Formal complaints procedure

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@Inspiredron wrote:
No, Rick - it's not frightening - it's plain UNACCEPTABLE.

I told them exactly the problem, Customer support responded politely that it was not their area and gave me a link to tech support. I forwarded the email to tech support who told me to call customer Support on their 0870 number where you pay through the nose while you wait in the queue.

What a way to win customer loyalty !

Agree.  Swirling down the bowl...    www.simplythebest.net/sounds/WAV/sound_effects_WAV/sound_effect_WAV_files/toilet_flush.wav

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@Inspiredron wrote:
How do I get a response from Dell Customer Service/Technical support?

I have a simple problem that two small plastic grommets covering the fixing screws on my Inspiron 6000's screen have fallen off. Customer services referred me to Tech Support who referred me back to Customer Services. I have asked for the problem to be passed on to the appropriate department but it has fallen into a black hole.

HOW DOES ONE PERSUADE DELL TO RESPOND TO COMPLAINTS?

Our church is about to buy a whole raft of new machines for the office (I am IT manager!) I cannot see them being from Dell !

Frightening, isn't it.  So simple, and it's covered by warranty.  I would email Tech Support and ref to the EXACT location of the plugs. 

I am quite happy with my dell products, though I can say I am not fond of the $50 for techinical support that isn't covered by warranty.  Dell needs to create a free phone service for minor issues and questions because I certainly don't feel like paying $50 simply to ask which disk I need to use to reinstall my webcam driver. I am also disappointed by their lack of a formal complaints procedure as Klev13 has said and do think that it would be in the company's best interest to develop one.

I agree so much! I  just spent almost 3 hours and had to call them back several times once because we got disconnected because I made the statement that I bet you get tired of talking to people like me: It went really down hill from there!. If there not there to support thier product then they dont need customers!

I am probably one of the most frustrated customers that they have ever dealt with. They DO NOT care about the customer. I sent a payment to them and the money was taken out of my account by  Dell but they say that they have never received it? The bad thing is that they want me to figure out what happened! And everyone one I talk to tells me something different! This is the worst customer service I have ever had to deal with and something needs to be done. I have been fighting this same issue for months with them charging me late fees! Hey Dell, do you really think that I am going to send you another payment when yall cannot figure out what happened to the last one? We are so tired of trying to talk to them that we are fixing to pay the thing off just to be done with it. The days of the customer is always right is evidentally something that Dell has never heard of. Please please do not give them another dime! 

or else they tell you what you want to order is no longer in production and sell you something lower spec for same money. yet "no longer in production" was a BIG FAT LIE

Apologies if this is not the right place for this message but I'll feel better simply for getting this off my chest ...

First, in a bizarre way it's kind of comforting to know that there are so many other unsatisfied customers out there that I can commiserate with.

Second, I wished I'd looked at this forum before buying a couple of Dell laptops. The first one I bought (Inspiron) in Feb 2008 has just been diagnosed with a faulty motherboard and is not worth the cost of replacing. So that's 550 quid up in smoke (no extended warranty).

I  had hoped that I could either complain or appeal to some nice Dell customer services department about the situation but all I can find is this forum in which to air my grievances ... and I guess nobody from Dell ever looks here either.

Ah well ... I'm at a point where I need to purchase a replacement laptop and coincidentally, a new large desktop PC. I won't go near Dell again and will never recommend them to anyone else.

I'm having my new desktop built by a small local computer shop. They are really friendly and knowledgeable and I know that if I hit problems with my new machine, I can simply walk into their shop to talk about it and get it fixed.

For the replacement laptop .. I'm going to buy Toshiba because they manufacture their own parts therefore I think they will be more realiable.

thanks

 Steve

Hello,

Indeed it is unfortunate and unacceptable that you were bumped from one support group to the other.  Why this would occur, I can't say for sure.  You indicate that your computer is an Inspiron 6000, which means it is probably out of warranty.  So, it is possible the rep were unsure how to assist you with the part request.  Regardless the reasoning, the appropriate thing to do would have been to refer to spare parts.

You would need the following part number.

# H5904 Rubber Bumper for LCD

Regards,

I, too, wish that I had found this forum before I bought my new Dell laptop a couple of months ago.

Dell's Post-purchase "customer service" is an oxymoron in a class of its own.

I have *never* experienced such useless, time wasting, non-empathetic support responses - when I can eventually get a response at all.

I, too, have been passed and re-passed on the phone between Customer "Services" and Technical "Support", each time by a different voice absolutely assuring me that the next person I spoke to would solve the problem. They never did, they just kept passing me on. All refused to escalate the issue to anyone higher; all were just using the "broken record" technique to move me on. I was almost crying with frustration in the end..  I had to go to my local computer shop and spend £80 to have them resolve an issue with a new Dell laptop, still under warranty.

My current "support" experience - only the second, and I hope that it will be the last - saw me yesterday blocking out two hours of work time to wait for a phone call from Dell Tech Support, at a date and time that *they* had specified, to investigate another issue. I am still waiting, and they have not responded to my follow-up email enquiring why they did not call as arranged. 

I have a laptop that I want to use, quite reasonably, with a data projector. It was one of the principal reasons that I bought it. But it won't work properly with a data projector.  I'm not a novice user; I have used laptops with data projectors for years. I know that this one does not work, and that it should.

I don't have the money to keep paying third parties to resolve problems that should be fixed under a warranty that came with a new product. Nor though, do I have the time to waste in non-productive chasing of a faceless and uncaring corporation.

I have learned my lesson, which I commend to others. I am never, ever, buying anything again from Dell.

I agree wholeheartedly with what you say, particularly your comment about the 'freephone' telephone number. 

Unfortunately, these days in R-O-B (Rip-Off-Britain) you'll be very hard pushed to find an IT company (or any major company) who 'values your custom'!  

In my experience, the  only thing these people value is your cheque, your credit card or your debit card, plus their customers paying thru the 'ear hole' whilst hanging on the 'support' telephone line, listening to terrible music, continually repeated (supposedly for your pleasure) at 50p or £1 per minute.

The best way to get these faceless folks to sit up and  take notice is to report their company tactics and antics to our 'Annie' on the BBC consumer affairs programme.. WATCHDOG.

You are all so lucky to be able to get a Dell machine.  My order for over £5,000 of server has been cancelled twice.  I have lost count of the emails and telephone calls to a multitude of Dell departments.  No one is willing to take a problem and try to solve it.  The biggest shower I have ever dealt with.  All my multi years of recommending Dell has come to an end.  They may have pretty good kit - if you can get them to supply it - but there is no way that any of my customers will purchase a Dell if I have anything to do with it.

THE ONLY WAY TO GET DELL TO RESPOND IS TO STOP BUYING FROM THEM.  Please pass this message on.

I intend to write to as many computer magazines as I can lay my hands on - The word must be informed!

I'm having my new desktop built by a small local computer shop. They are really friendly and knowledgeable and I know that if I hit problems with my new machine, I can simply walk into their shop to talk about it and get it fixed.

:^/ That's my preference, too.  I always buy my stuff second-hand, so that it has withstood the test of time, and from shops that allow a week or two to test everything first before keeping it.  The trade-off to that strategy is that by the time a computer has been around long enough to prove itself, the warranty has worn out, so you're on your own for tech support.  It works for  me, but if you're at all squeamish about opening up your kit with a screwdriver, you may prefer to go with a local Mom & Pop shop as mentioned above.

;^)°º(Small businesses need more support anyway....)

It is to be understood that Dell doesn't support its customers. Give us your money and shut the hell up.