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7 Posts
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8435
December 20th, 2010 06:00
how long can I really expect to wait?
After nearly 2 years of dealing with dell support, they've finally decided to return my laptop to get serviced. Personally, I think some compensation is in order for the 22 months of inconvenience I've experienced but Dell has already made it clear that is not going to happen (I don't think this is good business practice, but again, this is just my opinion, I realize my feelings on what good customer service is and reality are two different things).
My question is for those who have returned their products before..... How long can I expect to wait before I get my computer back? I mean, it took 2 years before they would authorize a return, and while I got the return box the very next day, the fedex lady said my laptop was going back to dell from Ohio to Texas, OVERLAND! The dell rep assured me a one week turnaround, but it's going to take a week for them to get it via overland freight. I felt a little deceived in this matter, and I would like to get some idea on how long I could really expect to wait.
Another thing.... I could not back up my files, as apparently one of the things Vista is incompatible with is the DVD burner. I never knew it didn't work because I never needed to use it until now. A dell rep made a courtesy call the day I got my box to see I needed any assistance. Ironically, I was on another line with dell. There was a note in the box I could call if I needed help backing up my files, and the rep I reached couldn't help me. they transferred me to another rep, who spoke french primarily, who also couldn't help me. When this other dell rep called, I could understand her nicely and I released the first call.
However, she had to transfer me to a "specialist" whose only advice to me was to subscribe (i.e; pay even more money) to some dell service that would walk me through the backup process. I eventually just copied and pasted my files to my tower via a flash card, a process that took 5 1/2 hours. When I got this laptop, I purchased the extended warranty with 4 years of tech support and subscription to mcafee, etc, etc.... It was $1000 over the cost of the laptop for these services; what else did I need to purchase?
Personally I feel it's adding insult to injury to prompt a customer to purchase more product of service when they're are attempting warranty service, but I wonder what I could have done differently to have avoided such dissatisfaction? If my instance was the norm, Dell simply wouldn't be in business anymore. I know other tech oriented businesses have departments that handle problems such as mine but I cannot seem to find a point of contact.... any help on that end, either?
fatuglycrazy
7 Posts
0
December 21st, 2010 21:00
got 2 messages from dell today 30 minutes apart from each other: the first was they received my laptop, the second was that they sent my laptop back to me. After a follow up call to dell the rep told me they replaced the power adapter and shipped my computer back. I sent them a list , typewritten, that was 2 PAGES LONG, of all the things wrong I've experienced with the laptop, and Dell just blew me off! This is extremely disappointing. Is there ANY recourse I have here?
EJ Photo man
4 Posts
0
December 22nd, 2010 06:00
You sound like you waited a long time before. Fed Ex ground does move things along quickly, and Texas is not but a days drive or maybe two. Your power adapter may have been bad. In my only time dealing with a return, it went fast and I was quite Happy. Not all my Dell experiences are so, but that one was. It sounds like you have no external hard drive to back up to. Making a series of back up to disk is possible but takes time.
With no specifics, it's very hard to say what the problems may have been caused by that you experienced.
Good luck with the repair.
fatuglycrazy
7 Posts
0
January 10th, 2011 11:00
here's the follow up.... apparently the answer is 2 YEARS!!!! After a technician came to my house and installed a new hard drive on the computer that was returned from the Dell depot in texas the day before. I was left to reinstall all the software which, because they never addressed ANY of the problems I included in my note, took over 12 hours, and all of it wouldn't install, most notably Microsoft Office. After calling Dell tech support, and hearing the same old line that my new hard drive must have come with a corrupt load, i insisted on talking to a supervisor. 2 hours and 3 requests for a supervisor later, I was finally transferred to an actual supervisor, who agreed that the entire system should be replaced, and they will be sending me an entire new laptop.
I'm holding on to this old one until I physically have an entirely different laptop in my grubby fat hands, because I simply can't trust Dell anymore. For that matter, I still have the old hard drive; I hope Dell doesn't have a problem with me reinstalling the old hard drive and transferring my files with a cable before they get anything back! Being transferred twice to people who weren't supervisors, but portrayed themselves as such has destroyed any credibility Dell may have had left (in my eyes at least). When I worked in the billing department for a phone company we used to do that with irate customers with billing disputes, (to lead reps, not actually supervisors) and a lot of times that resolved the situation. If it didn't, THE CUSTOMER ALWAYS GOT TRANSFERRED TO A SUPERVISOR, NOT TO ANOTHER ONLINE REP!)
The only reason I caught on to this deception was because I used to do it myself. What about everyone else? It's not the people, it's the company policy that causes these reps to do this and I had to scream and totally chew out some poor guy from manila (who was probably relieved that we were physically separated by 3,000 miles of ocean) until he finally got to the card on his flip chart that told him he could escallate the call to a supervisor. This is premium service and support???? Totally pathetic!