Years ago (2002 to be exact) I was using Movable Type on this site, and the most popular blog post I ever wrote was entitled “Dell Sucks Dude”. This was the same time that crazy surfer Dude with the weed smoking problem was in all kinds of television ads touting ‘shoulda boght a Dell dude!’ in his worst Keanu Reeves voice.
I wrote that post because I was very frustrated upon having received a new Dell at my place of work. It was the year that they went more mass produced, and used the notebook CD-Rom drives in desktops for the first times, and traded in the trust old Microsoft mice for really cheap Dell ones…and more compact keyboards too.
It must’ve struck a chord, because tons and tons of people posted comments to that page. If I printed it out, it would probably be some 50 odd pages or more. Eventually I had to take the comment posting feature out, because of blog spam. But now…..with Drupal – I am “re-posting” the original article (with all comments) in it’s entirety – and (are you ready for this) — I’m reopening the comments!!! enjoy….click on the “read more” link below.
What a day this has been. Seems like I’m getting sick, so a major head cold has been scrambling my brain since morning. I was up late last night scouring the web for a good online survey creation tool. I was looking for software that would allow me to create a survey, and they give me Perl files to upload to the web server. The results would get saved to a comma delimited text file. I did the same search a few years back and the best piece of software turned out to be EZSurvey. Even though I hate that pitiful piece of software, it is actually the best thing out there still today. I finally got my survey created and went to bed at 1:30am. Of course this was for work, not for this site.
Speaking of work, I got a new computer at work today. Can’t exactly say where I work, but it’s a big Fortune 100 company. Of course, we use Dell for all the PC’s in the company. My last PC, now a few years old, was ok (for a Dell). When I got the new PC out of the box the first thing I noticed was the cheapness of the parts. I mean, here I am unhooking the old PC, and layout the new parts right beside them. The mouse is a cheaper grade of plastic, and the cord is roughly half of the diameter around. The wires are just plain cheap. The keboard is only 2/3 the size of my original one, and very cheap plastic. It reminded me of a $9.95 Keytronics keyboard. It’s cord was also very thin. One of the local support techs told me that he picked up a keyboard last month, and when the cord got caught on something on the desk it ripped right out of the back of the keyboard case.
Luckily enough, my new PC actually came with a real CD-Rom drive. What I mean is, almost all the newer ones seem to be coming with cheap notebook CD-Rom drives (in the desktops). Sure the machine is fast, it seems to be working good so far. But I believe that if Dell keeps putting out cheap cookie cutter assembly line pc’s like this their business will dry up. I know damn well that keyboard won’t last me more than 6 months. Microsoft should be embaressed to have their name on that cheap knockoff Dell Intellimouse.
I just went to the Dell web site and was looking at a 1.7 Ghz machine with 512MB Ram and a 40GB HD, 64MB video ram, 17″ monitor. That piece of crap was over $1,200. Good lord, I could build a much BETTER machine with better quality parts for around $800. For $1,200 I could build a PC with IDE Raid, 2-40GB hard drives, 1GB of ram, and a 128MB video card. I bet I could even squeeze in 5.1 surround sound in there.
I may be biased, but I’ve been building PC’s for myself and others for 5-6 years. I hate cookie cutter production PC’s. If you’re thinking of getting new PC, do yourself a favor. Go to your local computer store (not the Best Buy, Sears, OfficeMax, CompUSA, Circuit City crap) and talk to a guy that actually builds PC’s for a living by hand. Ask him what he likes. Tell him what you want to do on your PC, and have him give you a price. Unlike cars and applicances, you can actually pick out piece by piece exactly what you want in your puter. That’s right, you can hand pick the case, the mouse, the monitor, cool speakers, a big hard drive, and lots of memory. If you don’t know what to get, they can help you.
Enough of my soapbox for today. Just remember I said it first…
Dell sucks dude.
Posted by jtpratt at May 08, 2002 12:13 AM
Comments
I totally agree with everything that you have said. I also have been building my own Pc’s for about 6-7 Years, It’s actually quite amazing how much money you can save doing a bit of D.I.Y yourself nowadays.
I am also equally amazed at the amount of revenue that somebody like DELL make in a year, well considering (like you said) the pieces of shit components that fill there units.
Keep up the good work…… ; )
Posted by: David Nuttall on June 6, 2002 03:33 PM
Hell yea dell sucks I went down to my friends computer shop and they had a brand new dell that a customer brought in because it was too slow. the problem was that dell sold them a pentium 4 system with 128 mb of ram
Posted by: visor909 on July 1, 2002 01:55 PM
“?We at Dell feel a strong obligation to uphold our federal law, but we have just as strong an obligation to be responsive to the needs of all our customers?” -Michael Dell quoted in Sierra Times
This is a statement that Michael Dell made–I can’t believe it!
The way the technology industry is going, I think this would be of interest to you. I have sent this letter to many interested media. To name a few Miami Herald, Wired Magazine, Dallas Business Journal, New York Times, USA Today…My complaint is against one company so you can only imagine what else is out there in this corrupt abyss.
Below is a letter I have sent to over 5 different divisions of Dell. I have not received one return call or inquiry, typical. The biggest problem is trying to get in touch with someone that has a phone number and a little authority and is not afraid to help a customer. Perhaps this letter will be received in good notion to open an investigation into Dell. I did some research on complaints about Dell and not to my surprise I have uncovered at least a few dozen articles, numerous amounts of customer complaint forums, personal email from fellow unsatisfied customers of Dell as well as many other resources of negativity. I have even sent email upon email and letters to Michael Dell. To my dismay I have yet to receive an acknowledgment of support. I have spoken with corporate CEO’s to personal Dell computer users, they all seem to have the same story. How can these conglomerates keep on getting away with such mal-practice. Perhaps they are lining their jackets with a bit of Enron, World Com, Andersen Advice.
7/03/02
To Whom This May Concern:
I am writing this letter to hopefully get the attention of someone in your company to take a senior roll in helping me accomplish my goal for a functional and reliable computer and better customer support and service.
My story goes as follows; I purchased a Dell Computer on Jan 28, 2000 under the small business department. Upon the arrival of the system and set-up, with in a week, I began to notice malfunctions with the computer. So begins my many calls and many tedious hours on the phone with technical and customer care support. Over the past couple of years, I must have approximately logged over 110 hours of phone support. I have also logged roughly 100 hours of hardware/software work ( replacing, installing, uninstalling?).
As of today?s date, my monitor, motherboard, hard drives, video card, and modem have been replaced. Currently, my computer is down because my power supply is not working. I have continuously run diagnostic and anti-virus checks and to my dismay I am still having problems with my system. I have wiped my hard drives clean at least three times and still remain at the mercy of a sour system. Upon many attempts to have the system replaced I encountered many dead end roads and rude agents? assistance. I cannot count the amount of times that the phone has been hung up on me. But what upsets me the most is the fact that no particular agent has taken any initiative to take my trouble ticket and see it properly worked through to the end.
I have been informed that my system will be replaced if I had to replace three major components. I believe the motherboard, hard drive and power supply fall into that category.
There is a very simple resolution to my problem, replacement. All I want is a reliable system! A reliable system which I so willingly thought I was purchasing! Unfortunately, I cannot fathom the amount of wasted time and money I have spent on this LEMON. I am pleading that this letter falls into the right hands of someone that will help put a conclusion to this matter. If this problem is not resolved immediately I shall have no other choice but to fill a complaint to small claims court.
Unsatisfied Customer,
Posted by: terney on July 3, 2002 04:09 PM
Ah yes, another user who believes that replace the whole thing is the answer.
For all the non-computer people out there, you shold realize that there are only so many pieces to a computer. It seems that most of yours have been replaced. Kindly notice that if any part is defective, it gets replaced within warrenty your. Hence, if it’s broke, call and have it replaced. If they won’t replace the whole thing, try the next best, piece by piece.
Also, you had a 30day money back guarentte as well, why didn’t you take that?
About the 128Mb or RAM quote, did the customer ever think of ordering more? The system are customized for the cust aat their request. They could have asked for more.
Then again, that’s just the opinion of a DellTech
Posted by: Groda Lotsapot on July 13, 2002 06:50 PM
I totally agree. About a year ago i didn’t know much about building computers especially OS stuff so i went ahead and bought a Dell, like a dumbass. When i tried to install Win 2K it would get through setup say “Starting windows 2000” and freeze. When i complained they said they didn’t sell me windows 2k so it isn’t their problem. IT SAYS DESIGNED FOR WIN 2K ON THE FRONT THE MACHINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHAT THE HELL. NO NT OS WILL INSTALL ON THIS POS.
Posted by: Robert on July 17, 2002 10:32 PM
I can’t believe that there are people out there that think DELL Engineers ANYTHING. They are nothing but a distributor that happens to assemble batches of parts that were bid out to major “Manufacturing” Companires of components. DELL has som many fooled is is just astounding! If you lose a compoenent in any DELL after say 6 months of purchase you not only get a replacement part but you get a big F$%&^ing headache replacing and updating drivers or firmware (if they actually still work together). Then you still end up with the slowest PC on the market.
Posted by: anonymous on July 25, 2002 11:02 AM
Yes indeed, Dell does suck.
I’ve been trying for nearly three weeks to get a keyboard replaced. I have overnight service (ha ha).
First, they couldn’t send out the part because their spare parts inventory system was down.
Finally, they send out a tech…with the wrong keyboard.
Then they sent a second tech…also with the wrong keyboard.
I see on their “support” board that in one 150 person company *50* lame Latitudes have had to have keyboards replaced.
There’s a class action suit waiting to happen on this company.
And they gave money to George Bush.
Bleah.
Posted by: dissatisfied customer on August 1, 2002 08:06 PM
Yes, Dell does suck and if you are considering Dell because you like the reviews by some on hardware, do a simple search on their customer service. You see the same thing time and time again with no change: When you do have a problem, dealing with Dell’s customer serivce department is a terrible experience, ALWAYS.
I purchased a lap top from Dell and because the resolution on the screen can not be changed, everything came out tiny. After a few hours on the phone with Dell, they finally told me to return and repurchase with a different configuration.
They turned me over to sales. They took my order, took my payment info and when I ask to be connected to do the other part of the transaction (the return) I was told to call a different number.
The return required me to call several more times and finally explain to a supervisor that I just purchased the replacement and was told by Dell to return the first one. She gave me return info.
Two weeks after FedEx got the returned lap top to Dell, I emailed Dell to find out where my credit was and was told 30 days from the date received by Dell.
So I wait 33 days and emailed again and got an email apolgizing and was told 72 hours for credit.
So I wait a week and call this time and am told 72 hours for credit.
So I call two days ago and am told “72 hours and I will call you later today to ensure you everythig is done.
So, naturally no call, and I call today and talk to a supervisor who says ’48 hours.’ I want to talk to his boss because I have received the ‘wait several business days’ answer FOUR other times and each time the promise was unfullfilled so on this, the fifth time, I want a better answer than that. Well, he tells me he will not give me his bosses name. That his boss does not take phone calls. That there is nothing else. Basically ‘wait again.’ I don’t even think this guy was a supervisor. When I first ask for one I was told “there is no supervosor today,” “the supervosors are all in meetings” and “wait on hold and I’ll get you a supervisor,” ALL IN A TWO MINUTE CONVERSATION WITH THE FIRST PERSON WHO ANSWERED THE PHONE when I ask for a supervisor in the first place.
BOTTOM LINE, SERVICE COUNTS. NO MATTER HOW MUCH YOU THINK YOU WILL LIKE THE HARDWARE, IF YOU SERVICE DEPARTMENT HAS AN ANTI-CUSTOMER ATTITUDE, IT SIMPLY IS NOT WORTH IT. THERE ARE OTHER COMPANIES OUT THERE THAT HAVE GOOD HARDWARE AND HAVE GOOD SERIVICE TOO. I WAS CONSIDERING THEM AND I SHOULD HAVE STUCK WITH THE THOUGHT.
SERVICE MATTERS. DONT BUY DELL.
Posted by: Greg Venne on August 8, 2002 01:28 PM
All of you people saying there are other companies out there with better hardware components obviously haven’t done a damn bit of research on the matter. Dell has the most cutting edge technology out there as far as PC manufacturers are concerned. And the person earlier mentioning that Dell doesn’t actually manufacture any of the components themselves…would you rather have the opposite of that?? Would you rather have more components in the computer that can’t be upgraded like other big name computer companys do?? Dell is now and has been for several years the best PC manufacturer. Yes it is cheaper to build your own PC…yes you can get higher quality components by building your own machine, but some people know squat about PC’s or just don’t care to know or take the time to put a machine together.
Posted by: Boo FrigginHoo on August 10, 2002 11:09 AM
in my opinion dells are the pc versions of macs and they are almost as anoying as theie adds
Posted by: voice of windows on August 14, 2002 02:46 AM
All day long I take care of customers who have issues with their Dell machines. Most of the calls I deal with are software related and user error, along with some hardware problems. I enjoy my job and I dont hang up on customers! Oh and I will actually call a customer back when I tell them I will… I must admit, that there are techs that have no business working in the computer business…believe me I have come across calls where parts have been replaced when it was software, and windows reinstalled when there was no doubt it was hardware. The techs that dont do their job only make it harder for those that truly enjoy what they do, and go out of their way to make things right. I can only speak for myself.. I do try to do my very best with the customer…One word of advice: if you are going to buy a computer, irregardless of the manufacturer, take some sort of computer class to get familiar, it makes the techs’ job easier, and keeps the frustration level at a lower point on both ends. We can not take the time to show a customer how to use the computer. We are here to determine the problem and replace parts if neccessary… ONLY. Its sad to say that there are some bad apples out there that actually spoil the whole bunch. To those wanna-be techs, I say… go work for McDonalds and leave the troubleshooting to those who know what they are doing.
Posted by: Jamie on August 14, 2002 11:05 PM
While there are instances that some hardware does fail, after reviewing the statiscal data for returns and replacement, the actual amount of hardware that has issues as compared to the total volume of shipped units is very small. Most of the issues found with systems are end user related and have very little to do with the actual hardware. It is unfortunate there are techs that would rather press the dispatch a part button than dig into an issue, root cause it and solve it. However, there are some technical support personnel at Dell that do know computers better than the customers that are having issues.
I can tell you from working on the inside, Dell systems are the best engineered in the business and getting better. Yes, you can go build your own system, but when one of the parts that you put in it doesn’t play right because of some conflict or other compatibilty issue, you are the one stuck with it. Try replacing that part, some of the mom and pop shops will not take returns, especially on custom ordered items. If Dell sucks so bad then why are we number 1 worldwide?
Posted by: anon_omis on August 21, 2002 10:06 PM
i agree dell does suck its customer care is a piece of crap. McDonalds has better customer care than these sorry people. I think someone should end up suing dell. investigators might find a whole lot of enron or worldcom in it.
Posted by: unsatisfied customer on August 23, 2002 03:08 AM
You people obviously dont know what you’re talking about. If you think dell sucks then you think the whole computer industry sucks. Why? Dell doesn’t make their own parts they buy the same products you would buy in the store and put together yourself. The only difference is IF you do it yourself the cost is cheaper since some of the money you pay goes into manufacturing the system at the dell warehouse.
The only thing dell does to your computer if you dont make it yourself is add cheesy software that you can easally erase as they really just copies already existing windows programs. If there is a hardware problem dont complain to dell that their parts suck, complain to the actual manufacturer because if you ordered from gateway/hp/compaq you would be getting basically the same thing(even if you made it yourself).
Also if you’re going to spend $500 on a pc you can expect to get something that isnt going to run the way you like(speed and performance wise, again not dells fault because you decided to go cheep). At least spend $1500 to get a desent system that will last with the technology for the next few years.
BOTTOM LINE is this…dell doesn’t make anything itself (except for monitors, mouse keyboard which most are pretty good actually) and because of that when you order from dell you’re ordering their service to take the parts you ordered put them together as you would yourself, add some stupid software that does NOTHING to the performance of the system and ship it out to you. My best advice is to look around and see which company will give you the system you’re looking for at the cheepest price, and right now thats dell.
Posted by: yawn on August 23, 2002 03:01 PM
Support, ha! I WAS totalled pleased with Dell support until recently. After reformatting my hard drive on my dimension p3, I found I was missing the cd to install the drivers for the cd burner (dell installed). After many excessive hours with “tech support”, I was told I MUST have the cd, since it was supposed to ship with the unit. Well, of course, it wasn’t. The ever-friendly (lol) person @dell told me I would HAVE to purchase the Roxio cd from Dell, lest I void my warranty. Well, considering it was supposed to ship with the unit, and I didn’t have it, I decided NOT to be blackmailed by Dell. I sent many emails & responded to their inquiries as to their service, yet received NOTHING as far as help with the missing cd. All this after purchasing my 3RD DELL!!! So much for any future purchase from Dell. I see why now the consumer opinions of their customer support is dropping..
Posted by: James on August 29, 2002 11:12 AM
Buy Dell if you want horrendous service, poor quality and you have lots of
patience. When dealing with a product suh as a computer sometimes the quality of
customer service can be as important as the quality of the computer. DELL offers
neither. I bought a Inspiron 2600 for $1862 including tax and shipping. It is 1.2
ghz celeron, 256 mb RAM, 20 gb Hard drive and 8x DVD. I thought this was the best
deal I could find. I was wrong. The catch? If you want to return anything to DELL
you have to pay shipping and insurance and you re not refunded the original
shipping. In my case this would have come to approx $480. Four hundred and
eighty dollars to return a product which did not work. I argued with various DELL
employees and to no avail. You could tell they didn’t care. My laptop was
overheating right away and the hard drive failed within 2 days of recieving the
product. Before asking for a refund I had been on the phone with Tech support for
a total of 11 hours, half of that time waiting on hold. No joke. Once connected
to tech support they agreed I needed a new hard drive. They sent one and it
failed. That was when I asked for a refund. They wanted to run more diagnostics!
Things to remember if considering to buy Dell:
1.) To return a product, for whatever reason, you will pay the shipping cost.
This includes the original shipping cost and the return cost and insurance. There
is no way out of this. I argued with them that the product was not working and to
no avail.
2.) If you have a problem with your machine, being that you can’t return without
losing money, you have to send your machine to be fixed or wait for parts to
arrive. This can be a couple of weeks. Once the parts arrive you have to call
DELL, wait on hold for a min 50 minutes, and then work with the tech guys to fix
it. Basically if you’re computer illiterate you’re hooped!
DO NOT BUY DELL. Go to an electronics store, like futureshop or A&B sound or
wahtever. There are obvious advantages. The prices are the same and if you have
problems you can just drive to the store and get it fixed!
I was at a store yesterday and saw an exact copy of my laptop, except it was
Toshiba, for less!!
DELL DOES NOT HAVE TO DEAL WITH CUSTOMERS FACE TO FACE. THIS MINIMIZES A LOT OF
THE ACCOUNTABILITY!!
Posted by: cb on September 13, 2002 01:22 PM
uhm. yeah, the self-proclaimed computer experts that “work on computers for 5-6 years” are always the funny ones. You know that all they’re really doing is tinkering with their own PC at home for *5-6 years*. They think installing a GeForce card, and going to Nvidia’s website to download a unified driver makes them a qualified tech. These are the same nimrods that tell me Gateway’s are “proprietary”.. *SNICKER*.. LOL boys, funny.
I love the talk about mom and pop shops too. I cant tell you how many people I know that have been ripped off by the “awesome” mom and pop shops.
If you want to build your own computer, that’s fine. Go ahead. But if you’re average ordinary joe buy a Dell or a Gateway. Don’t even bother with Best Buy or CC they ship all of the systems off for 4 weeks at a time for repair.
(PS DELL USES PROPRIETARY CASES, MOTHERBOARDS, ETC) BWAH. (not that it even matters anyway)
Posted by: gtw_tech on September 20, 2002 01:17 PM
Go to www.planetfeedback.com . It is the best Consumer Affairs site there is! My brother purchased a Dell and had nothing but trouble with it for 2 years. They would do nothing except send a service man out. After 2 years, I contacted www.planetfeedback.com and my email was sent by them to Michael Dell himself. In 3 days, they shipped him a new computer and he has not had a problem since. I truly believe, he was sent a refubished machine originally. This also happened with a friend of mine who had an HP. I told her about planetfeedback and she was sent a check for the full purchase price.
I have owned 2 IBM’s over the last 6 years and they are both running like a top. They sell for at least $500.00 less than the other junk out there and if you do need tech support they are there for you. IBM, (International Business Machines) has built and sold more computers than anyone else in the world.
This site is not just for complaints about computers. If ever you purchase ANY product that you feel is defective or causes you problems, this site will work for you at NO CHARGE and go to the top of any company, until something is resolved. I can’t say enough good things about them.
Posted by: Gale on September 21, 2002 04:21 PM
I unfortunately bought a Hell(Dell)Computer 2 years ago. To make a real long story short…
the monitor was junk, the OS wouldn’t work &
I couldn’t set up the printer. After about 20
hours on the phone they said that they didn’t
know what to do. I told them to send out a tech
3 times and they refused! Their piece of junk
cost me $2200. I ended up returning the computer,
loosing $500. for shipping both ways and for the
HP printer that they wouldn’t take back because
I had thrown out the original box. Then they
wouldn’t refund my money after 3 months of waiting! I finally filed a complaint with the FTC
and finally got my money. After all was said and
done, to add insult to injury, they kept sending
me their catalogs! These scumbags put me through
so much trouble they’re lucky I didn’t board a
plane to Texas and take care of things personally… and I told them so! If you ever
consider buying a Dell, just shoot yourself in the head… it would be alot quicker and less
painful!
Posted by: Russ on September 22, 2002 06:21 PM
i just got off the phone with dell.
I’ll just give you a taste of what it was like talking to a dell technical support specialist.
me(repeating the third time): “the video editor will not output to my vcr.”
dell tech moron: “video what?”
me: “video editor. I bought the premium dell movie bundle studio package from you folks.”
dell moron: “you bought a dvd player from us?”
me: “no, i bought the dell premium movie bundle studio package. it’s a video editor package. it comes with software and hardware. you guys installed it and sent it to me with the dell computer that i recently bought.”
moron: “are you talking about a dvd movie player?”
me: “do you know what a video editor is?”
moron: “does that have to do with dvd movies or video recorders or something liek that?”
me: at this point i gave him the part number of the product that i had bought from dell.
moron: several seconds of listening to him shuffle paper he said, “i don’t believe we sell that item.”
me: “i bought it from you.”
moron: “you talking about a dvd player right? you’re saying that it doesn’t play movies?”
you get the picture. i’ve spoken to four dell people today and none of them came close to solving my problem. one guy gave me the phone number of the manufacturer who built the video card that dell put into my computer, which is like Saturn giving me the phone number of a fuel injector manufacturer that’s in their car.
i should have bought a Mac or maybe built my own computer.
by the way, since i’ve bought the computer, i’ve had several boards swapped out by their crack force tech team.
i hope mike dell loses all his money and has to retire on social security.
thanks for the sounding board.
gw
Posted by: gary thomas on October 8, 2002 10:26 PM
you think owning a dell is bad,try working for them!I worked as a temp building desktops.they expect you to build thirteen an hour.ok,fine.BUT if you are caught making three mistakes in 90 days,and i mean any mistakes you are fired!mistakes include failing to place those usless caps on un used power cords,a tab sticking out of the side of the closed case, mispinning the speaker,etc.i was fired for making such small mistakes,that all get fixed in quick test and post burn anyway.I begged them to move me to material handling or something i could handle,oh no they said things like”we know you can handle it”and wouldnt listen to me.the trainer admitted to me that he only built in single peson build one day and he said”f*** that”.just imagine nine and one half hour shifts all weekdays,and working on about half your saturdays,building an impossible number of machines per hour with this axe over your head.every one there makes mistakes and the people who have been on the line long know its not fair the way new people are just crushed out by theise demands and severe consiquences.the reason the machines are crap is because they are thrown together with great fear and pressure. BAD KARMA! dell hase no sense of responsibility to the people that actually do the work that makes them so much freakin money.I worked my butt off for them and they just dumped me for not being a perfect robot.to furter insult me when i spoke to the rep of the temp sevice they said i couldnt do material handling now”out of courtesy” to the dell manager that had me fired!WHAT?i asked them both and two trainers to move me because i coudnt handle it before my last black mark!everyone just passed the buck and left me stuck there with pats on the back and encouraging words.now i cant even get in the building!i dont know how im going to pay rent in this apt i rented way up here out of the way just to work for those sorry bastards.end of story.
Posted by: exdelldrone on October 11, 2002 11:18 PM
Rather than simply say DELL sucks, I’ll stick to the facts…it’s amazing…
SUMMARY of REPAIRS:
1.DELL i7500 Hard Disk Drive replaced twice: 03/21/2002, 05/22/2002
2.DELL i7500 CD-ROM/DVD drive replaced three times: 03/22/2002, 03/25/2002, 05/21/2002
3.DELL i7500 MotherBoard replaced once: 05/20/2002
4.DELL i7500 Keyboard replaced twice: 05/22/2002, 05/24/2002
5.DELL i7500 LID latch replaced once: 05/22/2002
6.DELL i7500 replaced with DELL i8100: 05/30/2002
7.DELL i8100 motherboard replaced: 06/06/2002
8.DELL i8100 replacement missing 2nd battery: 06/06/2002
9.nVidia driver crashes system once per hour: 06/06/2002 to Now
This is not an isolated case…
I have several friends with DELLs that have had similar numerous problems and all had to use auxiliary means to get their data back, I had to do the same, thankfully the people at Computer Fixperts HDD recovery are on top of their customer service.
Posted by: Summars on October 16, 2002 01:48 PM
I attended a customer service seminar and Dell, Ford, and Sears were three companies that came up that had horrible customer service. They are being used as a model of how NOT to do things. My experience with Dell has been horrible, I have a laptop at home and desktop at work. It just kills me to see their commercials about how well their customer service is, and then attend a seminar where they are used as an example of bad service, you should have heard some of the stories by a few of the attendees…egads.
Posted by: jeffgtr on October 17, 2002 02:02 PM
I just wanted to comment on “yawns” posting above. True Dell doesn’t actually manufacture anything, they just assemble the parts, which leaves the fact that all they are is customer service, you can buy the parts anywhere. Now when you consider the volume of complaints out on the net, and now Dell is being used as an example in how not to handle customers in seminars it has to mean that the people posting here aren’t whiners and complainers, it means there are very real and concrete problems with Dells customer service. Sure they’ve pushed alot of computers out the door, but I know of one company that purchased over 600 Dells and will not be ordering Dell next time along. I think Dells run as a top computer putter together, pushe em out the door, and forget em will soon be over.
Posted by: jeffgtr on October 17, 2002 04:25 PM
I hate Dell. I have never seen such ignorant and horribly incompitant people in all my life! They have sent 6 shipments to the wrong address, I have spent countless hours in technical support as well as customer care. Customer care?? More like we have no idea what the f*ck is going on so lets put you on hold some more. I have sent letters, of course no response. It is time that the consumers start pushing back. If anyone has any bright ideas as to leave a dent in this moronic company email me at swens1977@hotmail.com
Posted by: swens on October 21, 2002 11:35 AM
The best way is to post everyplace you can about your experience. Search google for “dell sucks” and you’ll find several places. Use the word dell as many times as possible (within context of course) so the search engines will pick it up. I’m sure you’ve already done this, but relate your experience to friends and family, word will get around. Unlike Microsoft that has a monopoly on operating systems, Dell can be dented, it will just take awhile. I just read they were the top selling pc , egads.
Posted by: jeffgtr on October 21, 2002 05:26 PM
I have to agree with everyone’s comment on how DELL SUCKS!!!! I also have had nothing but problems with my DELL. Since the first week I got it would not go on Stand By. Then when I installed an ethernet card (needed it at school) it wouldn’t recognize my graphics card so all teh graphics were messed up. So afte many long hours with the people at Dell, it got fixed, but guess what? Yup another problem, now it wouldn’t recognize my sound card. So it’s back to the long wait on the phone. Like many others they try to fix the problem by running diagnostics and all that other crap. Finally they decided that I had the option of reinstalling ALL of the programs. If that meant that my problems would be over then sure. I did it. It took over 6 hours to do that not including all the hours I had to spend on the phoen with the customer support. So of course it didn’t work. They finally just sent someone out to replace the sound card. Finally a couple of months without any problems until my CD-ROM went out. It just would not work. Again after some long hours on the phone it got replaced. Again now my Dell is having problems. The truth is I don’t want to even call them to spend a whole night on the phoen with them. That’s just not my idea of fun. Eventually all these problems will catch up to them and sales will go down, or so we hope. The amazing thing is that there are so many complaints yet they manage to sell so many PC’s. My brother is convinced that my problems stem from the Windows XP that I’m running. Does anyone else have problems with this program?
Posted by: EJ on October 24, 2002 01:04 AM
I too have had a wonderful experience with Dell recently (Sarcasm evident here).
I found the guts to a precision 530 workstation where I work but no case. The power supply had died and one of our junior technicians didn’t like the chassis assembly and the cost of replacing their power supply ($179.00). He figured he would gut the machine and replace the chassis. Obviously a rookie mistake because Dell makes everything in that box as close to custom as possible so you have to use their replacement parts.
The machine sat there for awhile, and being an electrical engineer, I decided it would make an excellent home workstation if noone at work had objections to me taking the equipment. Okay, so I get the parts home.
This is where the fun begins.
Dell won’t sell me a chassis to put THEIR parts in because I don’t have the SERVICE TAG NUMBER. What a crock. They send me to the business division because that’s where the Precision workstations belong. The business division won’t help because I don’t have a corporate account and actually hung up on me!!! Great customer service.
Dell deliniates personal versus business machines based on horsepower. Bogus, as anyone who desires to play Quake III at 120fps knows that they need a near engineering workstation to accomplish this.
So I finally, after literally 3.5 hours on the phone I find a woman who seems to really care and she pieces me together a chassis from spare parts that are supposedly available. Great!!! Or so I thought.
The web site says the order will ship September 29,2002. That date comes and goes so I call. They tell me that there are one or more items on back order and that they won’t ship until October 10,2002. Okay, I can live with that.
October 10 comes and goes.
I get an automated phone call… “This is the Dell parts ordering system. We had anticipated being able to ship your order prior to today but due to lead times beyond our control we will not ship before October 29,2002. If you do not want your order automatically cancelled before October 10, 2002 please call…” blah blah blah.
I call and state that I don’t want the order cancelled to three different departments who assure me my order won’t be cancelled.
I get the same call the next two mornings and spend a total of 3 hours (total 6.5 now) on the phone with them confirming that they are not going to cancel my order.
I woke up this morning as we near the shipping date to find that they cancelled my order. I call… LIVID… what the hell were they thinking? All they can say for themselves is “I apologize… you’ll have to re-place the order.”.
(We’re now at 8 hours flat on the phone.)
If I hear “I apologize” one more time I’m gonna puke. If you’re so F%^&ing sorry then fill the F%^&ing order. What, my money is no good?
This company has the strangest customer support policy I have ever seen and would never in a million years pay money for a new system from them. What prevents them from saying that this guy has waited long enough and pull the parts from the floor. I work in a manufacturing environment and would do exactly that if a customer needed my assistance. However, my company cares about the customer.
Dude… don’t get a Dell. It is obvious that Michael Dell has no idea what a big stupid bloated pig his company has become. They fill the airwaves with notions of excellent support and care for their customers. Until you are an owner. Then, everything you do voids your warranty and they will hang the phone up on you at any chance they get.
My goal in the near future will be to reverse engineer their motherboard pinouts and provide them to the populous.
HERE IS THE BEST PART OF THE WHOLE THING:
They had the guts to accuse me of trying to produce a fake Dell to sell to someone.
Give me a F%^&ing break. Don’t be so proud of those machines you produce Dell. I would buy a $70.00 tower in leiu of your stupid $379.00 case any day of the week. However, I don’t have that choice because your motherboard is not standard and only fits in one case which you refuse to sell me.
At one point they even suggested that I should just buy a new machine for $3000.00. What complete arrogance is this?
Just my two cents. But I hate them.
Oh yeah, ther customer service department offered to reduce the cost of my order 20% when it was replaced for my trouble. I told them I would pay 20% more if they would just send the damn thing.
Posted by: Todd Felege on October 25, 2002 08:50 PM
I have to disagree with the negative feelings of Dell tech support. They do use some cheap parts sometimes, I agree – my hard drive failed within a week of getting my Latitude C400. However, I called Dell, and they overnighted a new drive to me (they told me they dont ship on mondays but I got it on monday somehow, after calling on friday.) I popped it in, loaded XP onto it, and everthing works fine. They even provided a shipping label to send the bad drive back to them, PLUS paid for it. I also spent less than five minutes on hold to talk to a tech, and that was on a friday evening, prime-time for tech support calls. The guy was extremely polite and when I told him my hard drive had failed and put the phone to the drive for him to hear, he didn’t quibble. He said “your new drive will be shipped overnight and probably get there tuesday. Sorry about the problem.” (again, it got here monday instead.) I have been very happy with tech support, even if it was an inconvienence to have a broken computer for 4 days.
Posted by: A home user on November 12, 2002 11:58 AM
i have worked doing the software support for dell for the last three years. i hate dell. they are one of the cheapest companies to work for.
they shipped all of the hardwaresupport to india and the phillipines to (save money) gee so much for an american company. lay off americans and hire foreighners. and I hear it all the time how the hardware support screws up the systems and cant be understood.
and over the last year they have gotten worse.
you would think as one of the biggest mfg that they would take care of their people ( guess again)
Posted by: frustrated tech on November 12, 2002 11:20 PM
I just got my computer from “Hell”, as in “your getin’ a hell dude”. Received it on 10/9/02, a Hell precision Workstation 530, 2 x 1.8 GHz CPU’s, 2 x 36 Gbyte MAXTOR hard Drives (Quantum), multibay CD/R/W, 250 Mbyte Zip. I work for the largest purchaser of Dell Products, I wish I could have bought my work computer from another vendor, however the justification write up would have taken me till XMAS to argue with purchasing about.
Problem # 1 – Hard Drive #0 (SCSI) failed. It squeals very high pitch, and freezes processes. I tried to tell them this but they did not believe me. I called them again on 11/13/02 and asked to speak to their expert since all the morons there had no idea what they were talking about. Did a couple tests and guess what? Hard drive 0 failed. They sent me the new part and it failed their test. Come to find out that they have the pins addressed wrong on the original drive as well as the one they sent to me. Checked the MAXTOR site and sure enough they have the wrong diagrams for the pins!!! I would tell the people at Hell, but I hate them for wasting tons of time and reformats out the ying yang! Many other customers will have this problem. Another guy at work just ran into me while typing this, “hey my #3 hard drive failed!” Sure enough addressed wrong with terminator incorrect! I have a new problem, something is going on with sleep mode, it shuts down but does not wake up, have to do a full shut-down and reboot, so I found it is easier to kill it at the end of each day.
Posted by: iPUTNAM on November 18, 2002 05:04 PM
Problem #2 today the new drive arrived and installed it. Shut down reboot, holy cow hard drive error. The new drive is no good!!!!
I guess the devils at hell saw my first post and wanted to make sure they got me back. Waiting on FedEx, Airborne, or UPS whichever delivers from hell.
Posted by: iPUTNAM on November 20, 2002 05:30 PM
Problem #3 Just got in the 3rd hard drive and it failed the test sequence. Dell is the worst computer company of all time, they now have replaced Gateway as my most hated computer company. Next time, I will write as many justifications as possible to not get a Dell, including writing my Congressman if I have to. Firing off a letter this week to my friends at 60 MINUTES, thay might do the trick.
Posted by: iPUTNAM on November 27, 2002 01:40 PM
Umm, hey genius pro dell peeps out there that post here, in case you havent read this forum thru, most complaints are about the service(or lack of it) that dell provides. Fighting this point w/ your feeble minded inquiries about how wonderful and grand the comps are for the price we pay is like trying to say that George Bush(the current one) is a genius, even though he had a fucking C- average in high school. These unsatisfied customers are absolutely right in the regard that Dell Support ‘Sucks’ so if you wanna try to fight that point, try to accomplish something noteworthy and fix the problems that they have w/ their comps, or at least find a way to direct them to someone they can. I tell you this because an iceburg can look crystal clear from what is seen above water, although divers may find quite a load of shit when they look below the surface. Your right, dell makes decent PC’s, good ones even, price-wise compared to what is out there, but who gives a shit if the’re not good for it after shipment? find a new forum pro-dellers, unless you have something to say that applies to this one.
Posted by: Anti-dell-tech on December 3, 2002 11:11 PM
What more could I possibly add to what this forum has already posted? I just want others to know that I am yet “another” unsatisfied Dell system owner. I have had problems since I bought the major P.O.S. And since the ignorant Dell Support personnal don’t know their ass from a hole in the ground, my warranty has expired and the problems have now become mine and mine alone.It seems that “Steve” the “dude” man is more intelligent than their support. “Dude, he’s getting screwed by Dell”, is much more fitting. It seems that Mr. Dell was in the right place at the right time and offered a simple service to customers. But it is very obvious that he left out the most important ingredient “Support”. He got rich from feeding from our ignorance and laziness. Anyone without proper knowledge or time to build their own system would easily fall into the hands of a service that could provide a “one stop shop” for all their computer needs. I guess as we become more aware of the direction of technology, then unnecessary services like “Dell” will no longer exist. Enjoy the millions why you can Dell, because your company will not be around forever.
Posted by: cadniques on December 6, 2002 10:39 AM
Thanks for the page. Yepper I too am another piece of collateral damage of Dell Computers. I have a 8100 and have replaced the HD 3 times and the DVD went I was told I don’t have one, lol. Yes Dell is very inovative, they can turn perfectly good hardware into crap without passing it through a digestive system. At least one thing Dell has shown me, they aren’t playing any favorites, they’ll screw anybody.
Posted by: willie on December 9, 2002 12:33 PM
OMG !!!!! I CANT BELIEVE IM SEEING MY OWN STORY…….ALSO BEWARE PEOPLE DO NOT GIVE THEM YOUR CREDIT CARD TO HOLD ORDERS THEY WILL SWINDLE YOU AS WELL!!!!!!!
Posted by: chyna on December 17, 2002 11:15 PM
My experience with Dell has been nothing short of horrifying. Following is a letter I sent to the editors of the major computer magazines. To date, I have received no acknowledgement, which comes as no big surprise. They’re not gonna bite the hand….
Anyway, since writing this letter, I have once again re-installed the OS, this time with no peripherals installed. Performance is at best marginally better, and my old 350 mHz machine with 64 MB of RAM still smokes this useless piece of crap. After reading the prior posts, I too believe I was sold a refurbished machine, or at least one that was defective from the get-go.
The following letter is long, and details an experience that is probably not that unique. I am fed up, though, and seeing Dell’s freakin’ ads about their stellar customer support just frosts me, so I’m going to start making noise about this again.
Bill O?Connell
Cowboy Heaven Consulting
9/9/02
To Whom It May Concern:
First, thanks for taking the time to read this letter, which details a truly horrific series of problems with a new Dell Dimension 4400 desktop. While I am not a software engineer, I am not exactly a computer newbie either. I really can?t imagine someone with little or no computer experience being faced with the problems I have had with this computer. Anyway, at the moment the purpose of this letter is mainly to allow me to document the chain of events of this little debacle. If you see fit to use all or portions of it in your magazine or website, you certainly have my permission. If you would be so kind as to offer any suggestions, you would have my immense gratitude, and if nothing else this could perhaps spare someone else the hell I have been through.
In March 2002 we purchased two new Dell desktops. This one is a Dimension 4400, 1.6 GHz, 256MB SDRam, with a 40 GB hard drive. The other is a Dimension 2100, with a 1.1GHz Celeron processor, 128 MB memory, and also a 40 GB hard drive. Both have Windows XP Home. The only reason I mention the 2100, is that from the first time they were both plugged in, it has outperformed and been more stable than the 4400.
I am a careful shopper, and read numerous reviews of the 4400 before purchase. People raved about ?blazing speed???, and superb operating system stability. Well, I didn?t have any point of reference besides my prior machines, the latest a 350 MHz Windows 98 Gateway. From the start, I didn?t really feel this new one was much if any of an improvement. At simple tasks like downloading files, the old machine is approximately twice as fast (and there is nothing wrong with the modem on this one, we checked that). This did not make me happy.
Still, I put up with the situation for a few months. As I?m sure is the case with you, I have myriad other things demanding my attention, and since computer problems tend to be an enormous time sink, I procrastinate on them if possible. Over time, though, this situation became increasingly aggravating. I eventually started monitoring the performance through Task Manager. The system would consistently run at about 35 % CPU usage, even with no programs running. When even just a couple of programs were opened, CPU usage would regularly jump to 100%, and things would come to a standstill. There were about 35 ?processes??? running in the background. At times, I tried to stop these processes, but no dice. The final straw came when I installed a new Canon scanner, along with Adobe Photoshop Elements. When I would attempt to edit photos in Adobe, the machine would lock up every time. This did not make me happy.
So I called Canon tech support, prepared to be underwhelmed. On the contrary, their representatives were very good, although it soon became apparent that the problem was with my computer, not the scanner or related software. So began a long series of calls to Dell tech support.
You have probably heard similar tales to the start of this saga many times. Please bear with, in the latter stages mine becomes truly bizarre. My first call to Dell connected me with a person who barely spoke English. I detailed the high CPU usage and number of processes running. We were basically unable to communicate, and although I don?t recall the exact steps we attempted, the upshot was that nothing was solved. So, I called back. The second time I got a very knowledgeable person. We ran numerous tests, and he finally deduced that my operating system needed to be re-installed. His diagnosis was that this computer had become infected with a virus. That may be so, although I religiously update my anti-virus software, and never open unexpected attachments. I realize, that does not guarantee one will not become infected. However, I believed, and still believe, that something was wrong with this computer from the start.
So, I spent parts of three days backing up my vital files, called Dell tech support again (several times, actually, I am leaving out a number of the calls), and we re-installed XP. Then, I re-installed all my programs, and restored the files I had backed up. Things were somewhat improved. Now the system operates at around 15-20% CPU usage (with no programs open), with about 20 processes running. Still, I can?t say I would describe its performance as ?blazing???. One quirk that turned up in short order is that I didn?t have the proper modem driver, although the modem functioned properly. No problem, Dell sent me a CD with the proper driver. In the interim, though, during a dial-up session, the little modem icon that appears in the taskbar just up and ?poof???; disappeared. The modem still functioned, just no icon. That is an annoyance, because it?s how I disconnect, as well as monitor my connection speed. I know, it?s a quaint concept, but out here in the hinterlands we still don?t have broadband other than satellite available, and I understand satellite can be problematic. We connect via modem at around 52K, and that is tolerable, at least until something better becomes available.
So, I called Dell again, and this is where things turned strange and the situation began to deteriorate in a most alarming fashion. The first tech support person I got can only be described as clueless. He didn?t even know there was such a thing as a modem icon, and said the problem was with my ISP! After numerous lengthy holds, he finally told me I needed to call software tech support, and that he would get the number. Five minutes later, he came back with a number that proved to be for some engineering company, with no connection to Dell whatsoever. That did not make me happy.
The next call connected me to a very personable and knowledgeable representative. I won?t go into all the solutions he attempted, but the result is that he was stymied. He said it was a very unusual problem, one he had never encountered. He was mainly a hardware tech support guy, and since the problem was apparently a software problem, he also referred me to software support, and immediately produced a functioning phone number for them.
So this morning with some trepidation I called software tech support. To my chagrin, I discovered there would be a $29.00 fee for this service. I need this thing fixed, though, so I ponied up with a credit card. And then waited on hold for 45 minutes! That did not make me happy.
When I finally got through to someone, I would say on a scale of 1 to 10 for competence, they were about a 5. Not dazzling, but not an imbecile, either. We spent approximately the next hour and a half attempting various solutions, many of which had already been tried by various other techs to no avail. This was about the point at which I started taking notes about what we were doing. I would describe his attempts as rudimentary; like deleting the temp files, running checkdisk, and checking the start menu in MSConfig. Of course, we also tried the obvious solution, making sure the box was checked in the modem properties to display the vanished icon when a connection is made. I had long since tried that myself, at the start of this whole process. So, again after numerous holds, he came back on the line and mumbled something about it apparently being a hardware problem, and with no warning transferred me back to hardware tech support. Not directly to an individual, but back to square one, the accursed recordings you get when you first call up. That did not make me happy.
The next tech support person was a 2, or perhaps a 1.5. He also had never heard of the modem icon. It rapidly became apparent we were getting nowhere. By this time I had been on the phone for nearly three hours, and my patience was getting brittle. I demanded to talk to his supervisor. The supervisor was also unfamiliar with the modem icon. After bringing him up to speed on the situation, we ran through several possible solutions, most of which had already been tried. We then ran Quick Diagnostics on the hard drive, which tested OK. One thing virtually all the techs commented on, though, was the glacial pace at which this computer runs the diagnostic tests. The software tech support guy earlier said there had to be something defective with the computer, and mentioned possibly replacing it, although he later decided it had to be a hardware problem. The hardware folks are sure it?s a software problem, and so it goes?. This does not make me happy.
The hardware support supervisor decided I should run a full diagnostic test, which I am told takes up to eight hours. I assume that is with a computer that functions normally. All the tests we have run on this computer seem to take at least twice as long as one would expect, and I am not sure when I will have 16 hours to allow this machine to check itself out. I seriously doubt it is even capable of that task.
So, we did a system restore to the point immediately after I re-installed XP. After re-installing my programs and the modem driver, the elusive modem icon is back. My confidence level in it staying there is low, however, and I can’t say I have the warm fuzzies about Dell or Microsoft, or for that matter computers in general.
Toward the end of our conversation, he asked if I had any peripherals hooked up when I re-installed XP. Yes, the printer and scanner were hooked up. No one told me otherwise. So, for the moment, in lieu of the full diagnostic test, I am going to disconnect those items and re-install the operating system again.
As it stands; I have spent the better part of a week on these problems, and they are not resolved. The time spent, not to mention the aggravation and stress, exceed the value of the computer. That does not make me happy.
So where does that leave Joe Consumer like me? I operate a small business. I don?t have an IT staff to take care of little vexations like this while I go fishing. If something needs doing, I do it. I would immensely appreciate any suggestions you have as to leverage I can exert on Dell to make this situation right. I suppose writing this letter is one avenue to pursue in that regard, and I thank you for taking the time to read it.
I just need a functioning computer, and since that is what I paid for, I would like Dell to see to it that I have one. That would make me happy.
Regards,
Bill O?Connell
Cowboy Heaven Consulting
Posted by: Bill on December 23, 2002 11:57 AM
I personally know someone who has a Dell. He is also afraid of admitting it and he cannot respond to any puns directed towards them. All he can do is close his I eyes and mumble to himself “..its just a different brand, its like any other computer, its like any other computer,its like any other computer…” and scamper away. Our school runs on Dells, and you can guess how wonderfully productive they are. The computer labs’ CPUs had to have been replaced at least three times. Many a person had a computer freeze while trying to print out a technology class before saving(including me) and ended up loosing their entire document. The techonolgy teacher had finally given up and would excuse the assignment when this thing would happen. I am most certainly not a goodie-two-shoe bookie, but what kind of people would allow their products to disrupt the curriculum of an educational institution? As a quote from Minority Report states, “Isn’t it strange how every organism on the entire planet is related? When the grips are down and the pressure is on, every organism is interested in one thing, and one thing only. Survival.” I think that this is the situation that Dell is basically in. The desperate advertising spree and the declaration of them being the number one PC makes this evident. I honestly think that the only way they could be #1 would be if they paid some magazine a sum of money so large that all the zeros in it would probably overload this server, or that they were the ones who fooled the most people into buying them. If you walk into one of their factories, you would probably see a blur of grey and green flowing into a mountain of cardboard. Sure, they make their computers from everyone else’s components, but I could easily throw a bunch of components on the floor and have just as much honesty as they do.
When my report card was issued, it was mixed up with a forth grade girl’s. Bear in mind that my middle school has 50 students, and the entire K-8 consists of 205 students. Being an absolutely monolithic number, I am sure that no computer could ever come close to getting them all right for the next 50 years (wink wink nudge nudge). I am uncertain on whose fault it is; the principal or the computer. Being that the administrator’s I.Q is smaller than a man’s bra size, and he was using a Dell, my hypothesis is that it was a combination of both.
As my opinion, I would op to avoid a Dell at all costs, even if it is monetary. Right now I have a strong appreciation of being able to see that obnoxious adolescent male in the commercials being fed his parents (if he has any, he might have came out of a test tube for all I know) after having them tossed in a meat grinder.
Posted by: Ernest Thompson IV on December 23, 2002 06:59 PM
Dude – while I do agree for personal reasons that Dell is starting to suck, you made a couple comments that need to be addressed.
First comment: “Microsoft should be embaressed to have their name on that cheap knockoff Dell Intellimouse.”
Dell does NOT make parts. They buy them and put them together. MICROSOFT should be embarassed to be marketing such a cheap mouse. DELL should be embarassed for shipping it.
Second comment: “Luckily enough, my new PC actually came with a real CD-Rom drive. What I mean is, almost all the newer ones seem to be coming with cheap notebook CD-Rom drives (in the desktops).”
The smaller components are being shipped because business keeps demanding a “smaller foot print” (ie – systems that take up less desktop space). As for not being “real” – grow up. Portable systems actually require sturdier CD’s and hard drives because they are smaller and they are designed to be moved. Your desktop pretty much stays in one place.
Dell is becoming like every other successful PC vendor but in part it is in response to consumer demand. People want cheaper and cheaper PC’s and the retailers resort to using cheaper and less reliable parts as well as cheaper and less educated techs and customer service reps.
By the way – I am a Dell tech and I build my own computers. I can tell you that building your own is NOT cheaper these days. However, you do have quicker recourse in the event of problems. I do not know how much longer I will be employed. Current business strategies call for outsourcing all but the most expensive support contracts to third party companies in India and Las Vegas. Think you have support problems now? It’s going to get worse, I assure you. And that makes me very sad.
Time to dust off the resume!
Posted by: DQ on January 5, 2003 03:14 PM
First and foremost, I currently work for Dell as a Customer Care Rep. I enjoy my job 99% of the time. I will tell you, its not an easy job and surely doesnt pay nearly enough for some of the things we have to put up with from customers. I am by no means an overly emotional person but, I have been brought to tears because of the way a few customers have spoken to me like I am a dog and I personally am the one who has caused them so much grief. I have worked in customer service in one form or another for the past 5 years so, I of course generally abide by the rule that “Customers are always right” Well, believe it or not… the customer isnt always right. I have probably been called every name in the book by customers which just so happen to usually be men (nothing against men in general) who think that just because I am a woman that they can talk to me like I’m non-human. Just think about this for a second, if you were in my shoes and I was screaming into your phone and calling you ever name in the book… would you want to help me? I dont think so. I can not speak for the entire company… believe it or not we are not all sitting in the same building holding hands and singing Kum Ba Yah and we can not speak or do anything about what joe-blow did or said that is a half a dozen states away. I personally try to handle things in a professional manor and try to assist customers to the best of my abilities. However, there are polices & procedures that we must follow and can not make exceptions for everyone (unless its a reasonable exception). I will give a little advise, if you are calling customer care… you will get alot more done if you speak to us like we are humans and not a bunch of dogs. Ever hear the saying “A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down”? Well… its the best advise that I can give. Don’t expect miracles for something that is in your error and lastly… don’t kill the messenger. We are just a bunch of everyday people caught up in the rat maze of cubicles.
Posted by: Dell_Fairy on January 16, 2003 01:59 AM
You’ve all stated the hell I’ve been through concerning Dell as well as if not better than I would be able to do, so I will just say “Ditto”, and although the Dell experience sucks, it feels strangely good to know I’m not the only one who wishes Dell would go to hell. Dell doe’s indeed suck….
Posted by: Thomas on January 17, 2003 03:14 PM
After reading all of the horror stories associated with Dell, I am inclined to address this audience to see if anyone would be interested in filing a class action lawsuit against the firm.
Besides giving this serious consideration, I will be taking the following venues against this firm:
Contact the FTC and write a formal complaint
Write a complaint with the Better Business Bureau
Write a complaint with Consumer Affairs.
Someone had suggested www.planetfeedback.com, and that is in the works.
We in New York also have a few television stations that house “investigative reporters” that actually go out and pick apart firms like Dell to determine the extent of their alleged fraud. I’ll be accessing them as well. More likely than not, if I don’t hear from anyone regarding this post, I will proceed with a Small Claims lawsuit, which essentially provices me with remedies up to five thousand dollars.
My story is no different than anyone elses, and is proposterous to say the least. i am writing this from an exhanged unit, an Inspiron eighty two hundred. Please excuse my not using the numbers, but they do not work. This laptop, like the previous one, the original one, also has a mind of its own. I fear that at some point during this letter, it will once again shut down.
I received this laptop several days ago as an exchange for my original, which was sent to Dell for repairs that were necessary because some Dell tech screwed things up even worse. After I received my original unit, the whole system crashed, I lost all my files, and it will not start up. After several days of discussions with clueless techs, I finally was able to get them send me another unit, this garbage, which happened to be a remanufactured unit, with lessor components, to which Dell tried unsuccessfully to convince me that it was actually an upgrade.
I am disgusted. Now I have in my possession two malfunctioning laptops. I am required to send back this one in order to get yet a second exchange. I refuse to take another Dell product, and requested a refund of my full original amount. They refused. So I contacted my credit card company and instructed them to withold payment from Dell until I receive some sort of remedy, in the form of a refund. In the meantime, Dell will not receive either payment nor the two laptops which are in my possession until they agree to my terms.
I have lost four days of work, today will have been the fifth. I lost my job as a result of the WTC attacks, lost many, many friend in the inferno, and no way am I going to tolerate this form of consumer oriented terrorism by a so-called American firm, which has for some perverted reason, become an icon of the computer industry. I am standing up to these thieves, and I urge everyone out there to do the same. Since I am on my own now, I cannot afford to lose another days work, and will require that Dell reimburse me for my time, energy and frustration. Words of frustration alone, anger towards them will do no good. Actions speak louder than words.
The unfortunate part about all of this is that it is a relatively well-known fact that Dell produces inferior products, and horrible service.
The last tech person who sent me this junk replacement also told me that I would have another year’s worth of warranty applied to it, yet I recently found out that I would not. As far as I am concerned, that is deceptive business practices if not fraud.
I am asking that anyone who is interested in pursuing this more seriously, join with me. I will NOT stand by idly and see myself get dragged into the proverbial suckhole by a firm that does not honor either its warranty or committments. If you seek a replacement for a PC that is malfunctioning, request either a NEW machine or a refund. You should preferably request a refund, as you can rest assured you will get a butchered machine as most everyone else has thus far including myself.
Dell indicated to me that the NEXT replacement will be free of defects, that they “guaranteed” me. I told them to put that in writing, and they refused, saying it is against their policy. Their intent is to ride out the remaining portion of my warranty, until they have exhausted my warranty time limit. I don’t care if they are solely service oriented or they subcontract out for parts, they are not worthy of our respect, business, or association. I will probably be contacting the advertisers for Dell as well to provide them with a deeper insight as to their client’s deceptive practices, and let them know, that they too will be associated with their name. Of course, every action I do take will be within the scope of the law, and I urge everyone else out there to practice the same.
It’s time Dell heard us all……
Posted by: Roman on January 21, 2003 05:13 PM
I bought a dell two months ago. Now the 19 inch monitor has broken(cuz its shit). Now im trying to get it replaced, fat chance. I call tech support, they send me on a wild goose chase thru all the departments. All i found out is that they dont have any 19 or 22 inch monitors to sendme and they wont send me a LCD. Im stuck in the dark during the end of the school summester.
Take it from me, if u dont want to be screwed over. Dont buy a dell. Dude your gonna get fuc*ed
Posted by: Vlad_dell_sucks on January 22, 2003 10:44 AM
On January 24th, I found a sale on (2) Dell 2350 computers with a 2.4ghz processor for $678.51. When I clicked on the sale link, I was forwarded to the Dell website where I was then automatically forwarded to the shopping cart section of their website. The sale information was automatically loaded into the shopping cart including the coupons which gave the sale price. I then proceeded to purchase the computers using a credit card. Within an hour, I received a confirming email from Dell, which indicated they are processing the order. The email had disclosure language as follows: “Please note, however, that Dell cannot be responsible for typographical or other errors, and reserves the right to cancel any orders resulting from such errors”. I contacted Dell on Monday the 27th to find out when the computers will be delivered and was told that the order was cancelled because Dell could not honor the advertised sale price. After speaking to several sales Reps, I was told I could have both computers for $929.00. I finally ended the day by writing an email to Mike Elledge, one of their managers. Mike responded a couple of days later by re-stating that Dell could not honor the original sales price. I then received an email from the Dell Small Business Dept., who apoligized for the problem and then offered a 10% discount and another 10% discount if I purchased more than $600. I then tried to purchase a single computer using the exact same specifications to find out what it would cost using their discounts. It cost over $600 for a single computer! So Dell not only misrepresented their original sale price of $339ea but they also misrepresented their over the phone offer of $464ea. I have since emailed Mike various times to negotiate with no luck. I also received an email from Linda Kelly of their Executive Support department who further stated that they cannot help me. I think this clearly falls into the “bait and switch” categorie of section 5 of the FTC ACT.
Posted by: R. Eggart on February 6, 2003 07:58 PM
Dell is there.
I feel sorry for the customer’s who had been mistreated by dell. so far, dell had been trying to make up with its lose ends by giving proper technical support and customer service. But!
Do you the fact that most customers tend to be more irate only makes it more frustating for both customer and rep to help each other. each troubleshooting make take longer depending on the customer. if customer would not want to cooperate then sorry, what can the rep do but try to pacify the customer and try to get the attention of the customer. try to place yourselves on their work. you’ll find yourself which is difficult. do not bent your inflict your anger among them. if you wish to have dell help you, help us help you, don’t be some customer who wants things to be done fast. we’ll assist you all the way. just try be more cooperative and dell will help you believe me. cause i know. thank you for calling dell have a nice day! :)
Posted by: Eisenwulf on February 11, 2003 09:33 AM
People wake up and smell the coffee.
All of you, All of us, are being bombarded everyday by DELL’s big advertising campaign that there the BEST PC MANUFACTURER THE WORLD HAS. When they really aren’t! You see them in many movies now, trying to get there product cameo’s and then there commercials which make absolutely no sense.
I feel very sorry for people who purchase DELL computers, they are horribly manufactured, and the company itself tries using an “Efficient-Cost Method” by not incorporating a Research and Development department as well as not enough staff to handle problems. When a company uses such a method, it obviously means they don’t care about us, the consumer.
When you look at a company like Apple or Microsoft, and many others, you see companies that spend money on research and development to continue to push forward in innovations and ultimately help the consumer in every way possible. DELL doesn’t do this and DELL will never do this. They basically say “You bought the computer from us…now you expect technical support? haha”.
As for the comment Eisenwulf gave, who obviously works for DELL, why don’t you take a moment and consider the company you are working for. A corporate giant who doesn’t look towards the future, a company that just resells another companies product. When your as big as DELL and handling the PC market, as Apple handles the Apple market, you should be investing towards the future and help people get stuff done more efficiently.
Everyone above has the right to complain about the service DELL has given them and about the products they sell their customers. They are totally valid and accurate in their statements and I commend them for telling the world about this company, maybe it will make others think twice about purchasing a DELL. I know I have had to call DELL support many times and time in and time again I have been frustrated, and in the end never had my problem resolved.
I hope that this message can reach people considering to buy a new computer, and I hope that you look at those companies in your city, in your town, those small companies that, although may not have as large a product line as DELL, will, in some cases, bend over backwards to ensure the product you have bought is true.
In conclusion, “Don’t get a DELL dude!”
Posted by: RickComp on February 16, 2003 07:32 AM
So I finally get my Dell Inspiron 8200 yesterday…
Finally after Dell goofed up on my order, I get it… and guess what.. it died on day 2.
When I placed my order I ordered an Inspiron 8200 and I asked my sales rep:
“I have 3 other computers at the house, and I want to network them via wireless, what do I need?”
Dell Sales: “All you need is our router.”
ME: “Thats it? How do the computers receive the wireless signal?”
Dell Sales: “Please hold…”
After a 45 second delay
Dell Sales: “Yup thats all you need, all the instructions are there.”
ME: “So I buy this one piece of equiptment and thats it?”
Dell Sales” Yup”
—So anyway
A day later I realize thats not the case, I went to CompUsa and purchased the Network router and the PCI cards to receive the wireless signal.
So I call Dell to cancel the router out of the order (but I still want the computer)
Dell Sales”No problem, we’ll take it out”
ME: “Will this delay my ship date or price?”
Dell Sales “Yes, now you won’t get the free shipping, and the ship date will be (3 days later than before”
ME: “I don’t think so. I want what I originally ordered minus the router or I dont want the computer”
Dell Sales “Please hold”
–after 3 minutes
Dell Sales: “No problem, no delay in ship date, or change in price”
Thanks…
So I check my Order status online and guess what?
I was paying $60 extra for the same system, and my ship date was 6 days later!!!
I called immediatly and another sales rep “fixed the problem” with the price but not the ship date. I settled.
So I get the computer….
Day 2 of having it, I try to burn a CD… hmmm it doesn’t recognize the CD drive.
Called Tech Support.
Tech Support “Turn the computer upside down and take the drive out and put it back in”
ME: “Well the lights are there and I hear the drive spinning, so it might be a software problem”
Tech Support (very rudely she repeats herself): “Turn the computer upside down and take the drive out and put it back it”
So I did, and guess what?
The computer won’t come back on
ME: “What should I do?”
Tech Support: “We’ll send you a new system, it’ll be sent out in 5 business days”
ME: “Another delay? I really need this computer to pay for school (eBay) and for homework”
Tech Support: “I’ll make a note, but its a minimum of 5 business days.”
So now I have to wait another week to have a computer? This is $1600 we’re talking about!!
If your considering getting a Dell, get in touch me ASAP
My email address is alliedaudio@aol.com
Posted by: Jonathan Flugel on February 27, 2003 12:01 AM
Hi all,
As a network consultant, I have been a customer of Dell for many years due to its great quality and excellent service in the past. During the years, I have recommended a lot of purchases through Dell and have invested in the company’s stock. But what I have experienced in a purchase made last year had made me really think whether Dell will still be on the top over the next few years. I am particular worried about it’s ability to handle logistics and customer support. I have documented the whole process and would like to share with you and anyone who cares for their jobs at Dell. And now this is my screwed up story…
12/30/2001 Ordered a dell inspiron 4100 laptop from dell (#731431748) for $1910
1/12/2001 Recieved the laptop
1/30/2002 Called Service Department to upgrade my contract to a 3 year on-site, 24 hour turnaround service contract. Talk to a lady named Joan in the department and she suggested that she will credit my account for $140 and will charge me another $359 for the total of the three year support. I have recieved a case number (#24067755) from her for reference.
2/8/2002 $140 (order#766477160) was credited to my account, but nothing was charged to may account. (I found out about this later.. didn’t check on the credit card bill.)
6/18/2002 My power supply broke. Tried to call Dell for service. To my amazement, they told me that the laptop was sold without any service contract, and I had to rectify it to get service.
6/19/2002 Called and waited for 30 minutes and finally got Joan on the line and gave her a reference number, requested specifically that I want the 3 year on-site, 24hr turnaround warranty. I have explained to her that this is extremely critcal for her to get this accounting issue right since I rely on the laptop to do my job. She apologized and promised to fix it.
6/21/2002 Deducted $215.92 from my credit card. (Order#864023288) Got my contract and got my power supply. I was wondering why she didn’t deduct the full amount as promised, but had no time to follow up with her due to my busy schedue and didn’t want to wait for another 30 minutes on the phone.
12/21/2003 Laptop broke again, this time the ethernet port did not respond, and there is a big white spot in the middle of the display. Called dell to arrange on site service, they quoted me a tech will come in on 12/27 or 12/28 due to holiday season. I pannicked, where is Dell when I need them? Didn’t I pay a premium for their support? Wasn’t there a SLA of 24hr turnaround? I had a deadline to meet before I go on vacation on the 1/28 and no one can help!
12/26/2003 A tech came from Banctech and tried to service the machine. (service call #206019590) Came in and broke the replacement motherboard during installation. I thought, it must be my dammed luck. Knowing that I was going on vacation, the tech offered to bring my machine in and get the issue fixed while I was out of town. I gave him my laptop.
1/25/2003 Came back from vacation, relaxed. Called the tech to try to follow up with my case. Left message.
1/26/2003 Called the tech to try to follow up with my case. Left Message.
1/29/2003 Called the tech to try to follow up with my case. Left Message.
1/30/2003 Tech finally called back. Apologized for being late to return call and broke an extremely bad news. My machine was accidentally sent back to Dell. I was horrified! All my data was in there, and although I have backups for most of the stuff. Setting up another machine with all the environments I need and especially getting all the clearances for keys is really time consuming. The tech promises me that there should be no problem finding it and he will call me tomorrow on status.
1/30/2003 Dell credited me with an amount of $1760.(I didn’t know about it at that time)
1/31/2003 It’s tomorrow. Tech didn’t call.
2/1/2003 Called the tech. Left Message. Tech called back and said they are tracking it and will call me tomorrow.
2/2/2003 It’s tomorrow. Tech didn’t call.
2/3/2003 Called the tech. Left Message. Tech called back and said they are tracking it and will call me tomorrow.
2/4/2003 It’s tomorrow. Tech didn’t call.
2/5/2003 Called the tech and tech said they are tracking it and will call me tomorrow. I told him it’s useless to track him every other day if there is no result and asked him about a drop dead deadline to get me an answer. He said next by next Wednesday 2/12/03 he will know for sure. As usual, he promised to call me on or before that day. Not trusting him for his efficiency and ability to follow through, I started to configure a thinkpad for work as plan B.
2/12/03 No call from tech.
2/13/03 No call from tech. Called and left message.
2/14/03 No call from tech. Called and left message.
2/15/03 Called and called and finally contacted the tech. He told me something which is unbelievable. He said that the machine was shipped back and accounting thought this was a return. The laptop was now disassembled into pieces and there is no way to retrieve it. Also, they have issued me a credit of $1760 (the purchase price of the laptop) and considered the matter closed. Fumed, and knowing that there is nothing I can do with the tech, I closed the case with him and said I will call customer support.
2/17/2003 Called customer support and gave my info and explained the case to a rep. Rep said he can’t help me with any compensation over $150. Asked for escalation, found a customer support manager called Montana M336390. I expressed my frustration and mentioned that I have upgraded third party memory and also wanted compensation on this issue. He was helpful and told me to fax him an invoice and he will refund me right away and also offered $300 for next purchase I made. I said I would have to think about the compensation due to the time spent reconfiguring a new machine. Got a fax number and case number from him. The case number is 034370502.
2/16/2003 Started to review my invoices and requested invoice from third party memory company. Found out that the money for service contract was not refunded to me.
2/17/2003 Called service contract department and explained issue that I should be getting an refund of my service contract since it was never fulfilled (Customer number: 000019173300 Order number: 000864023288, they refered me to call customer support to get this done.
2/22/2003 Called Customer support in hopes to find Montana M336390 to settle matter. Waited 30 minutes, was sent to New Delhi call center. Experienced India’s version of customer service. First gave my info and esplained the case to a junior rep. Gave her case number and explained to her that she can’t help me due to the $150 threshold. She insist to finish reviewing the case so I waited. She then said she doesn’t know Montana M336390 and couldn’t find him. Finally she got me her manager John 30196. First asked me for my personal information again. I said why? Didn’t you get it from my case and from your junior rep? But he insist on getting it before providing service to me. So I complied. I explained to him that I would like to settle today and pointed out the three things I would like to accomplish.
1. refund the service contract purchase price since the contract was breached.
1. .Settle with the compensation details.
1. Arrange a way to get my invoice for the thrid party RAM reimbursed.
He reviewed the case and said he cannot do anything on this case and would like to forward me to service contract department. I said it is the service contract department refer me to you. By now I know there was something fishy within. We argued a bit and he started to say that if it weren’t me allowing the technician gain access to the computer, the tech wouldn’t be able to bring it back into the office. Therefore this case wouldn’t happen. By then, I have already spend a total of 40 minutes on this India call. I knew talking to him is a loss cause, so I said I would like to speak with his manager to deal with these 3 matters. He put me on hold and came back after 10 minutes. He reiterated that he couldn’t help with the contract. But regarding the compensation, he said his manager said that I should go buy a computer and the rebate will be in the box. For crissake, in the box? This is not cracker jack , and I am sure that this guy is giving me the runaround. Knowing he would never be able to help, I asked him I would like to speak to the exact same manager, he said he just went out for a meeting. Its getting me nowhere!
Called same day again and reached another customer care rep John 341885 (not sure which department anymore, I got transferred and transferred this time.) and discussed the issue, asked him about the additional issue with the service contract refund (Customer number: 000019173300 Order number: 000864023288). We have reached a settlement which is listed below.
1. Purchase an item at Dell and Dell will credit an amount of $300 towards the purchase.
2. Dell will reimburse the lost memory upgrade due to internal logistics error.
3. Dell will refund the amount of $215.92 for the service contract which was not rendered. (Customer number: 000019173300 Order number: 000864023288).
I asked him to leave this information in my case (034370502) and fax the required information to the first rep I dealt with on 2/17 and faxed Montana M336390 the same information we agreed along with copy of the third-party ram invoice. Ordered a dell inspiron 8200 online with the small business division.
1. Invoice of the memory upgrade I have purchased for my old laptop which Dell has lost. Invoice amount ($468.70)
1. Order number ( # 000250820462)of the new computer purchase so the $300 credit can be applied to this purchase.
1. Additional credit for the service contract (order # 000864023288)which was not fulfilled. ($215.92)
Total credit due: $984.62
2/25/2003 My wife ordered the same laptop with a better price in the small business division. I tried to cancel the original order made on 2/22 ( # 000250820462) . Got bumped to a call center that was snowed out. (At that time I didn?t know about this forum.) Send an addendum to Montana M336390 on the changed order number for refund purpose.
2/26/2003 Called dell online order division and they said the order is in production, can?t cancel, need to do return.
No response from Dell. Called Dell home customer support. After 40 minutes of wait and giving the same information once again, I got Mark S365210 from home customer care. He profusely apologized, and said he will get back to me as soon as he gets the fax with the same information. I send him a fax with all updated information.
2/27/2003 Mark S365210 called and left message. Told me that he can?t work on my case since I purchased the new laptop with the small business division and he can?t apply the credit. He said I need to talk to small business division customer care to handle everything. Called small business division customer care. Got a rep by the name of Angela 346497, spent 20 minutes on phone explaining to her to escalate the issue. She refuses on the basis of the fact that the original lost laptop was purchased from the home division, so there is nothing she can do about it. She will not transfer me to her supervisor and will either send me back to home division customer care or ?release my call?.
Called Demelza 347515 at home customer care. The rep totally refuted any settlements made by previous reps.
1. She said that she cannot do compensation on an Small Business Order.
1. She said that according to contract, dell cannot reimburse anything additional third party hardware that is attached to the machine. (Knowing full well that DELL LOST MY LAPTOP)!!!
1. She said she cannot compensate for the service contract.
I asked her to talk to her supervisor, She said I had to wait for 6 to 10 minutes. GOD knows if shes going to hang up. I hung up.
Basically, I am back to step 1.
Called again at 7:15 PM talked to Chris at home division, spent 40 minutes to explain the issue again. His manager, Steve 339024 interrupted the conversation and said nothing can be done. He also said that many people on the case took action, including Demelza t, 347515 who is refunding $150 on my purchase price (Which was not the agreed amount). He said aside from the $150 refund, there is nothing he can do. I asked what other paths can I take Then he hung up on me!!! I can?t believe this.! I tried to call back immediately and there was an answering message that said the office is closed for the day!! Is that their way to treat customers when they need to do shift changes? I am so upset about this. I am so insulted by him and his department. This is serious. They conned me into purchasing a product and tried get away from any agreement I have established with. I don?t think I can take it anymore!!!!! These guys are liars and crooks!!!
9:50PM After calming down a bit, I started to do some search on the web and found some good information. From the web, I have found out that the person in charge of the customer care group at Dell is Rick Case. Then when I started doing query on his name, I have found countless amounts of complaints about his group. There are also tons of forums filled with angry dell customers complaining specifically about customer care. Also, my friend told me about a site called planetfeedback.com. So I drafted a few letters based on this case and posted and emailed it to the following sites.
www.pricgrabber.com
www.planetfeedback.com
Better Business Bureau
http://www.centraltx.bbb.org/commonreport.html?compid=84120005&national=Y ( Thanks tonydi for reminding me..)
The 2 principal dell contacts are Carlos Henriquez and Brigette Haywood. The phone number is 514-338-4400 and fax is 512-723-7365
consumerwatch@phillynews.com This is actually a very interesting site. Please read the article at this link
Jeff Gelles: Dell execs say customer service performance is improving
You may remember reading about Dell Computer here recently. Twice, I gently chided the nation’s leading computer-maker over problems with its products and technical support.
The full article will be available on the Web for a limited time:
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/3157907.htm
The author talks about his issues with dell support and got an interview with Rick Case, VP of customer care. Rick asked the author to funnel any customer complaints to him. The email address is to the author.
2/28/02
2:52AM An email from csd@dell.com came in my mailbox! This was regarding my complaint on www.planetfeedback.com. Miraculously, Sheela DTC41076 now replied that she can now do the refund on the service contact.
?I have initiated a Manual Credit Return request against
reference number 032993808 with the respective department in
order to credit your AMEX account with $215.92 for refund on
warranty. The amount will be credited to your account within
30 days of the request. Please allow one to two billing cycles
for the amount to be reflected back in your account.?
Hmm, interesting. Does she mean 30 days or two billing cycles? Or 30 days plus two billing cycles? How long is one billing cycle. Anyhoo, I?m actually happy that there is progress.
But now she said she cannot reimburse me with the memory.
?Regarding the memory purchase, I sincerely regret that Online
Customer Care is unable to provide any refunds on the third party
memory upgrade purchase since we are not authorized to do so.?
And she referred me to the business sales division to deal with the $300 compensation which all the customer care reps promised me.?
?Regarding crediting the $300.00 against your purchase under order
number 253257209, please note that since the purchase was made
in Business Sales Division, you will need to contact a representative
in that division for the refund on the purchase. You can contact
at:
1-800-456-3355
Extension 67613?
9:30AM Called the number Sheela gave and got Gabriel 28583 from online sales. He did an extensive research on this subject and got the information listed below..
a. The credit should not be issued by small business. Since the issue (the case) stems from home sales division. Small Business cannot issue the credit.
b. His manager emailed customer care from home division and reported the issue to them.
35 minutes wasted again?. Once again, back to square 2? (Square one is resolved? I think, at least I got a confirmation that I will be getting refund on my service contract.)
11:00AM Emailed Sheela with the following excerpt..
?1. This morning, I have called the number you have indicated in your email and reached small business online sales department. I have reached Gabriel 28583 and he did an extensive research on this subject and got the information listed below..
a. The credit should not be issued by small business. Since the issue (the case) stems from home sales division. Small Business cannot issue the credit.
b. His manager emailed customer care from home division and reported the issue to them.
I think this issue is still not resolved. Please help.
2. Thank you very much for your prompt action to refund the service contract.
3. Regarding to the third party memory. I was promised by not 1, but 3 senior customer care reps from both home and small business division regarding the reimbursement. It is also indicated on my case notes repeatedly that they are waiting for my fax for the invoice of the third party memory for reimbursement. The badge numbers and names for these 4 reps are as follows: Montana M336390, John 341885 , Mark S365210 Let me ask you a question. Would all your senior customer care reps make false statements? If they don’t think they can help me with the reimbursement, why would they want me to go through all the trouble to find the invoice and fax them? Is this a delay tactic which customer care uses to stall customers? As noted, the request for the faxed invoice for the third party memory appeared multiple times in my case note (#034370502) , and almost all your customer care representatives asked me about the fax in attempt to stall me and not make progress on my case. Since your reps and I have reached a verbal agreement and it was further supported in the written case notes, I adamantly demand the reimbursement on the memory. I am seeing this as a breach of an agreed contract. For your record, my decision to purchase a new dell equipment is purely based on the terms of the case settlement. Now your company pretty much wanted to strong arm me after I made the purchase. Furthermore, I sincerely believe that your division’s ability to authorize this is really not my business. I would recommend you to work between your divisions to resolve this matter in an accurate, efficient manner.
Many thanks for your time and effort. ?
11:00 AM Got a phone call from Irene Stewart at Dell Corporate regarding an email I sent to corporate on reimbursement issues. I called and left message on her machine.
From the current situation, I have derived some issues I am going to face.
1. Both customer care from home division and small business division are not going to take my case.
a. Home customer care rejects my case on the basis that I did not purchase the new machine at home division.
b. Small business customer care rejects my case on the basis that my original customer care issue stems from a machine purchased from the home division.
2. I still don?t know how Dell will reimburse me with the third party ram they have lost.
Since this case is still not resolved?. The saga continues, I will update this often until this is resolved.
These are some of my observations on customer care from my few months of experience. Why is it so?
1. No one in customer care can be initially reached by email or phone.
2. No one in customer care can find his or her colleagues even when a badge number was given.
3. Faxes are routed to the responsible party in days, not in hours.
4. Customers cannot cancel thier orders easily.
5. Tech support contractor and customer reps are rude.
Probably stemmed from the fact that their responsibility to the customers ends after the phone call, because the customers cannot find them anymore. One customer rep, Demelza 347515, actually said “You can do whatever you want with my badge number!”, while I asked for hers’ for my notes.
6. Customer care reps don’t have much training before attending to issues.
I have some questions
1. Did Dell customer care group really implemented a right CRM solution?
It seemed that the case notes are there, and the system works across all divisions. But why did the reps react differently to the same case?
2. What are the primary objectives for customer care?
Is it to resolve customer issues or to deflect it? Is there a bonus for deflecting the most customers? I wonder.
Posted by: flylice on March 1, 2003 05:15 AM
i am a dell tech as well and what the last tech said was the truth come march 23 ALL tech support will be over seas to the indians. They only get paid 200 per month so you do the math 2.50 per hour or 20 per hour, i hate dell and will never own one of them. everyone watch the customer service go from 1 to last.
DUDE, Welcome to Hell
Posted by: delltech on March 5, 2003 01:40 AM
I have to reply to the people who said that Dell is cutting edge and is the best engineered system around. You are so wrong I can’t begin to explain it. When will you ever see a dell system with proper cooling or built using an Asus or Abit motherboard, NEVER!! They’re cases are like little plastic ovens. Why do you think the hard drives fail after a year and a half?
You think they’re systems are upgradable, I mean they’ll tell you they are don’t they? Just try and upgrade the cpu with out having to replace the motherboard. The Asus boards I use to build my computers support a Pentium 1.7 all the way to a brand new 3.0 ghz! That’s what being upgradable means. Dell wants you to buy a whole new system every three years.
I have never seen any of their computers support RAID.
Just to clarify, Dell does not do anything more than assemble a computer with as cheap a parts as they can get. It maximizes their revenue. That is the bottom line for all the major corporations in the PC industry. Do you think that the average user has any idea of what’s inside their computer? Of course not, and Dell takes advantage of it. Why do you think they throw in free cd-burners as a promotion? They cost less than $20, and I’m that’s being generous. But the customer say’s “Wow, a free cd-burner.” and buys the system.
The last three people I have built real custom computers for this month were previous Dell owners who were fed up with the overpriced crap. You outta see their faces when they boot up one of my systems and see what real speed is.
OH, the company that’s really on the cutting edge is Alienware but their stuff is so out of site expensive it makes me gag. I know they are just trying to turn a profit as well, but I could build a hell of a computer for half the price of an Alienware system and still do it with top quality hardware.
P.S. For anyone about to say Dell is better than Gateway, and vice versa…IT’S THE SAME COMPUTER!!!. They each use the same low quality hardware and just put it in different cases. They have to use low quality parts or they could never sell them at these prices.
I love it when people complain about Microsoft and say the software is crap, it’s actually the shitty computer you have been running it on the whole time!!!!!!!! Every think about that.
Spread the word.
Posted by: zenguitar on March 9, 2003 02:03 AM
This is an update to my previous post, which is the letter in italics about halfway up this page.
I also vented my frustration on Planet Feedback, which I highly recommend to everyone. It got results, such as they are.
About three weeks back I got a surprise e-mail from Dell, informing me they were sending me a replacement tower. Alleged it would be the “technological equal or superior” to the misery box that precipitated this whole debacle. Somehow, I didn’t find their promise all that reasurring ;-).
So, Dell #2 shows up. Right off, it won’t boot. With immense trepidation, I called tech support, and after going through three reps, we got it going. I transferred my files & settings, & it appeared to be working normally through that process, and was noticeably faster than the original. No sooner had I finished the transfer, and wiped the hard drive clean on #1 prior to sending it back to Dell, and #2 wouldn’t boot.
My despair was profound….
So, after several more tech “support” calls, it was deduced that the hard drive controller on the motherboard was defective. Unfortunately, since they hadn’t received my original computer back yet, the tech was unable to dispatch a technician to repair/replace the motherboard. He suggested I call Customer Support, and gave me a phone # and extension.
The next morning I called that number, and was informed it was the wrong dept. Called customer support again. Rep #1 was on his second day on the job. His supervisor basically told me to go f*** myself. HIS supervisor, allegedly the floor supervisor was better. His suggestion was that I forget about having a tech out, and that what I really needed was a NEW computer, not another refurbished misery box returned by yet another customer whose dreams of technological enhancement have been dashed upon the boulder-strewn shores of the Windows wastelands.
So, a few days back I received Dell #3. With minimal and often erroneous assistance from “support”, I pulled the hard drive from #2, installed it as a second drive in #3, and transferred my files and settings with no trouble.
So far, so good.
I will certainly never buy anything from Dell again, though. The hell I had to go through just to get a properly functioning computer is mind-boggling, and I will probably never buy a computer again without a deep sense of fear and loathing.
Posted by: Bill on March 19, 2003 11:01 AM
Out of all the complaints Ive read in here, hating to break your bubbles, but your a VERY SMALL percent of unsatisfied customers. Dell is no.1 and will continue to remain that way.
Also Dell only supports the original configuration you recieved your system in for you people out there complaining about your system. And dont tell me there is nothing third party that you have added. Add retail sw and hw is not Dell’s responsibility. Neither is assisting on the back up of data you have placed on the system. Dell can not support every piece of crap you put on your system. Alot of sw issues come from the manufacturers sw/hw that has been installed. To complain, call Microsoft or whomever you got the sw/hw from.
“I LOVE MY DELL”
Posted by: anonymous on March 26, 2003 03:07 PM
This message is a reply to caswell77@hotmail.com:
Out of all the complaints Ive read in here, hating to break your bubbles, but your a VERY SMALL percent of unsatisfied customers. Dell is no.1 and will continue to remain that way.
Also Dell only supports the original configuration you recieved your system in for you people out there complaining about your system. And dont tell me there is nothing third party that you have added. Add retail sw and hw is not Dell’s responsibility. Neither is assisting on the back up of data you have placed on the system. Dell can not support every piece of crap you put on your system. Alot of sw issues come from the manufacturers sw/hw that has been installed. To complain, call Microsoft or whomever you got the sw/hw from.
“I LOVE MY DELL”
Why don’t you get a life, and not post your garbage on this forum. You obviously have no computer experience whatsoever and DELL will not be number one for long. Trust me, customers begin to see better companies who provide better services.
Posted by: CompGuy on March 29, 2003 10:43 PM
My complaint deals with the customer service. I bought my laptop in 2000 and have been rather pleased. I have had a few hardware problems but I would think this to be expected, if not, then I would not have gotten a warranty. However, the times I have had to spend on the phone is insane. I usually average 30 minutes but it has sometimes gone over an hour! Then there is the back and forth transferring between departments. As for the customer representatives, well……there are many lacking the qualified skills to troubleshooting pcs and many lacking customer relation skills. My next pc will be a desktop which I plan on building myself. These things stand for improvement and will be eventually improved. Yet, it will take people (such as those posting on this board) to make that difference and in hope to making Dell a company that everyone will want to do business with.
Posted by: BMGT on April 7, 2003 04:00 PM
Hey!
I could care if Dell is the number 1 computer in the world…they must be referring to the number 1 SUCKIEST computer in the world. Let me tell you what Dell pentium 4 {we added memory too!}can not handle:
Sims Online
AIM
KaZaa
Internet
Anything that requires it to work
Can Handle:
Microsoft Word
…We have a Dell desktop & a labtop….we spend 80% of it restarting it
My friend just got one to….nothing but problems…I suggest not to get one!
-Dell User
Posted by: Andy on April 14, 2003 10:57 PM
If you want to talk to Dell tech support, learn a new language. You will be calling India!
Posted by: rob on April 19, 2003 12:22 AM
Along with all the tech support problems it is also a nightmare dealing with dell credit. I closed my account in early January and had a credit due. It took until The middle of April, and I’ve lost count on how many phone calls and hours on hold, to get my money back.
DELL SUCKS and they will never get any of my money again.
Posted by: Geoff Green on April 20, 2003 11:00 AM
futureshop sucks too.
Posted by: . on April 23, 2003 09:50 PM
Holy crap. I have a 1998 Dell inspiron 3000. Dell computers have gone downhill over the years and every dell is basically netowrked into that. within the last 2 years my floppy drive has blown out, batterys broken, hinges falling apart, programs corrupted and to top it all off, today the cheap plastic latch that clamps the laptop toghether broke! The designers at dell probably smoke weed just like the guy in the commercial. I knew i should have gotten the IBM thinkpad.
Posted by: John on May 1, 2003 10:34 PM
Voting for a consumer lawsuit for customer purchasing negligence. AOL was sued for poor service its time to take action against dell.
Are there any lawyers who are willing to put forward a lawsuit based upon poor customer service on purchases made through dell. I have spent 2 days trying to get an order resolved and have been now hung up on 14 times mostly before I can even give them my name and order number. Not to mention 1/2 hour hold times where no one gets back to you. This is absolutly the poorest service I have ever received from a company.
I orginally tried to cancel an order 1 hour after placing the order online but they still shipped my order.
Posted by: Mitchell on May 5, 2003 08:26 PM
Dell 4 years ago was a good company. I had good luck setting up a small business with one of their servers. We had bought several more of their machines after trying others from HP, micron, and e-machines. As the number of employees grew, we continued to order machines, now a total of 12.
The last 2 orders have been a nightmare. The Dell rep. would not ship the computers usless we bought them using their payment plan. Then she screwed up the order, badly. What was even worse was the additional fee for using a credit card. One of these machines is OK, the other runs slower than an e-machine at 1/2 the rated speed and 1/4 the price, (out of the box).
As if I didn’t learn my lesson I bought the last 2 computers. When I attempted to connect the video card I found out that they converted the digital output to an anlog signal using a dongle, (which I do not have space for). DUMB. After 6 hours of phone calls, emails, et.al I now have a rep that says the warrenty starts when invoiced (no matter when the machine starts to work) and that I need to wait for the RMA even though sales cannot tell me what card they will replace them with.
They have until friday, then I send the units back. We will only buy a few more computers, maybe 2-3 a year. We will be indirect contact with over 100 others who will make this important decision. I too hate DELL is our new mantra. I have taken to recording the interactions with their “reps” and intend to place some of the better segments on-line to ensure quality. Let the Hindes service India, it is excessively difficult to attempt communicaion with those who care little and understand less.
P.S. As a small business customer our last invoice (and the HELL website lacked any number to contact a small business rep).
Why did I ever dream that they would care?
Posted by: Jeff on May 7, 2003 05:01 AM
Two weeks ago I ordered an Inspirion with *all* of the goodies. Three days later they had a much better deal on the website. I called – “You’ll have to cancel and re-order”. (sigh – ok). Re-ordered. Spent three days in “processing” status. Finally discovered (after repeated inquiries) that there was some sort of credit card issue. Spoke to some guy I now suspect was in India (great place for my credit card info to go). Rude is not the word. Called my bank – why didn’t this go through? Because Dell never re-submitted it ! Back on the phone to the rude people in India. Oh, hehe, it went through after all. Called customer service, pointed out that I had lost time due to Dell’s error, and that I had paid for next day shipping – could they expedite this order? Sure – we’d be glad to honor your request. Days pass, no updates. Then day before yesterday status had moved all the way to boxing. 24 hours later — still boxing. Called – what’s up? Sorry, how about we refund your next day shipping (it will take 45 days before you get the credit) and it should ship in another day. So I just checked the web site and it says – ” Although we had anticipated being able to ship your order sooner, we are experiencing an unexpected delay and we will not be able to ship you your order until 5/14/2003. You have chosen Next Business Day shipping; therefore your expected delivery date is May 15. We apologize for the delay. We will continue working hard to get your order to you. ”
Keep in mind that we had gotten all the way up to “boxed”! Anybody this screwed up worries me so I did a quick Google search and found this site. I will be calling Dell to cancel my order in the morning. You guys (in concert with Dell’s stupidity) have saved me from a big mistake. Too bad, it had everything I ever wanted in a laptop, but perhaps it was going to come with some things I didn’t want as well!
As an aside, I spent nearly 30 years in the computer field, doing everything from designing hard disk drives to being the director of technology for a fortune 100 company. We gave Dell a try in the early 90’s. They were going to deliver systems to our locations across the US – all neatly configured with our in-house software, porvide 24 hour replacement on downed systems, blah, blah, blah, What a disaster. Dropped them like a bad habit. Which is also what I’ll do with my laptop order as soon as I can get someone on the phone.
Posted by: near-miss on May 8, 2003 01:26 AM
To say that Dell sucks is to say the ocean is damp. I worked there for long enough to know. On the day of the Big Layoff, the local paper reported that Michael Dell gave $10 million to convert Austin’s perfectly good old public auditorium into a yuppie fine arts playpen. Know what happened to those people who were laid off? Well, lots of them were hired back a few months later as “temps to hire” with no vacations, no holidays and no benefits of any kind unless and until they worked off their 12 to 18 month indentures and “turned Blue” (became permanent).
Management is in a constant state of chaos. Two different managers told us within a three-day period that we would be fired for not asking a customer’s tag number at the beginning of a call and that we would be fired for asking for it at the begining of the call. Nearly every week, they imposed a new requirement on the techs, like spamming every caller with E-Mail (e-courtesy), getting and recording EVERY e-mail address, and saying “Did I handle the call to your satisfaction?,” even if the customer spent the whole call screaming at you and calling you an asshole. (This is called “Taking Call Temperature” for some bizarre and probably absurd reason) Managers would withold software that was supposed to be distributed to the techs, or only give it to their personal favorites, and favoritism was rampant. We were given conflicting goals: keep the call time down, but fix the problem the first time. Keep the parts dispatches down, but send out a part or service if the customer insisted on it. If the customer was wrong, it was your ass and it was your statistics that suffered.
My whole team was pulled off the phones for an entire week to re-train for laptops then informed as soon as training was finished that we would be staying with desktop support. Lucky for us because the trainers were given one hour’s notice that they would be training a laptop class for a week and accordingly had no curriculum prepared, with the predictable result that we dint lern nuthin’. Internally, this was called “Changing At The Speed Of Dell.” Outside of Round Rock, it’s called managerial incompetance. That’s why those prick Dell interns in the commercials are so damn funny: They are really out there, they are really THAT STUPID, and they will soon be MANAGING and FIRING people doing real work (like The Customizer and the guys on tech support night shift) instead of just bugging the shit out of them
Much like a feudal kingdom, support is organized into teams that are forced to compete with each other based on confusing and mostly meaningless statistics that even the managers don’t pretend to understand. And the managers are the feudal lords (along with “L2s” who mostly goof off, play with their buddies, or have long phone coversations with their girlfriends.) Many of them have no technical expertise and couldn’t tell a hard drive from a hardon. They are there to “motivate” the technician-serfs to perform more and more tasks for the same dismal pay. Motivation used to take the form of T-shirts, yo-yos and pep talks about profit sharing and stock splits. After the crash, it took the form of threatening our jobs. I’m no fan of unions, but if there ever was a company that SCREAMED for organizing, Dell is it.
The other box builders are probably just as bad or worse. Unless you want a laptop (and God knows why anyone would) bottom line, Dudes and Dudettes, is BUILD IT, DON’T BUY IT!! Can you really do a worse job than that poor temp a few posts up who was being forced to build 13 systems per hour?
Posted by: Rusty Shackleford on May 8, 2003 02:18 AM
I’ve worked with the major players including Dell, Gateway, IBM, etc… I have dealt with literally hundreds of each and have dealt with the customer service end too. Corporate support is different from home-user support.
Gateway was VERY good when it came to corporate support. Occasionally I would get a customer rep that wanted to troubleshoot an issue but I was quickly able to convince them otherwise. Replacement parts came overnight and hassle free.
Dell corporate support is a little different as they would only deal with someone who has been designated as “certified”– that involved taking a little online test ($). The test is a joke and you can simply look up the info in your browser. I’m not sure this has changed. Dell corp. support never seemed as interested in helping out and numerous times parts that were supposed to be sent overnight only arrived a few nights laters– and more than once the parts were wrong.
The IBM corporate support I’ve experienced was trmendous. The equipment was under service contracts ($$) and IBM all but came through the phone and kissed booty. If a problem needed an onsite visit, you could expect the tech within hours or the next day… of course this support was extra $$.
Home user support is different..very different. Home users are often treated like 3 rate citizens– and if I had a nickel for all the “…gotta reload your system…” solutions… I’d be sitting in a hammock drinking a girly-drink and not typing away (at work) ;)
Dell equipment is fine. I’ve recommended Dell machines to a few people. I use a Dell at home. Being a “computer guy” I’ve never had to call their service numbers and probably never would have– too much hassle (customer service in general). Of the hundreds of Dell machines I’ve been responsible for I can honestly say that they have been pretty much rock solid. Any problems were usually related to software (98%).
Service
Posted by: Steve on May 16, 2003 10:45 AM
Dude your getting a piece of shit!
If you get a DELL.
Posted by: mike on May 23, 2003 05:34 AM
Heres mine if you are interested. I guess I am just reaching out for help, someone to hear me, since nobody at dell has heard me, yes even after cursing to co workers and family its still not out of my system, especially, day after day, hearing those radio ads and seeing those commercials…
You will have to excuse my writing style in this email, I probably overlook and assume some things, I know I also leave out parts of my experience and get hung up on other parts..its has been such a bad experience…
I order a big old Dell Dimension 8300 with 3.0 GHZ and 800 MHz FSB, 1GB of DDR RAM, a DVD/CD RW, 250MB Zip, 20 inch flat panel display…the whole 9. Everything…I did slack on the hard drive though, I only bought a 120 G HD… I ordered all of this on the phone with Brandon Endsley taking my order (like you, I asked for names off the bat because I am paranoid!) he confirms my order over the phone and then sends me an email with the stats. Well the email is a little more cryptic than the website, there are extra numbers thrown in (part numbers? etc…) So I just skimmed at first. Two days later, after careful examination I find that Brandon has odered me the 3.06 GHZ w/500 MHz FSB. I tried calling and calling but he was not there that day, which is what I found out when I got intouch with his supervisor, Karen Ferris. Karen tells me that the computer has already been shipped, and I would have to return it then order another one, and I cant order (the one I want) right now because the model I wanted isnt available till the end of the week. Ok so Brandon slipped and Karen was the bearer of bad news, thats ok, I was currently running some high end programs on a 800 (or so) MHZ Compaq laptop, I still cant wait to get my new computer! So the computer arrives and a day later my 20 FP monitor arrives, wowee zowee! Oh buy wait, beginning physical memory dump, restart your computer, over and over again. Here comes what everyone goes to dell for, the easy, friendly customer/technical support. I didnt record the names from technical support because I dont know how to spell them, not even their first names. First tech support call, they told me to disable everything on start up, reboot, hit a series of buttons, then find yourself running a full diagnostics on the computer, if there are any errors record them and call back, if not wait two days, if nothing happens your good to go, if you do crash again, call us back. Diagnostics took about three hours, and then two days later (after the continuous crashing) im calling back tech support. Once again I didnt get the mans name this time…this man asks me for the errors (been there done this) and then continuously puts me on hold, after an hour or so of holding and talking and holding the man tells me he will call me back he wants to do more research. I get no call back, I call back and they tell me that they will send a replacement computer. Then I get to talk to customer service, and I discuss the fact that I never go the computer I wanted, boy was it fun explaining this (like I was talking another language) nobody seems to be able to do anything due to dells policy. But a fine woman in the returns department (the only good department out of the bunch) gets me the computer I want and in the process tells me there are options that I wasnt aware of like norton (instead of McAffee), who the heck wants McAffee? So here comes my new new computer, start it up and HOLY %&(% it wont even start the OS. Another call to tech suport, I tell this tech support rep that windows wont start and he doesnt seem to understand. After it gets through to him that what I am saying is reality, the basically tells me to unplug my computer and disasemble the whole thing, take out all of the cards, unplug the IDE cables etc. In the process he tells me to unplug the cable from the graphics card, and he is telling me how to ‘unclip’ the plug. Well there is no clip and the man didnt seem to believe me. Finally he realizes his mistake, that i wasnt supposed to unplug the cord from the graphics card, I was supposed to unplug the IDE cable from the motherboard, WHAT? yes…I dont know…thats whats happening im telling you. Then the man wants me to take out the memory, plug it back in and start it, then put in one memory stick and plug it back in etc…each time listen for beeps. Now being that at this point I have learned that I know more about computers than the man on tech suppport, you would think he realized the same also, being that I was with him every step of the way, and even a step ahead, while he was on another (wrong) path. So when I tell him the second go round of plugging back in (with one memory stick inserted) that the computer didnt start, he asks me “what do you mean it didnt start?” and “did you plug it back in?” and “try hitting the power button”. Keep in mind this is the second time we are going through the plugging back in and starting back up. Anyway after a while he realizes somehow that I am telling the truth and he tells me its the memory, but he is going to send me the memory and motherboard just incase, and apparently I am supposed to install this stuff in my ‘free time’. He says, well your computer is so new that the warranty isnt activated, let me call you back this afternoon on the status of mailing the parts out to you. No call, I call back two days later, tech and customer support, they are batting me back and forth, I try letting customer support know that I am responsible for purchasing computers for my company and for a split second they seem to care. So on this call back, nobody has a record of any of my calls (besides two I didnt even mention in this email, the calls where someone picks up you say a couple of words they put you on hold and 45 min later you hang up). Tech support says, why dont you try starting your computer back up and telling me exactly what is happening, then he says “can you do that?” I tell him NO I cant, Ive got my audio, video, ethernet cards all out of the case, all IDE cables unplugged etc. I tell him put me in touch with the return department, 5 minutes later he is still looking for their phone number, I tell him just put me in touch with customer support….
Its funny, everytime I talk to these people they ask “are you satisfied with the level of support I (keyword ‘I”) have provided for you today?” Well if you are truley ‘bound’ by company policy, then I guess you have done all you can do, so I tell these people ‘yes, sure’. All total there were about 7 phone calls made to dell and a calculated total of about 15 hours lost on these very expensive machines. Something stinks like big business, and it is dell. Tech support are nothing but a bunch of monkeys sitting in front of a computer based manual, and these people can barely speak. If you deal with the public then you should speak fluently. Customer service is only good for directing your phone call, otherwise they are useless, there is no customer service at dell. I have handled myself in a very professional manner throughout this experience and I expected more. They do not care and I wish them the worst. I now have a screaming 3.0 GHZ w/800 FSB, 1G DDR, 1 10000rpm 36G SATA HD and a 120 7200rpm IDE drive with all the burners, zip and display configs I had wanted from dell, only this time I went to local guys, local guys who havent made it big and still care about the customer Infinity computers http://www.designapc.com/, thanx guyz.
Posted by: joe on June 12, 2003 09:43 AM
I am have a wild mouse problem, for which I can not find a solution. I have a logitech trackman mouse installed, I can barely use the machine. I had to many problems to list, its a Dell 8100 laptop, a machine from a nightmare
Posted by: Phil on June 15, 2003 03:17 AM
Dell, Michael
8900 Research Park Dr Apt 219
SPRING, TX 77381
281-681-0747
here tell himm how you feel
he is the ceo of dell and well i am quite pissed as well to my no rebate from dell,
micheal hell
Posted by: mike hell on July 23, 2003 07:08 PM
Dell really really really really sucks!!!!!!!!!! Oneday i was on my dell and it just froze and i just got my computre so I called and called them and they woukd guve me crapy information. So i called one of my friends (he builds computers) so he takes it home hes cleans out everything and says ur harddrive is backed up and i say but on my computer it said that i had alot more. Then he told me thats why i think Dell SUCKS!!! So he built me a computer that is runing great!!!
Posted by: Elias hates dells on July 24, 2003 01:59 PM
just wanted to reiterate that dell sucks and that i hate them and no one should ever buy a dell and I hope Michael Dell goes bankrupt and so does his crappy operation.
Posted by: ya damn right dell sucks on July 29, 2003 09:28 PM
Dells Suck,
I have a DELL Laptop and my fans do not work. I called Dell to ask them to fix it and they tell me that they cannot. The fans are attached to the Mother Board and cannot be replaced. I have to by a ne w Computer. This is crazy. The Lap top is only 2 years old and has Windows XP installed. Please some one help me file a law suit against this company.
Posted by: Paul Thomas on August 1, 2003 10:59 AM
If a class action suit sounds good to all involved with a beef againest Dell lets set up a website with a database and start collecting complaints personally I am not concerned with my own monetary gain but I would like to bleed Dell for causing sooooooooooo much agravition. If this is the new version of the American dream and capitalism I’ll have nothing to do with the whole mess.If this sounds interesting lets get going!!!!! e-mail me
Posted by: Chuck on August 13, 2003 03:40 PM
Chuck, way ahead of you bud…
www.ihatedell.net
Posted by: Rick on August 14, 2003 05:21 PM
I own three Dell Computers. Two laptops and a desktop. I teach computer graphics at a 10,000 student college part time, and also work as the graphic artist for a fortune 500 company of 2500 employees.
I get ask five to six times a week what type of computer to buy. In the past I have always said, ?Get you a Dell.??? However, I will never recommend Dell again.
Dell must have the worse customer support of any company doing business anywhere. First off, their answering system is totally vague. Unless you are buying, your voice mail system is useless. After waiting an average of 30 minutes, I am usually told that I have the wrong department then get cut off being transferred. They always off me a number to ?call back direct???, but the number always ends up being the same useless choices.
When you finally do get through to a person, they can barely speak English. In addition, I have never resolved an issue with one call.
I will never buy another computer from Dell or recommend them to anyone else.
Posted by: John Davis on August 21, 2003 10:19 PM
I good news to offer all of you!
I worked for four years as the Buyer and Help Desk Manager for a medical software firm. I personally bought several hundred Dell computers. I will not list any of many hardware support issues that I personally had to handle. I will say that having the following did not help with most of the support problems: documented phone conversations, Dell Employee badge numbers, more than 4 hours logged on phone call with Dell, Dell “enterprise support team” phone numbers (due to large quantity purchases), 3rd party tech documentation of hardware failure, documented complaints to dell “support team” administrators. On several occasions Dell personnel would say they were going to call me back and I’d never hear from them again and badge and issue numbers did not helps. I never even received a “form letter response” to any of the formal complaints to Dell.
Anyway, the good news is I personally cost Dell 100’s of thousands of dollars in lost sales. Paying a little more “upfront” for HP and Gateway was a far more cost effect business strategy. I got a fair deal because I could get competitive bids from distributors (Dell only sells direct). Furthermore, the support cost savings were realized immediately — clients didn’t have to call us mad because Dell wouldn’t give them hardware support. (Note: HP, Gateway, and Dell had about the same amount of hardware issues but the Support separated them greatly)
Feel free to quote me if you know of anyone about to make some bad operations decisions. (experienced 1999-2002)
Posted by: Mark Wilson on August 21, 2003 11:15 PM
I would like to welcome any and all of you to post your issues at ihatedell.net . The forum started out as a disgruntled employee hangout and if you think they treated their customers badly….
We have a section for customers to voice complaints and have helped a few out.
Check it out.
Posted by: Hatedell on September 2, 2003 10:31 AM
For all of those Dell haters out there. Just three words: BUY A MAC!! Great customer service and after three years of struggling through Dell Hell, I switched and have never looked back.
Posted by: MacManiac on October 13, 2003 01:28 PM
Dell is all advertising, no service. My computer has been locking up since day one. Dell tried to take care of it through e-mail repair sugestions. After none worked, they discontinued e-mailing me. It finally locked up so bad I had to erase the hard drive and start over, as per Dell support. Now, many systems don’t run properly. The fan stays on on my laptop continuously, even when powered off, so it can’t be used on battery power. Now it’s a few days out of warranty and they say I’m S.O.L. They assured me the problems would be taken care or, even if the warranty ran out first. They denied several request to return it. DO NOT BUY A DELL!!!
Posted by: byron on October 17, 2003 04:41 PM
Yeah agree that Dell sucks,but who is better, HP,IBM etc? Dell sucks lesser than them. Dell outsourcing to India, what about others? Accept realities or suffer cribbing.
Posted by: Richie on October 20, 2003 08:26 AM
My computer is a Lemon!
It has been two years since I have owned my Dell. I regret every minute of it. Let me tell about a few problems with my computer
1.) You need ear muffs, because the thing is
soooo loud.
2.) Freeze up after freeze up after freeze up
3.) Customer service sucks
4.) I think the thing is about to blow up.
5.) CD-Rom drive grunts and groans
The list goes on and on. Listen folks please learn from our mistakes. DON’T BUY A DELL!
Posted by: Jeff on October 21, 2003 02:09 AM
DELL tech support (or lack of) really sucks! In the last month I have spoken to many people from around the world at tech support. My findings are 1, Dell needs to hire people who speak ENGLISH. 2, DELL needs to hire or train these idiots. 3, I’ll never buy, or recommend a DELL ever again.
Posted by: Tom on October 24, 2003 08:22 PM
Rather than simply say DELL sucks, I’ll stick to the facts.
My DELL notebook (lemon) has had 15 part failure/replacements in the last 19 months.
That’s 1 failure every 38 days ( or 0.8 failures per month). . .
________________________________________
SUMMARY of 15 FAILUREs/REPAIRs of notebook originally purchased for $4208 :
Replaced 1 time: Notebook (Service Tags: for i7500: 2H0440B, for i8100:93DH811) 05/30/2002;
Missing: 2nd battery missing with 2nd notebook replacement
despite Two batteries were purchased with 1st notebook;
Replaced 3 times: Motherboard: 05/20/2002,06/06/2002,12/16/2002;
Replaced 3 times: CD/DVD drive: 03/22/2002,03/25/2002,05/21/2002;
Replaced 2 times: Hard disk drive: 03/21/2002,05/22/2002;
Replaced 2 times: Keyboard: 05/22/2002,05/24/2002;
Replaced 1 time: Lid latch: 05/22/2002;
Replaced 2 times: Video card: 1/10/2003,5/9/2003 ,
Malfunction: video problems and system lock-ups (since received) due to infamous
infinite loop in nv4_disp.dll ( NVIDIA video card device driver ) for over 12 months
(May-2002 to May-2003); problem persisted since system was received
May-2002 ; finally, after much protesting, DELL replaced
NVIDIA GeForce2Go with ATI Radeon (5/9/2003)
Malfunction: 22-Oct-2003: LCD back-light is switching OFF after startup;
back-light failed 5 days after 3-year-complete-care-warranty expired 17-Oct-2003
and DELL refuses to fix it, despite the video problems I was having for over 12 months.
________________________________________
And how about that “Award Winning Support” ( LOL ).
I want to barf every time I see one of those c o r n-b a l l DELL commercials
about how “rock-solid” DELL computers are. That has not been my experience.
I have also (like countless others) run the gauntlet through DELL’s
tech support.
If you call DELL tech support, you will get the royal run-around. DELL will:
(1) tell you that other customers don’t have the problem.
(2) give you some lengthy exercises to perform; and if the problem
takes a while to reproduce, all the better
(3) shift the blame to video card, disk drive, chip manufacturer, Microsoft, or you
(4) perhaps guess at a part to replace ( usually the wrong one )
(5) tell you to re-format the hard disk (this is their favorite), and
(6) re-install the operating system (this is their 2nd favorite….
hee hee hee….that’ll keep ’em busy for a while).
(7) remove and re-install device drivers
(8) disable various operating system features (lame)
(9) reduce performance settings and / or resolution / or power options
(e.g. disable auto Power-Down)
(10) download and try one of a dozen different driver versions
(11) and generally, wear you down ( especially with the
poor English of the Tech Support persons in India and Asia ), and
(12) hope you will become discouraged and go away
_______________________________________
I’ve owned about a dozen computers over the past 20 years that total,
ALL PUT TOGETHER, did not have the total number of problems that
this one single stinkin’ piece of DELL lemon has had.
Posted by: Daniel on October 27, 2003 09:58 PM
you only get what you pay for ,, my DELL never let me down..
Posted by: Dave on November 9, 2003 06:24 PM
GEEEZZ…
Dell only wants money.
Dell buys cheap parts from some place on earth where its made out of only cheap plastic and soudered more plastic with paint over it.
dell wastes your money, then, when you buy it, waits for a month before all your hardware defuncts and you have to get a new one. But, when you call tech support, you don’t know what the crap they’re talkin about. So, you don’t get anything, but a decline in your money.
DON”T BUY DELL!
Even Compaqs or HPs or custom, or home built is cheaper and better. Definetely not gateway.
Posted by: d3llwant$m0n3y on November 10, 2003 07:54 PM
Dell sucks. Dell’s customer service is very poor. I purchased a Dell Axim pocket PC. The battery life is very short and requires constant recharging. Even if the pocket PC was switched off and was not used for a period of time, the battery would still be depleted. Also, the backup battery ran low very soon and could not be recharged. When I contacted Dell customer service, the reply I got was that it’s normal for battery life to be short and Dell will not replace batteries. I guess the warranty is so limited that it does not even cover the batteries. I am very dissatisfied with the product quality and inadequate warranty. My recommendation: Don’t buy from Dell.
Posted by: Anthony on November 12, 2003 01:09 PM
TO HELL WITH DELL. I HATE THOSE LYING BASTARDS. I ORDERED A PC OVER THE PHONE IN AUGUST AND NEVER GOT IT. AFTER THREE MONTHS I REQUESTED A REFUND THREE MONTHS HAVE PASSED NOW I HAVE NO PC NO MONEY JUST A HEADACHE. THESE PEOPLE ARE ARABIAN THEIVES JUST LIKE ALADDIN AND THEY SHOULD BE TAKEN TO JAIL AND PUT TO TRIAL!!
TO HELL WITH DELL BE EASY GET A HP.
Posted by: Don Juan on November 13, 2003 04:31 PM
Dell Seriously sucks. I’m hearing and seeing more of these comments about this horrible company everyday. I too have had a lot of Dell nightmeres. Too many to start typing about. Why can’t everyone form some sort of group and file a class action law suit against this horrible comapny? I am wanting to see this piece of crap company get what they deserve. Also, why isn’t the damn news publicizing this on national TV? If I would have heard these horror stories regarding Dell instead of the Crack Head and his “Dude, I got Dud” commercial, I definitly would have purchased a different computer. I strongly feel it’s time to really do some action with this awful company. You know there’s a lot more complaints and angry customers who don’t post on sites like this one. Also, if Dell’s going to keep selling this crap and giving such horrible tech support/service then they should be throwing 3 years worth of freekin prozac with each damn pill being the size of a football for free! Again, isn’t it time for the consumers to join and act on this?
Posted by: Steve on November 14, 2003 09:27 AM
I have experienced a very tragic, stressful, depressing ordeal this year with a company that I would always hear on commercials stating “they have the # 1 customer service rating”. This definitely was not so. I do not understand why the news has not bothered talking about such companies and issues. If I would have heard the general consumers experience before hand; which I have now read 100s; yet 1,000s to go; I definitely would not have purchased my computer from them. This company is Dell.
I could not believe it when I started having this awful experience. I was impressed throughout my life with the product Dell markets, but I now realize that Dell is not the same company any longer. I’ve noticed many consumers stating the same thing. I have gone to a lot of web sites and read the awful and horrifying experiences that the Dell customers had experienced and are still battling. Part of me was glad to hear other people having serious issues with Dell because I felt like I was not alone with this ongoing battle. I’m not talking about your general, basic, easy to fix, quick problems. I’m talking about some very serious, negligent, fraudulent, time consuming problems; also known as awful nightmares that never end. I had gone to the extreme such as: filing complaints against Dell with the Better Business Bureau, FTC, Attorney General, and now I have posted the issues on many consumer web sites. I have been reading reading 100s of other Dell complaints at such web sites.
Again though, it really shocks me and disappoints me that such horrifying ordeals could have been prevented; considering we have the media there to alert us of such businesses and various Bureaus out there to stop such businesses. This is just a small part of my horrifying experience. You will find other consumers with worse experiences at the different websites. For my experience:
I purchased a lemon Dell Dimension 4550 on January 29, 2003. From that day on, it was nothing but a never ending nightmare. I was suppose to have a Dimension 4550 Pentium 4, 60 gig hard drive with 2.54 ghz processor. Along with that, I was to have a black printer that matches the computer. The computer was to be sent within a few days; considering it takes them 2 days to build it. I was very suspicious at the beginning when I placed the order over the phone. The first problem was when it took almost 1 1/2 hours before a sales rep answered. The second problem was the extremely rude attitude he displayed to me. Along with his attitude, he was constantly trying to rush me off the phone. There was also a serious language barrier. This sales call center for Dell was based out of India. That’s an issue of its own. I now realize 9 out of 10 of my calls go to India. I don’t like that because, not only does it show the causes and effects of our high unemployment rate in the US, but also there’s the major conflict with the language barrier. It was very hard to understand what this person was saying. I was suspicious about this person and my order, so I called back the next day, and hoped that I would get a hold of someone who spoke English to review my order. To my surprise, yet as expected, it was not what I ordered. Instead of the 2.4 ghz, they were sending me a 2.0. And at the same time, instead of 60gig hard drive, they were sending me a 40 gig hard drive. The printer; I did not find out until I received it, it was not right either. Instead of black, it was purple! Ick! I don’t have anything against purple, I’m just a guy and prefer a more manly color. Anyway, the main purpose was for the printer to match my computer. What made the ordeal worse was the type of response they would give me regarding this. They would tell me that there’s no difference in a 2.0 and 2.4 ghz. Same with the hard drive. To me, that’s the same as being served H2O2 instead of H2O. I think there is a difference between Hydrogen Peroxide and Water even if it’s the difference in the quantity of Oxygen. It’s still different and you’ll get different results. I know from experience there’s a difference between a 40 gig hard drive and a 60 gig hard drive. But of coarse, this is the Dell customer/sales/tech support service that I’m talking about, and as I have dreadfully learned, this is normal service from them. I then told this person , to cancel that order and send me the proper computer I ordered. Her response was “it’s too late; you will have to wait until you receive the computer in the next 3 wks, then call back in and request for a return order and after Dell gets the return, call back to order another one. And it will take 6 – 8 weeks for Dell to credit your card back. I could not believe this”. Not only that, but she mentioned it being 3 wks before I get the computer and I was promised 1 week at the most. I specifically stated to the sales rep when I placed the order that I would pay more to have it shipped faster and his words were “ok, ok don’t worry, you’ll get in a wk;” you know, that typical I’m too busy for you attitude that he displays.
I have constantly had to call Tech Support for problems with the faulty, malfunctioning hardware. 90% of my calls all went to India. They were and still are the rudest uneducated Tech support reps I’ve spoken to in my lifetime. Not only would I be on hold many, many times for well over 2 hours before anyone would answer, but worse yet, they would automatically hang up on me right after they picked up. I’ve read similar stories regarding that matter also. I have spent well over 350 hours so far this year dealing with Dell. That is unacceptable. They have sent me awful and faulty parts , and had to replace that computer in July with one that was suppose to work. When they replaced it in July, they replaced it with a refurbished computer and lesser/older programs. It was a never ending battle. Many times I called in regarding the hardware malfunctioning, their response would always be to reinstall XP. They would also read word by word of off this Dell web site that’s avail to everyone. To me, that’s not real knowledge that a true tech support rep would suggest. I knew it was not XP I should be concerned about because I would get warnings suggesting it’s corrupted hardware failure. Many suggestions these reps would suggest for many different problems would usually make the matters worse. Also, they have deep thing about always wanting to replace your video card, sound card , and hard drive. That and the famous Dell Tech support Saying “reinstall XP” is their solutions to every single problem. I had to reinstall XP a few times within the last month and every time I reinstalled it, an error message would show up on the window while the XP re installation CD was still in the drive; stating .. could not create or find certain and many .dll files. It would also suggest that the CD was corrupted and continuing the XP installation may cause it to malfunction again. I then called tech support to tell them I needed a replacement XP re installation CD and I explained word by word what had happened. Their first response was ” oh, you don’t need those .dll files at all. Just go ahead and reinstall XP again.” They must think everyone is stupid. That made no rational sense at all. I’m just glad that our Doctors don’t talk like that when they’re performing a operation. After I convinced this person it was the corrupted CD, he then turned around insisting it’s my hard drive. He just knew it was my hard drive. He insisted I needed my hard drive replaced. I then told him I don’t care if he wants my hard drive replaced, considering with my warranty, it will not cost me a penny, but I know for a fact and from the warning messages that popped up onto the screen that it was the CD. These warnings on the screen were specifically stating the issue resulting from a corrupt CD.
Finally this tech support rep from India told me he will send the CD and also schedule a time for someone to replace the hard drive. I then told him, I will need the CD shipped ASAP, considering I can not do a thing until then. Not only that, but my warranty covers overnight delivery for such issues. This was on a Thursday that this call took place.
It’s now the following Monday and still no re installation CD. They also told me that XP and all of the original programs will be preinstalled on the replacement hard drive when I get it on Monday. It will be like it was the day I got the computer. When the contractor gets here with the hard drive, he installs it right away and as expected, there was no windows XP or any other programs installed on there. I then called back and stated that, then asked when I will be receiving the replacement CD, and this person said that there was no such order for a replacement CD. I could not believe this. This was very unethical. And this has been happening all year long since I purchased this computer.
The situation with the CD is very similar to the many situations I’ve had with them not returning the phone call when they promised. Sometimes they would tell you to do certain things that will take a while to complete and they will call you back in 30 minutes to help you complete the task and to check on the outcome. 10 out of 10 times, they would fail to call back as promised. You would then be stuck with having to call Tech support back and explain the whole entire ordeal again. For the CD, they finally sent it, but I never got it for about 5 days. So, I was without my computer for another 5 days. So much for my job. This time they were to send a return sticker and envelope to place my corrupted CD in. I was then to call the Airborne Express # and set a time for them to pick up my return package. When I received the CD, there was not a return sticker, slip, nor envelope for it. Yet I get an invoice the next day from Dell stating if the replaced part isn’t returned within 10 days, I’m liable for the invoice.
By now, I am so fed up with talking to the unreliable customer/tech support. I first contacted the Escalation Dept at the Corporate office and left numerous messages along with my # to call me back at, but to no avail. I then email dell customer service regarding the CD return issue, and get a confirmation email stating it’s scheduled to be picked up on 11/18/2003. Then that night, I also get 5 emails within 18 seconds all together stating it’s a confirmation regarding my computer being returned. They had sent me 1 confirmation email after another with this fraudulent and negligent, false return order that I never placed. It was 5 of those same emails sent to me in 18 seconds. I then emailed them back stating that I never placed such a return order nor did give them any type of authorization to process such an order. I then stated that it was a return order for the CD they replaced, not the whole entire computer. After finally getting confirmation, along with the typical automated ” I’m sorry for the inconvenience reply” they confirmed it was wrong and canceled the computer return order.
Again to my surprise, it’s now one day later and I receive the same exact computer return confirmation email 5 times in less than 20 seconds. They just keep popping up in my inbox. I can not believe this company. I then called Airborne Express at the # on my slip and confirmed with them if there was such an order scheduled on 11/17/2003. The rep at Airborne told me there was 5 pick up orders for the 17th. I then told her that that is not valid, but there should be 1 scheduled pick up for the 18th and that was for the CD. She told me that she doesn’t have any control over that; which is true, but I needed to contact Dell. I then told her I had contacted Dell twice before calling her. I did so by email; considering that’s advertised by Dell as one way of getting tech/customer service, and I had also contacted the Escalation Dept leaving another message regarding this issue.
I was so angry then and told this Airborne Express rep what I’ve been dealing with regarding Dell, and she told me that they all hear horrifying complaints and issues from Dell customers regarding all sorts of serious issues; such as the ones I’ve explained so far. That made me feel good to see that everyone is battling the same horrible battle. This lady said it’s also because of all the horror stories she’s heard from the Dell customers that she will never buy a Dell. The same now goes for me. I will never again in my lifetime purchase any Dell products.
Just a summary of the issues I’ve experienced and read others experiencing all the time:
a.) system is a lemon; failure to perform as advertised, despite numerous and repeated attempts to repair
b.) failure to provide next business-day-on-site service
c.) failure to provide refund during the first 30 days of purchase
d.) failure to provide Tech-Support that can understand and/or speak intelligible English
e.) failure to answer the Tech-Support line in a timely manner (times exceeding 2 hours) or else not at all
f.) attempt to sell computer as new, but actually contains used parts
g.) never received rebate as promised without reporting such issues to the Better Business Bureau
h.) order was missing options purchased and paid for.
I.) charged more interest than allowed by law.
The following websites will confirm how bad Dell’s service is.
http://www.bbbonline.org
http://www.consumerreports.org/
http://baycomputers.us/pgms/Dell%20Computers.htm
http://www.planetfeedback.com/
http://www.complaintbook.com/
http://www.ripoffreport.com/
http://www.thesqueakywheel.com/
http://www.uspeakout.com/
http://www.baddealings.com/
http://www.fightback.com/
http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/consumer.htm
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/
Regards,
Posted by: Steve on November 16, 2003 04:34 PM
WEll everybody…u hate dell. i hate dell…but i got there azz this time. i have a pos dell 4100 laptop. had it two years and have had nothing but problems with it. i call customer(i don’t)care and they tell me it is software. my computer programer friend guarantees me it is hardware. it’s overheating and keys don’t work among other bs. well, now it finally quit kicking and it won’t do shQ@. Now that it is finally out of warranty they want to take a look at it. of course they do…they can charge me now. here is where i laugh…dell! i still owe u 800 bucks. enjoy the laptop. my credit is screwed anyway so f@^k u.
Posted by: Greg on November 21, 2003 02:47 AM
Sorry to reign on your parade guys but I have a Dell that I bought dirt cheap that has been 100% trouble free in the year I’ve owned it and I’ve upgraded practically everything in it too. Never once had to call tech support, thank God. It’s FAST, I’ve made the airflow good, the gaming experience is sweet, and I learned all about PC hardware with it so that now I’m ready to build my own in the next year or 2. Maybe I did get lucky, but still, all you haters can KISS MY HAIRY ASS!!!! hahahaha
Posted by: Jj on November 23, 2003 10:49 PM
DELL sold me a Dimension 8100 and it worked perfectly, not a single glitch for over 18 months. How they found out about this is beyond my comprehension, but once they did no holds were barred in rectifying the situation.
I received a call on my answering machine that my cooling fan was faulty and DELL would like to send a technician and new fan at no cost. Wow what service. Please Call 1-866-229-4819 and quote # CZX1K21 which was the # left on answering machine. I set up a time and date for service and a nice gentleman named Mike came by on Oct 9, 2003. After replacing the fan he mentioned something about my machine not being one of the models that had fan problems, but not to worry, toss the old fan and enjoy the new one.
Immediately after that I get ?ALERT SYSTEM FAN NOT DETECTED??? message when starting the computer.
Call 1-866-229-4819 and quote # CZX1K21, said they would get on it.
I do not hear back for quite some time so Call 1-866-229-4819 and quote # CZX1K21, DELL again promise to get on it. I should have made detailed notes as this is shaping up to be another DELL screw up. No one calls.
November 21 @ 5:18 Call 1-866-229-4819 and quote # CZX1K21 and speak with Wendy. I quote # CZX1K21 and she identifies me, and says my machine is a Dimension 8250 even though the plate on computer says it is an 8100. My old service tag now has no info relating to it (CSTDB01) 27863770609.
Wendy says she will send out new fan, set up technician within 3 days, get to the bottom of the tag screw up, and GET BACK TO ME. This never happens.
December 7, 2003 @ 9:26 Call above # and left message, then called 1-800-822-8965 (given to me by Wendy) try entering service code, more canned music and menus, no luck, more canned instructions. @ 9:41 I get a tecky (Kevin) we go through the whole shit about the 2 service tag #?s again, this time he says both tags and the service # all now show belonging to someone else. He gives me another # 1-800-847-4096. This # assures me that someone will answer the phone from Monday to Friday, 8am to 9pm EST.
December 8, 2003 @ 8:04 I get the same old same old ?press 1, 2, 3, or 4 etc??? runaround.
Now I speak with lovely Tina. Long run around, chat about the desktop fan issue and the double service tag mystery, she says she can DO NOTHING, only document the ?problem???. Gives me another # 1-800-847-4096 and says I should push 1, 1, 1, and then 1. She promises to transfer me, and then the phone goes dead.
Forty minutes later, I again wait with elevator muzak coming out of my telephone. Brad arrives. We yadda yadda the problem again, he needs time to go through ?my previous cases???, then the phone goes dead.
11:43am I call Keith this time, yadda yadda the scenario all over again, I take computer apart, Keith hangs up on me.
Call back, get Joseph, (yadda yadda) manage to get green cover off, it has a broken tab from the installer, fan is loose and bouncing around inside green cover. Re install all and check connections, no luck
12:59 Call again Sarah answers, run through the routine again, play with bios, num/cap/scrl lock keys, no luck, more muzak, more holding like my time has NO FUCKING VALUE ??..Sarah claims that no one from Dell ever called to say the fan was faulty in the first place????????? More muzak while Sarah ?makes a dispatch??? She asks for my address to ship the fan. Maybe she is using a DELL to track these things. Sarah promises to send out a new fan and shroud, will be getting this in the next few days, She says I have to send back the old parts. She will not authorize a technician because in her words (Dell did not send the fan and technician in the first place)
1:38pm I call Ruby at 1-866-229-4819 another long hold, more explaining. Ruby says a fan and technician will be sent. I explain again the 2 service tag debacle and she promises to look into it, and CALL ME BACK. Never does.
December 09, 2003 @ 3:25pm Technician calls and replaces fan again, no luck. Thank god I did not throw out the old fan as instructed.
Original fan re-installed, problem solver. Old fan .5amp draw, new fan 2amp draw. Two months of grief when there was nothing wrong with my computer in the first place.
One other thing, I made the mistake of buying a DELL laptop! The grief with it is now into 10 months.
Thanks for the ride DELL, but never again.
Posted by: RD Smith on December 10, 2003 09:36 AM
I bought a DELL the other day for testing purposes. I own a company that builds computers and I wanted to see our competitions computer. So let’s see where do I begin:
November 27, 2003: DELL Celeron 2.4GHz Dimension 2400 ordered.
December 10, 2003: DELL arrives. Take it out of the box and turn it on; go through the BS that dell puts on there and everything…anyways finally get into the operating system and its slower then SHIT! It takes about 2 minutes to open Internet Explorer. Then I have a look inside the computer haha, if I built computers this bad I would have been out of business a long time ago. No cable management ties nothing, and I’ve fixed DELL Dimension 8100 + laptops and same bullshit. Absolutely horrible service and quality. I don’t know what people see in such shit!
I hope the “Packard Bell of the 21st Century” leaves this industry.
Posted by: RF on December 12, 2003 06:52 AM
Hello
Dell does suck. My question is simple. Dell charges a “Sales Tax” to states which do not have a Dell retail store front and thinks there is nothing wrong with this? I have questioned many Dell Customer service and they were full of crap. Not only that but they outsource there customer service departments to 3rd world countries that dislike US. We should boycot this kind of crap! This is not going to help our economy.
Posted by: PMG on December 26, 2003 01:20 PM
Welcome to the Real World,
This is what you get for buying a “NAME” brand PC. Grab your ankles, your getting a DELL dude…
Posted by: Brian on December 27, 2003 01:02 PM
I’ve just experienced potentially the worst customer service of my life. That’s right, even worse than my experiences with PayPal. From whom did I receive such a crappy experience you ask? From a company who’s chosen not to distribute via conventional retail outlets, but instead by mail only. From a company who handles all customer service transactions over the phone, or via the web if you’ve got that much faith. I’m talking about Dell. Contrary to what you might believe based on their distribute-by-mail-only business model, their customer service sucks!
I talked to four different customer service reps and one technical support rep. All but one of them had worse communication skills than my four year old son. It’s taken more than a month, and still counting, for me to simply exchange a defective battery. Obstructing the simple request is a cluster of incompetent morons who call themselves Dell Customer Support Representatives. Following is an account of my dealings with these morons:
Customer Service Rep #1 (mid-November):
This dumb-ass thought I wanted to return a battery for credit instead of exchange it for a new battery. Why the hell would I want to do that if there’s no friggin retail outlets where I’d be able to buy a new battery? Realizing after a few weeks, and no sign of an exchanged item in the mail, I called Dell customer service to learn of this idiots mistake and start the agonizing process all over again.
Customer Service Rep #2 (early December):
I suspected this dude was a dumb-ass when it took me more than 30 minutes to communicate that all I wanted to do was replace the primary 4-cell battery for my laptop (NOT THE EXTENDED 8-CELL BATTERY). My suspicions were confirmed today when I received an extended 8-cell battery instead of a primary 4-cell battery. Jesus Christ, they could’ve taken a guess and had a 50% chance of getting it right and they still f@#@d up!
Customer Service Rep #3 (today):
Not only couldn’t he speak English well, he couldn’t figure out what the part number was for the 4-cell battery I needed. As a result of his stupidity, I was sent over to technical support so they could figure it out for him. First of all, why couldn’t he talk to a tech rep himself instead of forcing me, the all mighty customer, to do it? I guess they think we like being on hold for hours listening to elevator music while we wait for a rep to take the call. Secondly, why wasn’t this dipshit equipped to query for the information himself?
Technical Support Rep #1 (today):
I’m lucky I didn’t slit my own throat after talking to this brain-dead excuse for a human being. This bitch was dumber than my hemorrhoids! The end result of the conversation with this dipshit was this: “Sorry sir, you’ll just have to settle for the battery they sent you because I’m too stupid to figure out what the part number is for the primary 4-cell battery you want”. Un-believably, this quote is not at all far from the truth.
Customer Service Rep #4 (today):
The last call I made to Dell customer services was intended to arrange for a return of the whole damn laptop. If they can’t replace a stinking battery, I figured, I’ll just return the laptop and get my money back. Fortunately or unfortunately, the last rep I spoke with didn’t seem like the idiot that the others were. She was able to figure out what part I needed and assured me that it’d be sent to me asap. Also, it only took her a few minutes to accomplish this incredibly difficult task. It remains to be seen whether or not I get the right part this time, but I do have more faith in her then I did for the other 4 dipshits combined.
What 3 things have I learned about Dell?
1) 80% of Dell’s service reps are dumber than a fence post.
2) It takes 1-2 months to exchange a Dell part, compared to a half hour it would probably take to drive to a retail outlet to exchange a part for any other major PC manufacturer.
3) Dell makes it easy to buy a new computer but they make it a living hell to maintain one.
Posted by: Dave on December 30, 2003 06:13 PM
A few years ago I tried to order a computer from Dell thru their website. The prices on their website did not match the prices when it went into my shopping basket.
Posted by: WAYNE on December 31, 2003 12:13 PM
The previous comments about Dell is exactly the same experiance I have had with this company. In late November I decided to order a Dell Computer and Printer from Dell. After trying to order from their website and having no luck I called the 800 number that was listed on their website. The lady told me that she could take my order over the phone. She did not know about the rebates and free shipping until I explained them to her. Imagine the caller having to explain to the company their policies. She could not make the total cost match the web prices. Finally after getting within 2 or 3 dollars of the web price I ordered a computer and printer. She entered all of the data to put the purchase on my debit card she then told me the order didn’t go through. She said there was a daily limit on my card and she would try to put it in using two different days. She then came back and said that it worked ok and my order would be shipped in two or three days. Two days later I received a call from Dell that the order didn’t go through and to call my bank to get my daily limit increased. The next day I called my bank and they did increase my limit so I called and told Dell that my limit had been increased so the could process the order. They said OK and informed of the new shipping date. Two or three days later I decided to check on my order so I called Dell. I was told by Dell that my order had been cancelled and they didn’t know why. I told them to forgit it I would buy a system from someone else. Two days later a Dell printer showed up at my door. Because of the problems I have had I decided to return it. I called Dell to get information on returning the printer and talked to a human (i guess) because I couldn’t understand a single word they said. I called again and after waiting at least 30 min. for someone to answer the phone I talked to someone that was barely understandable. I wrote down the address they gave me and hung up. After not being sure if I understood correctly I called Dell the third time. After waiting another 30 min. or so someone answered. I could understand them so I wrote down the address. The adress was different from the other two . So I called the 3rd time. That person gave me another address. I had to call the 4th. time they gave me one of the addresses that had been previously given me so that is where I sent it. After 2 weeks I called to check on the refund and Dell could not tell me anything. I tried to contact the location where I sent it but there was no listing for the company at that address. I called the police station at that city and they were good enough to give me the company at that location and a telephone no. I called them and was told that they were the official return company for Dell but the could not give me any information I would have to let Dell call. I called Dell to give them the no. of the customer service so the could call. They would not even call for me. I am just about to give up and forgit my $140. DON’T DO BUSINESS WITH DELL THERE SERVICE IS MISERABLE.
Posted by: Walter on December 31, 2003 12:54 PM
We purchased a Dell Dimention 4300. One month after reciving the computer, it crashed in which we lost everything we had stored on the hard drive and also required reinstallation of the Windows XP OS. Soon after we experienced unbelievable periods of unstability. Following was the failure of the hard disk which required replacing after spending hours with the tech support representatives. Not long after the hard drive was replaced the Windows would continuously shut completley off and boot back up again where we had to contact tech support SIX times in which every time they simply had us format the hard disk which obviously had no effect. Then, the modem stoped functioning which needed replacing. Currently we are having problems with the CD writer, printer, somewhat the modem again, and possibly the motherboard. After figuring the number times of contacting tech support, I counted over 10. With all the problems we had with the system and prehiprials, I didnt mention the experiences we had with the rude representatives.
Posted by: David on January 8, 2004 08:32 PM
I have been building and repairing computers for4 years now and i think dell is a reasonable computer for the price. I own a dell dimensionv4550 and it is the best company built computer i have ever owned. If yall want to go complain about somthing, go complain to HP/compaq!
Posted by: John Wright on January 11, 2004 02:19 AM
A NOTE TO ALL READERS: Please post your stories to
Dell financial boards, so that investors will know
how sucky these machines have become, and they should
avoid investing in a company that has sh*tty service,
and absolutely no respect for its customers. One example
is in finance.yahoo.com:
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/mb?s=DELL
I took delivery of a DELL INSIPIDON 5100, it was
DEAD after 2 hours of use!!!!
After talking to some outsourced tech jerk who
1. Couldnt care less 2. Could barely speak English
3. Took over 90 minutes to convince him that the
machine was broken, i was shipped a box.
I shipped the INSIPIDON 5100 in said box, and haven’t
seen the f**cking thing since!!!! I called DELL, and was
placed in DELL PERMA-HOLD HELL several times. So much
so, that the NiMH batteries on my cordless phone gave out!!
After destroying my corless phone batteries, and being
on the phone for more than an hour, I was finally able
to talk to some outsourced idiot who said that he
doesn’t know the status of my machine!!!! I even had
to show the dope how to confirm the delivery to
DELL via the airborne.com tracking website!!!
WHAT A F**CKING JOKE!!!
TO TOP IT OFF, I HAVEN’T SEEN MY MACHINE SINCE!!!!
I’M AT HOME, WITH NO COMPUTER, AND $1,200 LESS
IN THE BANK!!!
I FEEL THAT I’VE JUST BEEN SCAMMED!!!
DELL used to have a “burn-in” process where
they ran systems for a period of time to check if it
would truly work ***BEFORE*** shipping.
NOW it seem that these bastards are shipping systems
that pass preliminary checks only.
Michael Dell, YOU MORON!!! You hired some stupid
bean-counting equally MORONIC M.B.A. who thought that
Dell could offload the final Q.A. to the public???!!!
Well F***CK YOU, SC*MBAG!!!!!! It was the individual
consumers who placed your machines in corporate
desktops in the first place!!!!
Word travels fast, MR. SC**MBAG!! and I for one am
going out of my way to relay my story!!!
Posted by: AG on January 26, 2004 04:18 AM
I also HATE DELL and wish much ill will on Michael Dell. The above complaint pretty much sums up my feelings about Dell as well. We purchased a server with a 3 year 4-hour onsite warranty and now that the tape drive is failing, they are basically not honoring the warranty by installing faulty “refurbished” hardware. THEN when the unskilled technician can’t get it to work, they blame it on the software and say it’s not their problem. So far, I’ve spent 2 days fighting to get them to replace the tape drive for the 3rd time. Unless you have a lot of time to waste and enjoy frustration I’d say to look elsewhere for a reliable system.
Posted by: Jane on January 26, 2004 07:55 PM
The “Information Week PC Satisfaction Survey”
is one of the statistics that Dell quotes as
evidence of their top-rated customer service.
Please go there, and give them YOUR HONEST OPINION.
INFORMATION WEEK PC SURVEY
http://www.informationweek.com/benchmark/pcsatisfaction.jhtml
Posted by: Former Dell Advocate on February 1, 2004 11:51 AM
I will not go through my entire story. But dell sucks and their computers and customer service is shit. I WANT MY MONEY BACK!!! They are the hardest people to work with and they steal money from consumers who just want a decent computer. I warn you don’t fall for dells tricks; they are scumbags!!! DON’T BUY FROM DELL!!!!
Posted by: Corinne on February 1, 2004 01:49 PM
2 months ago I purchased a Dell and I was a little unsure of what I wanted the rep told me he could help me build a computer he gave me several suggestions I told him I would talk with my husband and call him back he was adiment about me placing the order he said just to get my credit with Dell going and that I needed to place a fake order to do so, I asked him if that was possible without really ordering a computer he said they do it all the time to get things started, I believed him . The next day I tried to call him at the ext.# he gave me only to find out that he had gone on vacation so my call went to a different sales rep. She informed me that the fake order I had placed was actually on its way to my home. I explained the situation to her she said she would take care of it for me and that I could order the computer that my husband and I have built I said great. So I ordered a computer in a few days I recieved my computer everything was fine until I got the bill for not 1 but 2 computers. Try to get that cleared up they will not credit my account and call me constantly wanting me to pay for both computers I have tried to contact customer care to no avail I have emailed them and even sent letters to them all to no avail. At this point I dont I even want the computer they will not even give me information on returning it, most of the time when you call the person on the end of the phone is from a country that would rather spit on you than talk to you, but will take our money. Have not sent them a dime and will not send them a dime. The only thing I will send them is their peice of shit computer.
Posted by: mary e. james on February 10, 2004 11:50 PM
I forgot to mention do not buy Dell they suck and their customer service sucks.
Posted by: mary e. james on February 10, 2004 11:53 PM
All the nightmares mentioned , I have lived thru hell with my Dell. I am really sick of the run a round I get from them. Let us band together and do something about it. I am ready to start a class action suit against Dell. If you want to join in the action towards them, let me know. contact me now…lets get the ball rolling!
Posted by: Bill Yelton on February 13, 2004 12:09 AM
Rather than simply say DELL sucks, I’ll stick to the facts.
Consider my experience (below) with the first and last DELL I’ll ever buy…
_____________________________________________________________
SUMMARY of 16+ FAILURES/REPAIRS in 22 months ( purchased for $4208 ):
Replaced 2 times: notebook (Service Tags: for i7500:2H0440B(18-Oct-2000),
for i8100:93DH811(05/30/2002); for i8600:GHTMS31(11/15/2003)
Replaced 4 times: motherboard: 05/20/2002,06/06/2002,12/16/2002;02/??/2004
Replaced 3 times: CD/DVD drive: 03/22/2002,03/25/2002,05/21/2002;
Replaced 2 times: hard disk drive: 03/21/2002,05/22/2002;
Replaced 2 times: keyboard: 05/22/2002,05/24/2002;
Replaced 1 time: lid latch: 05/22/2002;
Replaced 2 times: video card: 1/10/2003,5/9/2003 ,
Missing: 2nd battery missing with 2nd notebook replacement
despite two batteries were purchased and returned
with 1st notebook;
Malfunction: repeated video problems and system lock-ups
since received May-2002 ; DELL replaced the
NVIDIA GeForce2Go-16mb with a ATI Radeon-7500-M7-64MB
video card/driver: 5/9/2003; LCD back-light failed
later (22-Oct-2003)
Failure: LCD developed red-tint at start-up (16-Oct-2003)
LCD back-light failed (22-Oct-2003) 4 days
after 3-year-complete-care-warranty
expired (18-Oct-2003)
Failure: Error: IDE Disk 0 – Write Test : Fail (28-Oct-2003)
Status: Fail Status Code: DOS DDG-D DISK 030 068
Device: IDE_Disk_0 Test: Write_Test,
Disk: Msg: Block 7022454: Uncorrectable data error.
Failure: Mini PCI 3Com NIC – NIC Interrupt Test : Fail (28-Oct-2003)
Status: Fail Status Code: DOS DDG-D MINI3COM 030 026
Device: Mini_PCI_3Com_NIC Test: NIC_Interrupt_Test,
Mini3Com: Msg: Failed Internal loopback Test
Failure: DELL i8600: motherboard failed; system won’t power up;
removed memory, drives, modem, wireless, & battery, and
when power switch is pressed; LCD and Power LED flicker
briefly, and shut-off; nothing happens during attempted
power-up when AC power is disconnected (i.e. battery only)
________________________SIG-LINE______________________________________
DELL Inspiron 8600, 1.4GHz P4 Mobile, L2 1024KB Cache, Model:PP02X, Service TAG:GHTMS31 ;
BIOS: DELL-INSPIRON 8600 ROM BIOS Version A00 , 07/01/2003) ;
MEMORY: 512MB DDR 333MHz (two 256MB DIMMs) ;
VIDEO: ATI Mobility Radeon 9000 32MB DDR 4X AGP M9 3D Video, PN:8X960/X1913 ;
LCD: 15.4″ WXGA 1280×800 60Hz, Samsung Part# Y0316 ;
HARD-DISK: 60GB IBM-MRGA, PN:0T673/X1629 ;
CD/DVD: CD-R/W & DVD combo SN:CN-0K0033-68861-3A9-01HT REV A00, QSI DMOD, PN:K0033/C3414 ;
ETHERNET and MODEM: Broadcom 440X 10/100, V.92 56Kbps, PN:D2465/00009 ;
WIRELESS: DELL True Mobile 1400 Dual band WLAN Wireless Broadcom , PN:3X548/6X216 ;
SOUND: Sigmatel-9750 Audio Controller ;
BATTERY: 72 Watt Primary Battery, 9 Cell Smart Lithium-Ion, Rating: 11.1v ; 6486 mAHr, for Inspiron 8600/8500 , Type 8N544 , DELL Item # 312-0101, Sanyo Manufacturer Part # 2P700 , DELL PN: 9X472 A00 ;
USB: USB Controller: Intel USB Universal Host Controller ;
IDE: ATA/ATAPI Controller: Intel Bus Master IDE Pri/Sec IDE Channel, external(floppy) drive ;
OS: Windows XP Professional 2002, Windows XP Professional SP1
________________________SIG-LINE______________________________________
The only way you’ll get any results is to file a small-claim-court case and send a copy of it to the Better Business Bureau, and post your experience on every product-review web-site you can find:
Plaintiff (s): Daniel S. Summars
Lewisville, TX
VS.
Defendant (s): DELL Computer Corporation
One DELL Way
Round Rock, TX 78682-7000 , U.S.A., Travis County
A Registered Agent must be served if the Defendant is a Corporation:
John H. Pelletier, Asst. VP , Corporation Service Co.,
D/B/A CSC-Lawyers Inc. Service Co.
701 Brazos Street, Suite 1050,
Austin, Texas 78701 , Travis County
PLAINTIFF?S ORIGINAL PETITION
I.
COMES NOW the above styled plaintiff being duly sworn,
on his oath deposes and says that the above styled
defendant is justly indebted to the plaintiff in the
sum of $3366.00 (DO NOT INCLUDE COURT COST).
II.
Plaintiff?s claim is based upon the following:
I purchased a DELL notebook computer on 10/18/2000 via
DELL internet web-site for $4208.76. The computer is a LEMON
that had 15 part-failures/replacements in 19 months.
DELL breached contract (Warranty of Merchantability), failed
to perform as advertised. DELL failed to repair adequately.
DELL also breached contract by NOT providing tech-support
that can understand and/or speak intelligible English
DELL failed (13 instances) to provide
next-business-day-onsite-service.
All requests for a refund were denied.
I got some use between 16 failures, so I?m requesting a
refund of 80% of $4208 = $3366
____
Please see attached (1) purchase receipt, and (2) summary.
and (3) chronological repair & event log
____
That there are no counter claims existing in favor of the
defendant and against the plaintiff.
Plaintiff?s Signature _____
III.
THAT plaintiff reserves the right to plead further orally
upon trial of this matter.
SUBSCRIBED AND SWORN BEFORE ME this ________day
of ________, 2003 .
By: _______________
Clerk of the Court or Notary Public ___
Posted by: Summars on February 13, 2004 09:17 AM
Has anyone experienced Dell Online selling you a “New” computer at a new computer price, which, in fact, turned out to be refurbished from the beginning?
Posted by: Tina on February 23, 2004 05:16 PM
I am a student at a midwester University. I purchased an Inspiron laptop with the expectation that I was buying a quality computer from Dell. I am a graduate student in the technology sector and also work at user support at the University. I take excellent care of my computer equipment, including this useless laptop. I have purchased two other computers from Dell in the last 7 years and have had not problems until now.
I purchased this laptop a little over a year ago and now it is ultimately useless. The motherboard went out in late November and after emailing Dell User Support they have confirmed that the motherboard has to be replaced in my “quality” laptop. I paid 1,350 dollars for a laptop paperweight that only lasted a little over a year. I find it particularly disturbing that a quality computer can only last a year, which leads me to believe there is an issue of quality at hand. Dell customer support is absolutely clueless as well as the customer support. The customer support has lied to me and most of the time just ignores my requests for help.
Word of advice, don’t buy dell, dude.
If you have had similar problems with an 8200 please feel free to email me. jon_johnson@hotmail.com.com
Posted by: Jon on February 24, 2004 01:44 AM
First off, DELL SUPPORT SUCKS! They never answer your questions. With my 8200 I asked five different tech support questions and I got the same response every single time. DELL SUPPORT = INDIANS with SCRIPTS
I thought maybe it was just a fluke and so I ordered a NEW Dimension XPS. The system cost me $3,500! But when I got it the DAMN thing wouldn’t even turn on. $3,500 and they don’t even test these things. It turned out to be a BAD motherboard but I returned it. But it took me 3 weeks of fighting just to return the damn thing! If that was DELL “Quality” then I can imagine what other kinds of problems I would have down the road.
I found a local custom system builder here in Los Angeles and so far they’ve been great. What they gave me was a really nice, high quality, custom built system. I love it! If you?re in the L.A. area then give these guys a try. I think its: http://www.zone-5.net
At least they actually test their systems before they even ship them. Plus support is great since they?re local. I do a lot of gaming and so far I have had ZERO problems with the system.
So if you’re in the market for a new system then give a local custom system builder a try. They’re probably better than what you will find stores.
Posted by: Nick on March 4, 2004 01:03 PM
Hi All, Well, I love my new dell 5100 laptop, BUT……….
the morons at dell really are lame…first, they are lame, second, they really, suck. third, they are lame….c’mon…is there any knowledge required to work for dell? How about speaking fluent english? (not slamming the foreign tongue at all) but i couldn’t even understand the person “helping me”….I’m a mac person too..please don;t slam them…i love my mac desktop…..and my PC Dell laptop…
my 2 cents…..hungover…leaving now…
Posted by: Lane on March 6, 2004 11:40 AM
God forbid you will need to reinstall your system. Dell does not provide you with the re-install discs for every program that comes with the computer. Then they send you a survey and you can tell them your dissatisfaction and they do absolutely NOTHING about it.
I’m not purchasing another Dell.
I would recommend a Gateway. At least you get all the software you paid for with it.
Posted by: Marlow on March 7, 2004 11:28 AM
You are right. Dell is absolutely the most unethical companies I’ve ever had the misfortune to deal with. My problems started when they sent be an advitrizement for a computer with the words” “Hurry sale ends 3/15/04. So, I tried to order that very computer on 3/7/04. They informed me that the offer was no longer valid. I tried to tell them that the advertizement stated that the offer was valid until 3/15/04. They simply hung up on me—six times!!!!! Admitedly, by the fourth time I had been on hold for twenty minutes and been hung up on, I was somewhat less than kind, but who wouldn’t be? I kept laboring under the assumptions that Dell was an ethical company that would honor its committment.
Well, Dell, guess what? What they never bothered to find out is who they were talking to. I am the director of research at a major University (guess which one) that was considering the purchace of hundreds of computers. Guess who won’t be getting that business? Why would we want to do business with dishororable people? If they treat people this before the sale, what would they do after the sale? I’d sooner pay more and do business with people I can trust.
Posted by: Clarence Stayton on March 9, 2004 06:01 PM
Dell doesnt suck. Their profits are high, they get rich, their employees work are driven to perform, and the 400SC is one badass 8300. Ive built my own pcs for ten years and can say that Dell does allow a cheapy clamshell designed case but the systems are quite reliable. Intel motherboards, WD drives, kingston mem, well its up to the customer to design their own specs. I like my 3.2 PE as its easy to upgrade and fucking reliable as hell.
Posted by: AVROM on March 21, 2004 01:22 AM
Clarence,
It would seem to me that someone involved in the final say/deciding factors(s) on a purchase of “hundreds of computers” for a “major university” would know how to spell and compose in correct form. If you are going to present yourself as so important, at least proof read and run spell-check.
Posted by: Nobody on March 21, 2004 08:15 PM
Dell, does does not make their own Monitors. Dell’s monitors were made by Sony.
Posted by: Wolfgang on March 21, 2004 10:35 PM
I ordered a Dell 600m notebook before stumbling onto this blog, now Im worried, expecting a $3180.30 piece of junk…someone help me…….Hope it’s not crap. I will post back later with results. By the way their customer service was good on the ordering front.
Posted by: James on March 26, 2004 08:54 PM
Yes dell sales are very helpful,after the sale comes the downfall.No clear english is what you get when you need a tech.And if you need software you better be ready to go through a lot of phone calls and repeat over in over with differnt techs the same steps for a solution.Yes youll get a part eventually will it be what you need proablly not.Dell sucks in so does mike wish he would move to INDIA in limit sells to the likes of sadam and the bin laden.
Posted by: STAN on March 28, 2004 11:02 AM
Today, my 8100 laptop hard drive took a dump. At 10am, I called the infamous technical hotline and gave them my pertinent data Express and Service tag info only to deal with ignorant fu@king east Indian morons.
Bad day, I finally got the matter resolved at 7:15p, with a HDD being sent to me to install and reinstall my XPpro OS. BUT because I didn’t reach competence until after 7:00p, my HDD won’t ship until tomorrow, and I going to be down another day even though I have a next day service agreement.
DELL COMPUTER SUCKS – BIG TIME. Tomorrow, I’m going to buy one share of Dell Computer stock and become a living hell to these sorry bastards who let this shit happen to their customers.
Anyone want to join me at the next DELL shareholders meeting to express their feelings about how fu@ked up DELL really is.
Posted by: Jim on March 30, 2004 08:28 PM
Exactly what are the brand names and part
numbers of the components in Dell crap boxes?
Do they use Seagate hard drives or Western digital?
Intel motherboards (that’s what I would prefer) or
Soyo? Or are the parts truely no-name crap?
My point is that it would be constructive to
provide concrete evidence that Dell builds with
cheap crap.
Posted by: jschunke on April 1, 2004 10:38 PM
I have to agree. My company bought 20 Dell Optiplex 150’s. I had to work on 8 right out of the box. A power supply burned up within a week and 2 motherboards went out just after the warrenty expired. I build all my own PC’s and did it with high quality parts for less than my company paid for these pieces of junk. I tell everyone here at work if they want a PC, then I will build one for them for only the cost of the parts, but in no instance should they buy a Dell.
It’s pretty bad when the in-house IT person has to work on almost 50% of a brand new computer order. They finally listened to me and I got them to replace all of them with new IBM’s, and they are working out very well.
Did you ever notice how easy Dell makes thier cases to get into? That’s because they are such pieces of junk that people have to open them up all the time and troubleshoot problems over the phone with a Dell support person whose accent is so think that you can’t understand them anyway!
Posted by: Joe Czernik on April 14, 2004 12:54 PM
DELL SUCKS (wish i had a font size increase option here)
dell technical support, is the first kind of support which really took my happiness,called them for a dvd rw drive problem,after 20 hours on the phone…for a week,they decided to replace my drive.had a onsite warranty,but told them that just send me the drive and i will replace it on my own,the tech dude on the phone was more than happy to do that(guess he was from india).
after 5 days i got my drive….and guess what?
its a plain dvd player.called those assholes up….and told them,i paid for a dvdrw drive,and i asked to speak to a supervisor,the junkee told me that the supervisor is in a meeting ( thats the answer they always have…whenever you ask for a supervisor).i dont understand if they always do meetings …then why is it that the quality of their service is not improving.after being told that he put me on hold and eventually disconnected the line after 15 min.i ended up paying for a dvdrw drive which does not work,and a dvd player.
NEVER EVER BUY A DELL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
DONATE YOUR MONEY FOR CHARITY…..BUT PLEASE PLEASE DONT BUY A DELL.
Posted by: randy hill on April 14, 2004 03:41 PM
Last straw here. Not sure why I have 10 servers, 20 workstations, and a PowerVault with the name Dell on them. I am sure there are many happy and satisfied customers and I too was one of them.
Last week I received the approval for a new email server. Called Dell up like I usually do and had them configure one for me. PE 2600, two mirrored drives up top for my primary and 4 raid five down below. Twin 2.4 GHZ and a ton of memory. Waited the usuall 5-7 days with a crap load of anticipation and drooling to get my hands on this thing and build it up. Got it on Monday 4-26-04 and guess what? It’s broken. Server assistant won’t install. CRC errors in the linux boot up. Windows 2000 won’t install and crashes on ntoskrnl blue screen. So on Tuesday I call the dreaded Tech support and wait like usuall to talk to somebody. Probably about 20 minutes. Finally get in touch with first level support. Nice lady but has no idea what is going on and refuses to transfer to second level (like usual). She finally determines that they need to replace the motherboard, memory and cpu. Geeesshhhhh. I am like, ok, can’t you just send a new server in exchange? She put’s me on hold and get’s approval. Great. I am thinking, “Hey, they sent me a bad server and surely they must know that it’s mission critical, why even bother asking if they will over night it or 2 day air it. Heck, they are the ones that screwed up and sent a bad server” LOL, after about 20 minutes of her setting up the new server exchange, she mentions that it will be the normal 5-7 business days to receive the dang thing.
Ohhhhh, no! I told her that was unacceptable and that they needed to make things right here.. Well, like usual, it’s Dell’s way or no way. She explains that she origionally wanted to send me out the part’s because she could get them to me by the next day, then within 4 hours have a tech come by to install them. So I asked for her supervisor and for once, all the supervisors are not all out of the office at the same exact time leaving everyone un-supervised.
His name was Jerry and he explains to me that if they were to just order all new parts for this brand new server, he could get them to me on Wednesday 4/28 and I would just have to call in in order to get the tech person out in 4 hours of receiving the parts. So I finally agree that what Jerry was saying was the better and faster way to go and to order the parts. By now, i am on the phone nearly an hour 1/2. I get a dispatch number and everything and I feel confident that Dell is doing better in their part ordering services as well as customer care. NOT!!!!!!!!
Wednesday came and went and now it’s Thursday morning and I call up Dell. 25 minutes later I finally get to Nathen employee # 348913. Nathen tells me that he sees the dispatch number but doesn’t see why IT DIDN’T GO OUT. OH MY GOD I am thinking. Man I was about to be sooo IRATE.
He put’s me on hold for like 10 minutes and finally comes back and says, “Ok, figured out why it didn’t go out. Did you want NEW parts or USED parts?” Yes, you heard me. Dell asked me if I wanted them to fix THE BRAND NEW BROKEN SERVER that they just sent me with NEW OR USED parts. What a JOKE! Ok, ok, used/referbished, but same still the same thing. PLUS, Jerry had told me just on Tuesday that they were ordering me NEW parts for my NEW server and that they would be received the next day.
NOPE, according to Nathen the order got stuck in the process because they needed to know if I wanted New parts which would take as long as getting a new server altogether, or used parts which still would take a couple of days UNLIKE the B.S. story that a SUPERVISOR named JERRY told me.
I am broke everyone. Just plain broke by Dell. Why do I continue to buy Dell equipment? Now our three Dell laptops just got stolen at a meeting in Vegas and don’t know what to do. Order great dell laptops again and just deal with the heartaches of Dell’s failure of customer service and support people or abandon my goal of having a single vendor shop and try HP or IBM, etc.?
What has happened to this great company? 2 years ago you couldn’t beat them on tech support and customer service.. It’s all just gone down hill. And nobody reply’s to my complaint emails, or my calls to the home office and if you call customer care with your concerns and issue’s, they only take offense and hang up on you.
Well, hopefully my second new server that I will receive in another 5-7 days will not be broken. Thanks for giving me priority and expiditing a new server to me (lol, NOT!) since you sent me a dud.
Posted by: Luke on April 29, 2004 03:50 PM
WARNING: IF YOU LIKE BEING SCREWED, YOU’LL LOVE DELL.
I prepaid for two Dell computers by mailing a bank Official Check to Dell in Round Rock, TX. Just to be sure, I enclosed a copy of the order generated at the Dell kiosk in Countryside Mall, Clearwater, FL. I Fed-Ex’d the check and the order, plus an additional amount for over night delivery.
They received the order on 4/5/2004 and cashed the check on 4/8/2004. On the afternoon of 4/8/2004, I went back to the Dell kiosk in Countryside Mall to ask a fairly simple question, “When will my computer be delivered?”.
The response was puzzling. The order was on hold in Order Processing in a “pending” status. “Pending what?”, I asked. Wrong question. No answer.
I was given the 800 number for the laughingly mis-named “Customer Care”. For those of you who have never had the joy of speaking to an Indian speaking a horrible and difficult to understand English, avoid the pain and don’t buy a Dell computer.
These people obviously do not give a damn and also very obviously are not measured on how well they help customers. Their job seems to be to get you off the phone as quickly as possible, and pass you on to another Indian at a different 800 number.
Of course, nothing is entered onto the computer in your record, so each and every time you begin from the beginning. You are then usually told that this is the wrong place and the NEXT 800 number you get transferred to will help you. Eventually, you either get totally frustrated and hang up, or someone tells you that something will happen that never does.
I went back to the kiosk at Countryside Mall and demanded an answer. The folks there had the same 800 numbers that I had, and got blown off the exact same way. I asked if they had live chat or instant messaging to contact someone that might be able to do some good. No chance, this is Dell. E-mail and cell phones is as good as it gets. The Manager On Duty was e-mailed and e-mailed back that he had issued a trouble ticket and that they should check back Saturday afternoon.
I went back to the kiosk Saturday afternoon to find exactly nothing different. The MOD was e-mailed and he curtly wrote back to have them tell me that I’d be contacted in due time. I was infuriated and told the clerk to e-mail back and tell the almighty MOD that HIS time was up and that he and Dell could kiss my a** because I was cancelling the order and going down the street to CompUSA.
I received an 800 number to cancel my order. I called and was politely informed by the token Indian that, as usual, I called the wrong 800 number, but that she could connect me. The next Indian assured me that the order was cancelled and that I would receive my money back in 7 – 14 days.
Those of you who have made the mistake of doing business with Dell already know the result. On day 15, I called looking for my money. I called the 2nd 800 number in the order cancellation boogie and was informed that I needed to speak to someone else. Once again, I repeated the story and was assured that THIS time, the money would be sent in 24 – 48 hours. I was even given a tracking number. The Indians are really getting creative now. Nothing appears to be integrated in the Dell systems, so what good would you think a tracking number would be?
The answer is that it’s worthless. Three days later I called and, of course, nobody knew anything and really could care less. Dell had over $3,000 of my money for two computers they never made or shipped and against a cancelled order.
We called again last Friday and were told that we needed to fax the front and back of the check to “Prepaid” at Dell. A very concerned gentleman assured my partner that the check would be immediately forthcoming once this was received.
In fact, since the fax wasn’t received that day, he e-mailed her and said:
“I am writing this to know whether you were able to fax the copy of cashed check to the prepaids ? Again please accept my sincere apology on behalf of dell.We are working on the issue to get it resolved as soon as possible.I really appreciate your cooperation with us in resolving the issue.
I will keep a track of the process & ensure this problem is solved.Awaiting for your reply.
Should you require any assistance, please contact me.We appreciate your business.
Thank You,
Yours Sincerely,
Mohammed Abdullah (Adam)
Dell Home Sales Customer Care
Dell Inc.
Mohammed_Abdullah@dell.com”
That was then, this is now. She called this very day saying that the fax was sent Saturday and wanted to know the staus. Nobody knew the status, or if the fax of the check had been received. We were assured, however, that the reimbursement check would arrive in 24 to 48 hours. That seems to be the standard Dell lie when it comes to getting your own money returned.
We have e-mailed Mohammed Abdullah to see if he can tell us where our money is, but I’d guess he’s a fired employee if Dell ever finds out that he actually tried to help resolve a problem.
What I think is really laughable is the success seminars featuring Michael Dell. What a way to run a business. Hire cheap Indians to waste your customers time. Solve no problems and then steal their money. Imagine how much interest they make holding on to customer refunds for months on end.
In summary, take some good advice, DON’T BUY A DELL COMPUTER!! Ask yourself why you should wait a week for delivery and then have a customer service nightmare, when you can go to any CompUSA, drive home with a computer and get excellent support right in the store.
If I ever get my money back from the thieves at Dell, I’ll be sure to post here. In the meantime, I’m planning on seeing if the Texas Attorney General’s Office has avoided becoming a wholly owned Dell subsidiary and filing a fraud complaint against this company.
Posted by: Michael Murray on May 11, 2004 03:24 PM
ok, i posted a while back about my 2 year old inspiron 4100 laptop. it makes a great paperwieght. i had hardrive failure among other things. i removed the IBM Travelstar hard drive from the pile of crap and went to the ibm website to get warranty info. i find that all travelstar HD’s have a three year warranty. sweet! i will just swap it out…wrong. since it is in a dell it only carries the warranty that the whole computer carries. for instance, if it was a custom built or an HP for that matter i would be able to swap out my HD no problem. but since it is a proprietary company that supposedly has stuff made specifically for dell it is only as good as the warranty you purchase with your unit. when i went to tech support(ha ha) a couple of clueless camel jockies said they couldn’t do anything about it. when i asked why their parts are made inferior(reason being all other ibm travelstar HD’s have 3 year warranty) they said that dells are made with top quality parts. so i told them to honor the original travelstar warranty. of course they said they couldn’t do that. it has been sitting in a case for over a year now and i am using an old compaq with a 550amd. it hasn’t messed up yet. dell kiss my hairy butt. i hope your company crumbles to the ground you cheap ass mother f’ers.
Posted by: Greg on May 18, 2004 06:52 PM
To the Dell Tech. You said that since the slow pc with 128 preconfigured from the factory is not the customers fault. The could have gone to the dell website and upgraded the pc to 256 mb of ram, right?
Well what about the dell comercial that says Megathis and Giga that. Dont put up with all the confususion, just get a dell.
You say to leave all those decisions to dell in that commercial.
Posted by: Justin Shafer on May 19, 2004 02:42 PM
I am an employee of Dell. As an employee, I would never buy a Dell. With that stated up front, let me tell you my story as a sales rep. I first started some years ago, almost 3 now. At first, the job was a blast. take a call, make the sale, get patted on the back. Then, a few of my customers had been calling me to figure out what’s wrong with their computer. Having a degree in Computer Science and some background in repair work (I own my own repair shop on the side), i was able to trouble shoot the problems over the phone. But it just ended up being an issue with replacing the bad parts on the machine. As reps, we are told that all repair work is done by a technician in home. Not true. Most replacement items, such as floppy drives, hard drives, cd-rom drives, etc. are done by the customer. This to my surprise was common practice. The only time that a customer is able to have someone come out and work on the machine is when the motherboard itself is bad! At the time, I was working for the home sales division. Most of these ‘clients’ are not willing to open the case, yet alone know what they are doing once it is open. what good is buying a warranty when what you get is nothing close to what you pay for?? Oh, I know what its good for…. if you dont, the parts, instead of carrying their standard 3-yr warranty thru their manufacturer, they only carry the 1-yr standard warranty. With that said, the next thing to bitch about is customer care. The reps do care about trying to find the right solution to the problems, at least I do. The problem is, cust. care doesnt. I have called customer care on countless occurences for customers on a conference call. I have personally tried to convince the person in India or wherever they are that the complaint is warranted and needs some form of resolvement. As many of you know, they speak only one language, and it doesnt contain anything about care, satisfaction, or refund. Not to be stereotypical, but its like going into a 7 eleven and trying to hustle the Indian behind the counter out of a penny; its not going to happen. ok so enough on that. Now at Dell, it seems to be common practice to just take the complaining customer and put them into another que in customer care and let them deal with it. I myself am guilty of it. At a certain point, even I dont want to deal with customer complaints. But as a rep, I can say one thing about customers: a lot of them want champaign on a water budget. You do get what you pay for and when you do pay for a system (the ones not advertised) you do have less issues with them. So to those of you who are here researching your next purchase, call and dont expect to pay $499 for a computer. expect to spend at least $1000 for something worth buying. For those of you on here saying that you should buy an hp or some other brand, think about that fact that after your 1 yr warranty is up, the manufacturer is also not going to support the product. and with HP you have to pay to make a call and figure out what is wrong with your computer. Dell does have that going for them (the free tech support for life – over the phone). Oh yea, one more thing, if someone is stupid enough to buy a computer with everything integrated and only a 128mb of ram, they deserve the run around when its slow. its their own damn fault. quit your bitchin about that.
Posted by: eddie on May 21, 2004 11:26 PM
I have not had any trouble with dell customer support. Also my inspiron 600m has worked fine so far. Also they dont have Indian support anymore, it’s supposed to be in the states.
Posted by: James on May 22, 2004 05:00 PM
Geez-my complaints are small compared to all these, but I am so mad! I hate Dell! My laptop screen, lets say disengaged itself from the body while I was closing it lightly – Just snapped like I had thrown it against a wall!!! I’m not a heavy computer user so that didn’t even bother me so much! My complaint is with my preferred account! I get a bill once every 2-4 months so guess what- I’m usually 2-4 months late b/c I like most -forget to pay if I don’t have a statement. If I’m only one day late I get a call from Dell EVERY 15 minutes form 7AM to 11PM harassing me! Now I’ve had it and want to pay off my balance with another credit card I have so I won’t be giving dell one more red cent of finance and guess what – 3 different payoff quotes and oh yeah- we don’t take credit card payments!! #1- I’m sure if I wanted to buy a new computer they’d let me pay via credit card and #2 Guess they’d rather I not pay at all since they make it so hard TO pay!! Like I said – It’s not much compared to all the other posts but I’m sure my hatred is just as great!!!! Thanks for letting me vent!!!!
Posted by: Emily on May 26, 2004 01:26 PM
I have all Dell computors and have no problems. Most of the keybords, mouse, cd burners, etc., are cheap, as you said. All of these items can be upgrade by the person buying. I own my own company, land surveying company, and you have to pay extra to get the quality computor you are looking for. It seems to me your company is buying the computors that are afforable for the home user. Talk to your company, with a 2.8 P-4, 80 gig hard drive, 512 mg of memory, monitor, printer, keyboard, mouse – all you need as a normal user, $799.99 !! (Cheap for a reason) You can add all the things you want and more but the price will not be $799.99. Graphics, Special Memory and Hard drives, High line keyboard and mouse, you name it and it will be changed by Dell, (NOT FOR FREE)
Posted by: Denis Pearson on May 30, 2004 04:42 PM
I have had a Dell for 2+ years (Dimension 4500). I agree that customer support is horrible, but how about this; research the information yourself. That’s one use of the INTERNET. My Maxtor hard drive failed after 1 year. I simply repalced it with a Seagate (actually installed 2 Seagates. 1 is the main, the other is the backup). NO PROBLEMS. Replaced keyboard and mouse (under $39.99 — NO PROBLEM). P.T. Barnum said “A sucker is born every minute”. If you believe everything you hear in a commercial, then your crazy. NO computer (homemade, bought, etc) is perfect. They are made by humans (who ALL make mistakes; that’s why we have erasers on pencils). I don’t expect customer service from Dell, Gateway, etc. I look up the information myself, research it (and yes, I do have a tight schedule), and nmake my OWN decision. What a concept. The purpose of slick commercials and advertising is to get you to SPEND your money. It obviously worked. ALL computer manufacturers use cheap parts. Even mom and pop builders. Why? The parts are cheaply made to begin with. Can Dell improve their customer services. Hell yeah. Can you do things on your own? Yes. I do (and I don’t even qualify as a computer geek or techie). Icouldn’t build my own computer if you spotted me the first 95% of already done. Information is knowledge. Use it. Remember, you get what you pay for (with anything). Stop complaining. No, I don’t work for Dell (and don’t want to). I am an aberage joe who decided to use his brains and do what I need to do until I purchase my next computer. NOTHING LASTS FOREVER. If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is
Posted by: Robert Triggs on June 3, 2004 11:09 PM
I have had a Dell for 2+ years (Dimension 4500). I agree that customer support is horrible, but how about this; research the information yourself. That’s one use of the INTERNET. My Maxtor hard drive failed after 1 year. I simply repalced it with a Seagate (actually installed 2 Seagates. 1 is the main, the other is the backup). NO PROBLEMS. Replaced keyboard and mouse (under $39.99 — NO PROBLEM). P.T. Barnum said “A sucker is born every minute”. If you believe everything you hear in a commercial, then your crazy. NO computer (homemade, bought, etc) is perfect. They are made by humans (who ALL make mistakes; that’s why we have erasers on pencils). I don’t expect customer service from Dell, Gateway, etc. I look up the information myself, research it (and yes, I do have a tight schedule), and nmake my OWN decision. What a concept. The purpose of slick commercials and advertising is to get you to SPEND your money. It obviously worked. ALL computer manufacturers use cheap parts. Even mom and pop builders. Why? The parts are cheaply made to begin with. Can Dell improve their customer services. Hell yeah. Can you do things on your own? Yes. I do (and I don’t even qualify as a computer geek or techie). I couldn’t build my own computer if you spotted me the first 95% of it already done. Information is knowledge. Use it. Remember, you get what you pay for (with anything). Stop complaining. No, I don’t work for Dell (and don’t want to). I am an average joe who decided to use his brains and do what I need to do until I purchase my next computer. NOTHING LASTS FOREVER. If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is
Posted by: Robert Triggs on June 3, 2004 11:11 PM
It is true that DELL puts on these commercials that make you want to buy the computer. The fact still remains that it is up to them to give you the technical support they promised to give you in the beginning. I don’t think many home users have the ability to research hard drive problems, motherboard problems or anything for that matter. If DELL says they will help you with the problems you have then it is up to there good offices (which are really bad offices) to go ahead and do that for the customer. Many of us bitch and complain about the crap DELL gives us because they are like any business and care about one thing…there bottom line! The one thing all of you have to look at when purchasing a computer is why you purchased a DELL to begin with? Everyone here should know the crap they are getting into…
Posted by: R Dogg on June 7, 2004 04:57 PM
Y’ALL DUMB FUCKS THOUGHT “DELL” IS GREAT COMPUTER? CHEW IT NOW. LMFAO
Posted by: PC Builder on June 15, 2004 01:54 AM
i am just getting sterted with this piece of @#$%.I am having nothing but frusterateing B.S. with the stupid thing… WHAT NEXT!!!
Posted by: mike turner on June 19, 2004 11:02 PM
Get a Mac, stupid.
In a decade on Apple computers I have not experienced a single crash or system failure. Yes, Apple makes computers that actually WORK. When I come to work and have to use a BRAND NEW Dell it feels like I am rubbing 2 sticks together to start a fire. My Dell crashes every day and freezes when I run half the programs.
I hate all PC’s, but if I had to get one, Dell would be the last company I would go to.
Posted by: Ralph Maccio on June 22, 2004 11:40 AM
Ralph is right, Apple’s are better computers but there so damn expensive. If Steve Jobs would make them more affordable middle america would actually be able to purchase them.
Posted by: True on June 23, 2004 05:15 PM
Yes Dell Sucks .I have been paying on my dell computer for a year now .And i still owe the same as i did when i first got it.I just found out today that i have been paying 22 percent interest.I am trying to send the computer back now.But they keep shifting my husband back and forth for an hour so he got mad and hung up on them.If anybody out there has any suggestions on a good computer to buy please let me know.Because i want a computer that i don’t have alot of problems with like i have had with this one every since i got it.
Posted by: Laura on June 26, 2004 03:04 AM
DELL – Never again!!!! I read comments about other computer sellers being just as bad as Dell, let me just say one thing about customer service. It is true all computers can have problems, and I understand that. I have recently purchased a new HP, and while I had a few issues that needed to be resolved, I am so happy with HP’s cutomer service/support , I don’t know what to do with myself! After all the hassles with Dell, not being able to understand some techs, broken promises, long waits and transfers on the phone without resolution of problems, I have just about given up on them, and guess I will just chalk up the loss to experience. The straw that finally broke the camels back was the cracking of the cover near the hinges on my Inspiron. Only about two years old with a cover about ready to fall off, I’m told normal wear and tear. When I pointed out to the customer “abuser” that on Dell’s own customer forum there must be hundreds if not thousands of complaints about defective plastic cases cracking prematurely at the hinge area. When I asked if they were aware of this problem, NOBODY KNOWS ANYTHING! Bunch of bull I think. But I figure the best way to get even is to just make sure I tell all friends and business associates about Dell, and that will be my revenge. May Dell crumble into a heap of its own crap.
Paul
Posted by: Paul on June 29, 2004 01:41 AM
I bought my first Dell 5 years ago. At that time, the service was superb. The computer was superb and the phone support was fantastic. Stupid me, when it was time to buy an upgrade bought a Gateway because of the supposed onsite support. This of course, didn’t exist, and you didn’t find that out until after the purchase. I had massive troubles with the Gateway; the monitor, the modems and the hard drives over its five-year life. I went back to Dell because my previous experience had been so good. Boy has Dell changed. The support IS still in India, they don’t learn English or de-accent themselves so they can be understood, and they really don’t care. They have no knowledge of US license agreements or their requirements for selling Microsoft. My MS CD says “for support, contact the manufacturer of the machine.” Dell denied me help with it twice and I called Microsoft a second time. Microsoft told me Dell was running their customers around and they were receiving numerous complaints from them. I asked them to investigate and consider terminating their Alliance with Dell because Dell is giving them a bad name. By the way, when you buy 2 PCs Dell will swear you can have 1 copy of the MS suite on both machines. When you call MS to get the product code they will tell you that is absolutely UNTRUE. I anticipate replacing this equipment in 3-4 years and I don’t know to what, but this is my last Dell.
Posted by: Sarah on July 2, 2004 08:42 PM
I bought a Dell in 1997 – it was great and the service was outstanding. I bought an new Dell (a Dimension 8300) and a Dell A940 printer in January. I’ve had nothing but trouble with the computer, the printer hasn’t worked right since day 3, and the after sales service (now coming from India) is the most useless, frustrating, piece of crap I’ve ever experienced.
I’ve alreadsy dissuaded 3 friendss and 2 relatives from stating away from the “new” Dell. What a sad, sad company Dell has become.
I’ve learned my leason. NEVER AGAIN.
Posted by: allan on July 9, 2004 10:04 AM
HERE IS MY TWO CENTS WORTH!
AT MY BUSINESS WE HAVE OVER TWELVE DELL PCS, AND BECAUSE WE BOUGHT THEM FROM OUR COOPERATIVE WHICH IS BIG AND POWERFUL AND HAS A LOT OF PURCHASING CLOUT AND TAKES CARE OF ALL THE TECH AND SUPPORT WORK THEMSELVES………………
WE HAVE NO OR VERY FEW PROBLEMS WITH THE PCS, WHEN THERE IS A RARE INCIDENT, WE HAVE SUPPORT WITHIN THE HOUR AND WE ARE UP AND RUNNING AGAIN QUICKLY. THATS THE GOOD NEWS ..
AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT!!!
BASED ON THIS “GOOD” EXPERIENCE WE RECENTLY PURCHASED A LAPTOP FROM DELL, ONLY TO DISCOVER AFTERWARDS THAT NOW OUR SUPPORT FOR IT WOULD BE HANDLED BY DELL DIRECTLY INSTEAD OF OUR COOP.
PAIN, MISERY, WOE, SUFFERING AND MORE. SOME THOUGHTS: IF DELL IS GOING TO MARKET SUCH A CRAPPY LAPTOP THEY COULD AT LEAST GIVE GOOD SUPPORT OR THEY COULD MARKET A QUALITY LAPTOP IN THE FIRST PLACE !! WE OWN FOUR OTHER BRANDS OF LAPTOPS IN ADDITION TO THE PCS. I CAN SAY THIS WAS OUR FIRST AND LAST DELL LAPTOP PRODUCT. AND I CAN ALSO SAY I WOULD NEVER BUY ANY COMPUTER PRODUCT FROM DELL WITHOUT SOME BIG POWERFUL RESELLER / COOP/ BUSINESS TO INTERVENE FOR ME.
DEALING DIRECTLY WITH DELL IS A “POSTAL” TYPE EXPERIENCE THEY HAVE THE MOST POORLY FUNDED , UNTRAINED , UNMOTIVATED AND INCOMPETENT TECH SUPPORT I HAVE EVER ENCOUNTERED IN THE ELECTRONICS/DATA BUSINESS.
SCREW ME ONCE SHAME ON YOU, SCREW ME TWICE….
AIN’T GONNA HAPPEN!!!! MARK
DELL …………. JUST SAY NO
Posted by: mad coyote on July 9, 2004 12:16 PM
If you have a Dell computer and you like or love it, you NEED to read this. I too had a Dell computer that I was pleased with. I was so pleased with it that I spent a fortune to buy a new one with all the bells and whistles. When it arrived, it was inoperable. That was eight weeks ago. Since that time I have spent appx 70 hours on the phone with Dell reps (all of them in India) as they have tried to repair my POS computer over the phone. After 80 plus phone calls to Dell I still have a new top-of-the-line Dell computer that is not even capable of giving me the correct time. Their support folks are totally worthless. So is all their policy regarding standing behind their products. If you buy Dell products, you will eventually pay for it in a bad way just like I currently am.
Dell definitely sucks.
Dell…..don’t say no, say HELL NO !!!!
Posted by: David on July 9, 2004 03:17 PM
I’ve been working with computers for almost 9 years now. In these 9 years, I have purchased an HP desktop, two Dell desktops and two Dell notebooks.
My first Dell, a Dimension XPS D300, is over 6 years old now, and is still running smoothly. I have been running that PC 24/7 for over 3 years now, and have had no problems at all. Cheap components? Well, are Maxtor drives cheap? Microsoft mice? How about NEC CD-ROM drives? Or an nVidia Riva 128 card (yeah it’s that old)?
Sure, the hard drive was dead the second it arrived (bad sectors), and the first techie that arrived was horrible – I doubt he even knew how to install a hard drive. The second techie was great; he installed my OS, drivers, etc. without a hitch.
My next Dell is a Dimension 8250. Within the first month of running it 24/7, the system fan died. Called tech support, and had a guy send a replacement fan for me. He came within the next 24 hours and produced the correct fan for my system. I didn’t want to waste time, so I chose to install the fan myself. Had no problems since then.
The monitor for this desktop is by no means cheap: It’s a Trinitron monitor.
My brother has been using an Inspiron 7000 for 5 years now. Never had any problems with it.
And now I just purchased an Inpiron 8600. I’m having no problems with it so far.
From the posts here, it seems to me that some of the problems are not Dell-related, but operating system related. Pieces of hardware failing like hard drives, can happen to any company, even if you bought the drive yourself. Yes, Dell doesn’t make any hardware. But do you see HP using HP hard drives? Or IBM using IBM CD burners? Ask Fujitsu if they produce motherboards for their PCs and notebooks.
My two cents.
Posted by: kltye on July 13, 2004 11:20 PM
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that the old Dimension PC has survived numerous OS upgrades: First it was Win95 OSR2, then Win98SE, WinME, WinXP Pro, and now it’s running Windows Server 2003. All that on a 6 year old PC. Sure, I upgraded the RAM, changed the video card, and added a new hard drive, but the base system still remains.
Posted by: kltye on July 13, 2004 11:39 PM
I work for an outsourcing company that has a contract with Dell. Over half of our inbound calls for warranties or SBD are people pissed off at Dell or transferred from shitty-ass tech support and customer service because they didnt want to deal with them anymore. Plus, shitloads of people calling because they can’t do their fucking rebate or were never told about one and it’s too late to file for it. (30 days from invoice) We also call people harassing them to buy warranties that are worthless. It’s seriously fucking stupid.
Posted by: Anonymous on July 15, 2004 03:47 AM
To “voice of windows” Dells are the Apples of PC’s? What the fuck do you know? Apple makes the best computers in the world (I said best, not fastest), OS X utterly kicks Window’s scraggy bugridden, insecure ass, and anyone who takes a stand for Dell is bent over, waiting to get buggered.
Get real
Posted by: Krapster on July 24, 2004 02:33 PM
Dude, apples are good for video editing and thats it. otherwise they are a complete rip off. durrr, lets go spend $2,000 on a computer that could be built for $700 from scratch.
hence, noobs buy apples.
nuff said.
Posted by: KrapsterIsAnIdiot on July 27, 2004 09:21 PM
You can not make a comparison between dell and apple. Maybe the hardware, but that’s all the same. The difference is with macintosh os and microsoft windows. And he’s right, macintosh is only good for video editing. There just isn’t enough software available for a Mac. You can edit video just fine on a pc by the way.
Then you get the stability complaint. Which is just completely false. Apple is just easier, that’s all. If you have any clue at all, you will not have stability problems with any version of windows ever released.
It’s child’s play getting windows to operate with stability.
Posted by: Josh on August 3, 2004 09:02 PM
dell sucks.com, they support terrorism
sony rocks my world, vaio kills dell playa!
Posted by: Jay on August 4, 2004 11:10 AM
E-MACHINES – THATS HOW I ROLL
Posted by: DELL HATA on August 4, 2004 11:15 AM
I guess you get what you pay for…
Posted by: Gabriel Radic on August 6, 2004 05:20 AM
My Support experience with Dell computer.
I contacted DELL via 800 number to order a replacement part for my dell inspiron 1100, a power cord, it took approx 20
minutes to get beyond the initial ‘Interview’ including ‘what do you use your computer for’, huh, I just wanted to order an
A/C power cord for my laptop,
So I order the replacement AC cord (Cost 90.00) including expediting order cost, overnight shipping, and 19.99 for the cost
of the product.
I implored the customer sales person on the other end of the line, ‘Your sure you have the right product’, I need the
complete power cord, ac adapter, and plug for the computer power input’, ‘Oh yes sir, we would never ship the wrong product’,
Two days later the wrong part shows up, so I call Customer disservice, and go through the same 20 minute interview, about who
I was, my address, where the computer was, how old my dog was when he died, et cetera, et cetera, finally, the ‘Custom
Service’ representative asks, so what can I do for you?
I explain (in very slow methodical verse) what has happened with my order, that I paid 90.00 USD for a power cord, to be
delivered next day (24-48 hrs was the official promise),
and the wrong part was shipped, so we go through another set of questions, computer review questions, et cetera, et cetera,
and finally after approx 1/2 hr I’ve arranged for a credit, a UPS pickup, and confirmation of the return.
So now, I want to re-order the correct part, the customer server rep indicating I would have to be transfered to sales to
complete my re-order, recollecting the experience two days ago, I decided it would be quicker and probably less expensive to
purchase a new computer from a local vendor, whith local support, peripheral inventory etc. Which I’ve done, I plan on using
my old Dell Inspiron 1100 as a boat anchor for my skiff.
Oh, also to add insult to injury UPS showed up yesterday to pick up 6 boxes of product requested by Dell to return to your
inventory? I only recieved a small box containing the wrong part? So I’m back on the phone with UPS explaining to their call
center person that Dell is in error and that I only have 1 box to return.
So lets recap,
I’ve spent all week trying to get a power cord from Dell, spent 90.00 USD (which is going to be refunded via credit card
credit, yeah that should go smoothly), had to wait on the phone on hold for approx 20 minutes, shared my private information
regarding my computer, it’s location, use, with a stranger (for all I know, some Offshore call center slave, who has taken an
American job away ), recieved the wrong part, spent another 20 minutes on hold to return the wrong shipment, only to be
subjected to another round of private questions about my computer location, use, et cetera, then UPS showed up to pick up 6
boxes at my house.
I’ve shared this story with many friends, who to their great delight have had a good laugh, watching my frustration.
What a joke!.
Posted by: QualisTempus on August 6, 2004 04:05 PM
Dell systems were so bad that we shut them off and started typing and writing again. Nothing ever worked and Dell didn’t seem to care. I don’t know what the warranty and service agreements were for? They never fixed anything or made good on the office systems. NEVER AGAIN!!!
Posted by: dr.dave on August 12, 2004 08:52 PM
For those that think Dell had a choice in sending the majority of their support groups to India, I suggest you trun off your PC and brew a pot of espresso ! Welcome to the 21st century you cheaskates. Look at exactly what going for more/cheaper/faster has gotten us. The unions are busted (Thanks Ronnie !) and the average man is making about the same as his father did 20 years ago. Most of us have been layed off from a large company at least once and the result is that we’re now sucking crap through a straw in a desperate effort to put our kids into college !
WELCOME TO AMERIKA AND WELCOME TO THE 21ST CENTURY ! THE STOCKHOLDERS, LANDLORDS AND POLITICOS RULE YOUR PATHETIC LIVES AND YOU LET THEM !!
Posted by: DJ on August 14, 2004 10:29 PM
I worked at a call center under the Dell Home & Home Office Sales Account.
I regret bamboozling my customers into buying Dell, knowing in the back of my mind that Dell’s customer service and tech support suck and once something in their computer goes haywire they will experience the equivalent of Dante’s Inferno just trying to get in touch with someone to have their computer fixed. Chalk it up to outsourcing, I guess.
One more thing: that Spyware and Virus Support of Dell? That’s one big scam. Dell charges customers with spyware and virus-related issues $39 + tax for a single instance, then makes them wait for ten thousand hours just to get hold of a Spyware and Virus removal “expert”. And once these poor souls do manage to get an “expert” on the phone, it’s another dive into a new lower level of purgatory, because that “expert” has an accent thicker than the hot chocolate at Angelina’s on the Rue de Rivoli. So good luck in getting your system back on track.
NEVER EVER BUY DELL, PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: Celso on August 15, 2004 09:28 AM
Hello,
I would like to outline some true facts about Dell-Hell. Until 2 years ago I was working in the Quality Engineering department of a Dell facility. I took voluntary redundancy and since then I am successfully running my own IT business. Below is a few key points about my time in Hell:
1. Number of units shipped is more important than quality.
2. Production managers don’t know how to use a PC properly not to mind actually having the ability to supervise their assembly.
3.If you try to implement a new quality idea the first question you are asked is “What will the impact be on shipment numbers ?” If there is an impact your idea is scrapped.
4. Dell uses a lot of reworked parts in there PC’s (The new PC you are buying could in reailty be old.)
5. The Dell attitude is bang it out the door ! Believe me there is a lot of bangs on the way too !
6. The design of a Dell PC is not the best, dont let them tell you it is. Intel recomends their own cooling system to be used with their processors, Dell ignores this and uses a shity piece of green plastic.
I could ramble on all day but I think you get my point. Dell is Hell, go to heaven and buy from someone else
Posted by: JMC on August 21, 2004 07:00 PM
I ordered a lap top from Dell. I did not get the computer/price that I ordered. I was told by Dell they would take the computer back but that they would NOT honor the original computer/price that I originally thought that I was buying. Customer service was beyond horrible (phone calls cut off, rude/stupid customer service reps., arrogant attitudes. The Attorney Generals office was notified of the deceptive practices and Dell still would not honor their original advertised offer. Basically Dell is a “Bait and Switch” company and should never be used. Sell your stock, tell others about the REAL DELL, and never buy from Dell. I have since bought a better package from Compaq and am very satisfied. I will spread my experience with Dell to as many people in an attempt to help bring down this company. The company and their employees are untrustworthy and should be avoided.
Posted by: Gary Watkins on August 25, 2004 07:55 AM
Hello everyone! I am not surprised by this at all with Dell! I am also a computer technician, currently going for a bachelor’s degree in information technology. I have come across something amazing, and I am pursuing this to the fullest extent. I have come across a power supply installed into a dell dimension 2350 desktop, with a missing wire in the 20 wire power plug to connect to the motherboard. This is a serious problem. The power supply is a hazardous material, and is very dangerous, because it has an electrical charge inside,even when unplugged from the powercord. I called Dell about this, after talking to 2 technicians, and a supervisor, the informed me that because it was not under warranty anymore,they would not replace the power supply. The owner of this computer is extremely angry, as I am. This is a very serious issue! Dell needs to be pulled on the carpet for this one especially. The only reason I say that, is because it can be life threatening! I am going to conduct research on who to contact about these issues. I have printed this entire thing, and will forward it on to the proper authorities!
Thanks everyone,
Nicole
Posted by: Nicole on August 28, 2004 07:46 PM
I tried to help my father-in-law with his computer tonight. I called the tech support line. I was on hold for over an hour only to be disconnected. I called the other customer service line only to be told I need to talk to a tech. I asked the person if they could send some one over. My father-in-law purchased the on site service agreement. The person on the other end said yes he could see that. But the only person that could do that was the service tech department. So he said he would connect me. Then, I waited, and waited and waited. I heard a laundry list of things that could be wrong from their while you are on hold dialog. Of course none of these problems could be the computer…. I have worked on computers for some time. The problem is not software or the telephone connection. I worked in a repair center myself. I know what the problem is. The tech wants the person on the other end to jump through a series of endless hoops. I guess the idea is if they keep asking you to go back and try enough things you will give up. I wasted three hours and could not even get through. I could fix it for the cost of the parts for him. But, that is not the point is it? When he purchase a computer with an extended warranty and site service that is what he should get. So what did he get for the money? a computer that managed to survive the original warranty period. The extended warr is no good if you can’t get service. I would hope someone reads this from DELL. I would hope that others reading this would realize before you buy extended service contracts or computers call the service department first. If you spend your day on hold do not buy that brand. Or pick the cheapest thing you can and throw it away when it breaks. I know I will never buy one. One last thought. If it takes an hour to get through how many other people can be having similar problems. If the computer techs at Dell read this know that not everyone on the other end is lost and believes the stuff you spew(put nicely).
Posted by: Richard on August 28, 2004 09:59 PM
It’s really amazing how many of you complain that dell is so bad. I work for dell and I can honestly say that the lack of knowledge about dell is incredible. Yes dells tech support has challanges and issues but you tell me a part of your own buisness that doesent have its issues.
also realize that the people that have a issue with dells support is 1% of 1% of our total customer base. I’d take thoses odds in any buisness.
The componets that you get in dell computers are the same that you get in any other computer. So you ask why should i not go with the other computer guys. Go ahead call HP, Gateway, IBM see how “bad and evil ” dells support is.
Now I know im gonna get flamed for the dell support that im showing. but i think that it would be a fair statement to say look before you buy anything and anywhere.
Well hope you all have better luck and just rember one thing
ITS ONLY A COMPUTER DONT LET IT RUN YOUR LIFE
Posted by: dell dude on September 13, 2004 01:28 PM
I run a technical support shop. I spent today trying to convince a dell tech that the printer that arrived broken was not, in fact, still in their warehouse. I repeated the service tag over and over again, to be answered with “I’m sorry sir, that item has not yet shipped.” This really didn’t surprise me at all. I spend alot of time on the phone with manufacturers and oems, and “Dell sucks” far more than any other vendor that I have ever dealt with.
Posted by: James Bantner on September 13, 2004 10:53 PM
I HAVE,A DELL& THANK GOD THAT I HAVEN’T HAD ANY PROBLEMS WITH IT SO FAR!!I’VE HAD IT FOR A YEAR NOW& THE ONLY PROBLEM IM HAVING IS,THIS NOTIFY ALERT, APPLICATION ERROR.(00XC0000135) KEEPS ON POPPING UP, WHEN I START UP MY COMPUTOR.& POPS UP HERE& THEIR, IV’E TRIED TO LOCATE THE PROGRAM AND OR FILE,& TO NO ADVAIL CANT SEEM TO FIND IT?? ITS REALLY STARTING TO PISS ME OFF, HOW DO I FIND THIS PROGRAM OR FILE, & SEND IT STRAIT TO HELL??I WOULD REALLY APPRECIATE IT IF SOMEONE ANYONE CAN HELP ME WITH THIS..YOU CAN EMAIL ME AT CHILLTOWNBOY@EXCITE.COM- PS, IV’E TRIED TO GO TO RUN, TYPE IN “MSCONFIG” AND STILL COULDN’T LOCATE IT!! PLEASE HELP,SIGNED PISSED OFF
Posted by: DANNY on September 16, 2004 05:39 PM
I cannot believe that I have ordered a Lap Top from Dell that only comes with Word Perfect. I told Dell Sales Staff that I needed the Lap Top for my PHD Program and specifically told him that I needed the Word Package on it, since I use Power-Point and Word for my class projects. The Lap Top came with no Word Package, now I am told that I need to buy the Pacakage for over $189.00, or if I return the LapTop I will be assess a $180.00 Depreciation fee; well Dell you have won this time because your GENERIC Lap Top only cost $1200. You have really got me this time but for sure I will be speading the word of your illegal practices.
Mark Stewart
Posted by: MARK STEWART on September 23, 2004 10:46 AM
I cannot believe that you did not read your order and invoice within the first 30 days. Or contacted customer service and asked for a exchanged system and I really cant belive that you thought that calling dell youd get office for free. 15% depriciation is a standard within the industry. AND explain how thats illegal.
One thing I dont understand is how it is people on this blog get half the information and take it as the full story. At least include the full story so that you and dell,rather you like them or not, are represented correctly.
Posted by: dell dude on September 24, 2004 08:00 AM
I can’t understand why people are so fast to react when they are not aware of certain facts. I am a dell technician, and most of the customers are unaware of their warranty and other such stuff. And before lashing out at dell, go through the order, the warranty and the invoice so that you know what to ask for and when to ask for so that you don’t end up shaking when your request is not accepted.
Posted by: VICTOR on September 24, 2004 04:35 PM
I see some posts that aren’t really the fault of DELL. However, 21 part failures/replacements in 24 months is beyond excuses. I have other computers (SONY, HP, MICRON) that have had few or no problems.
But, rather than simply say DELL sucks, I’ll stick to the facts.
Consider my nightmare experience (below) with the first and last DELL I’ll ever buy…
________________________________________________
SUMMARY of 21 FAILURES/REPAIRS in 24 months ( for DELL Inspiron notebook purchased for $4208.76 ):
[] Replaced 2 times: Notebook Service Tags: for i7500:2H0440B(18-Oct-2000), for i8100:93DH811(05/30/2002), for i8600:GHTMS31(11/15/2003);
[] Replaced 6 times: Motherboard: 05/20/2002,06/06/2002,12/16/2002;02/16/2004;02/17/2004;03/25/2004;
[] Replaced 3 times: CD/DVD drive: 03/22/2002,03/25/2002,05/21/2002;
[] Replaced 2 times: Hard Disk Drive: 03/21/2002,05/22/2002;
[] Replaced 2 times: Keyboard: 05/22/2002,05/24/2002;
[] Replaced 4 times: Video Card: 1/10/2003,5/9/2003,2/17/2004;3/25/2004;
[] Replaced 1 time: Lid latch: 05/22/2002;
[] Replaced 1 time: Intel CPU:03/25/2004;
[] i8100 notebook malfunctioning for first 12 months and last month;
[] 2nd battery purchased for 1st notebook is incompatible with 2nd replacement notebook;
[] 2nd battery purchased for 2nd notebook is incompatible with 3rd replacement notebook;
[] Incompatible Battery: when notebook was replaced a 2nd time, the 2nd battery purchased was not compatible with the replacement notebook;
[] i8100: repeated unresolved video problems and system lock-ups for 12 months;
[] i8100: LCD failure; LCD developed red-tint at start-up (16-Oct-2003), LCD back-light failed (22-Oct-2003);
[] i8100: Failure: Error: IDE Hard Disk Write Test: Fail (28-Oct-2003); Status: Fail Status Code: DOS DDG-D DISK 030 068, Disk: Msg: Block 7022454: Uncorrectable data error;
[] i8100: Failure: Network Interface Card-PCI 3Com NIC Interrupt Test: Fail (28-Oct-2003), Status: Fail Status Code: DOS DDG-D MINI3COM 030 026;
[] i8600 notebook malfunctioning for first 4 months; despite next-business-day-on-site-warranty, motherboard not replaced until 8 days later (2/16/2004); problem still persisted; motherboard repalced again (2/17/2004); problem persisted; video-card replaced (2/17/2004); problem persisted; formatted drive and re-installed operating system; problem persisted; upgraded BIOS and all drivers; problem persisted until 3rd motherboard, 2nd video-card, and CPU were replaced on 3/25/2004 (now seems to be functioning OK at the moment).
_____________________________________________
DELL Inspiron 8600, 1.6GHz P4 Mobile, Service TAG:GHTMS31 , L2 1024KB Cache, Model:PP02X ;
BIOS: DELL-INSPIRON 8600 ROM BIOS Version A05 , 03/04/2004) ;
MEMORY: 512MB DDR 333MHz (two 256MB DIMMs) ;
VIDEO: ATI Mobility Radeon 9000 32MB DDR 4X AGP M9 3D
_____________________________________________
Posted by: summars on October 5, 2004 05:28 PM
Boy… that was something!!!! During my seven months in dell, i never came across such a scene. I understand that once in a while there is alwayz an unfortunate customer for whom things would never get in place. But believe me, such instances are rare, very rare. One in ten thousand. Anyways… all the best to you with your new laptop, which ever you plan to buy next. Hope that brings you happiness…
Posted by: Victor on October 23, 2004 05:40 AM
Dell customer service is the worst that I have ever encountered. I agree with most statements already mentioned. No one at Dell takes the initiative to follow a claim through. For the past several weeks I have been PROMISED phone calls back and I haven’t received ANY. I have been promised e-mails. I received one, but when I e-mailed them, no one responded. I have spent countless hours on the phone with Dell, not to mention the endless number of hours I have spent on hold. In an attempt to fix my main issue, a Dell representative screwed up my printer/printer set-up and driver. And now no tech seems to be able to help me fix it. So, now, not only do I STILL have my original problem I also have another as well. I am trying to run a business from my home and it is very hard to do when the computer that you purchase for that reason doesn’t work. I am mad that I can’t even get an apology for them screwing up my printer. I even asked for one point blank and was refused one. I would never recommend a Dell computer to anyone!!
Posted by: Michelle on November 3, 2004 12:39 PM
After purchasing my first Dell Computer I’m totally amazed at where the notion that their customer support is so good came from. I’ve had nothing but problems with this computer and the only solution offered by Achmed or Mookash is to reinstall the software. Or, at least that’s what I think they’re saying. I spent almost $1000 for this computer and $700 upgrading another computer in my home with the same or better features. The Dell warranty is for 30 days only. Beyond that they charge for technical support which consists of one solution; reinstall. A one year service contract is $189 or you can purchase a one time contract for $39. For that price, purchase a cheap second hand gun and a bullet and kill yourself. It will be less painful than 6-8 hours on the phone with some guy from India. DON’T BUY A DELL!!! My wife wanted a new computer and my employer has a deal with Dell where they will pay for the computer with payroll deduction. Next time I’ll pay to have a kidney stone transplanted into my ureter. It will be much more pleasant!!!
Posted by: Bozo on November 3, 2004 11:55 PM
When I finally was going to get my own computer, I diligently did my usual searching through everything I could find so that I could get the best deal for my money and still enjoy what I got. At the time, early 2001, there had been so much of the “Dude, you’re gettin’ a Dell” commercails and so many Dell catalouges going around that I was pretty much convinced that Dell was the way to go for my new PC. My dad had a bad experience with his Gateway, and little did I know, he had brought that upon himself with making things up about what was wrong, i.e. when the monitor started showing green lines all over it, (which turned out to be a video card problem) he said, “no, it’s the screen that’s the problem,” went to a Gateway service center, and got a new monitor, which he had to pay for, and that had not solved the problem. Then, he lets me do a diag. on his PC, and found out it was his video card, and so he bought a new one, and all was good, and I got no recoigniton for it. Numerous imaginary problems later, my dad had instilled in my mind that all computers except Dells were problematic, so I ended up looking into Dells. At the time, I had a high quality machine, a Dell 2350, 1.8ghz CPU, DellBIOS A00, 128mb DDR SDRAM, and a 28x or something near that CD burner and DVD reader. Dell had also convinced my dad that wireless networking was worthwile, and there went another $200 of my money. (Mind you, this is my PC, my money, and my dad ends up as the one choosing the options.) Well, the whole thing came out to $1100 for the PC, Monitor, Keyboard, and Mouse. So I agree, and my dad spends my money on it. Well, the first surprise came. What was supposed to be “free 5 day shipping” ended up being $50 shipping that didn’t ship for almost two months after my dad’s credit card had been charged. Well, what was supposed to arrive on Dec 20, 2001, ended up arriving in the second week of February, 2002. There began my long trek of problems. My first joyus encounter happened when my wireless network failed to… well… network. I had it hooked up according to the instructions, I had all the software installed, the router configured, the modem was connected to my ISP all fine and dandy, but my stupid Dell just wouldn’t connect. For reference, we did the same exact procedure with the same exact hardware on my dad’s gateway, and it connected perfectly. So I call Dell tech support. Let me tell you, it is the least effective thing to do. You’d be better off going to Borders and picking up a complicated book about computers and trying to do it yourself. So after numerous hours with Dell, (over 45 minutes on hold at a time) they finally got one step done. Connecting my computer to the router, which involved messing with router settings. Well, now it wouldn’t connect to the internet, so Dell helped me ‘fix’ that. It connected all right, but now it wasn’t connecting router to my PC. Back to the same problem. I got frustrated enough and hung up on Dell while the idiot was talking and decided to mess around with settings myself. Well, after it would only work on my dad’s PC and still wouldn’t work on my ‘effing Dell, I wanted a refund on the router and wireless receivers, being that I paid about $200 for them, and that’s good money. Well, you can guess what would happen. No returns to dell, and I ended up keeping the router and wireless hardware, and just getting a D-link router and 200ft of ethernet cable to hardwire a network, which I was able to do myself without error… until it came to connecting my Dell. This time it was the integrated 10/100 Ethernet port. Appearantly it needed drivers not included on my Dell when I got it, and they had to be downloaded from Broadcom, the company that made the part. So much for ease of use. I had to download (after finding) the correct driver, burn it onto a CD drive, and then install it onto my Dell. I’m surprised I didn’t run into a problem with the CD drive. Anyway, the network worked fine from there, and that was that.
My next reunion with Dell was when I decided to upgrade my video card and RAM to play Halo on my computer with the graphics maxed out. The RAM upgrade went beautifully, I went to my local CompUSA and bought PC2700 DDR SDRAM, 512 megs of it, and installed it without a flaw. The video card upgrade didn’t go as well. Dell, being as cheap as they are, decided not to put AGP slots into their motherboards on any machine costing less than a base price of $1200. Mine was a $700 base price machine. Being logical, I see that there are 3 free PCI slots in my machine, so I go to the store and buy a $120 128mb PCI video card. I put it in, follow all directions, and it doesn’t work, it shows a black screen. It wasn’t the card, it worked fine on my dad’s PC, but not on mine. So I check my BIOS settings, the logical thing any computer oriented person would do. I look for a setting to switch the primary video adapter to PCI from integrated, but lo and behold, there’s a rarity only shown in Dell machines. There’s no option to select PCI for the primary video adapter. There’s Integrated and AGP, but no PCI. What I think about is the fact that there is no freakin; AGP slot on the board anyway! Wow, how stupid do these programmers get, or illogical, at the least. Anyway, I call up Dell, spend about a half hour on hold, and finally get a service rep., one who I can’t understand a word she’s saying, and she doesn’t know what I mean when I say “I can’t understand what you’re saying, please let me talk to someone else.” So I hang up in exasperation. I call again, this time wait about 10 minutes, only to be greeted by a man who I can’t understand either! What has Dell come to? All Indian reps who can barley speak english? It’s pathetic. Well, finally, FINALLY, I speak to an American rep, and they talk to me and help me with the problem. They tell me, “You select PCI for primary video in your BIOS screen,” and they walk me through it to where it should be. Everything is there except video select. The guy sounded surprised, and said I must have done something wrong, so we try it again, two more times. On the end of the third try, the guy says, “Well, I’m sorry, I guess Dell does not offer what you’re looking to do.” Well, that’s just great, I bought this video card which I can’t get a refund for, only an exchange, and I have no use in exchanging it, seeing that it’s impossible to select the PCI slot anyway. Well, I decide to Flash the BIOS to upgrade it to a BIOS from another computer that would allow me to select PCI. My first attempt, I used the BIOS from my dad’s Gateway. That ended in me killing my motherboard and needing to buy a new $180 board from Parts4Dell.com. Well, I buy the board, and this time I try to flash the BIOS from a newer, higher end Dell, which the service rep I had just called told me to try. Well, I follow his directions, and guess what. His directions lead me to doing something wrong and killing anohter motherboard, in which Dell refused to reimburse me on. So, determined, I bought ANOTHER $180 motherboard, and this time, thinking in my head “Screw Dell,” I flashed the BIOS from an old IBM we had, and surprisingly, it works, it allowed me to select the PCI card as my main video card. So I was happy with that, and that was another problem solved without the help of Dell, and in which Dell’s help caused me to spend money that I could have had for other things.
Well, finally when I get the new video card and motherboard working, It tells me that the new board cannot use the Windows XP software that was on my hard drive beacuse the OEM of the software (installed from a disk for my computer’s OEM only) did not match the OEM of the motherboard (being that I had changed it) and I end up having to format to do anything. Next, I had to go and buy a full version of Windows XP (If I recall correctly, it cost me $190 at CompUSA.) and install that on the formatted drive. (This is after pleading with Dell to send me a universal copy of Windows XP and being turned down on that request.) Well, that ends up working fine, I was just pissed off at Dell for not reimbursing me or sending me a copy of XP, I mean, after all, there was one that came with my computer that I now couldn’t use.
Anyway, besides the most horrible experiences with Dell that I have just written about, I can also say their product quality SUCKS. I know they don’t make their own parts, they just assemble and ship them, they choose poor quality parts. My keyboard is beginning to fall apart, my space bar needs to be hit hard to put a space in, which gets annoying, and the keys are getting loose. On top of that, the wire is low quality, and is strained and threatening to fall out of the keyboard. My mouse broke months ago, the plastic, cheap, low quality stuff, just kind of caved, and I don’t do much to my mouse, so I don’t see why it would, so I got a high quality wireless mouse and it’s outlived my crappy Dell mouse that came with my computer. My keyboard’s going to be the next to go, so I’m saving for a new one, and my monitor has been holding up, but the plastic on the stand is cheap, low quality plastic also, so it’s beginning to show stress and may give way soon.
Overall, to end my rant on Dells, I’ll say…
“DUDE! DON’T GET A DELL!”
-Mike
Posted by: mike on November 15, 2004 03:09 AM
Yea Dell sucks. My friend bought a computer from them which is 2.0GHZ and was pretty new i looked inside his computer because he wanted to upgrade his graphic card and there was no AGP slot. I really never seen a cheaper motherboard then that even my 700mhz computer which is 3 years old at least has an AGP 4x slot and runs better on games then my friends 2GHZ when it comes to playing Wolfenstien ET. I must say though they do have good LCD monitors and got rated good on bechmarks as for there computers i would not reccomened them to anyone. The best way just like everyone said make your own computers if you aent sure on what to get ask someone or get Asus products.
“DUDE YOU GOING TO HELL”
Posted by: Ian on November 15, 2004 10:56 AM
The company I work for buys hundreds of pcs a year, and the failure rate is approx 3 out of ten….does that tell you something? Then they send some idiot out to “FIX” the problem, and I always prove the bastard wrong, I dont repair out of the box, thats dells problem, so I call em and wait….its always a dumbass. The last guy said our telnet client gui proggy was “CONFLICTING” with the intel nic….BS, I formatted, and installed it with no problem…it took him about 10 minutes to reach the conclusion that it was our problem….yeah, right. DELL is a JOKE, and have been since they started mass producing, QC is all but non-existent…
Posted by: SCFROMDC on November 20, 2004 11:48 AM
Thanks very much for your information and diagnostic about dell. I?m one braziliam that ws planning to buy a dell notebook d505. I was planning…..
Posted by: Paulo on November 26, 2004 02:26 PM
If I need results (aware there is no corporate office ph# on dell’s website) who can i contact to get results?
Posted by: Becky on November 26, 2004 08:14 PM
MY DELL IS A LEMON!
My husband and I have been buying Dell products for our home and our offices for years, mostly due to the great customer service Dell had. We have recommended Dell products to countless friends, co-workers, and family members over the years. We know very little about other computer manufacturers due to our exclusive use of Dell. Now when people ask me what they should buy, my response is a resounding “anything but Dell”.
I purchased a new Inspiron laptop in March for the purposes of using for grad school in the fall. It arrived non-functional. Hard drive was replaced and it functioned properly until October 14. It died that day. First I spent $225 getting my IT expert to save all of my personal files, including my wedding and honeymoon photos (less than a month old and not yet backed up). He believed I had either a bad motherboard or another bad hard drive. Dell refuses to believe that.
Then I began the excruciatingly painful process of dealing with Dell’s tech support…spending hours upon hours on hold, repeating for the 20th time what I had already told previous English-as-a-second language tech support people with names like “Ace” what my problem was, being promised return phone calls and not getting them, trying to diagnose and repair, with no success, via their poor instructions this laptop, asking for the umpteenth time why I spent so much money for the 3 year extended warranty/accidental damage and next day express service when no one was willing to give me the help I truly needed.
Eventually, I screamed loud enough and long enough at a tech support person that they finally agreed to take the laptop out of my hands and send it off to be repaired. When it came back to me, it was STILL not functioning and it had a note in the box that said “BIOS updated. You have a software problem. Call tech support.” Right.
I researched on line what might be the problem and “fixed” my computer myself, and spent the next 3 days methodically reloading all of my software. At the end of the 3 days, it died again. I spent the next 2 days (including all of Thanksgiving Day) trying to repair Windows to spare myself the trouble of reloading all of my software again. No go. Then I went to reload Windows. No go. I went to reformat my hard drive. No go. I have a $1400 paperweight. And I know that the next time I call tech support, I’m going to have to spend half and hour on hold followed by half an hour explaining all of the above yet again just so that the $1/hour Indian can check his script and tell me to reload Windows.
It has now been 45 days since my laptop broke. That is half of the semester I needed it for. It is Saturday, and I am now at my office doing the work I should be able to do at home. My husband has decided that because I’m starting to go psychotic over this thing, that he will start calling Dell for me.
My next course of action is to run over it with my car and invoke my accidental damage policy.
Posted by: Lemongirl on November 27, 2004 04:36 PM
my dell is a piece of crap but their customer support and tech support is even worse
Posted by: Ignacio on December 8, 2004 01:44 AM
I bought a Dell 8200 in late 2001, and began to have malfunctions and so I called Dell support and they some how keep up with your problem history by bringing up your service tag #. Anyway I really think Dell is a great company as of now, the new XPS is suppost to be a well liked gaming system by far. I’m just wondering if when the Dell Dimension were new back in earlier 2000 to 2001 that maybe we were just kinney pigs and Dell wanted to see if customers would find out more problems that Dell didn’t know about, because at the time I purchase my Dell 8200, I notice a year later the 8250 came out and oh yeal, Dell fixed a few things in the 8200 so they decide to ditch the 8200 for the 8250, then you’ll notice the 8300 replaced the 8250. Hell, Dell has not even got a new bios for the 8200 or systems below it like the 4200 or the 2100. Its like they said, “will just forget about those computers and hehe the idiot customers who bought them too”
Oh about the tech support, I called two times on separate problems and they said they would call me back, they never did…
As of today I still have the Dell 8200, but I totally have made a new computer out of it, spent another thousand just to upgrade the things inside of it. Like when I purchased it in late 2001, it had only 256mbs of RDRAM PC800, now I have a total of 1024mbs of it, they stuck a Geforce 2 from Nvidia in it, now I have a Radeon 9700pro,( I still like Nvidia the best though). I replace the first creative labs card, which a month later after I bought the 8200 the Creative Labs card messed up, so they gave me a Santa cruz, and its a great card, now I have the Turtle beach: Catalina card in it, the same Co. who made the santa cruz. I replace the P4 at 1.70ghz with a P4 at 2.60ghz, and the 40GB hard drive with a 80GB hard drive, as you can see, I kinda got ripped off when I purchase the Dell 8200, I didn’t know about computer stuff then, and I told him to give me something which I can atleast play PC games on. Oh yeal he gave me the Dell 8200, but put the lowest processor in it, with little or hard no ram. and a wimpy sound card. Of course now Creative Labs has the Audigy whichs is an alsome sound card.
The point I what to make is that now as of 2004, Dec, Dell has found there problems they made with earlier versions of the Dimensions and now have better computers… hey we all make mistakes and learn to take a better approach at it. But still they should have waiting maybe another year or so before booting the Dimensions out in the public, and I might have bought it later on with it performing better and all…the Cool thing about the Dell 8200 is that it uses the RDRAM which at the time was the fastest ram around, now ddr2 has come out and stuff, but RDRAM is still great…
I have learned that most of my problems with my system was caused by me, but still, comeon you can atleast make a new bios for the 8200…
Posted by: USAT_Kappy-Nok on December 8, 2004 04:48 AM
Oh, I forgot to bash the tech-support somemore… >: (
To all of you who have written about technical support from Dell, I feel your pain. They never called me back, and this happened twice the second time just recently when I wanted to replace my case fan. He told me that they were out of stock of my kind of case fan on my dell 8200, and he would call me back when he gets me on the back order list. It took me about 5 minutes to help him understand what type of fan it was that I needed to replace, This can’t be right, me helping him understand what kind of fan, he should have understood what type of fan after pulling my service tag # up and knowing it was a Dell 8200. What idiot people these tech guys are.
But before this, a year are two earlier, I had an experience where the tech guy quot said “Mister, you need to be quiet. Your stepping in front of me, and not letting me talk so I can help, and I don’t like that. Don’t do that”. I was trying to explain to him the problem and he,s already was really telling me to shut-up. He said it in a mean way and loud too. What rude people they are. I mean I can’t help it techno idiot if your mad because you got employed by a company that is not all about quality. You should have known that, Techno idiot, telling me to shut-up. I wish I could have been there again in time, I would have love to tell you to shut-up and more…
I still use my Dell 8200, and I went to www.impactcomputers&electronics.com to buy a dell fan, because the tech guy never called back…
These tech support guys are hired from the streets somewhere, cheap labor I’m guessing…
My next computer maybe will be the XPS, but Im gonna wait along time and if I here any trouble of that dell computer, Im switching over to some other computer company to purchase a computer…
Posted by: USAT_Kappy-Nok on December 9, 2004 04:48 AM
Hi there,
To all you guys who hates DELL, i respect your opinions and your feelings as well. I am a DellTech.. and I must admit that this is a very hard and difficult job, why??
Because we don’t only act as “Phone Support Technician” but also plays as “Educators” to customers who are not very familiar with the big bulky black thing that is called “COMPUTER”, but please put in mind that we cannot impart to you all the knowledge that you need to be a real computer literate.I am sorry for the word but there are customers who are really dumb and real pain in the ass. Please forgive me for saying that…
We are really working hard to achieve customer satisfaction by being technically proficient. But there are certain policies that we are following, which, if not followed and applied carefully, we might lose our jobs.. We are here to help you, we stay in front of the computer and on the phone for as long as 7.5 hours a day and we deal with more than 10 problems while still trying to keep friendly at all times because we want to leave the customer smiling and happy. We are not in any ways complaining about our work and our customers, but please understand that there are several other factors that could make your computer to fail other than what you are thinking or what you wanna say. We first need to probe deep into the issue so that we can determine the real cause of the problem, it could be very easy to do that, depending on the customer’s level of comprehension and knowledge as well. This is not an excuse, this is reality. What if the customer is really “slow”? of course you would have to spend more time on the phone and more time on the phone means more IRATE customers which leads to dissatisfaction.
I am not speaking for all, i just speak for those who are really doing their best and know what their doing. We have to admit that in every bunch of apples, there are bad ones. There really are tech who doesn’t know what their doing and as i’ve read in the previous posts, why don’t they just go to McDonalds and wipe the tables clean and its much easier (its their option), but they chose to stay as Techs and strive hard to learn things that we can use to help you guys. We only ask cooperation, were not making excuses. Computer problems cannot be fixed by miracles(wake up!!). Tech and Cust need to work together.
Thank YOu Very Much for Reading…….
Posted by: Anti Stupid Tech on December 13, 2004 08:30 AM
I’ve been a Dell owner and most of my family is a Dell owner and I’m doing all I can to change that. The arrogance and short sightedness of this yayhoo above is astonishing! Most of us are fairly capable of troubleshooting a computer even with relatively little training. But when someone calls Dell service, that person is in need of help at that point. Maybe it’s minor, or maybe it’s major. That’s what these guys are paid to do. Figure that out. To make an assumption that all service related calls will be some kind of tech is goofy. If the simple-minded Dell technician would simply look at his or her advertisements, the computer is intended for “anyone” to use. “USE” is the key operative here. Not fix, not re-format, not FTP to a server, not delete a virus that may have infected the drive, etc, etc. To make an assumption this bold is the epitome of ignorance. Why did we buy a Dell? Is Dell any different than any other computer manufacturer using the same components? I think not. The ONLY difference is the level of support. For a support technician to call his customer base “dumb” and “pains in the arse” is undoubtedly not the tech I want servicing my computer. Frankly, if I owned a McDonalds, this person would not be worthy of wiping the tables. Just my opinion.
Oh, and by the way, if you have an “in home warranty”, it only applies if you have a hardware failure. If it lights up, you can spend MONTHS trying to get it to run correctly. (So it was in my case) They tend to hide that fact. (I got my own computer fixed by using an outside source. Drive was corrupt. Hmmmm? isn?t that a piece of hardware??)
Posted by: Icantbelieveitsnotbetter on December 14, 2004 02:42 AM
Dell SUCKS
Not the hard working folks who are making a living like the rest of us. No, the company as a whole that let’s customers fume at the arrogance
of company practices.
Case in point: Ordered a Axim X50v Pocket PC (really can’t roll your own)
Web site says “order by Dec. 22 and get free shipping” Cool.
Ordered it Dec. 10th.
Got email it “shipped”
Checked tracking #
Found only software “shipped”
Checked order # to find it’ll be shipped around Jan. 27, 2005
Early for Christmas 2005.
Went back to Dell site, and still posted as “get it by Christmas” To give them credit, it really doesn’t say Christmas 2004.
Ho Ho Ho honey, Merry Christmas (bought for wife).
Think I’ll have a look at my Dell stock holdings to see if I may invest MY money elsewhere.
Posted by: Kirk on December 14, 2004 03:00 PM
Hi, I really like my new Dell PC, fast and cool looking. However, the non-technical customer service experience I’ve had with Dell has been horrid. For example, overseas support personnel are not fully trained in company policy. Because of their lack of knowledge I’ve had to make repeated calls to get the response I’m suppossed to get. When I’ve asked to speak with a supervisor none is available. Reps don’t provide me with an operator number, which I want to track the calls I’ve made. Overall, I’ve wasted about 4 hours of time that I could’ve spent using my new computer with my family. Dell’s managers are to blame here. I’ll never, ever do business with Dell again. Ever. Chris
Posted by: Chris Leonard on December 19, 2004 11:08 AM
I am both a Dell user and a soon-to-be former employee of the company. I can definitely say from an insider’s perspective that Dell is absolutely egregious when it comes to customer service (Please note that I am NOT saying this out of spite since I’ll be no longer working for them). I worked as an Engineer in Manufacturing at their plant in Nashville, and what I can definitely say is that ALL they care about is just getting these systems out the door. My manager many times would even tell us, “It’s not how many systems you build, it’s how many you get out the door.”
Given that, I can definitely say that the company does not care at all about customer service. It seems that they were so focused on getting computers out the door and marketing, where they seem to have forgotten that a majority of profits tend to come from repeat customers, and considering how we are bleeding customers day in, day out, we cannot seem to sustain ourselves in the long-haul (Think I’m kidding, consider the fact that our volumes for the upcoming fiscal year is much lower than before). They seem to forget what happens once a system leaves the door – they’ve put the horse before the cart when it comes to customer service and growth, and now it’s hurting them.
In any case, to those who’ve experienced Dell service (or lack thereof), I do feel for you, and I think that with the dynamics of the computer market changing and Dell’s continued negative perception in the marketplace, they’re not in a very enviable position (Ignore the earnings announcements – look at it from a long-term perspective). I’ve learned my lesson both as an outsider and an insider, and I’m going to go buy a higher quality system like a Toshiba or HP.
Posted by: Outta Here on December 21, 2004 01:45 PM
DELL SUCKS SO BAD IT COULD BE A BLACK HOLE
Oh my God! I thought it was just me out there in the the dell twilight zone! I ordered two laptops from dell on nov.23. Received them . One is complete. The other one is missing four software cds and the owners manual. Was supposed to get a free printer wiht each one. Got one. The other one is still out there in ether space some where. I have spent at least 10 hours on the phone, been hung up on, disconnected, transferred from one place to another and still nothing.When they say that they will return your call or callback…just forget it..never will happen. The laptops were xmas gifts, but hey, can’t really give someone a gift YOU DONT HAVE! I tried the email thing too. It is all crap! I am still being told again and again and again…..that once I finish the “verification” process the missing items will be sent. But I have already done this “verification” process FIVE times. I guess no one at dell keeps records. And I have been told like six or seven times that the missing items have been shipped, even been given a tracking number. Problem is that the carrier doesnt know anything about it because the item never reaches them. Then dell tells me that it was “lost in transit” . What a load of crap. Well the odds of that happening to the same person, same article and the same company is like astronomical. I have never in my life had such an incredibly horrible buying experiance. Its like they just dont care if you even GET the stuff you ordered. I am amazed that they are not out of buisiness. Isn’t there a class action suit of some kind that we could all bring against them? This has been a freaking nightmare. I think they think that if they ignore you long enough you’ll just shut up, give up and pay for your stuff even if you cant use it. One of the cds that is missing is the reinstall of the operating system. So if my system crashes I end up with a big piece of useless plastic. My husband and I have come to the conclusion that the level of incompetence and outrageous behaviour on the part of as many dell employees that we have dealt with is way beyond coincedence. This means only one thing , that it is by design! And if it is by design it means that they are knowingly and with intent defrauding the public. There is a plan. I would think that there is a law against that. I also , have had no luck getting a supervisor. I even went to the dell kiosk at the mall to see if I could get a number of someone who might like give a shit! Guess what? That guy was another ‘dell I really dont care and am not even listening to you stepford guy’. They must clone them. I think dells policy is ‘the customer is always wrong and doesnt count just get their money’. But they claim to have award winning service?????? What they dont say is that its the award for the worst service this side of the known universe!!! Well, I have no idea what in the hell i’m going to do now but I certainly am not going to go away. I will however keep sending an email everyday maybe twice a day.And I will warn every one I meet, I might even walk up to total strangers and tell them about dell.Maybe i’ll put a sign out in my yard. Maybe i’ll get a bumper sticker made. Does anyone have any idea on how to get them to give me the rest of my stuff.? UNFREAKING BELIEVABLE!!!
Posted by: zuzu on December 22, 2004 06:45 PM
Dell completely sucks.
I run a helpdesk and we are dumping them in favor of IBM. Their support is their “proving grounds” so you are guaranteed a newbie with a manual each time you call. Their parts are constantly from the cheapest bidder. I have several drive arrays that can attest to this that constantly go down cuz dell has replaced HDDs that have died with the bargain-basement special of the month each time on of the drives choked. Their professional services are staffed by the cheapie-local contractor of any given area. I swear that the guy who did work on our SAN was on meth. I don’t believe I have left anything unsaid here . HOW DARE ANYONE DEFEND THIS COMPANY!
Posted by: Steve on December 23, 2004 02:29 PM
Think it’s bad having a computer that doesn’t work, try being charged for a computer you don’t even have. I was in the dark ages for years on an ole 487 and when I finally broke down to buy one, I made the mistake of ordering from Dell. I received the computer and software was not included that was ordered and hardware was un-plugged inside. Had several other issues and after spending a couple of hours on the phone trying to get these issues resolved I was advised they would send me a new one. The guy even made a point to say, “new one, not refurbished”. My thought being, that goes without saying, after all, didn’t I order a new one? BUT, this was not the case, they did send me another and bigger than life, printed on the side of the case were the words, “referbished”. Opened it up, only to find a computer dumped in a box (no wrap), front cover busted and loose. I called and again after being on the phone for a couple of hours spoke with a supervisor who approved the return of both computers. Sent them back by brown with all the appropriate Dell Account info., received acknowledgements and confirmations, “all received, all returned” and given timeframes when my account would be fully credited, and to the day, the credit has not been given. I ahve spoke with every dept in Dell and no matter who I speak with, they told me I should be speaking with someone else. I was transferred, hungup on, drilled over and over for, my acct#, my order#, my social security#, my confirmation# and the list goes on. Still no one was ever able to give me a credit. Now they’ve turned me over to collection even after I have sent copies of all the packing slips, brown return forms, confirmation slips etc., and just today I got another letter back stating that they were unable to give me full credit, I would need to get in touch with someone else. They hide behind several identities. There is Dell Inc., vs. Dell Financial, vs. Dell whatever, and none of these seem to be able to work together to fix an issue. Unfortunately, I did not trust my better judgement when I ordered from Dell as I had already worked for a major credit card company and heard many horror stories about credits on computer returns. Why I thought they were just isolated incidence, I’m not sure. And yes, I too had the problem with representatives that I could not understand due to their lo’cal.
I would not advise anyone to buy Dell.
Posted by: Clark on December 23, 2004 06:32 PM
Dell is successfull the same way McDonalds is a success. Marketing. Does McDonalds sell the most delicious, quality food? No they are one of the most well marketed companies in the world. Does Dell have to have the best customer service to be successfull?
No, their marketing just has to convince the public that they do.
Posted by: CanuckTech on December 29, 2004 02:43 PM
Dell is an unethical company run by an unethical greedy sob.
Posted by: Worked There on December 30, 2004 10:33 AM
One reason Dell makes so much is that they have a huge government contract–every machine I’ve seen around my air force base is either a Dell or will be replaced by one very soon…
Posted by: David on January 4, 2005 10:26 AM
What happen when you mix a Dell and Windows OS? One big piece of shit…! What happen if you install Linux on it… a headache!
No matter what Dell puts on its pieces of shit still a piece of shit.
I builded PC and I can come up with a very scalable and high quality system for the same or less. Install Windows and Linux and live together happy! Do that to a Dell and you get… “Dude you got Hell!”
Posted by: Network Guy on January 16, 2005 07:45 AM
I have had three Dells over the past three years (running side by side) and have had no serious problems. The thing about Dell that really trips my fuse is the fact that to do anything with the damn computer you have to install six-dozen drivers.
The first thing I do with a new computer is blow away the half-assed operating system that all Dell computers ship with (yes, I mean Micro$oft Windows) and put Linux on it. For all computers I experienced a varying degree of success with the only problem being that the sound card refuses to work. Aparently Dell has some specially modified Audigy card that has no linux drivers for it. I ended up just purchasing a nicer Audigy card that works fine.
Now the one computer that I did re-format to dual boot Windows and Linux was quite a pain. After a fine (as fine as the Windows install ever goes) Windows XP Pro install (from my own media) I had to immediately install about 6 drivers to get the audio, network, usb, video, and some other motherboard peripherials to work. The Linux install was much easier with all the divers being installed by default except for the audio driver as detailed above.
Basically avoid “Dell hell” and buy a Mac (check out that Mac Mini). OS X is superior to Windows any day anyhow and you don’t have the hardware issues.
Posted by: Mike on January 16, 2005 07:48 PM
I cannot believe that there are people here who dare defend Dell. I ordered a Dell laptop for Christmas, and probably the only thing that did work out okay was the fact that I got it on time. Otherwise, they didn’t put in the correct processor or memory card, and parts of my keyboard were damaged upon arrival – translation, the computer is utterly useless. I have been on the phone with tech support twice and they have done nothing but transfer me back and forth. I don’t know which is worth more – spending time with these clueless idiots or chucking my laptop out of my 9th floor Manhattan apartment.
NEVER BUY A DELL!
Posted by: Never Again on January 18, 2005 01:06 AM
hello, my name is frank..i bought a dell a while back..those assholes ripped me off..they give me the cheapest brand of RAM and they gave me a cheap PS (power supply) it was a 250W…i was so pist when i found out..so i got another case with 450 PS and the fricken motherboard wont even handle the case..so dell raped me hard..and i am only 15 years old and i spent over 1’300 bucks on it..it is freaking ridiculous…if i could i would put that cheap ass dell out of business and make a new company that has parts that are reliable..even though i am 15 years old i can do alot of stuff..
Posted by: franky on January 19, 2005 02:10 AM
Dell computers are good. And the tech support is fine too.
Posted by: Shine Raj on January 26, 2005 03:11 PM
you know guys.. the reason why your computer crashes is that you folks doesnt know how to take care of your computer. a lot of you doesnt even know how to do a scan on your computer. you should scan your computer for any spyware or viruses regularly. and dont you just download everything that pops out of your computer even if it says about pc protection. you are easily decieved and you blame everything to your dell system. the problem occur because of your own clumsiness. and you know what.. even if you have power surge protector, specially for the one using dial up. the phone line is connected to the modem so it will still affect your modem and that’s the reason why you were unable to connect to the internet. i dont know the reason why you guys buy a computer that you dont know how to use and take care of. im not a pro dell person or whatever its’s just im so sick and tired hearing you guys saying dell sucks, try to look at your own mistakes first. until here.. have a nice day to everyone.
Posted by: Chloe on January 27, 2005 03:32 PM
I would like to respond to Chloe’s remark –
“im so sick and tired hearing you guys saying dell sucks, try to look at your own mistakes first. until here.. have a nice day to everyone.”
I am a Dell computer purchaser who has had nothing but problems with my Dell Latitude, and the maniacal clowns who claim to be Tech Support. I do agree with you, Chloe, in that users make many errors in downloading just any file and not taking enough proactive measures to keep their systems clean and taking proper care of HW parts.
However, what I will say is this:
1) In this day and age, given the proliferation of computers in our lifestyles, the likelihood of needed service and maintenance is much higher than before. Given that and given that the PC and desktop markets are becoming increasingly commoditized, the differentiating factor is not so much “Will my computer break?” or “How good is my computer?” but rather, “How effective will my computer company’s tech support be in the event of something going wrong?” In this latter area, DELL FAILS MISERABLY!! I also have an HP Media Center desktop PC, and in the last 8 months that I’ve had it, I have had 3 problems with it – 2 HW and 1 software issue, but the difference with HP and Dell is that HP resolved my problems promptly (last one took under 8 minutes!!!), all on the first call, without the run-around, without the lack of professionalism, and without the inconvenient long wait times as Dell (Incidentally, BTW, I still have not resolved my issues with Dell as of today when I write this.). So the issue here is not so much whose computers are better or how to prevent things from going wrong, but rather, who provides the better service in the event of something going wrong, which in this day and age, something most likely will.
2) Rather than just make a simple blanket statement that “Dell sucks” what I will say is that a company whose service has warranted (as one user above stated) it being displayed as a role model of bad customer service, and has also resulted in numerous hate websites such as this (also keep in mind that only a small percentage of dissatisfied customers are likely to express their dissatisfaction very vocally or online) does say something about it – IT’S CUSTOMER SERVICE IS EGREGIOUS!!! And while its users and customers can and should be more proactive about caring for they systems, this does not serve as an excuse for Dell to just slack off in providing good service and go about with impunity from criticism by its customers.
Thank you for your time.
Posted by: Not the Issue Here on January 28, 2005 11:53 AM
i bought my Dimension 4400 from a friend for 75 bucks and has pentium 4 1.7 ghz with Only 128 megs of ram ,what a mistake on dells part windows uses at least 70% of the ram leaving me with 17-25 megs to work with how stupid!..i build my own all the time thought I was getting a good deal.hmm and now am forced to go to ebay and get memory for it.$30 for 512 Now thats a good buy.and the power supply?hmm ive upgraded it to 400 watts for 15 bucks thanks for being so cheap dell! i hope the listen to all these may ill post this on my website so i can tell people dont buy a dell
Posted by: sky on February 8, 2005 12:22 AM
Dude you are so right, i called dell 10 times in 1 day and i got cut off everytime, and i always get some stupid person that cant spell my name, Jordan Kanner, they spell it Jerden Cenner. I freaking hate dell, yet i have one, actually im on the phone right now for the 15th time……
Posted by: Jordan on February 12, 2005 04:20 PM
I worked for a company Dell outsourced to Canada. The company is called SITEL. Dell doesn’t support software issues so when someone has a simple problem,or help with spyware, networking or backing up files, Dell hires SITEL to do the selling and tech support. Some of the tech support is in India and Dell most Americans just don’t understand their heavy accents.
One night a 10yr old girl called looking for help setting up e mail. Dell policy: charge her the $39 for tech support.
Another night an 80 yr old man called. His computer was having memory issues. Of course, he only needed to clean his temporary internet files and defrag, but Dell tells SITEL to charge him for the help.
The quality of their computers are going down too. When I worked there, there were many calls about the harddrive catching fire!!
And a lot ot people think Dell and Earthlink are in on the spyware deal too. Dell calls its customers to offer 3 months free internet with Earthlink (a provider with serious spyware issues). People say great, but then get nailed with major spyware problems. They call Dell for help and Dell charges them $39 to download anti spyware programs which are free over the internet!!!!
Even Dell customers with computers which are days old and have small, simple software glitches are charged a fee for software support.
READ THE FINE PRINT WARRANTY DOES NOT INCLUDE SOFTWARE “ROUND THE CLOCK TECH SUPPORT IS HARDWARE SUPPORT”
Hardware usually never causes problems as much as software does. It’s just a giant scam.
And Dells outsource partner SITEL is a modern day sweatshop. Workers take 80 calls a shift. They get chased down in the cafeteria if they are 1 or 2 minutes over on their lunch break. If the provide any help they get in trouble for it. They receive call after call without a rest until their break, and customers are usually furious at Dell. SITEL only gives 1 to 4% pay increases after 6 months of employment. SCUM
DELL AND SITEL = SCUMTELL
I had to tell my story. It killed to force Dell customers to give me their credit card numbers for software support Dell should provide free.
They just suck.
Steve Rose
twentynineroses@hotmail.com
Posted by: Steve Rose on February 15, 2005 07:21 PM
Originally posted 2005-11-02 20:53:04 -0400
I just acquired a used non-working Dell. I thought I would be able to get it working again until I took a look inside. Their hardware is very proprietary. I can’t use anyone’s parts but theirs to repair it. Dell sucks!