Poor customer service

Below is a list of my experience with Dell. Keep in mind, this is the shortened version because I realized no one was going to read my 15-page document. First, I include a brief summary of notable incidents. Second, I have included dates of incidents. Third, a list of technical issues.

 

-Kyle

 

Quick summary of the notable incidents:

 

• Two 4-hour windows in which Dell is supposed to call me for repair but did not call.
• Three in-home visits in which the technician forgot to bring equipment and/or parts needed to complete the job. Once, he wasn’t even able to open the laptop. During a couple of these, he did replace one part but forgot to bring another part he needed. These visits, of course, also required for me to wait at home during a 4-hour window.
• Three 4-hour scheduled windows in which the Dell technician did not show at all. No show, no call, nothing.
• Two times, I was told I would receive a call from an in-home technician but did not.
• Two times, I was told I would receive a call from Unisys (the in-home warranty service) but did not. The first was after a request to speak with a supervisor when the tech didn’t show up for the second time. The other call was supposed to be from the technician who did not show up. Both calls were supposed to come within 30 minutes of my call.
• Twice, I was told I would receive a call from the Advanced Resolutions Group but did not.
• Five times in which the Dell technician did show up and did do work on the laptop, but the issue was not resolved.
• Once, the tech showed up and could not even open the laptop because he didn’t have the screwdriver.
• Once, a (downgraded) refurbished laptop was sent to me and showed up malfunctioning straight out of the box. This reset us back to troubleshooting and in-home techs.
• Once, after sending my laptop to the repair depot and waiting for it to be fixed, it was returned with the issue still 100% there. They replaced the speakers for a second time and also replaced the fan.
• Once, a (downgraded) refurbished laptop was sent to me and malfunctioned after twelve days. I am now waiting for a callback to troubleshoot the laptop.
• Exactly 8 hours, 13 minutes and 52 seconds spent on the phone with Dell between 5/18/18 and 7/3/19. 100% of this time has been related to issues with my laptops.
• Over 45 threads with my sent messages alone totaling around 70. Last count was weeks ago. I’ve easily spent 8-10 hours on email with Dell.
• One complaint to the BBB that changed nothing, and that Dell did not respond to in anyway indicating they even read the complaint.
• One email to Mark O'Loughlin that was not received by him, but instead by the same person with the Advanced Resolutions Group.
• One 15-page word document typed by me with details about all the above. I’ve easily spent 6-8 hours typing this.
• Multiple hours spent on message boards and forums for these issues.

 

Dates of incidents / interactions with Dell:

 

• 7/11/18 - Purchased XPS 15 from Dell Website ($1,785.30)
• 11/9/2018 - added 3-year Premium Support ($270)
• 1/7/2019 - added 2-year accidental protection ($150)
• January 2019 - started having Bluetooth issues which Dell temporarily resolved.
• 2/8/19 - Bluetooth issues came back.
• 2/8/19 - phone call lasting for 11 minutes and 42 seconds. Dell never fixed the issue. I figured it out by google searches. (From this point until 7/3/19, I spent exactly 8 hours, 13 minutes and 52 seconds on the phone with Dell for technical issues.)
• 3/6/19 – phone call lasting 43 minutes and 46 seconds
• 4/12/19 – phone call 52 minutes, 49 seconds
• 4/13/19 phone call 1 hour, 16 minutes and 57 seconds
• 4/16/19 – In-home technician did not call during 3-hour scheduled window.
• 4/19/19 – In-home technician did not show up during scheduled 4-hour window. Also, did not call.
• 4/20/19 - In-home technician did not call during 3-hour scheduled window. (this date might be off by one day)
• 4/23/19 – phone call 5 minutes, 45 seconds
• 4/24/19 - In-home technician showed up but did not bring proper screwdriver to open my laptop.
• 4/25/19 - In-home technician showed up but was missing equipment. If I remember correctly, replaced one fan but forgot the second fan.
• 4/26/19 - In-home technician did not show up during scheduled 4-hour window. Also, did not call.
• 4/26/19 – phone call 42 minutes, 19 seconds
• 4/26/19 – phone call 49 minutes, 5 seconds
• 4/30/19 - In-home technician showed up but was missing equipment. If I remember correctly, replaced one speaker but forgot the second speaker.
• 5/1/19 - In-home technician showed up, replaced second fan. This did not resolve the issue.
• 5/14/19 – phone call 4 minutes, 7 seconds
• 5/16/19 – phone call 39 minutes, 44 seconds
• 5/18/19 – phone call 12 minutes, 22 seconds
• 5/20/19 – Did not receive phone call from in-home technician despite scheduled window.
• 5/21/19 – phone call 56 minutes, 15 seconds
• 5/21/19 – phone call 1 minute
• 5/21/19 – phone call 30 minutes, 1 second
• (multiple undocumented phone calls for denied refund or new system requests here)
• 6/7/19 – received refurbished replacement in the mail (downgraded to worse wifi card). Unit malfunctioned straight out of the box. Speaker issues.
• 6/7/19 – Advanced Resolutions Group agent did not call me despite scheduled window. I reached out to him hours after.
• 6/7/19 – phone call 27 minutes
• 6/7/19 – Sent a 6-page complaint to the BBB
• 6/11/19 - Advanced Resolutions Group agent did not call me despite scheduled window.
• 6/11/19 – phone call with ADR to troubleshoot (time lost due to switching phones). 

(multiple phone calls here; lost call logs here due to phone issues)

• 6/12/19 – sent back original laptop to Dell, despite being sent a broken refurbished
• 6/19/19 – In-home service technician showed up and replaced speakers on refurbished. This did not resolve the problem. He said he does not believe it to be a hardware issue.
• 6/19/19 – Technician and I spoke with ARG agent on speaker phone After phone call, technician said that “he is going to do what he can to help. He tells me that from what he heard, that was not good customer service.”
• 6/19/19 – Was required to ship refurb to Dell service depot for further diagnostics.
• 6/25/19 – received refurb back from depot with the same problems 100% unchanged. Fans were replaced for second time and fans replaced. Sent back to me unchanged, without any discussion.
• 6/25/19 – phone call 2 minutes
• 6/25/19 – phone call 3 minutes
• 6/26/19 – In-home technician did not show up despite 4-hour scheduled window. Regardless, Dell required me to set up another visit.
• 6/26/19 – phone call 5 minutes
• 6/26/19 – phone call 21 minutes
• 6/27/19 – In-home technician showed up, replaced speakers for the third time and replaced the motherboard. This did not resolve the issue.
• 6/28/19 – phone call 2 minutes
• 6/28/19 – phone call 2 minutes
• 6/28/19 – phone call 1 minutes
• 7/3/19 – phone call 5 minutes
• 7/3/19 – received second refurbished laptop and it seemed to be working at first, but then started running slowly and freezing up.
• 7/15/19 – Video fan on second refurbished laptop failed, giving me error code. Laptop will not start-up. Emailed ARG agent.
• 7/16/19 received response that he does not have time to speak with me today and will have to be tomorrow. Said there is still no option for a refund or replacement. This means we will have to troubleshoot again, followed by another in-home tech. If this does not work, then another refurbished.

 

List of technical issues b/w the three laptops sent to me:

 

Bluetooth issues, screen flickering, freezing up causing data loss multiple times, screens for a failing fan, blue screen related to "overclocked CPU, driver conflicts, hardware issues or corrupted system files,” speakers cutting in and out, speakers sounding like blown-out (separate issue/laptop), failing video fan.