Dell Customer Service is Deplorable

I am an IT consultant, and I regularly advise my clients to purchase Dell workstations to serve their IT needs. I must say, after my experiences with Customer Service, I can’t, in good conscience, make such recommendations in the future. I purchased a new top of the line Precision workstation, and it arrived broken, with a defective and nonfunctional display. I attempted to call technical support and customer service. The former said that they wouldn’t provide me with a replacement, and that I would need to go through customer service. I was unable to get in touch with customer service, in part due to their hours, until the 31st day after receiving the unit. The fact that I had spoken to technical support regarding this matter 2 weeks prior was not of concern when I spoke to the people at the call center, as they refused to help me because the 30 day return policy had expired.

 At this point, my only recourse is to go through tech support to have the unit “repaired”, but I know from prior experiences that they will not be fixing the unit properly and completely. The most frustrating part of this experience, is that I have no way of getting help. The people at the call centers are foreign and it’s often difficult to communicate with them. All I want is to speak to someone who is fluent in English and fully comprehends the nature of my complaint and requests. Instead, I speak to personnel who have difficulty speaking English, and managers who are rude and often don’t understand what it is that I’m saying.

 The 5 machines I purchase over the next year will not be from Dell, and neither will the 70-100 machines that my clients purchase.