Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Mini Dell Hell, a Touchy Feely Thing, and Customer Service at it's Worst!

Well, seems every time Dell comes out with something lately, it is followed by an announcement on the dell company website, telling purchasers exactly why their product is faulty.

Batteries burning, video cards melting, products not available until hell freezes over (dellhell one would presume), or some version of all of the above.

Latest case in point is the new Dell Inspiron Mini9 computers, Dell was late getting to market with these new machines, after the appearance of similar machines from their main rivals, and now it turns out that if you ordered the Ubuntu version they are improperly formatted, leaving you with only 4 gb instead of the 8 or 16 you should have!

Of course Dell provides a solution, but that is kind of like Ford selling you a car, it is broken when you take delivery, and then they tell you to fix it yourself! Makes you wonder doesn't it?

On the Minis running XP the problem is similar to many other launches of dell brands, they state on the website that the computer is ready to be built and neglect to tell you that although it might be ready to be built today, it won't be... computers ordered as recently as Oct 15 are not going to get built until at least November 12.

Way to go Dell!

In a departure from the norm, the notorious Inspiron line, full of turkeys like the Mini9, and subject to numerous lawsuits, is having to share the limelight, this time with the Latitude line of tablet pc's. Seven months after launch the tablets "multi touch screen" still doesn't perform as advertised. Seems the wireless card also quits working at random moments.... Imagine trying to wade through customer support for this one! Dell Hell indeed!

Double Way to go Dell!

And last but not least, this nightmare from a Dell Customer which I reprint here in it's entirety simply because
a.) It is typical of Dell
and
B.) A summary of this horror show doesn't do it justice

QUOTE

Dell renegs on promised discount, customer charges
By
George Gombossy
on October 19, 2008 5:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I would like your help resolving an issue that I'm having with Dell computers.

Back in November, 2006, I contacted Dell Tech Support for assistance in installing more memory on my Dell computer.

The tech sounded confused at as I was following his instructions, my computer started smoking and making flashing lights. He bounced me around for 14 hours (I'm serious) to various people all over the world.

When I asked if I could speak to Dell HQ in Texas, I was told that Dell didn't have anyone in the US. I finally got someone who admitted that I was given incorrect instructions and it fried my motherboard. I had a Dell warranty at the time, but was told it would take a week for service. Luckily my brother-in-law is a Dell-certified technician for his company and Dell authorized him to service it and would send me $100 to pay him.
After a few months of no check, I contacted Dell, who had no record of my call. I looked up their HQ's phone number online and called Michael Dell himself (actually his secretary). I was told the Mr. Dell doesn't take calls. I was able to get his personal fax and faxed him my complaint.

I received a call from Dell Customer Care immediately, got my check overnighted, and was promised 15% off my next purchase (at the bottom is a copy of that email). Well, I placed an order online today, emailed the Dell Customer Care person, and got my email returned undeliverable.

Phone calls to Dell today keep getting me bounced around to Tech Support and Sales. No one can assist me because they said that they can't look up employees in the US.

I'm at a loss. The only reason I went with Dell again is for this discount.


Yours truly,
Tony Cane

----- Original Message -----
From: Connie_Muegge@Dell.com
To: bigtcane@comcast.net
Sent: Thursday, January 11, 2007 11:22 AM
Subject: Cust # 58097209


Good Morning again: Here is my promised e-mail. I will honor a 15% discount on a new system should you decided to go with Dell again. Once you have your order set up contact me with an order number and once it ships I will write the credit. I am about to set up the MCR to send out you r 100.00 check. Again I am very sorry for your experience. Connie

Connie Muegge
Dell Inc.
Executive Support
Care Resolution Center
Americas HSB Care
1-800-624-9897
ext 72-68324
connie_muegge@dell.com

END QUOTE

Triple Way to Go Dell!