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42843
Disappointed and Distressed
To Whom this may concern,
Let me first start off by saying that this is my last chance to get help regarding this issue so I am hoping that someone can offer some help by offering advice on what I should do, who I should contact, etc... I am sorry about the long read on this but I needed the history of this before I could get to the actual problem at hand.
I bought a Dell XPS 710 sometime in 2006 or 2007 for $2563.41. This purchase came with the 5 year accidental in home service protection package that they offered at the time. Since owning that product I've had horrible luck and on top of that I have had horrible service. I have had at least 3 people computer to my home within the first 6-10 months of owning the original product replacing just about everything in the computer to finally state that it is not repairable and that they would replace the item. I am not sure if anyone has gone through a replacement with Dell but I can tell you that I have 7 times since initially buying my product in 2006-2007. They product replacement path basically looks like this XPS710 > XPS710 (discontinued)> XPS720 (discontinued)> XPS730 (discontinued) > XPS730 (discontinued) > Alienware Area 51 (discontinued) > Alienware Aurora R4.
Each time before getting the product replaced I would be down for about 1-3 weeks so dell could make their failed attempts to repair the unit. On several occasions I have had to help the advisor out with the repair by either holding a light so he could see in the dark corners of the computer, carry up product from his car because he physically was not able to do this himself and on top of that there was a power supply that was installed that made a breaker in my circuit box break causing an outage in that certain area of my house until I replaced out of my own pocket. Once they failed to repair the item it would then take another 3-5 weeks to actually get the new replacement computer. Several times orders for these replacements were setup wrong so when I actually received the new computer I had to then wait for upgraded parts to be sent out because it wasn't setup correctly in the first place.
With that said I would have between 4-8 weeks of downtime per computer given to me by dell. You combine that time with 6 computer replacements and I have had a total downtime of around 6-12 months out of 5 years. So really i've had a working product for only 4 of the 5 years. This doesn't even include the current mess I am in right now with Dell/Alienware or the lies I have had to deal with along the way.
This brings me to my current situation. The Alienware Aurora R4. This computer was sent to me I believe in January 2012. The computer I had prior to the Aurora R4 was the Area 51 which had 2x 1.5GB GTX 580 nVidea graphic cards, Intel i7 980 Processor and 8GB of 1600 Mhz memory. When I was told they would be replacing the Area 51 with the Aurora R4 I was concerned because the GPU on the Area 51 was outstanding when it was actually working but the Aurora's GPU configuration did not offer the Dual GTX 580 video cards like my current model did. I have a 3 display setup that was super easy to use with the GTX 580's that I had. When I told the advisor issuing the replacement this he said he would make sure I received the dual GTX 580's that I had currently. So I sent back the Area 51 desktop and received my Aurora R4 desktop.
The original specs I received with the Aurora R4 desktop was a Intel i7 3930k Processor, only 6GB of 1333 Mhz memory, and a dual 1gb ATI Redeon 6870. Clearly it was a performance increase in the processor but a huge performance decrease in both the ram and the GPU. I called instantly to complain that I was lied to. After spending hours on the phone I finally got what I was promised. 2x 1.5 GB GTX 580 and they actually sent me out 16GB of 1600 Mhz memory instead of the originally 8 I was promised due to my inconvenience.
Now the problem.... The 2x 1.5 GB GTX 580 required more power then the measly 650 Watt Power Supply they sent me supplied. So I was having video kernel panics, complete random power loss, video clipping and/or complete video failure, among many other problems that comes about when your computer's components require more power then what it is able to provide through the power supply. So again I was forced to call. I spoke to someone that said they would need to research what options they were able to provide me. While they made the decision I decided in the meantime to go ahead and just go back to the original setup of the dual ATI 6870's so I could at least use my computer. I was suppose to send those back to their depot but I was not about to give up the GTX 580's or the current video card setup that actually worked until they provided me with a proper solution.
Finally, I was offered by the manager in tech support 2 options. Option 1 was a full refund for my original purchase (2563.41 which he verified) or option 2 they would send out a single ATI Radeon 6970 graphics card which they tried to tell me would give me better or even the same graphic performance as the Dual 1.5 GB GTX 580 video cards I had presently. I happen to know a lot about computers and I also am an avid fan of cnet and other source information regarding computer components and I know for a fact that a single ATI Radeon 6970 does not come close to the GPU performance that a Dual 1.5 GB GTX 580 setup can do. They stated that they were not able to upgrade my computers power supply unless I chose to pay for that upgrade myself. I made my decision solely on the fact that I have had 7 computer replacements from dell/alienware in 5 years along with the fact that my wife pointed out that I would soon be out of warranty, so I decided to take the cash out option which I would then use to just build myself a computer.
I advised the tech support agent that was helping me that I would like the cash out option and not another repair/replacement part. I explained my reasons to him and he seemed as if he completely understood. He stated that he processed my refund and I should get it with in 10-14 business days once I returned the Aurora R4. Later that week I received the packing slip in the mail to return the Aurora R4.
I placed the Aurora R4, the replacement graphic cards, the replacement ram, dell/alienware keyboards (multiple), dell/alienware mice (multiple), several owner manuals from the previous computers including installation discs, and anything else I could find of Dells or alienware products in the massive box the originally computer was shipped in. I secured everything in the box with newspaper I was going to recycle anyways and taped it all up. I placed both the shipping label for the computer and the shipping label for the graphic cards on the box making sure they were side by side and over any existing shipping label so it could be clearly seen that there was 2 shipping labels. Both shipping labels had the same return address and so I figured i was saving space, time and package material along with the chance of either box to be lost in the mail. I dropped it off at my local Mail biz which sends out fedex and ups drop offs. I sent this out the 2nd week of february. I called the advisor after sending the unit out and he told me he would make sure the refund was sent as soon as the computer scanned in.
Mail Biz
(removed)
Loomis, CA 95650
3 weeks passed by before I called again. I asked the agent if the check was sent. He confirmed the check was sent but stated that the check was sent to my physical address (removed, CA) where I could not receive mail at. I told him that I would not be able to get the refund because I did not have a mailbox outside of my house. I provided him a physical address that he could send it to (Removed CA). The agent apologized and said he would escalate this to his manager and he would have another check sent out as soon as possible. I took his word for it and then waited another week before calling to make sure another check was sent out. I spoke to someone different who stated they sent the check but this time it was sent to the original purchasing address (Removed Ca) which was in southern california where I no longer reside. Again I got this case escalated to his manager who stated he would correct my address in the system and then would email the agent that was handling the refund. The manager confirmed the amount being sent out as $2563.41.
I did not receive a call or an email from the agent after about another week passed. I called in and got a hold of someone that provided me the agent's email that I was working with regarding my refund. I emailed him asking him why i did not receive the check. He stated the following. I have since then followed up with him and not had any replies back.
"After the analysis I’ve been doing Sr I found that the account is On-Hold, besides there’s a missing tracking number they need in order to process the refund, therefore the credit has not been processed Sr. Since we are from Technical Support and not billing or customer care let me tell you that the best way to fix this problem is to call the following phone number since they have all the databases and everything that happened and they will assist you better than Tech Support Sr.
Phone number is: 1-800-624-9897 (Choose Billing from the menu)
L1 Technical Support Agent
Dell | Alienware Technical Support
My work schedule is 9 am - 6 pm CST Sun to Thu.
"
So now its the middle of March by the time I get this email stating that my account is on hold because of a missing tracking number. This was never brought up to me before. So I called the number that is provided..... The number is wrong. I got transferred around a few times to different departments, disconnected a few times from being transferred and then finally I am referred to Billing support for Employee / Exchange services. I spoke with several agents that were not very friendly and not at all helpful. I requested to speak to several managers and who stated that they would need the tracking number to the computer (alienware Area 51) that I returned back in February. I explained the situation to them. Explaining that this was over a month ago that I had sent out the alienware computer along with many other items and that I did not have any information because it was a drop off and Mail biz does not track outgoing drop off packages. I explained to the managers that I was told the check was already sent multiple times so I assumed that the products were already received and there was no problems but now suddenly there is a problem which I was just made aware of almost 2 months later.
They told me to contact the place I sent out the items to see again if they could provide me a tracking number. So once again I called Mail Biz in my area and again they explained that they do not track drop off's unless I had paid for the drop off to be sent back to dell. Obviously I didn't pay for it since it was a pre-paid postage drop off and so I called them back and advised them of this. I was told that if I needed them to write out saying that they remember me dropping off the alienware computer they would do that for me. I explained that it may be necessary but I am hoping that it doesn't need to come down to that.
I spoke with another few more advisors one of which was John M. (Employee# removed) and his manager S omnath B. who finally said he would contact the depot that accepts the returned items to see if they could track down the return and then get back to me in 3-4 business days. Its been about 3 weeks. No one has called me back. I have emailed them all; managers, several agents including the one that originally placed the order and anyone else I had contact information for. No one has responded back to my emails in weeks. I do not have call back information for them only emails.
Agent/manager that submitted the refund: (removed)@DELL.com
Manager that said he or Alfredo would contact me after investigating the return depot:
(removed)@dell.com
Agent that escalated me to his manager : (removed)
@dell.com
My Assumption on the situation which I explained to the above agents and managers:
I could only assume that they only scanned in the graphic card shipping label and not the computer's shipping label as well. They stated they received the graphic cards but not the computer even though both were in the same box massive alienware box that my computer originally came in.
So what did they do with the "Extra" equipment that was sent to them in the graphic cards shipping label'd box? They sure as heck did not return it back to me, so what did they do?
To sum everything up:
So now I am without a computer.... I am without a refund which I was promised for the computer I sent back..... No one that I spoke to that is suppose to be working with me on this case is responding to my emails... Every time I call now I am referred to the same people that are not calling me back or responding to my emails. I am basically at a loss of what I should do at this point.
I need help.... I feel like Dell stole my money and /or my computer and there is nothing I could do about it.
Please help me...
Cenobitez
348 Posts
0
April 14th, 2012 08:00
Just sent you a link via a friend request which has helped others so far but sharing it on the forum is a TOS, and Chris has to clean up my dribble enough already :P
motivatedhero
13 Posts
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April 14th, 2012 08:00
Thank you ver much. I really appreciate your help.
motivatedhero
13 Posts
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April 14th, 2012 08:00
I sent off the email to the person suggested person. Thank you again for your help
Cenobitez
348 Posts
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April 14th, 2012 08:00
Hopefully you'll get the same results I got and everyone else has gotten :)
If you search the forums, you'll find references to this method and overall success.
motivatedhero
13 Posts
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April 14th, 2012 08:00
Still haven't heard anything from the email I sent. Although not sure if I will until monday. I will keep this thread updated.
motivatedhero
13 Posts
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April 14th, 2012 08:00
Do you have any other contacts that I can escalate my case to? Corporate contacts or even phone numbers by any chance? Just incase I am not able to get things escalated by my current email to richard?
Cenobitez
348 Posts
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April 14th, 2012 08:00
The email goes to Dell America Head Office, which is closed 5pm Friday (yank time) to 9am Monday, so it will likely be sometime monday you will hear from someone, maybe tuesday given there is 3 days worth of email to get through.
They always phone you, and usually off a withheld or unknown number, and the emails are fairly generic and sorted via the subject code. The bit like [jso2042-3ejw93] in the subjects.
motivatedhero
13 Posts
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April 14th, 2012 08:00
DELL-Chris M
motivatedhero
13 Posts
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April 14th, 2012 14:00
We will see. Honestly I am tired of dealing with Dell/Alienware. It is frustrating to no end to speak with people that just flat out don't give a about you as a customer. The lack of ownership and follow-up is disheartening. The problem is I really really loved my alienware computer. Had they just upgraded the power supply to run the 2 GTX 580 video cards they sent me I probably would have kept it but instead they argued with me and then offered me my money back instead. So of course I am going to take the offer of being refunded after having 7 replacement computers in 5 years. Anyways, we will see if I can actually get to someone that gives a about me and willing to help out. What they don't understand is i can't give them a computer I no longer have now because I already sent in the computer to their depot. Its their fault for not having proper accountability for clearly defined service tagged items that arrive there.
osprey4
4 Operator
4 Operator
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34.2K Posts
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April 15th, 2012 05:00
Hi Motivatedhero,
Wow, sorry to hear about that. Given the original purchased model and Dell's offer to replace your system on multiple occasions, I really think they made more than a good faith effort, but in fact your requirements changed. So my recommendation would be to make the most of the current system.
motivatedhero
13 Posts
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April 15th, 2012 07:00
Except if you read I noted that I had already sent the system into them. I no longer have the computer because I was told to send it back to them in order to get my refund. So now I do not have my refund or my system... I have nothing. I basically got ripped off.
peterdollery
48 Posts
0
April 15th, 2012 20:00
7 replacement computers according to you, and you only paid for the original one?, and SIX YEARS ago you paid 2500?
Not bad.
Nice job on the keywords too.
If I were Dell, I would investigate you for fraud. Something smells about your entire story in my opinion.
You should have replaced your own power supply and been happy.
judging by the vary articulate manner in which you wrote your post, I cannot believe you would do something so as to ship both items back in one box, just to save 10 bucks shipping or whatever. You HAD to know there was a 50% chance they would scam, er, scan the wrong label.
So 6 years of using Dells computers and now you want your money back too?
Best of luck.
motivatedhero
13 Posts
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April 16th, 2012 13:00
Peter,
I understand what you are thinking regarding the fact that I have had 7 computers in 5-6 years which I paid $2500 for only one of them however, put yourself in my shoes. I will go into small detail for you so you get a better picture of my "fraud" as you stated.
I have had 18 - 20 repair visits to my home where my children reside. Also may I add that out of the 12-15 different people I would say only a few actually knew what they were actually doing. I say this because 90% of them had to call in for assistance to take a part the computer. Dell and alienware should spend less time making a flashy computer and make them a bit more tech friendly or at least offer some training to those they send out to their customers houses.
The other thing I must bring up is nearly every single repair contained refurbished parts. Again its no small wonder why things never seemed to work and if they did it was quickly broken again a few weeks to a few months after the repair was complete which resulted in yet another visit from those wonderful techs.
You also have to understand I didn't ask for all these new computers the 2 times I did ask for a replacement directly was because I had multiple people at my house doing multiple repairs replacing the same items replaced in the previous repair. I simply just wanted a computer that would work for at least 1 year. Now with that being said I am not going to lie and tell you that I am not rough with my computers because I am. I push my computers to their limits as I do a tremendous amount of video editing, graphic design and I do some pretty serious gaming. I take my computer with me to the different tournaments, gaming hubs and friends houses when I do game. So there is a lot of traveling being done with my computer. If you are wondering why I chose to get a dell/alienware computer the answer is very simple, their warranty. Knowing good and well that I do push my computers pretty hard I got a pre-built for the simple fact that they would warranty any items that malfunctioned. However, buying a pre-built seems to have provided me more problems then relief even with the warranty especially since I couldn't just go to the store that day and replace parts as I would have normally done with computers I built.
Please understand I asked them to give me a new power supply vs accepting their offer to just refund my original purchase but they told me I would have to purchase a power supply from them. Why in name would I give them $230 for a power supply when they were suppose to send me a comparable model to the computer they replaced it with. Meaning I was promised 2 x GTX 580's in a pre-built Aurora R4 that would have the necessary upgrades to ensure it would be able to run those graphic cards and additional components included with the computer. Its like you going out and buying a Porsche with this awesome engine and upgrades but instead of giving you a car battery that would run the vehicle they give you a "Triple A" battery and then they tell you to give them $250 more you can have the battery designed for the Porsche. Granted $250 compared to an $80,000 car is not a lot of money but I am sure you understand what I am saying and if not then you will never understand what I have and am currently going through. Using that same analogy they then offer you the money back from the purchase. They send you a driver to drive the car back. You include all things they gave you in the trunk of the car. They then get back the vehicle but tell you all they received was the items located in the trunk and not the actual car. So now they have your car but "can't locate it" and they have your money but they tell you that your account is on "hold" until they get the car back. How can they have gotten the items in the trunk but not the actual car?
That is my situation. They are saying they have the graphic cards that I needed to return that were in the same box as the computer they wanted back but not the actual computer.
As far as my shipping method at the time it wasn't to "save money" for package materials in truth I thought that if I put everything in 1 box there would be less of a chance anything being lost in transport to them. 2 different packages gives me a 50% chance of something being lost or misplaced and since both returns were going to the same location I thought it would be easier for them to have everything in 1 big box containing everything and anything they needed to release the hold from my account then to have multiple boxes to have to track down. I realize the mistake of this but regardless THEY HAVE the computer and the graphic cards they needed to refund my computer.
Now need I remind you I have had multiple replacements and a solid history of never have any issues getting my returned products back to them. Also understand I wasn't the one that suggested they return my original purchase amount in fact all I wanted was the upgrade to my power supply so I could run the graphic cards I was given by dell.
So now I am without a computer that I spent $2541 on and I am without my money. . I have requested that they send back the computer I sent them or they send me my refund. At this point I would be happy with either. So to answer your question.
No I didn't expect it until they offered it to me and when they offered it to me I was just as shocked as you are now. However, I accepted the offer just like any one would have and provided them my part of the deal. All I am asking now is they hold up their end of the deal and sadly they aren't.
89fordprobee
1.2K Posts
0
April 17th, 2012 07:00
okay you mess up to try and save dell money (don't know why but why not try) and you get the run around at the moment anyway
complaining about 20 repairs and 7 systems in 5 years.. man thats not to bad i had 4 systems and 15 visits IN 6 MONTHS!, in the end i got a NEW replacement system not a refurb (it actually had all the plastic covering and certain sw features only found on new not refurb) and i didnt even turn it on just sold it off for 300 more then my ORIGINAL system costed and got a desktop system (used core 2 quad extreme and a new acer laptop for when i am about)
anyway goodluck with getting this resolved im surprised you was offered a refund just to bad your getting the run around at the moment
P.S. thanks for not deleting i removed the TOU and cleaned it up although i didnt think it wasagainst tou
DELL-Chris M
Community Manager
Community Manager
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54.2K Posts
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April 17th, 2012 08:00
This thread is locked as per directions due to the many TOU Violations and the content. The issues are being looked into by several departments here at Dell.