My Encounter With DELL

[Laguna]

I just thought I would post this up because...well it hopefully will provide some warning to anyone even thinking about buying from Dell.And I am in the humour for a bit of a rant and you will all understand why after this post.

I decide to buy a laptop for my girlfriend.(A decision you think not to be mental health threatening)I look around a few stores as I have no experience with building laptops and frankly I don't want to either.I am a desktop person but my girlfriend unfortunately isn't.

I find nothing I consider a decent machine around any of the stores.
(Atleast not for a decent price) So I decided I will have a look online at the Dell laptops, thinking they might have some good deals going.

And hey what do you know they did.(Watch from here on is where I meet my demise)So I see a Inspiron 1300 that has an upgrade offer on the Ram and the HD.(From 256mb to 512mb for the ram and from 40gb to 60gb for the HD)a 1.7ghz single core processor, 128mb integrated video card
And free shipping also this couldn't be going better as far as I was concerned.
Made the order and sat patiently waiting for delivery...

So 4 days later this thing arrives on my door step signed for it and then happily turned to my girlfriend and said here enjoy.Yeah I can't blame her for not getting any enjoyment out of it.She had sat troubleshooting on this very board with a few people for a whole week about jumping and skipping sound before I finally lost my temper and rang Hell...I mean DELL!!! and demanded my money back.

And hey what do you know..they put me through to a manager that begged me to take a new model with all these amazing specs.I finally said ok I will take it.I was offered the Inspiron 6400 with a dual core processor running at 2ghz a non integrated Video card(ATI 128mb) 512mb Ram an 80gb HD and a DVD burner.

I was given a reference number for the replacement machine but no order number to check the status online.This bothered me and whenever I rang with the reference number and was put through to four or more people I was just told that when the order is shipped I will get all this information....Now what good is that to me?

So I eventually was told the order was dispatched and I could check my order status.And what do you know?It is dispatched.And estimated delivery of wednesday 16th of August.It was the 14th when I found this out so I thought good it should be here in 2 days.I checked the status this morning and guess what it said?....DELIVERED!!!!
Unless they some how posted the Laptop through the letterbox it isn't delivered..So I rang up to find out what was going on with this.

I was put straight through to post delivery.They said the package may have been delivered to the wrong address but most likely it was just an error and it was uploaded to early and the package is still on it's way but they will investigate it with the delivery company to make sure.And I would be informed in a couple of hours.So I asked just before I hung up the phone(And it was a very good thing I did) can I hear the address this is being delivered to?

......It was the wrong address!!!I had clearly stated in all my previous phone calls the right address.I am blue in the face giving all my details on the phone and in e-mails.So now I was thinking great someone else has taken the laptop and I am going to have to wait ages for Dell to track it down.

So I left it with them to sort the problem out I was too tired to keep chasing after them for now.So randomly today I got a knock on the door and the laptop was finally delivered from an apologetic delivery guy.

I ran upstairs to give the laptop an in depth check to make sure all was well.
....The specs were completely different to the ones I was given!!
It had a 1.6ghz dual core processor(Not a 2ghz)
It had a 224mb INTEGRATED video card(Not an ATI seperate 128mb)
A CD RW and DVD Rom drive(Not a burner)
and they installed all the rubbish that I specifically told them not to.

So after another phone call I am now waiting for the proper machine to be delivered...yet again and I get to keep this one until the new one is delivered.
Oh and Dell think they are rebels because they are now throwing in a free carry case....My heroes.....

I don't mind if no one posts back to this(Although I would like to hear all your thoughts)I am mainly glad that maybe someone who was going to resort to buying from Dell might think twice.

God what an experience.

[azzey]

I understand your rage http://www.pcguide.com/ubb/wink.gif

I have never had a Dell computer without a problem, and throughout my life I've probably had 4 or 5 of them. The customer support is awful, too!

At least you can give them credit for TRYING... even if they didn't try very hard and screwed everything up 3 times. At least the laptop didn't blow up when you turned it on http://www.pcguide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

[jlreich]

WOW! That's horrible. :eek:

Once you finally get the right machine they promised you it may be all worth it, but WOW!

And just when when we haven't had a good dell rant for a long time they go and give us even more reasons to dislike them. ;)

The millions of dollars they supposedly put into their support system to improve it is really paying off. :rolleyes:

[azzey]

They're probably taking the money that they saved from not testing their laptop batteries to hire some competant support staff http://www.pcguide.com/ubb/rolleyes.gif Sorry, I'm just still stuck on the whole exploding laptop thing http://www.pcguide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

[Laguna]

I actually left out quite a big part of this whole ordeal.
When I rang Dell the first time about the sound problem I spent two whole hours on the phone with them "troubleshooting" with them.All things I had already tried mind you.And I eventually pursuaded them to take it back for repair,(This is the first laptop).But I made the worse mistake of mentioning not liking the Partition malarky they do on the drive at the end of the phone call.

The laptop was collected the day after and brought back for repair.
I got it back four days later and opened it to find the laptop all dusty with finger prints and massive smudges all over the screen.And to make it all worse when I looked at the sheet that had all the details of the repair on it...guess what it read?....HD capacity issue...Action taken...OS re-install....

ALL THEY DID WAS RE-INSTALL WINDOWS!!!!!

I could have done that myself and the audio problem wasn't even addressed.
THAT was when I rang up furious demanding my money back.

[azzey]

Malarky... was there even anything written about the audio problem? You'd think that they'd test it or something! They're just wasting shipping $$$!

[Laguna]

Nope just HD capacity issue.I told the manager on the phone before they took the first machine back for repair to check direct music under dxdiag to make sure the audio was running properly and he even said "I have taken that down as a note".

[Sylvander]

I fear you have probably been "duped".

In the UK for example:
1. When you purchase an item you have the right that it must be "Fit for purpose". If it isn't you have...

a. The right to demand a full refund...
And it is incumbent upon the seller to prove that the goods are NOT faulty, not up to the buyer to prove that they ARE faulty.
So [if the seller fails to prove that the goods are faulty] he must give a full refund if it is demanded.

b. The right to a repair or suitable replacement of the "faulty" item.
Since a seller is unlikely to want to give a full refund, he will attempt get the buyer to accept a repair [or replacement].
It is definitely NOT SMART of a buyer to accept a repair unless the case is very borderline. This meaning that the buyer has been using the item successfully for quite a long time and it could be argued in the small-claims court that after so long the user is not due a full refund and a repair is the more equitable course.

2. So that "manager" was going to do whatever it took [within the law?] to get you to FAIL to demand a full refund.
His method was to promise you a fantastic, high spec replacement.
The fact that you were prepared to accept a replacement, ANY REPLACEMENT, established the fact that you were prepared to forego a full refund [Oh! Tam, Tam, thy'll get thy fairin'; in hell they'll roast thee like a herrin'].
You had a good case and you blew it.
Now they have you by the short and curlies.
["You're Cods are in a cleft stick" (as they used to say in the 1790's) "and you must wise them out as best you can"]

3. Have you any PROOF that he made this extravagant offer?
He probably has all the proof he needs that you accepted a replacement. :(

[Laguna]

As a matter of fact I do have proof that I was offered these specs.
I was sent an e-mail listing them all and I forwarded it to the manager I was speaking to yesterday and she was shocked and said she would have work started on THAT specific machine instantly.And she will be sending me a free carry case also.

And as for "Having me by the short and curlies".....I have TWO of their laptops sitting right here beside me and they are not getting them back until I get the promised machine.

So I think the short and curlies on the other side are the ones in danger! :D

[Sylvander]

"I do have proof that I was offered these specs"
GREAT! :)

Make sure to keep "glowering round wi' prudent cares lest bogles catch you unawares".
It's a bog out there and false lights ["spunkies"] may lead you onto bad ground where you will become "mired" in [legal?] disputation.

Try to keep all important communication in written form [email's good].

[Laguna's Girl]

One of the things that annoyed me most about the whole thing is that when the replacement was offered and accepted we were told by that manager that he would keep us informed at every step of the way, which did not happen AT ALL. We were forced to ring up day after day only to be put through to about 4 different people who we could barely understand because of their strong accents who all told us "em, you will get an email telling you that it has been shipped when that happens". After a week of getting those answers I rang on Monday and was told it was shipped! So much for keeping us informed.....

Their entire customer care team is a joke, none of them have a clue at all and definetly do not like being told that their service as a whole was rediculous.

[Sylvander]

When you have a wad of banknotes in your fist you have POWER.

They want that money, and what do they have to do to get you to give it to them?
In days of old they would entice you with something nice.
They'd show you the actual laptop and demonstrate it in action.
And you'd rub your chin, and play hard to convince, and you'd try to ignore that they talked a good talk, and walked a good walk, and concentrate on what you are going to get for your cash.
Then you'd agee on the price and walk away with the goods [if they didn't pull a fast one and switch items on you].

Things have changed! :(
Now you don't see the actual goods [you only see images].
And you don't see the goods in action, so you must cross your fingers and hope that it actually works as is claimed.
And the money isn't held back [as it should be if we exercised our purchasing power] until you are satisfied with the goods.
Think what a difference it would make if they didn't get a cent until you were happy with the goods, and that had to be done within a few days of receipt, or the goods had to be returned.
I assume that at this point they have your money, and have had it now for some time, but since then you have NOT had what you paid for.
They should be paying you for the use of your cash up to the point at which you have what you paid for.

If they were honest and conscientous they would agree to do that.
Or at least the money would not be taken from your account by them until you're happy with the goods.
Normal procedure is that you ask and the seller agrees that they won't take the money until the goods have been dispatched.
Seems like a licence to dispatch inadequate goods!

Your best course is to demand a refund and begin again, possibly with a new seller.
If sellers know that if they send the wrong or a faulty item, the buyer will immediately demand and get a full refund, they will make **** sure that no inadequate goods are sent out.
If they know that buyers can be fobbed off with promises of this, or that, or the other, then they don't have to worry too much about it.

[PrntRhd]

The problem right now is there are more notebook PCs being sold than desktops and that puts them at an advantage since you cannot build one easily yourself.
You also have to rely on them for service.
Their business support is OK, their consumer support kinda sucks.

[classicsoftware]

Their business support is OK, their consumer support kinda sucks.

Aren't we being generous this morning. If it only sucked it would be an upgrade.

I just finished with an Inspiron Notebook. It is supposed to have on-site warranty. In fact according to the web-site this system has:

Next Business Day, Includes Nights/Weekends 801 days

So the system failed to boot and the error message indicated a hard disk problem. The customer called DELL and they were told the drive was fine, just reinstall the OS. They were not satisfied with the answer so they brought it to me. I tested it with the DELL diagnostic software and the manufactures software and the drive was BAD.

DELL, sent a new drive and I had to install this for them. This all happened while the wife and mother of the family died of cancer.

Did this family need this kind of aggravation, does anyone need to be given incorrect information by the supposed experts. Shouldn't they know more about theirsystems than I do? DELL has the second worst customer service I have ever seen. It's easy to see why HP is starting to beat the crap out of them. They have lost their way. And if they don't get it back soon, they are going to be in trouble.

p.s. If you go the CPSC web site and search for DELL notebooks you will see they have had battery problems for years. Sooner or later this will be a class action law suit.

I advise you all unless you want to experience HELL, don't buy a DELL!!

[PrntRhd]

LOL, I guess I was being generous at that.
If anyone notices, when asked I always recommend three brands of notebooks and Dell is not even on the list.

DELL has the second worst customer service I have ever seen.
Who was worse? (How low is low?)

[classicsoftware]

Mintek. I bough my daughter a portable DVD player a few years ago. The spring the pops up holds the lid broke and we needed a new one. Dozens of e-mails unanswered, voice mail boxes full. No response for months. Finally my got through to someone and was told they were downsizing, and only three people had to answer all of the responses for the entire country. And they could fix it for a flat fee of $90.00 + shipping. They of course, could not send the part with a price of oh about 10 cents. So if you see any product made by Mintek consider it a disposable........

[mikehende]

I can't really honestly knock Dell products, they are cheap so you get what you pay for but when it comes to customer support and service, they are THE worst of ANY business. In my opinion they are a bunch of greedy non-caring bastards! As for their tech support, I won't bother to bore anyone here with my horror stories from dealing with Dell but in general, you ask them the most basic questions and my absolute favorite is

"please hold while I look up that info"

enough said! :mad:

[Laguna]

What do you expect?They are reading everything they say to you off their screen.They click on what you tell them and then they read out to you what the computer brings up.

And it's also cheap labour for the company as a whole.
They get all the foreign people to work for less than minimum wage.
So all in all for us one horrible support service...