Another dissatisfied Dell customer
I ordered a Dell XPS 400 desktop on 7/10/06. It shipped on 7/13/06, and after one failed delivery attempt (I wasn’t home to sign for it) I picked it up at the UPS depot in York on 7/18/06.
I brought it home, promptly hooked it up, and powered it on.
The first thing I noticed was that for a supposedly “silent” case, it sounded like a jet engine. The second thing I noticed was that it was dead on arrival.
Thus began my unpleasant experience with Dell Customer Care, and why I no longer recommend Dell products…
First call to Customer Care
That night (Tuesday), I called the Dell Customer Care number given on my packing slip, but after waiting for about five minutes on hold “Pamela” informed me that I had called the wrong number and that she would transfer me. Another five minutes or so on hold, and then I began the troubleshooting process with the Dell tech support person. After 75 minutes on the phone, I was given a case number, a dispatch number and was told that they would have one of their on-site techs call me “within 24-48 hours” to schedule an appointment.
Follow-up call
The 48 hour mark came and went without a call.
So I called Dell back to see why they hadn’t called me. The support person told me that they did indeed call, but that I wasn’t home. (Rather unlikely considering someone was home for the majority of the day and no phone numbers showed up on the Called ID log.) They assured me that there was no way I could schedule the appointment while I was already on the phone, and that they would call me back at promptly 5 PM the next day. I gave them my work number just in case they had to call before 5 PM.
On-site repairs
At approximately 10 AM the next day (Friday), Banctec (Dell’s on-site contractor) called my home number… and of course I wasn’t home. I got the message when I got home, called back, and scheduled an appointment for later that night. The Bantec employee arrived at approximately 7:30 PM and replaced the hard drive. Not with a new drive as I was told on the phone earlier, but rather a refurbished drive. That didn’t fix the problem, so she called Dell tech support to get more recommendations. After rebooting countless times and disabling various features including the dual-core, she gave up.
Returning the dead box
I said that at this point I no longer wanted the computer. It didn’t work. I had wasted hours on the phone and an entire Friday night with the tech. The box sounded like an airplane, and I was generally unhappy with the whole experience. I wanted to send it back for a full refund, as per Dell policy.
With the Banctec tech in the room, I called Dell Customer Service to get a return number. Eventually I was connected to a woman who, rather than work with me to return the defective product, argued with me and was extremely confrontational. Eventually she gave me the return number and we agreed that I would go to the local UPS Store to return it.
Wasting more time at the UPS Store
The UPS Store employees were familiar with Dell returns, but I needed more information beyond the number that I got from Dell. So they ended up calling Dell (and waiting on hold) and eventually getting everything they needed to return the computer. The whole process took over an hour.
Getting my money back
Eventually I did receive an email from Dell saying that my account had been credited the amount of the computer. I’ll need to check my credit card statement to confirm that, but for now I’ll assume that I did get my money back.
Conclusion
What amazes me is how unpleasant Dell made the whole experience for me. At every step I was put on hold, connected to unsympathetic and unhelpful personnel, made to sit through various repair attempts, and then culminating in an argument about returning a product well within the allotted timeframe. A miserable experience from one end to the other… and I’m sure I’m not the only one.
I certainly can’t say that I know Dell behaves this way in all cases. I’ve ordered from them before and it wasn’t a problem. But after this experience I find it very hard to honestly recommend their products or services to anyone.
Maybe there’s a reason Dell keeps missing those quarterly earnings forecasts.
I’m in the process of doing a dell return also. What extra number did you need besides the returns number?
Terry:
I forget which was which, but I needed two numbers: Dell’s UPS account number (I don’t recall the fancy name for that), and the actual return authorization number.
Eventually, I did end up successfully returning it at no charge and was (eventually) credited the correct amount back onto my credit card. The people at the UPS Store were extremely patient and helpful throughout the entire process. I don’t think I could have accomplished it without them.
If I may ask, which model of Dell are you returning?
Good luck!
I am in the process of trying to get help from dell to fix my computer.
Currently have logged over 10 hours to India trying to fix my computer. Finally tech gave up and said I needed a new hard drive. Waited at my house all morning for a tech who never showed up. Called dell in India and after an hour was assured that I would get a call back to let me know if I would ever get my computer fixed.
This company gives a whole different meaning to the word POOR SERVICE
Any one know of a number you can call that doesnt take up to an hour of being on hold to speak to someone??
I prepaid for a DELL E521 computer that switched itself off.
2months of none use of an unfit for use item.
Returned for Repair, took 17 days and came back worse than it went.
Just learned that DELL do not supply the paid for NBDay incl. Evening & Saturday ‘At home Seervice’.
This is supplied by banctecservice – who also repaired my PC that DELL promised to exchange for – all new – when, in fact, banctec replaced 1 RAM part.
Have, repeatedly, demanded full repayment with compensation.
Suffered DELL / HELL
I confirm everything above. DELL HELL exists and you will have it if you buy from them. My machine arrive dead on arrival. Finally after over 10 hours of calls they agreed to give me my money back. I asked them to do this in hour one. Imagine how much money and time all of us would have saved if this just agreed the customer is right. Finally they agreed to send me return info and I never received it. Dell is a decietful and dishonest company. They have no ethics and you are crazy to buy anything from them. The belief is that the customer is always wrong.
Just to chime in on the other side of the issue, I’ve been a Dell customer for over 10 years, and I’ve never had a problem with them. I purchase, on average, about one PC from them a year, either for myself or a family member, and have purchased laptops and desktops, even purchased my 46″ LCD TV through them.
I’ve dropped laptops, causing non-working keyboards, to which they sent tech’s to my office to fix within a couple days. I’ve had driver issues, hardware issues, Linux specific issues (on my last pre-loaded Linux XPS 410n box), and never a problem with support. I even more specifically remember how courteous tech support has always been to me, how they’ve worked with me through monitor issues to help determine whether it was a monitor or a video card failure.
I’ve read about many people having problems with Dell’s support, but really, there are some of us that just haven’t had a problem. I do know that if I’m on the phone with someone for an hour and don’t get anywhere, I’m hanging up and calling back… eventually you’ll have to get one of the many friendly, courteous, and knowledgeable people working at Dell.
Just my .02,
Mike
Mike’s story does not contradict the other’s at all. If your computer works right and you like then there is not a problem. The issue is when you don’t like the computer or it breaks. Which does happen sometimes, no matter how good Dell’s description and quality control are. Then you enter the Hell.
Mike, I’d like to hear back from you after you try to return a computer to Dell.
My experience:
email on wednesday to start the return.
Get a response on saturday informing me I need to call M-F from 9-7.
Then I call monday, talk to 3 people who transfer me around for 30 minutes and eventually disconnect me.
Now I’m on hold for 15 minutes.
This is Hell. And it could be so straight forward. I am biased towards Dell since I live in Austin and have been a fan. I cannot recommend them any longer. I’m jealous of the great support my brother is getting on his HP laptop. I’m trying them next time.