Customer Service

Recently I had to call and order service for my Alienware Laptop, that I use for my software business.

On Sept 17th, 2019 I called and requested service for the laptop, as it would not power up. I was told they would need to replace the motherboard and we arranged to have onsite service. I prepaid for the service and parts, and was told to wait for an email.

Sept 17th, 2019, a few hours later, I received an email from noreply@dell.com, subject was "Your Service Request #########".   It was an update to my service request. The exact wording of part of the email was:

"Your dispatch has been processed and replacement part(s) have been ordered.

An onsite service appointment has been scheduled for the following time 9/18/19 1:00pm to 6:00pm 

If you would like to reschedule your service appointment to a different date and time, please click the following link Reschedule Your On-Site Service

Any changes or cancellations to your service appointment must be made by 11:59 p.m. (local time), the business day before your scheduled appointment."

So I assumed that because it said an appointment was scheduled, that, well, an appointment had been scheduled. How foolish of me. No one showed up, and I received no follow up emails to let me know there was no appointment, either before or after the appointment time.

6 days later, on September 23rd, 2019, at 10:05 am, I get an identical email. This time, it says:

"An onsite service appointment has been scheduled for the following time 9/24/19 1:00pm to 6:00pm".

an appointment that I am not super optimistic about even existing. And sure enough, when I contact Dell support, I am told there is no appointment in reality, but they will "get right on it" and "it should be cleared up in 3-4 business days".


 Since when is it good business to tell your customers they have to wait around for a repair person for 5 hours, and then just not show up with no explanation? Why are you sending emails telling me there are appointments when there are not?