Customer Support Complaints, Post Here

Last night my computer died, most likely a power supply issue. 

I did everything the tech support people suggested including checking the cable for mouse bites.

There were no bites.

I went through this same process 3 times, because I was transfered to 3 different people.

Second time in two years, on a two year old computer, that I have had a critical failure with my XPS 1330 hardware by the way.
- First was supposedly the video card, they also replaced the motherboard. Now the power supply issue.

Next day service was supposed to be here on Tuesday. I called in on Sunday night. It is now Wednesday late morning and I have not yet heard from the repair rep. Why did I bother paying for the next day service extended warranty - especially when my warranty still had 21 days remaining -see the image below.

Dell left me a lovely automated messsage suggesting delivery issues. Not really my problem. My problem is that I have a next day repair warranty, my computer is dead and no one has come to fix the issue.

I live in the United States … eventually XPS Canada support helped me at least schedule the repair request. I now hope they aren't lost somewhere in Canada looking for me.

I sure hope the next business day support comes tomorrow, being Thursday - four days after my call. I need my laptop to work.

Please read the entire story below:

Around 10pm last night (Sunday) I phoned Dell Support to get someone out to repair my laptop which simply will not turn on. I went through about 10 steps with 3 different tech support people at various times throughout the night to get the repair scheduled, finally by XPS Canada Support. I live in the United States.

I almost thought that the French language option would help the process along faster. I don’t speak french.

The biggest frustration was that 2 of the 3 support specialists that I spoke with were much more interested in selling me an extended warranty than solving my issue. In fact I had to get the Warranty Extension Department to route me to XPS support because the automated system claims that my warranty is expired.

Per the DELL website however I have 21 days remaining on my warranty.

The DELL support team suggested that only pertains to my video card that was replaced last year about this time, but I countered that if that was the case, then it should also pertain to the motherboard that was replaced at the same time.

Tech support didn't disagree, they just were not able to do anything about it.

Regardless, no one was ever able to help me until I purchased the $211, 1-year, extended warranty. I’m not sure I would have purchased the extended warranty if I wouldn’t have been forced to by the innability of the first two XPS support groups to make an informed judgement call and over-ride the system.

I got was a bunch of “I’m sorry sirs” throughout my multiple conversations with XPS Support, which was polite, but utterly useless.

I needed the computer fixed, I was out of options. After I purchased the warranty I was put in touch with XPS Canada Support and went through the diagnostic process a third time.

No rodent tooth marks anywhere on the equipment, but at that point we were just lucky I hadn’t thrown it all in the lake and gone with a new HP or Apple.

Hopefully someone will be here soon to fix the laptop.

I have recently had a bad experience with Dell  customer service and it looks like I am not alone. I am trying to find somewhere I can complaint officially too but that seems to be almost as difficult as following my order was.

I placed an order for a projector mount on the 9th of July. The website said it was usually 1-2 weeks delivery and said nothing about it being out of stock. I waited and waited, receive 2 emails changing the date of delivery until the last date I was given was the 26th of August. I found out yesterday of another supplier that this item had been discontinued at the same time I received an automated call from dell saying the item would be delivered on the 12th of August and had to select a delivery time. I tried to call Dell to speak to someone who could explain. After listening to the awful automated messages I eventually got through to someone, told I needed another department and was passed on. This continued until I reached the 6th person. When I asked if this item had been discontinued I was told they did not have that information. I then asked to speak to someone who would be able to tell me and was told my item would be delivered on the 26th. I asked if this was still the case even though the item was discontinued and was informed that there was a delay due to stock issues (there would be stock issues if the item was discontinued). As this person clearly didn’t know that this item was discontinued and became rather rude I asked to speak to a supervisor. I was then informed if I wanted to speak with a supervisor I would have to phone back and ask for one as I could not be transferred.

So I went through the same procedure again. Pressed the numbers, was passed from one person to another and when I asked for a supervisor I was informed that all supervisors were in a meeting and I could not have a call back when they were out of a meeting.

Attempt number three I emailed customer service stating that I needed to know what was happening and the fact that one particular member of staff had been rather rude and unhelpful and could someone senior please get back to me and answer my question. Today have received an email telling me that yes I am correct and the item has been discontinued and they are cancelling my order. If I wanted to speak to any one please phone one of 3 numbers. The first number is out of service, the second a voicemail of someone who is on annual leave for the next 2 weeks and the last was back to the automated sales machine.

Phone yet again to find that yes my order has been cancelled but no refund sorted. They would email accounts who would email me in 24-72 hours to sort it out. Does no one talk anymore?!

Sorry for the long rant but I am absolutely disgusted by the way I have been treated by Dell and their customer service. I placed the order with Dell believing it to be a safe option and expecting good customer service. If anyone knows how I can make a formal complaint to Dell please let me know.

I have to agree with on this matter they are not listening to the customers they do what they want. I have been contacting dell about this and it has been 4 days since it last worked. actually since it worked properly was a year ago. They are quick to send me off to someone else and not help me in the matter. in mean time i had to go out and purchase a secondary computer and use that but my files for work and all pictures that i need are on the other computer that i can not access..... and all they want to do is to replace the same parts that were replaced time and time again appearnently those are not the bad parts.

At least you were only on for 3 hours i have been on for 3 days now. and have spoke to countless people i have been bounced around to one department to another and on hold forever. I have a computer that has been broken for over a year now and nothing is done about i know when it will get fixed is when the warranty is up thats when they will discover the problems

I bought a refurbished dell laptop.  It didn't work from the very first day.  It appears to be intermittent - possibly related to heat, as it works in the first 5 minutes and then the keyboard intermittently flakes out - type a letter over and over and it only shows up once (or not at all).  I cannot use it.  I called Dell tech support and they remotely connected and updated drivers.  This took better than an hour.  The technician tested my keyboard in Notepad - no problem.  The minute I start using Microsoft applications, the keyboard problem appears again.  I call back and they connect remotely again and try more drivers... then again and we rebuild my machine (hours).  Still a problem.  They allow me to pack it up and ship it back, which I do.  Yesterday (Aug 13, 2009) I receive my computer with a note that says nothing is wrong - no service performed.  I booted it and guess what?  Same problem within 5 minutes - AGAIN.  So I call Dell support (in India) again.  I told her I just want to send it back - I no longer want this computer.  If they can't make it work, how could I ever make it work?  She said she has to connect to it and "check a few things".  I don't have the computer with me (I'm at work).  So, here we go again.  I don't WANT to spend hours on the phone with someone in India!

ALL I WANT IS A COMPUTER THAT WORKS!  I WANT TO RETURN MY COMPUTER and GET A NEW ONE!  CAN'T ANYONE HEAR THAT?  This laptop is a lemon (Studio 1555).  What does it take to get someone's attention?

i placed an order and my bank refused to pay it incase it was a fraud transaction so i got that cleared and they said phone up dell and explain what had happened. so i did after five phone calls going around the world to people who could not understand me or speak english i got through to customer support. SUPPORT??? he would have been more supportive if he had hung up!!! well after an hour of phoning and getting no where i was giving up so i just wasnt caring. he said oh yeh we will get that to our finance team right away and get it procesed. well its been 24 hours now i have had no contact, my money is still in my account i cannot track my order. I will never use dell again if this is the treatment again. JUST TELL ME WHERE MY DAMB ORDER IS!!!!

der_Geist,

Sorry you are having problems with your computer. 

Please send me a private conversation by clicking on "contact" below, and selecting "start a conversation with Dell-Robert P", and I'll see what I can do.  Thanks.

Regards,

Robert

So, I wrote a long story in here about having to deal with Dell customer support while they delay my XPS 630 week after week for over a month now. It contained no swear words, it did not insult anyone, it was simply a rant about the way the people on the phone have been completely unhelpful and have lied to me on several occasions.

...It was deleted and 'TOSed', claiming it contained 'harrassing language'. It did have the H-word in it. Could that count?

That's some fine customer interaction, Dell.

Here it is again, minus the H word. Heh.

I would love to be saying I have a problem with my computer. I can't, because my problem is just getting my computer. I ordered it on July 30, intending to use it once the school year started. It's now September 4th and the delivery is September 15th. Every Wednesday at 10 AM, like clockwork, they delay it another week.

The first time they did I called to find out what was going on, and was told 'because of the popularity of this model, we're behind on manpower and it will take a little while to finish building it, but you should have it by the delivery date. Okay, that made sense, I accepted it. And then, the next Wednesday...another delay. This time I call, and I'm told that the 'monitor and ram' are both backordered (how in the world do you get backordered on ram?) and that they'll have it built as soon as they get the parts. Fine, that's irritating, I'm getting kind of annoyed, but whatever.

The next Wednesday, once again, delayed another week. I call and ask about it, and I'm told 'we don't have any information about why it's delayed, but your order is now a priority order and will be shipped out soon. It shouldn't be delayed again.' Okay, I'm angry now but I let it pass, and settle in to wait... And the next Wednesday...it's delayed again.

I'm pretty much furious now, I call up, I ask what the hell is going on and if I can know why my order is delayed...and their answer? They won't tell me. Not 'we don't know', just 'we won't tell you. wait for your order.' That's it. I hung up on her in anger to keep myself from saying something rash, called back and got the same woman in India who was angry at me now, and told me the same thing. 'Just wait.' Seriously? Just wait. What kind of official business response is that?

I'm sitting here contemplating canceling my order, if only to relieve the stress of it. Except I'm not even sure I CAN cancel it, because it's been in 'production' since an hour after I placed the order. A month ago.

Here is a copy of a letter we wrote since an order of our was delay since mine and my husband name is only different by a "y"

Zaheer,

This news is rather disheartening.  My original order was submitted in late
June.  Due to a typographical error on my submission, which was promptly
corrected, over a month has lapsed.  For your information, it took nearly
two weeks before I was contacted and advised that further information would
be required to process my order.  It appears that my explanation that a
typo had occurred was not sufficient.  I subsequently provided a copy of my
passport and drivers licence as proof of identification.  After another
delay, I was later asked to provide a copy of my social insurance number
card or a copy of notice of assessment.  I am still confused why this was
asked of me.  In my original submission, I had provided my social insurance
number.  In order to gain clarification, I placed several phone calls to
Mr. Yadla and his supervisor Sura Suvarchala, in addition to submitting an
email.  Unfortunately, I was not successful in reaching anyone directly,
and my communication attempts were not returned.  In despair, I provided
the information requested, and now I am advised that because the promotion
is expired, I cannot get the product as requested.

I have purchased from Dell before and until recently have never been so
grossly dissatisfied with your customer service.  I would very much like
for you to reconsider providing me the order as it was originally
submitted.  If you are not in a position to address this complaint, I would
very much appreciate being placed in contact with the appropriate person.
I would very much like to be contacted by someone who will advise me what
actions will be taken to correct this unfortunate event.

Dell No. 4387518 Documentation

this letter was sent August 17th still now one has responded very unhappy we customer care.

Knowing all that has already gone wrong, I'd worry (perhaps wrongly so, maybe rightly so) that I'd have future issues with this particular computer.

Since the machine sounds new, I would consider using Dell's 21 day return policy.

I decided to write this post in the hope that the computer that I received over a week ago would actually be of use to me. I bought the computer for my wife for grad school. When the computer arrived, it seemed to work fine. The next day, white horizontal lines appeared across the top of the screen. The computer fully locked up once (like a system board lock up), and it just randomly shut down. I'm a tech person, I used to work at a help desk, I understand that parts are just bad sometimes. So, I call your tech support line. I speak to three different people. My call gets dropped during the transfer. Nobody can find my service tag number in the system. After over an hour on the phone, I'm told that they have to speak to another department that is currently closed and they will call me back the next day. Not ideal, but I'm still ok. 

Can anyone comment regarding the *trend* of Dell Customer Service over the last few years?  Stated another way, are things the same, better or worse than a few years back?

Other than one time when I started complaining about non-english speakers (and got hung-up on), I've had good luck with prior Dells: 2 motherboard replacements (separate PCs) and one laptop LCD replacement.  Granted, it was like "pulling teeth", but nothing like the horror stories I hear above.

Currently considering cancelling my order, and going-back to building my own system.

Amazing! My post was deleted for "offensive language". I guess Dell can deem a post that's not to their liking as anything they want just to remove it. Thank you Dell for solidifying my decision to move to HP or Lenovo for my business needs.

Regarding the post about problems with a flaky keyboard on a refurbished Studio 15 laptop:

I'm wondering if it may be an issue specific to the Studio 15 model. Interestingly enough, my refurb Studio 15 laptop does that too - the keyboard flaking out and/or the touch pad flaking out. i happen to be friends with a certified Dell tech, and he was able to get it to work again by taking off the keyboard off the "guts" and disconnecting/reconnecting the cable underneath. He showed me how to do it, but the last time it flaked, I just set the thing aside and have been using the Mac laptop from work instead.

20/20 hindsight - I wish I'd just spent a few more hundred dollars and completed the switchover to Mac in my life...(My employers moved me to a Mac environment a year ago at work. I was just too unwilling to kiss my 20-something years in a PC environment goodbye. After dealing with the stupid Dell laptop, I'm ready... Life is just too short to deal with mercenary idiots...