Horrified at what dell customer service has become.

I have been a Dell customer since my very first computer I purchased in high school in 2001.  Since then I had purchased many systems through my college experience and professional.  It had been some years since I had purchased a desktop Alienware system since the first one lasted me nearly a decade.  I have had some issues with some of the systems and monitors I had purchased in the past.  I stick with dell because I know if I ever have an issue that I could get a fair solution.  All were remedied in a respectful and timely manner. 

I recently decided to purchase another Alienware system on January 21st.  As of today Feb 28th, Dell has been unable to put a system in my hands and remedy an issue that started at the first point of sale.

When I ordered my first system I talked to sales, had many questions about the system that were answered.  One particular one that concerned me with the RAM, and if it could be easily upgraded and how I could go about that.  I did not want to finance the initial system with what would be over 1,000$ for fully maxed out RAM option.  Sales assured me that this could be done at a later date no problem and I could contact parts and accessories  for additional RAM.  So we went with the best option for single stick of RAM.

Come time I was directed to parts and accessories.  I learn that Dell does not sell the type of ram compatible with what I had already ordered.  Okay, no problem right?  I could just buy 3rd party?  I was directed to technical support to find out what was coming in my system and a suggestion on where I could purchase.  I was provided what was in my system and assured by the tech this was the exact item in my system.  Which to be fair, it was, and it even looked exactly the same right down to the OEM sticker.

The system comes and it works just fine out of the box.  Then I proceed to insert the separately purchased RAM.  It doesn't post at all.  Can't even get to BIOS.  At this point I am contacting customer service to see if we can solve the issue, thinking that I have premium support that it should be a quick fix.  The first tech had me test all 4 dimms, with all 4 sticks of RAM.  All of them worked.  I then tested in pairs to discover that the stick the system came with will not work with any of the 3 other sticks in a pair.  It had started becoming obvious there is something wrong with this stick or what I was being told about its compatibility with upgrades was not correct.  This tech told me that since the stick works by itself that there is nothing they can do.  She also implied that 16GB is plenty and I should be happy with that.  Which is ridiculous.  I purchased a system that was advertised to have the ability to upgrade up to 64GB.  Frustrated with that conversation I proceeded to end the phone call.

I call back the next evening in hopes of getting someone that would listen to reason and there is something not right with this part or I was being mislead about this 300$ part being compatible with other upgrades. I have a pleasant conversation with another tech that agrees that, yes, all 4 sticks should work, and yes there is an issue with the system part.  He told me he was escalating it to the engineering team and it would be about 48 hours.

I check in on this on day 2 and 3 and am told that it would be another 24 hours.  On the 4th day I discover through another customer support source at Dell this escalation never happened.  I never received a call back.  At this point I am looking for anyone to help me.  I reach out to Dell Alienware support on twitter in desperation.  It was here I finally am finally told that the system RAM is simply incompatible with 3rd party RAM even though its the same make and model, and that Dell does not sell the RAM individually.  Well, that information would have been more helpful at the point of sale as I can't go around simply purchasing different 3rd party ram in hopes that it would work.

It is suggested that if I want to upgrade I simply discard the 300$ stick of RAM I paid for and use other ram.  After talking to various Dell customer support departments and getting no where for about 2 weeks now.  No exchange could be offered without the upgrade and a partial refund nor could I pay the difference to have a system shipped with an additional 3 stick of ram.  The only other way to remedying this without wasting 300$ was the return the entire system, wait for a refund, and purchase it again.  The entire process would leave me without a system for 2-4 weeks.  Furious with the answer I return my entire purchase that also included a monitor unsure if I was going to purchase again.

About a week went buy and I noticed there are President day sales going on.  I figured I could get a better deal this time around and decide to give Dell another chance with the hope that this was a freak occurrence.  Well turns out I was wrong.  My refund could not be processed in time.  So I was already having to pay again for a system so I could take part in the sale.

I had re-ordered both the monitor and the system, assured that since I am replacing a system I was previously mislead on it would be expedited.  The monitor arrived fairly quickly, but this one has an issue with a shadow/darkness coming from the top bezel on the screen.  Talking to tech support I was unable to take a clear picture enough of it to satisfy them, and after trying some obvious things, it is "escalated to engineering".  Which I am starting to think is code for "I don't know how to solve your problem, kindly go away" as I have yet to hear from anyone.

The system I have not even received yet.  It has been delayed a total of 14 days and has yet to be shipped with a tracking number.  When I complained about this it was immediately flagged as shipped in their system.  However, coming up on day two the tracking number does not show up on FedEx tracking which means it has not been picked up.  No idea when this thing will finally be here.  I will probably have to cancel and return the monitor.... again.

So, here I am over a month since my initial system order still yet without a working computer with a monitor with a display issue.  It has become obvious to me customer service has become this streamlined processes with script agents.  They are following a really really tight script that leaves them no flexibility to address issues outside of textbook norms.  They don't care how frustrating my experience is or how inconvenient all this is, and can't implement smarter more time and cost effective solutions.  They issue you the scripted apology and thank yous and usher you to the next step in the script that may or may not be silly for the situation.  If that doesn't work, they make a fake escalation in hopes you will just not come back.

Really that is not what customer service should be when there could be really simple solutions that don't have to waste time and resources because there can't be any deviation from the processes.  A decade ago that is not how customer service worked.  I really feel like Dell has fallen a long way, customer service feels like a cold, mill like process that we are just walked through.

Signed,
A very unsatisfied long term customer.