put this whole mess behind me, a little wiser for all the aggravation.

I run a small business, so unfortunately my future business did not sway them in the slightest. 20 or 30 computers aren’t many for a company as large as Dell. I loved the tech that came to my business to work on the laptop! I thought this was very classy and an example of exemplary customer service. I actually have had the same case number since the 2nd fan was sent out to be replaced. I have had 4 different order numbers for the replacement laptops. One was canceled by Dell, the person on the phone said that he had no reason for it being done and couldn’t explain it. The 2nd and 3rd order numbers were canceled by Dell because there was ‘obviously something wrong with the order’. The 3rd was the one in which I received a message that it was delivered in December of 2004. I have to admit, I thought it was quite funny (sad funny!) given all the bazaar conversations I have had with Dell.

I wish I had thought of the chat session idea though! I was pretty far into this mess before I started keeping records of who/when/what was discussed. I did get confirmation from the last Dell employee Arun, the ‘Executive Support Resolver’ that all the details of my conversations and all of my phone calls were in the database. I just keep hoping someone from the corporate office will open my case number and realize how badly this has been handled and fix it! I know, a pipe dream.

Just for fun, my husband sent a message through their website about the progress of our ‘order’ and received a message back from a Dell employee saying:

Thank you for contacting Dell Online Customer Care.

I understand that you need an estimated delivery date for your order number xxxxxxx. I am not able to see updated estimated delivery date for your order. Please wait for another 48 hours to update the information.

Thank you everyone for your sympathetic and informative posts!

 

It's always fun when someone has a problem with a company and spouts off competition that they should go to instead. Not saying it is bad, but I haven't seen many that don't do this.

I did the same after last year's Dell laptop fun (completecare, new laptop replacement, bunk HDD, "HDD out of stock, sorry!") and went to HP shortly after. A year later, Nvidia card dies (8400 GS), and HP says, "week out of warranty, you broke it." Even though the same card in laptop gens before and after mine got the extended warranty, mine was left out.

Spent an hour on the phone with a guy who just kept telling me that I broke it, and if I want it fixed, it would be $400-600. He then started talking to me about purchasing an extended warranty for $250, but that I don't qualify because I "broke my GPU," and if I did want it, I would have to get it fixed through them, and then buy it. I was livid.

Moral of the story: Buy laptops with American Express backing your purchase. I received a full refund, and I just bought a new laptop... from Dell.

*edit*
Oh, and I forgot to get to my main point: If you eliminate Dell and HP, where do you go?

Gateway? Ya, that's years of horrible customer service information floating around.
Toshiba? Lenovo? Sony? Do they offer what you need at the price you are willing to pay?
Sager or any other boutique brands?

It's tough to eliminate the two biggest computer makers.

 

I just wanted to let you know that I ordered the same laptop you did on Sept. 21 (Inpsiron 1525 with the Blossom pattern..purple with a floral design) and that design alone added 19 BUSINESS days to production. That might very well be why it's taking forever, and why they are giving you the runaround.

It would be simple if they just told you that, yes, but it doesn't seem to be the way they're working. I'm just hoping *crosses fingers* that my wait will be worth it, and I don't see the same issues you've come across...because they don't offer that color option anymore.

 

I know exactly what you mean. I was also consistantly lied to by dell with regards to a GPU replacement covered under their extended warranty due to the defective nvidia chip sets. I'm right now in the prelimanary stages of fileing a lawsuit

 

So after reading around a bit and seeing issues with this particular color pattern, I canceled my order for the 1525 and ordered a Studio 15 in Plum Purple.

It seems to me that anymore, the delays are because of the pattern options, not just parts being out of stock.

We'll see. If it's the end of Nov. and I don't have the Studio 15, I might be singing a different tune.