Dell Australia shocking Customer Service case

Question

I purchased a refurbished XPS13 on 4th of January 2022. It arrived quickly, I had it on 8th of Jan, only it broke on the first day. I only browsed for about 15 min using Microsoft Edge - and there was a crackling noise, screen went black, the laptop got very hot.

I found no phone numbers or email addresses where I could contact Customer Service on my issue, but got to talk to them on Whats App. They initiated a service request for me saying that a technician will come and repair my laptop at my place.

Never heard from them again, but finally found the service page on Dell site, found my case. It said that the replacement part will arrive somewhere in February - that's almost a month.

I went to Whats App again, again after a lot of questions they said that they can do a replacement laptop and that I should wait for updates. I could not get from them which way the updates will come, and rightly so as no updates came at all.

I can only find some information on the Support Service page, but there is not much there.

On that service page I can see now that the part will ship in 2050, I am not joking.

Another astounding feature on that page is the Activity Center section, this is how it looks:

This is a mystery wrapped in enigma, we can see that somebody did something but what has been done remains a secret.

So in short Dell took my money, sold me a dud and is not providing me with any answers now.

Liss · Accepted Answer

I had a real technician, he came, replaced the motherboard, ran diagnostics and updates. All works fine so far... It was a pleasure talking to a tech face to face, watching him doing repairs.

Liss · Answer

After complaining here I had a development, thank you Dell!

I do not fully understand what their message mean, this is some English from another planet:

"Dear Customer,
Your order has been dispatched from the warehouse per 2022-01-13 03:50:22 shown.

What’s Next
Your part(s) will be shipped to a holding facility for the Dell service provider to pick up on the morning of your service appointment. You will be contacted should there be any potential delay in service."

What does "per 2022-01-13 03:50:22 shown" mean?

What morning of my service appointment? I have NO appointment, no one appointed any service with me. And where is this mysterious holding facility, not to mention the warehouse that is shown per 2022... How can there be a potential delay if there is no service appointment?

Thank you for the effort Dell, but still not good enough (

Liss · Answer

Today I had another out of this world Dell experience.

First of all, a guy called from Dell and explained to me that that a technician will call me at 8:30 on Monday 17/01/22 to confirm their visit on the same day, Monday 17/01/22. He apologised that the tech could not come today, on Friday.

Today? Did anybody ever warn me that they may come today?

Then I receive an email telling me that a technician will come on Monday 17/01/2022 09:00:00 AM - 17/01/2022 06:00:00 PM to do my laptop repairs. No phone calls mentioned.

So I decided to check on the Service Request Details page on the Dell Support site. This is what the page has to say about the Monday technician:

"Your parts were delivered on Fri., Jan. 14, 2022 6:00 am.

Your technician is scheduled to arrive onsite during a 4-8 hour window beginning Mon., Jan. 17, 2022 7:30 am.

We’re sorry, there’s been a delay. Check back here for updates."

What does it all mean? Will there be a technician, will they call 8:30 am on Monday, come 7:30 am on Monday or not come at all because of the delay?

Three different messages about the same thing, what a pinnacle of coordination we have here, Dell!

Liss · Answer

So, on Friday I was asked to confirm the Dell technician appointment time, I confirmed and received this from Dell:

Thank you for confirming your appointment between 17/01/2022 09:00:00 AM - 17/01/2022 06:00:00 PM for service request ######### of device Serial Number #######.

You will receive an additional message providing a more accurate ETA window prior to service.

Did I receive an additional message? No. So I was ready on Monday 17th of Jan (today) from 7:30 AM - just in case, because the Service page mentioned "arrive onsite during a 4-8 hour window beginning Mon., Jan. 17, 2022 7:30 am."

No-one called at &:30 AM or 8:30 AM, so I went to the same service page and found a new message:

Your technician is scheduled to arrive onsite during a 4-8 hour window beginning Mon., Jan. 17, 2022 7:11 pm.

Nobody sent me a message asking whether I want to get the Dell service on Monday night, starting at 7:11 PM and possibly going as late as 3 AM in the morning. What appointment time is this? Who in Dell even thought that it is appropriate to schedule appointments in the middle of the night?

I am regretting the day I decided to purchase from Dell. Dysfunctional automated service, they can't even work out that Australian times are different from those in US.

Liss · Answer

I just received an email from Dell Unisys, with the appointment reminder:

Our Dell Technologies representative ### ### is scheduled to arrive between - . If this is no longer suitable, please call 1800 467 948 and quote ####### for device Serial Number ##### to reschedule. Thank you.

The technician is scheduled to arrive between - . How can a properly working systems issue such a message? What do you think, is it suitable - the time between nothing and nothing? Hmm, almost a philosophical question...

Liss · Answer

I was just told by the private message on this forum that I should disregard the previous messages and await for the service from 9 AM to 6PM.

The forum monitors from Dell give me the most sensible answers!
But if the email should be ignored why send it at all???

Liss · Answer

2 weeks later my laptop XPS 13 is working fine. The technician did a good job, was very helpful. Thank you Dell!!

Customer Care

Dell Australia shocking Customer Service case

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