Cranky Customer

My dad owns a small business and we've been buying Dells for years, and nothing has gone wrong, until now.

I got a Dell for my college graduation and one day it decided not to turn on. So I contacted Dell and they said I needed to ship it in on 4/26/08, so I did. A week and a half later I decided to call Dell to see what was going on with my computer. The "friendly" staff told me that it was being worked on and I just need to be patient, and they'd contact me within a few days to tell me when it was going to be shipped to me. Okay...

Two weeks after that I called back. I waited on the phone for hours, spoke to different people to tell me that my computer was lost and they were going to send me a new one, and they'd contact me within a few days. Okay again...

After that I was on the phone with Dell for almost every other day. Every time I talked to Dell I was on hold for hours, the staff was rude and yelled at me for asking questions. I was told everything from they lost the computer, they found the computer, they were shipping me a new one, and still nothing. Every time I was promised they would call me within 24 hours and I was never contacted, I had to contact them every single time.

It's 7/06/08 and I still have no computer, no answers, and no idea what I'm going to do. I'm perpetually stuck in Dell Hell.

A couple comments. The Michael Dell address and the escalation to Michael Dell gets you into a group that sorts his complaints. I emailed him directly at michael_dell@dell.com and my information got to the corporate escalation center where a person with a very heavy Indian accent (hmmm???) called me. My bottom line is that the escalation center was just one more speed bump in getting no help. Here is what happened to me.

First I am a very big Dell fan. I recommend only Dell to friends, family and acquaintances. I have had great support from them so I was a little surprised at this issue that couldn't be resolved.

I bought a Dell XPS laptop two and a half years ago. It worked great for two years but the left mouse button just plain wore out. I use the computer heavily so that was not unexpected. I figured I had to return it to Dell to get it fixed and a new plunger put on. I called Dell and found out that the button is an integral part of the entire bezel including the two mouse keys, the multimedia button array and the touchpad. It could not be repaired. The whole thing had to be replaced. So you could imagine my delight when they told me that the part cost something like $60 and they would send me instructions to replace it myself. That was awesome and I continued to sing their praise to everyone.

After 6 months of the new assembly and mouse button, the same button failed again. I called Dell and found out the part had a 90 day warranty so I was out of luck. I thought it curious that the same failure occurred again so soon. That was until they told me the new assembly I got was a refurbished piece. Apparently they fix whatever was wrong with a used part and then ship it out to unsuspecting people like me. That is probably ok but not on parts that wear.

Apparently this part was used, failed and sent back for a problem other than mouse button failure. They fixed what was wrong and sent it to me with a half worn mouse button. That is why it only lasted 6 months.

I told Dell that I was ok buying the part again but that I wanted a new part, not a refurbished part...even if it cost more. Their answer was that it was not possible. They don't know what is new and what is used. (Dell really doesn't know that???).

That is when I emailed Michael Dell. I couldn't believe they wouldn't sell me a new part. If I have to order a new assembly every few months I might as well buy a new laptop. As mentioned in your article I did indeed get a call within 24 hours. Very impressive.

Problem was that the person gave me the same story. The part is used and they can't sell me a new one. I asked if I could talk to a supervisor and she said no.

So, my bottom line is that you should check out the warranty and spare parts policy of the company you buy your laptop from and don't get stuck like me. I plan to search for a company that does better than Dell and switch my buying to them. If anyone knows who treats customers better please let me know. It is a lot of leg work to chase this down. All I can say is I am now an ex-Dell customer.

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Pretty typical: they save 50 cents, but lose a customer for life. Nice going. -rc

I purchased my Dell XPS 710 about 10 months ago. For the first few months it was great, no problems at all, and really a very quiet, reliable machine.

But that of course had to change or I would not be writing here.

It started with a hardware problem which resulted in the inability to turn on my computer. This would come and go, and I wasn't too fussed about it, but thought i'd best call tech support.

After getting me to open up, dismantle, re-assemble, re-dismantle and re-re-assemble the machine, it was declared that a tech would be sent out.

After the tech came out, the computer was back to its old self and ran happily for a few months. But then went into remission.

I went through the same process, got another tech to come out, who replaced THE SAME PARTS as last time and declared it fixed.

Today, I came home to find the computer broken AGAIN. I called tech support, described my situation, and asked about a replacement computer.

I was then told the senior service manager had denied my request.

EVEN THOUGH every tech i'd spoken to had no idea what was wrong with my machine and EVEN THOUGH they had replaced the same parts twice with the same result.
The reason, get this, is that although they told me it was the computer's fault, didn't know what caused it to happen or how to solve the problem, I didn't report it immediately when it happened.

They then offered to have my computer taken into their workshop for repairs.

I got the manager's name and contact number and told him if my computer didn't come back from the workshop in total working order, I would be holding him personally responsible and make sure he replaced my computer no matter what.

The time and energy that i've put into getting them to supply me with what I paid several thousand dollars for is almost beyond me.

If only you got what they say you get.

I ordered a Dell Inspiron 1521 on 8/5, and the delivery date was 8/20. Since then, my order has been delayed 4 times. I have called customer service each time. Answers vary from, "we don't know anything you don't know" to "it's still in production" to "you should understand that a company like ours has no control over when an product gets made." I was refused "escalation" to a supervisor 3x, with excuses like "he/she is not here" or I was simply hung up on. When I finally got through to 1 manager, he also told me he didn't know when production would be completed and without listening to me further, hung up as well.

See my blog for all the details:

http://dell-inspiron-1521-laptop.blogspot.com/

I would also like to state that I ordered a laptop on 7/24/08. It was due to arrive two weeks later. After the two weeks they canceled my order, Dell could not produce it on time so by federal regulations the order had to be canceled. It is important to note that I got no phone call or no email stating that this was happening. The email came several days after. I called Dell back complaining and was told that I had to place a whole other order. Since then my laptop has been delayed yet again! Every time I asked to talk to a supervisor I was hung up on or was told that a supervisor was not available. It is now 8-7-2008 and I still do not have my Studio 15 laptop that I ordered back in July. I am a college student and was hoping to have the laptop before the start of the school year. Instead I am relying on 6 year old Dell laptop that does not work have the time because it over heats!

My dell hell began not long after getting it. My first laptop worked great for about two months, untill I really started to need to use it for school work, and then it beagn with the power cord not charginf my computer, then when i got the replacement for the cord (which dell told me was the problem) it worked for a month or two. But in that time a new problem cropped up.... my harddrive had crashed and i only used the computer for a game or two and schoolwork. Dell sent me a new hard drive, but no cds to set the operating system back up on the computer (a thing which they neglected to send me with the computer.) After receaving the disk and setting the computer back up, the whole thing crashed. This time dell assured me that it would be solved. It was the motherboard, and I had to send it back to them to be fixed. When I got the computer back, it wasn't even two months before the motherboard had to be replaced again. After fighting with them, i got them to replace the computer. Big mistake. This laptop is just as bad as the last. I have had the motherboard replaced on this computer one time and now the disk drive will not work properly...... stay away from dell at all cost!

I brought a dell laptop 9 months ago and recently I got a very weird problem about my shitty computer: the memory sticks broke down twice with 4 memory sticks. I waste a huge amount of time to get tech support from dell and one thing I got finally is dell tech support can do nothing except wasting my time. But it is a disaster to me cause I use this crappy laptop to do my research. So I wonder whether they can give me refund and I can escape from this disaster but they don't think it is a big deal and as you may know they refused it. So basically I will keep suffering from demit dell. I am just a student, can't afford another computer. So sad.

So I am currently on a Dell Inspiron 1525. I just got this for school in July 2008, and two months in, and the hell begins. I have some programs (Firefox, AIM, Norton Security, and HP Photo stuff) that are now corrupted because the C drive is corrupted. The tech support was less than helpful, and I spent 90 minutes on the phone before finally yelling at him and giving up. He was sort of helpful and offered a solution, but his advice was completely wrong because he thinks my software is the problem, not the hardware. Now, I want to buy another computer, and I can't get my money back. Hell is a dank place.

I always thought Dell was a great company. Over the years we have purchased three computers from them, I will never do that again. I thought they cared about their customers. They clearly don't from my perspective and from what I am reading here.

We have a new system that won't work as promised and they won't or can't help. We have tried to get a supervisor but it's impossible. We have called eight times in two hours.

They must not care at all about their customers. If they did this site would not be here. If they did I would not have been disconnected three times. Believe me I am mild mannered person not a screamer or a nut. It is no wonder they are doing so poorly and losing market share so quickly.

They have gone from fabulous to awful in a relatively short period of time. Its a shame. I don't think this is what Michael Dell had in mind when he founded his company.

I am an IT manager for a fair sized company, and have been a DELL reseller of their business class products for years (11 years actually), recently I have had the worst experience ever regarding support and customer service. This started by placing an order and my order was modified by the person (without my consent) and I was shipped products to a remote location when I specified which address to ship the products to. The order became completely screwed up when they tried to correct it. In the mean time we have a number of servers down waiting for DELL to ship the product keys to us for the software (which was the wrong one to begin with) to us.

I called customer service, and was transferred, was transferred again to technical support, and was transferred to another department, then was transferred yet again to another. Finally, arriving at the right department for 1.5 hours on the phone I was hung up on when I asked that the software replacement be sent overnight. "We can not guarantee the software can be sent." "We can not guarantee that it will be shipped overnight."

Now we are a BUSINESS and rely on our servers for day to day operations and I have been frantically calling, emailing, and trying anything for someone to contact us. It's been 5 hours and not a peep from DELL.

Is DELL still in business?

It's obvious DELL doesn't put the customer first, especially when you're a BUSINESS customer ... this is not what I believe DELL ever intended but mark my words if you're a business looking for a company to back you up I would not be putting DELL at the top anymore. I used to ... but obviously they can't find the proper ways to solve issues, nor their own in a proper manner anymore. Seriously, I have never had an experience like this before, but the horror stories that are posted online have to be true because mine has gone beyond horror -- it's caused financial and production problems beyond what I have read herein with the previous posts, and I truly understand the pain, anguish, and trouble other posters have submitted.