Dell Class Action?

I have noticed a lot of complaints out there about Dell laptops and the company's inability to own up to manufacturing errors, refusal to issue refunds for defective products, and all other manner of general screwing of its customers.

Because I am in the same boat, and their customer service has been unwilling to give me a single inch of leeway, and I have exhausted all available avenues of dispute resolution, I am thinking of filing a class action lawsuit against them.

But to do so, I need to have an idea of whether I could get together a reasonable number of people who would join me in such a suit. Is anyone interested? Do you think its a waste of time? Any other thoughts?

Thanks. I look forward to what you have to say.

 

Get a real job.

 

Here we go again...please

 

I don't know what your issue(s) is but if you complain enough to dell you should have gotten somewhere with a manager or someone higher-up.

If there is some sort of outstanding issue, I highly recommend you use this link: https://support.dell.com/support/to...t/dellcare/outstanding_issues?c=us&l=en&s=gen

That will put you in direct contact with a resolutions person at Dell that should be able to help.

Again, without informing us with your specific situation/problems no one is going to be able to give you advice....

 

What do you mean, I thought NBR was paying us for all our valuable opinions!!!

They said the cheque was in the post...






72oo

 

When will people learn that Class Action Lawsuits are not the answer to solve all problems.

 

I was actually hoping for more of a response of interest and thoughts, rather than condescension and off-point replies.

And Achilles? I have a real job. I'm an attorney, and well-suited to file a class action. Please save your non-answer insults until you KNOW someone is out in left field.

So does anyone have anything to say related to what I actually posted? I want to know if there is interest or real thoughts. I already know what is wrong with my computer, and have been through the Dell "customer service" wringer a multitude of times.

Thanks. I really am looking forward to thoughts--as long as they address what I asked about.

 

As far as my colleagues and I have experienced, it takes more than one attempt at Dell to get things resolved. Dell by outsourcing Customer & Technical Support has increased communication problems and at times has even made a mountain out of a molehill for no apparent reasons. Nevertheless, Dell tries very hard to resolve issues to your satisfaction.

I doubt if anybody is interested (at least in this forum) in a class action lawsuit against Dell. They would rather talk to Dell till they get compensated than pursue a legal course.

 

When you ask questions like:

what did you expect the replies would be?

If you are here to gather people for your so called class action law suit, you need to change your attitude. No wonder it was difficult for you to get anything resolved from Dell.

Going by your comments, I can't help but be sarcastic and ask: Is your business going slow that you are now turning your attention to Dell (for some easy cash)?

 

If in fact you are an attorney, which I seriously doubt, then you should already know that a class-action lawsuit must name specific defects, not be a general complaint. If you are looking for a nationwide class-action cause against Dell, why don't you take the existing class-action lawsuits in Canada and California regarding the Dell Inspiron 5100 motherboard/overheating/memory problem and file it so it applies everywhere?

 

"well-suited" lol. I'm pretty sure Dell has better people working for them than you are.

How exactly people with warranty were left out?

What other company upgrades your system to next generation system as long as you have warranty?

What will your exact arguement be on this class action?

Here's a link that may help you if you do have a problem with existing problems :

https://support.dell.com/support/to...outstanding_issues_tech?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs

Or just call

877-606-3783 ext:72-39429

Sad part is, it sounds like you gave up already on your coverage, which you paid for. If you can't get Dell to fix whatever your problem is, how dependable can you be?

 

Well guess what pumpkin, when you post on a public forum, you get all kinds of replies. Don't like it? Don't post.

So in other words, you're only bringing this up because you have visions of dollar signs. Typical.

How much more "real" do you want? People have obviously posted how they really feel about the idea. Are you so blinded by your visions of dollars that you can't see it?

Let me guess......you called once and they didn't kiss your ass with a replacement so you feel you've been screwed by Dell and now want to file a lawsuit!

You got exactly what you asked for! Don't expect to pick and choose only the answers that further your crusade!

 

I truely hate people such as this original poster. SUE SUE SUE!

 

cool. what law school did you go to? when did you graduate? what state bars are you accepted to? did you pass the bar on your first try? did you have to take the MPRE? did you take mass torts in law school? what firm do you work for? do they specialize in class actions? what other class actions have you worked on?

 

I think that it would be good to realize that most of the people on this forum are obsessed with notebooks and therefore see the flaws that most consumers do not see. One who is not interested in notebooks, and is merely buying one for getting the job done, maybe happy with a notebook that would not completely satsify a connoisseur. You are preaching to the wrong crowd.
And yes, i do believe you are ruining America, you are so quick to sue any company that doesn't meet your high standards.

 

I would like to know what the problem with your computer was/is? And what measures you went through to get the problem solved? It doesn't take a class action suit to get your problems solved. I've been there and done that too. You aren't taking the right approach with Dell. If Dell won't help you, it's because you're A) Out of warranty and B) You bought the PC more than 30 days ago. I'm sure there may be other reasons as well, but seriously learn how how to deal with Dell and you'll have no problem getting your computer fixed or a replacement.

Lastly, you can see there isn't enough interest in a class action suit. We have some problems occasionally, but nothing to the degree you suggest. There are similar problems with all computer companies!

 

Wait... so what exactly are you suing them for? If it's a breach of contract or anything like that then it should work. I mean if a lady in the US got 600K for the coffee being "too hot" then anything's possible.

Plus, if you really sue them and publicize it, regardless of your case they'll probably settle out of court so that they don't get bad media attention.

 

Why are your posts regarding my questions so angry? I'm trying to figure something out. Someone questioned me without provocation, so I responded stating my interest and qualifications.

When did I ever say all I was interested in was money?

I have just noticed that there are a lot of posts regarding problems with Dell's XPS m1210, and seeing as how *many* of the posts I have found regarding those problems relate to overheating--and that overheating being a result of the engineering of the machine--that maybe to be fair Dell should be addressing these situations with a modicum of care for their customers. That they do not was really the impetus for my initial question.

I will admit that perhaps I did not word my initial posting as well as I could have, due to the fact that I had just gotten off the phone with a repair technician and was exceedingly frustrated.

So I'm sorry for bringing up such a sour topic. I had no idea there would be this sort of response. I was mostly hoping to gauge the interest in this sort of thing, and was not really expecting personal attacks from people who have no idea who I am.

That said, the point of initiating class actions is to bring together an aggregate of people who have a complaint against a specific person (and corporations count as persons in our legal system), so that the group has power against the person that they would not otherwise have as a number of individuals. In my mind, it is a matter of fairness, much like unions. It is about equalization of bargaining power, not money. If Dell would actually talk to me or any of the other people with this problem like a valued customer (or even a person), then this really wouldn't be an issue.

It seems to me that Dell is forcing this sort of response by not taking their individual customers seriously when they have valid complaints and have gone through all the channels already erected for this sort of issue.

After being wronged and repeatedly ignored for no reason, being out thousands of dollars, and having no other channels of discussion/resolution available to you, what else would you do other than band together with those in similar situations?

 

Wait so WHAT is your problem? Did the costumer service lie to you? Are they following what they said?

 

You're not an attorney, and you're a fool for posting something like this.

If you haven't got that by now, there's no hope for you.

 

The best time for sueing Dell would have been this summer, when all those laptops were being delayed. Some of the customer service reps actually lied to us...

I'm actually happy that I cancelled the Dell. I don't really need it that much, and I'll probably by June (when I grad), SSD, DDR3, and PCI 2 will be cheap enough for laptops.

 

I am new but would NOT like to talk to Dell and be transferred for 5 days straight and face hours on hold. If outsourcing isn't taking care of the problem correctly (they aren't) then it needs to end. In regards to the Class Action, I think that it is always good to make a company face up to their responsibilities, however, it rarely happens and attorneys end up taking the loot whilst the victims end up with little. A recent situation where the customer actually got a little benefit was with Toshiba Lemon, I mean Laptop. They were defective, the company knew it and didn't step up. With the grainy screen, cpu whine, and sound issues Dell should step up and issue a revised system just like they are doing for the 1330.

In sum, YES a class action IS a viable answer to these types of situations IF and ONLY IF the settlement actually resolves the problem and leaves the victims better off; not just the lawyers with bigger pockets.

As long as it isn't about non-sense (doubtful, I am pretty patient and Dell has worked ALL of my nerves) then go for it.

 

As others have said, it often takes more than one call to Dell, since the range of people working there range from outsourced foreigner with a very tough time with American English to native American English speaker as smart as a whip. And everywhere in between.

My personal experiences with Dell have been, if not at the outset, resolved satisfactorily. All of them. If you're interested, PM me, and I'll try to send you some examples, but just to give you one quick example, I have worked on 4 XPS M1330 machines, and I was able to obtain a brand new replacement for 2 of them for unrelated serious defects without going through a major script and 3 hours of time.

 

Because a large percentage of the people on these forums know when someone is being a douche.

If you were "trying to figure something out", you wouldn't have opened the topic with "I'm an attorney and want to file a class action lawsuit".

See my first comment.

Oh I see......you're just voicing your OPINION here.

I wouldn't be screaming "Class Action Lawsuit" for one.

 

I think in order to gain some substantial benefit, you would first have to prove that you were somehow harmed by the event. That is one of the reasons why the laptop delays wouldn't have won. No one was really harmed by the delay.

Whereas, the lady who spilled coffee on herself, while it was a trivial issue. She did receive third-degree burns and it was substantial enough for her to receive just under $600,000.

No one here agrees (at least I hope) that what Dell did is correct, but lawsuits require much more to be successful.

 

You would have to identify the actual defects and that enough of the systems are exhibiting the problems. So if you are looking for numbers just look at the posts where a problem is repeated by people and you have an "issue".

 

What one person considers an "issue" another person may not, so it's purely subjective.

 

alright relax people... gs whats your original problem? what is it that dell failed to fix ? hard for us to decide what course of action to take if you dont name a specific problem.

And you other people really need to chill, you managed to turn this thread into a flamefest.

 

Ignore lists are truly wonderful

 

More or less, I've gotten good service from Dell.

There was a class action on the Inspiron 5150. The motherboard failed and they chronically overheated.

 

Chat is really the only real way to deal with Dell service.

 

The people didn't get much at all. All they got was an extended warranty, and refunds for any repairs they paid for due to the heating problem. And replacement of some parts. Things that should've been for free anyways.

 

If even ONE person is having a problem it IS an issue. Period. In this case I already SAID to look for things that are more or less rampant. There are SEVERAL that I have seen already. Read the WHOLE comment and you will obviously get it.

The goal would be to look for things that are experienced by MANY for a class action or if the issue is only effecting you the you file a personal lawsuit as it pertains to your issue.

I think that you are confused if you don't understand the difference.

"No bird soars too high if he soars with his own wings." I EARNED mine so yeah I have an issue. Obviously the "lucky" non-goal oriented non-earners wouldn't have a problem and shoud be grateful.

In sum, 2 different situation. Personal vs class action, but an issue is an issue whether it is suffered by one or many.

HTH

 

As much as I dislike the 'sue everybody' approach, as a 5150 owner who's been through many motherboards (never any sign of a replacement system) & repeated agony getting Dell to honour my 3yr onsite warranty, I am glad that that particular lawsuit happened. Perhaps there could have been more benefit to those effected, but cost of repairs would have been very great for me I'm sure if I didn't have the warranty (although as I'm not American, the class action wouldn't apply to me anyway). The other problems I had generally dealing with support are, I suppose, somewhat separate (in particular, my case was unique as the extended warranty was applied to a machine that was stolen at the local depot, not the one I actually got).

I find the analogy with unions quite interesting. The first post was pretty incoherent about what exactly the suite would address, but we at least seem to be getting a bit more sense now.

 

I think that comment was pretty ignorant......but that's just my opinion.

And that's where you COMPLETELY missed my point.

An "Issue" is purely subjective because what one person considers a problem (grainy screens for example), another person may not notice, or care about.

So again I say, it's purely subjective as to whether a person considers something an Issue or not.

HTH

 

It seems to me that this is one of the big flaws of USA. If the product is crap, and you are so unfortunate to buy one of their products, and aren't happy. THEN RETURN IT!, and if that doesn't satisfy your thirst for revenge then complain even more to the company and go on forums and tell everyone else what a piece of junk it is.. It seems wrong to try to make a buck on top of that..

 

Okay--it'll take forever to lay out the entire history of my issue, so I will give the short version.

I bought an XPS m1210, and within the first year, it started giving me BSODs and shutting down on its own. I did not realize at the time that it was a hardware issue, so I tried to fix it myself, as I have always been able to do so in the past.

After eliminating all the other possibilities, I figured out it was a problem with the motherboard. By the time I was able to figure that out, however, I was no longer covered by my 1-year warranty. When I called Dell about it, they told me they would fix it for $500. I had already spent $2000 on it when I purchased it, and thought I could expect it to last longer than a year. They were no help over multiple calls; the best they offered me was a free tech diagnostic over the phone, even though I already knew what the problem was.

So I sent it to someone else to get it fixed, and when he opened it up and did the diagnosis and research, he found that it's engineered so that it is overheating and frying its own motherboard, and that other people are having the same problem.

So I have tried contacting Dell multiple times via phone and e-mail, and spent a multitude of hours doing so. Now I have had to go and pay someone else the cost to repair it because I still need it even though I have been without it since June.

If it truly is an engineering problem on Dell's part, then that seems like fault to me, and I know that I have a harm in their not being willing to fix it for me and me having to pay for it instead. If there are other people having the same problem (whom I have already located through searching other postings), then there's my class.

I'm not trying to make a buck; I'm trying to be treated like a person who has been wronged by a huge company that has decided it could care less.

 

And I think that the motherboard getting fried and the computer not working really counts as an issue, regardless of your own subjective viewpoint.

 

On what basis did you think they would be interested in your broken system after the warranty had lapsed, even if it did start going wrong before? Aside from the warranty, what kind of guarantee is there from the manufacturer in a case like this?

Don't get me wrong, it does sound like a similar case to the 5150 etc, where in the end owners were given extended warranties and reimbursed for costs of repair. I think you're also right that Dell would be quite happy to screw customers on a regular basis and do need to be brought to task sometimes. Complaining on forums doesn't exactly get one very far.

 

There are people out there that in your situation, would simply buy a new laptop because they are no longer covered by warranty. They may not feel that Dell has wronged them, etc.

So again I say, "Issues" are purely subjective based on the individuals perspective.

From YOUR perspective this is an issue, and I'm not going to try tell you that from YOUR perspective, it's not. The point I'm trying to make which you are either choosing to ignore, or just don't understand, is that not everyone has the same perspective and therefore not everyone will consider the same problem to be an issue.

Where did you get your legal credentials again?

 

College perhaps?

It is NOT subjective. If there is a whine there is a whine, if there is grain, there is grain, if there is a loose latch, there is a loose latch. The ISSUE is there and is NOT subjective. What a person(s) decides to do about it doesn't make is subjective. YOU are missing the point COMPLETELY. Lack of initiative DOESN'T make something subjective. Tolerance is the aspect of "perspective" that is at work.

Paying money for something that has problems is an issue for EVERYONE, but some people tolerate it, whilst others complain bitterly and want something done. It is psychologically called learned helplessness.

As I said before your are confused. You are attempting to make nothing out of something with an illogical arguement. You suffer from a bad case of flawed logic. I assure you that I don't. That is why my LAW grades from an accredited university rocked! If something has basis in fact IT IS NOT SUBJECTIVE. It is not an opinion which is what "subjective" essentially means.


HTH

 

You're absolutely correct, but my point is that if someone doesn't care about any of those items, it is therefore not an issue for them specifically.

You have your opinion, and I have mine

One would think with your law degree, you'd be able to proofread though.

Does the ignorant attitude come free with the law degree, or did you learn that one all by yourself!

 

I learned it on my own. I am a terrible typist and proofreader of my own work. If you were educated you would know that the most difficult thing to do is to proofread your own work. It is defect of 90+% of the population. This is why you normally get someone to proofread for you. The premise is that you see what you intended to say not what is actually written.

I am not perfect, but I am better than YOU!

 

Whatever you have to tell yourself to make it through the day pumpkin. Ignorance is bliss, isn't it?

 

I believe customers should thoroughly check their notebooks when they receive it from Dell. In case of any issues, it can be returned in 21 days for a full refund or a new replacement. Whenever there is an issue with the notebook within the warranty period, the customer should first contact Dell Technical Support and not try fixing on their own as it might void the warranty.

At our office we do a 24-hour burn-in test for all new systems. Any system that survives this test usually lasts for 2 to 4 years. That is how it has been for us in the last 5 years.

Questions for the OP:

1. Why were you trying to fix the problems when you had a 1-Year warranty? Anybody in your place would first contact Dell to get the issues resolved.

2. What is the point in calling Dell after your warranty expires? (and also after you screw up the system with your own fixes). What did you expect - free repair, replacement or compensation?

3. Don't you know that notebooks require extended warranty because of the nature of its usage? If you had an extended warranty, your system would have been fixed or even upgraded to the new XPS M1330 as in the case of some of our forum members. All for a paltry sum (i.e., the cost of the extended warranty) less than your repair cost. How did you expect your system to be repaired or replaced after your warranty expires?

For your information, our office has more than a dozen XPS M1210 with absolutely no problems. Every XPS M1210 is not a defective system but you might have got a defective system. Although we have an IT department with qualified technicians, we first contact Dell and see what they can do before our technicians work on it. When you had faced errors why didn't you call Dell but tried to fix yourself? It is your fault!

 

Often these issues don't appear until later, no matter how heavily you check.

You are joking, aren't you?

 

I was offered a refund. I was very persistant. I don't feel like posting details right now.

 

I agree that some issues aren't noticeable immediately but definitely in a few months and that is why every company offers a standard 1 year warranty.

Joking. No way! Our office has laptops of almost every brand (we are vendor netural) and we find Dell support the best among the rest. The services Dell has offered us (you will find examples in some of my other posts) will be hard for even Apple to match!

PS: Even in my personal case, I am getting a full refund for my whining M1330 after keeping it for 32 days even though the cut off time is 21 days. (Actually I was offered M1530 (when released) instead of a refund but yesterday I opted for a full refund)

 

I'm hoping that Dell business support is better than home...

 

It might be but I am a Home & Home Office customer and I found the service level at par with Small & Medium Business support.