DELL Support - UNRESOLVED ISSUES

Just wanted to start a thread here as the M1730 owner's lounge is getting hammered lately. Several open issues and customers failing to receive a proper response. Seems to mainly be happening in the UK - but it might be worthwhile to keep it all together in one place so others may benefit from some of the suggestions on how to respond/escalate their case.

 

If you're emailing a complaint, enter the following emails too:

[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]

All of these are related to management teams and you will probably be issued with an account manager to help your dispute.

 

A couple of pointers:

ALWAYS reference your Current case# - you should have received an email from your first contact with support which would include your case#.

1. Document everything. When you call support have a notepad handy and be sure to capture the rep's name and UID (this is their Dell ID). Note the date and time of the call and what was discussed.

2. Photos - If dealing with a damaged replacement part, Dell Diagnostic Error or damage caused by an onsite tech capture a picture of it. Photos can speak volumes and its hard to argue with a picture.

3. Make sure your email client is set to include the previous email when clicking the REPLY button. This will preserve the email chain.

4. If you feel you are being *stonewalled*, ask for a supervisor. If you are told one isn't available, tell the rep you need a name, extension# and email addy for their supervisor. If they refuse, document this as well since this is a critical no-no to refuse a customer request for a supervisor.

 

it is just scary that so many m1730 owners are going through dell hell. honestly, i do feel a bit better i am not crazy or extra hard on my machine. this is my 4th replacement computer that i received for my original m170 (i got 3 1710's and finally this m1730) and it has had more problems in a shorter period of time than any of the others. the sad bit of news is this was a brand new replacement... i thought brand new would not have any issues but this thinking is wrong. the high end gaming gpu's dell sells have problems i guess

 

The service seemed fine at first, but after a couple of engineers came out to fix my laptop that's where the problems began for me anyway.
Seems like the repair centre doesn't communicate very well with tech support, there's seemingly no way to contact the repair people directly even if they're dealing with your laptop, no phone or email from what I can tell.
And further to this I expect the laptop to fail again when I get it back due to the rather poor quality of the refurb stuff they choose to fix the laptops with.

As others have pointed out too, make sure you log everything that's happened. I logged total call time, amount of time on hold prior to speaking to anyone.

 

Batboy, good/bad idea here. Would you be able to keep updating your 1st post w/tips and contact e-mails? I have a feeling this thread will grow almost as fast as our 1730 lounge did, and that's too much to sort through if you need info ASAP...

 

I was thinking that the 1730 thread was going to break the forums again -

I will keep an eye on it as much as possible unless an admin agrees its better killed. Whatever is done, just figured it might work - at least for the short term. I know what you are getting at. I can see this thread post count increasing quick - something is really amiss when I have been involved with at least 5 different cases all different peeps in the last week or so. Just scan the boards, there are quite a few open cases. Maybe its always like this and I just never really noticed.

Not a good sign.

 

I'm going to add a few more contacts at dell that dealt with my case,

Sujay tel.no (UK) 0844 444 3350

He will try and pass you off by telling you that he is unable to connect you to a manager, but he's a liar and demand to speak to him as I did and request a call back.

[email protected]

Sujay's supervisor who dealt with my case.

And finally

[email protected]

Who finally got my new system on order after much ranting on the phone and via e-mail.

All credit to Batboy for backing me up with his wealth of knowledge.

 

so regarding my open case -

AC adapter and motherboard switched out today. Still getting the video card problem - drivers won't load in Vista. Done TONS of messing around to try to fix the problem to no avail.

An interesting sidenote is that when I boot into XP, XP does load the drivers but nVidia's control panel will not allow me to run SLI (it's not even an option). I'm betting that one of the cores is dead which is why Vista won't load it (detects an error in the device), and XP only recognizes one.

So I just made my 6th contact w/Dell regarding this instance, and they set up replacement video cards. The 8800's are on backorder, though the person assured me it'll only be 5 days... we'll see...

 

@Zath:

How many times have they replaced the GPU?
How long since the first report to support re: the issue?

I would hold them to that 5 day ETA - if that part still has not shipped on day 4, get on the phone and escalate it.

 

This is the 2nd time the GPU has been replaced - first was one or two months ago.

I reported the issue a week ago today.

I intend to hold them to the 5 day ETA. I have it on Dell chat that the guy says 5 days max...

 

Just a suggestion -

Be sure to examine the GPU prior to the tech installing it. While he is taking apart the lappie, just grab the card and look it over. Pay extra attention to the Heat Fins. Make sure none of them are bent. If they are, negative on the install - tell the tech to get on the horn and have another dispatched out.

Also look over the fans and see if there are any tell-tale signs of heavy use (dust, hair) in/covering the fan blades.

 

That's the thing my first replacements were in pristine shape - perfect - no bent fins, everything was clean as a whistle. GRRR!!!!

 

BatBoy - Just wanted to say thank you for all of your information regarding Unresolved Issues. I spoke with a few reps and none of them were able to do anything for me so I emailed Unresolved Issues. They were quick to respond and cleared up my problem. Thanks again!

 

Issue resolved! For now.

I got a call from another service technician - apparently the guy who came out on Saturday didn't bring both boxes! In the other box were a power cord for the AC adapter (the guy on Sat. told me Dell doesn't send power cords w/the AC adapter), a PPU, and the video cards!. So he actually came out tonight at 6:30 and voila! System's running great again. HWMonitor is reading both 8800's just fine. SLi mode is enabled.

I'm thinking I'm out of the woods... till the next time!

 

do you by any chance know the us email for unresloved issues? i live in the us not the uk

 

This would be your first contact for Unresolved Issues:

https://support.dell.com/support/to...t/dellcare/outstanding_issues?c=us&l=en&s=gen

You have a choice, Customer Service related, or Tech Issue related!


Cin....

 

Excellent news Zath - glad to see they worked it out finally.

@j3n82: no worries. It's a real let down when the normal routes do not produce exceptional support, but at least the UI Team took care of it.

 

im sorry that you guys are having these problems like i am, i hope things are sorted out for you all soon

 

Well , they agreed to a full refund in the end, i wont however be buying another dell, this was my 3rd one, back to a desktop for me!

Gl getting your issues cleared up everything, just remember to be firm with them, you are the customers and you shouldnt be forced to settle for 2nd best by this Multi-gazillion pound/dollar empire they have

 

I too am having problems with an M1730 (heat issues), i sent my computer in to Depot on July 27, 2009 and has been there since then. I called Dell today to get an update and was told the same thing i was told back when it first arrived in Depot on The 27, which was that the keyboard was backlogged. I bought the computer on June 1, 2009 with the 9800m gt sli cards. I have also notified my credit card company to dispute the charge since the computer is not in my possession, and there is no time frame for the repair.

Issue resolved.

If you guys have any issues with an M1730 or XPS computer call this guy

Arun S Kumar
Ph: 1-800-624-9897, Ext. 72-83898