Horrible Customer Service - Inspirion Laptop Riddled with Issues

Question

Has any one else had serious issues with customer support?  I purchased a Dell last October and have had nothing but issues.  Two months after purchasing the laptop, my hard drive and my network card failed.  Because I am a business owner, they gave me a one time deal to come out and replace them instead of me having to send in the computer.  In order for me to get this service I had to spend about 5 hours on the phone trying to explain to them that because I'm the only one running my business, if I don't have my computer, it's an issue, I lose money! Then, that didn't fix my network issues - another 3 hours on the phone.  But wait, because I was past the 30 day warranty period, we aren't going to give you a new computer.  Nope, we wouldn't want to give you something that works and something that you purchased.  I'm thinking if I go to Target, they have a 90 day return policy and this is a much more expensive item than what I would typically buy at Target.  I can see if I broke it, but that isn't the case. The refurbished machine they sent did not work properly either.   The 'o' key worked intermittently and the fan was super loud.  So, my buddy Hudson (the repairman) comes out again to replace those. Now at the end of January, I also have this issue where my palm rest on my computer is magnetized.  Not only do my bracelets stick to it at times, which I could live with, but when I purchase something, I tend to place my credit cards there.  Poof, it erases the magnetic strip on them.  I had one person in support tell me it absolutely shouldn't be that way and I have it in writing via a chat session.  I talked to someone else who said it's a feature (nice feature, I'm not sure why it would be there).  They couldn't explain why this one was magnetized and not my first computer above (same make and model).  At any rate, it took me a while to figure out why my business credit card kept getting erased.  It is affecting my business as I went to buy some supplies last week and couldn't because the strip doesn't work and the store I was at doesn't allow manual keying of the numbers.  Now I could get around the cred card and the bracelet issue but wait, there's more. Now my system is only 4 months old.  But in reality, only 1 month, if remember they sent me what they would consider a 'new' computer to fix my problems - but they don't consider that.  Now I'm having issues with my screen.  Sometimes it comes up half blank with a bunch of black spots, it's intermittent and yes I have the latest drivers installed.  Now I'm on the phone for another 2.5 hours with them.  Wait, they will give me a really good deal on express service and I can ship my machine in and they will fix it in something  like 3-5 days.  Again, I'm a small business owner with not a lot of extra cash, not a Dell shop with extra laptops laying around.  They are basically asking me to take 3-5 days off without pay.  I explained that to them, but to no avail.  At this point I'm done dealing with Dell  I'm trashing this system and buying a Lenovo or some other brand.  I've always been a Dell supporter but they are not customer-centric at all.  Does anybody know of a company that is?  I just want a machine that works and that I don't have to keep sending in all the time. I'd be interested in hearing your bad support stories.  I believe Dell has horrible support policies in place which do not work for the individual and the small business owner.  Now I'm out a lot of money or I work with the screen flaking out on me all the time. Judy

beamermt79 · Answer

Generally if you have 3 or more repair issues with your computer, you can request Dell send you a refurbished replacement of equal or better value and it sounds like you have gone beyond the 3 repairs?

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