The Consumer Complaints Blog

Fighting the trained monkey in modern society.

December 4, 2009

Dell Computers

Filed under: Technology/Computer — Editor @ 7:18 am

I am not sure if you would be willing to print this as i see that dell advertises on your web page, but hopefully you will because people need to know.

I was a loyal customer to dell. my first laptop was in 2000. i bought a 2nd one in 2002. my family also bought from dell. the customer service was great until now.

I placed an order for my mother late october 2009. The sales agent said it was to arrive nov 12th. Then our family had a personal crisis and I did not have time to call Dell again until Nov 16th. The guy at Dell told me it was going to come “next week”. November 30th, I called Dell again at 430 pm. The lady on the phone said that they were having “technical difficulties” and to call back in 2 hours. I called at 8pm. on the website, it said they were open to answer calls until 10 pm on weekdays. I was on the phone waiting for 1 hour. I got shuttled from customer service, to sales, and back to customer service. One person told me the computer was sitting in the warehouse, but it wasn’t being shipped. she couldn’t answer why it was not shipped, and transferred me to somewhere else. As soon as 9 pm hit, the guy at Dell says “we are closed. call back tomorrow”. i told him i was on the phone for an hour, and i’m frustrated. All i want to know is if my computer is coming this week. Because if it’s not, i want a full refund. He hung up on me.

This is the service you get from Dell now. I will not be a returning customer anymore. By the way, i called back on Dec 1st. Miraculously, the computer was supposedly shipped today and due to come in 5 business days. somehow i doubt that. The guy on the other end was not willing to offer any discounts for the hassles he put me through. he really did not care.

Buyer beware. there is no such thing as service anymore. you might as well buy off the shelf then.



Disclaimer
This article was submitted by one of our readers. Penciltrick cannot make any claims as to its authenticity but the article was accepted on a good faith belief that it is an accurate and truthful account of the events listed.

5 Responses to “Dell Computers”

  1. LS Says:

    My wife and I were so thrilled we were going to order a laptop for our son for Christmas. Researched and found a Dell we liked. Called and spoke with Dell order line and asked if there was any reason we could not rely on the laptop to be delived on time. We were assured everything was in stock and there was no reason we could not expect the laptop for Christmas. So with this assurance we went online and placed our order and payment. We watched it online and it had been scheduled to ship December 16, 2009. When on the 17th it still hadnt changed sent an email. Our reply, some automated response telling us to look online. but we could reply to that email and and someone would resond back in 24 hours. When that response did not arrrive called customer service order line. First person just read back to me what I read online, when I asked for her manager I got refusals etc until finally she put her manager on the line. Her manager told me he would place as a rush and saw no reason shouldnt make it before Christmas. When I asked for daily status he refused saying they were unable to provide such ability. But to call back the next day and check. So waited till the next day looked online status had not changed so called. This time the woman I spoke with Badge #87692 refused to allow me to speak with her manager until I listened to her whole dialogue which I had already read online. I had to insist hard to speak with her manager for several minutes until finally she relented and let me speak with her so called manager badge #106257 she again just read me the same I had read online and neither cared nor would she do anything about the situation. When I asked for her Manager first she refused, then he was out till Monday.

    It has become very apparent that Dell doesn’t care about its customers at all. Nor do they care what kind of customer service they provide. In this case they are unaware they have discuraged someone that works for an IT company and has a say as to what equipment we purchase for the hosting business. Do you think I would ever recommend Dell again with this kind of customer service? don’t think so! Wonder how long before Dell comes crashing down with thier existing attitudes toward the customer.

    My recommendation, buy somewhere else. Dell isnt worth all the trouble to buy and get delivery of equipment from.

  2. Glenn Says:

    Another warning to NOT buy Dell computers. I too was a loyal customer, and after the service I have received,,, (or not received), I will tell everyone to avoid them at all costs. After over 6 hours on the phone,,, they finally admited my hard drive was defective, and they came to replace. They insisted I return the old hard drive, which I was not comfortable doing until I had a chance to erase all personal info on it, (which I did, at MY expense), THEN today after an hour trying to get info on where to send it, and what I need to do to identify that it is mine,,,, and being transfered back and forth over 7 times, to people who wasted my time, kept asking for the same info, and NEVER were able to give me the info I needed ,,, I GAVE UP. And of course they have threatened that they will BILL me,,, even tho I CAN NOT GET THE INFO I NEED FROM THEM! I am stuck no matter what I do,,,, so I informed BBB,,, and will wait to see what comes next. THEY have become EVIL,,, and don’t care at all about customers,,, so PLEASE, DO NOT BUY A DELL,,, ANYTHING!!!! JUNK, and HORRIBLE Service!!!!

  3. Mike Smith Says:

    I too am the victiom of Dell. I ordered a new XPS L501X with all the bells and whistles, even Office Professional 2010, on 1st November, 2010. I paid on the day over $2,500.00 at their insistance. They called me to say it would be delayed on 25/11/10 then changed my order as if I’d just ordered it. Their representative assurred me that it would be ready for Christmas.

    On 6th December a representative again telephoned and told me that a part was not available and that my order would again be delayed. I asked for a refund and was told that it would take paperwork and a delay of 3 to 4 working days to complete the transaction. They were not amused when I pointed out that they had received my money on 1/11/10 and that had been accruing them interest since then, and that I wanted immediate payment, just as they had insisted on purchase date.

    Needless to say I am waiting for their supervisor to call back. I wonder how long that will take!!

  4. 7h3 Wh173 R4bb17 Says:

    I bought an Alienware M18x from the outlet center, upon receiving the item I noticed that the graphics cards were not crossfiring properly, I called Dell who sent out an engineer.

    The engineer tried to replace the primary graphics card and in doing so damaged the motherboard resulting in the computer being completely unusable and just showing a flickering black screen. The engineer said i would be offered a refund or replacement.

    I then got in touch with Dell who told me that due to the system being a refurbishment they would only be prepared to offer me a refund and would pick up the laptop from me. I did not think this was fair as all I wanted was a working laptop and felt that Dell owe it to me for a replacement (seeing as their engineer broke my laptop!).

    I argued my case to the complaints department who basically couldn’t give two shits about the situation.

    After numerous E-mails and complaints, I lost the will to live and just accepted the refund, to further rub salt into the wound Dell retracted their postage statement and said I would have to pay to post the laptop back to them that they broke in the first place!.

    Thanks Dell, you have made me feel like a piece of excrement you would scrape off the bottom of your shoe. I hope others heed this warning and choose a different supplier to avoid months of frustration and mistreatment.

    From my experience I have learned that I will NEVER, EVER, buy a computer from Dell again.

    If you require any more info on my experience then feel free to E-mail me at [email protected]

  5. Lindsay Says:

    I’m glad to see others are having issues like mine and posting about them online, although I’m sorry that people are having problems at all. Here’s the complaint I already issued to the BBB:

    I have a $3000+, 4.5 year old laptop (bought Aug/Sept 2007; XPS M1330- model#PP25L).
    The motherboard has been replaced 3 times, and needs to be replaced again.

    When I purchased the unit, I did it over the phone. The sales rep accidentally gave me a 3 year security system subscription instead of a 3 year warranty. They issued me a refund for the security system because rebuilding the unit would have meant delay. I asked for confirmation about the warranty since I suspected she accidentally gave me the security system in place of the warranty. She said, ‘yes yes yes, that’s all there, don’t worry.’ When I got the invoice, I checked and the 3 year warranty wasn’t there. She wouldn’t give me the warranty, her supervisor wouldn’t give me the warranty. Customer service FINALLY did, but I suspect because I was still within my timeframe to return the whole unit if they didn’t.

    Now for more problems. So I had an extended 3 year warranty. My motherboard failed on the unit. The first motherboard replacement occurred Aug-11-2008. No problems – have the warranty. The next motherboard replacement was Nov-2009, and I talked to a rep and got a name, dispatch and case numbers. Still had the warranty, so no problems, but concerned when my warranty expires – what happens then? This rep told me on this occasion that if my warranty were to expire and this happened again, that the motherboard would be replaced
    at no charge because it was an ongoing issue with my unit. He specified that other issues wouldn’t be covered, but motherboard issues would because it was ongoing. So fast forward to now (Feb 2012). My warranty has expired (as of Aug 2011), and now my motherboard needs to be replaced again.

    I talked to 7 people in two hours, each one trying to usher me to warranty repairs (where they just tell you how much it’ll be to fix the unit) against my wishes. One customer service rep blatantly refused my request to talk to a supervisor, put me on hold for 5 minutes, then transferred me to warranty repairs against my request anyway. The most helpful technical support rep told me she would be upset too, but that there was nothing she could do even though a customer service rep (with all information) had told me otherwise AND that the issue was ONGOING/the unit was faulty. Not only that, technical support also told me that there was no one with that dispatch number, or name, and that the rep I talked to in 2009 gave me wrong information, and that they would not honour the repair. They denied the unit was faulty even though the motherboard needed replacing at only a year old. Then they sent me to warranty repair, where they told me they’d give me a discount of $400 (from $500), for me to pay for a new motherboard for my unit. The unit is faulty, and they gave me wrong information or simply lied, and will not honour their product or their own customer
    service.

    I am 27 years old, and will never so much as buy a mouse from Dell ever again. Neither will I let family or friends purchase from them without hearing my story first.

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