If I Save One One Person From Buying Dell, I'll Be Glad
My new Inspiron 6000 went dark on me two months ago. With 2 years to go on the warranty, I contacted Dell and they arranged to have a service tech come to my house and replace the motherboard.
When it still blanked out on me they sent another tech, another motherboard.
Then they sent a tech with a new screen.
That didn't work so I sent it in to Dell.
Dell sent it back saying there wasn't anything they could do because "It was a software problem".
Bear in mind through all this I'm wasting dozens of hours chatting online with agents.
An online agent suggested I reinstall the operating system. I did, losing all my data and photographs.
Then the operating system wouldn't install correctly.
Online agents kept insisting a download here, a bandaid there would do the job.
They wouldn't authorize a trip back to Dell.
Finally I took it to a local computer shop, spent $100 to get a piece of paper saying, yes, it ought to go back to Dell.
Online agents finally decide to send me a replacement.
Replacement computer came. Turns out it's a year old discontinued, probably refurbished model with a non working DVD drive. And no warranty.
When it still blanked out on me they sent another tech, another motherboard.
Then they sent a tech with a new screen.
That didn't work so I sent it in to Dell.
Dell sent it back saying there wasn't anything they could do because "It was a software problem".
Bear in mind through all this I'm wasting dozens of hours chatting online with agents.
An online agent suggested I reinstall the operating system. I did, losing all my data and photographs.
Then the operating system wouldn't install correctly.
Online agents kept insisting a download here, a bandaid there would do the job.
They wouldn't authorize a trip back to Dell.
Finally I took it to a local computer shop, spent $100 to get a piece of paper saying, yes, it ought to go back to Dell.
Online agents finally decide to send me a replacement.
Replacement computer came. Turns out it's a year old discontinued, probably refurbished model with a non working DVD drive. And no warranty.
posted by nolocontendere at 12:31 AM
5 Comments:
Wow - I guess things have changed. I've got two 4 year old Dells. Only one problem ever and it was fixed the next day and I got a free memory upgrade along with it.
Dell seems to have gone downhill as fast as the Federal Government.
You know, Capt, they did. I've talked to a lot of people during the course of this mess and a picture emerged of corporate rot. Dell has a warehouse full of defective parts that go out, according to one repair tech.
Customer support of course is all outsourced and here's the problem there - I must have chatted with over a dozen of those agents and boy are they so ever eager to help you that they'll try this, try that, try something else because it's their job and they're happy to be doing something whether it fixes the problem or not.
One other failure that all prospective customers should take note is changed internal customer policies. I begged them to be able to take it to a local Dell approved shop. They don't have any. Only subcontractors who have to come to your house no less than 3 times before you can send your system in. And obviously they don't give a shit to examine anything when you do, as in my case.
That vaunted customer support is a myth. I pried some info from my local repair shop. I'm not alone getting shafted, let me tell you.
maybe start a blog for shafted dell customers. link it on here. you get a lot of hits.
your experience is unbelievable. i certainly will not be buying a dell, which is what we did 3 years ago before having a system put together from scratch. although even with that experience, we didn't get that good of a deal--our video card is built into the motherboard, which means no upgrading and if the card burns out, we would need a new m.board in order to have a video card. two folks have looked at our system and said "WHO in the hell puts a video card on the motherboard?"
sigh. why can't people just be honest and decent, ya know??
I hate Dell since my problems with them. I still have a Dell all in one printer, which is the only thing I purchased from them that didn't crash within a few months and still works well. Anyhow, I read yesterday that they are trying to improve Dell by making colorful laptops. Not really the improvement I was hoping for.
Oh, good...it's not just me. I'm frankly sick and tired of people hailing Dell as God's gift to the computer geek--these machines are worthless. Save yourself the high blood pressure, and build your own, or buy an Alienware.
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