Dell complaints

[Tidus]

Hello everyone!

About 14 months ago myself and my wife Kasumi purchased 3 Dell PowerEdge SC142c servers, 2 for our home web network, and one for my company, KJ Computers. After 3 months, one of them developed a RAM fault, and i had to phone Dell up, to get a technician sent out, as we'd taken out on site warranties, as these things are way too big to lug around!

I was surprised, the technician turned up on time, was pleasant, polite, and a really friendly guy. He had the machine fixed in less than 30 mins, after checking everything was OK.

My opinion of Dell started to change for the better, but i still hated the fact that they use proprietary PSU's in their desktops, i am an ex Dell employee, and worked for them when they started using non - standard PSU's in September 1998, and that changed my opinion of them.

Anyhow, another 3 months after, the second server developed a motherboard fault, and this time as usual, i phoned for a technician. On the day he was due out, i recieved a phone call from Dell, saying that he'd been called out to another job, and couldn't come to me!

Do they not run to a schedule? They did when i worked there! So it looks as though they also stopped the technicians working to a schedule, as well as using standard PSU's in Sep 1998!

Anyhow, the techie did come the next day, but it was a different guy from last time, and this bugger was a quiet sod! He simply fixed the machine, explained what he'd done, and left!

Geez!

The last time was the funniest, and the worst!

The third server, which hosts my wife's website and blog developed a PSU fault. Again, i phoned for a technician, and they gave me a slot for two days later, which caused Kas to go mad, she didn't want her network being down for so long, and i agreed, but we HAD to wait.
On the day, the technician phoned, to tell me he'd got lost. We all laughed when he told us he was in Stratford, not Stretford!

Stratford was miles away, in London!

3 hours later, he arrived. This fellow was a nice chap, we all had a laugh about his predicament, that proves how silly Dell's tech line support staff are!

Anyway, the machine was fixed, and so far, they're all running nicely again!

Moral of the story: Always run to a SCHEDULE! It increases productivity, and saves hassle, which Dell don't seem to do!
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Regards,

Tidus Johnson (KJ Computers Senior Executive)

[V8s10Blazer]

you should have just built your own servers!
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big companies + lots of money + lots of customers = bad service!

[cherry]

Difficult to get something like the address so wrong especially as they use the Post code checker in the UK, every Postcode is so unique all you need is a postcode and it'll give you the street ,number and town etc. Also the onsite guys are Unisys technicians, they are contracted by Dell to do the onsite fixes of service calls booked, they are not Dell employee's.
Lastly your warranty dictates the level of service , NBD (Next business day) SBD (Same business day) and SBD 4hour (Same business day within 4 hours) and Servers DONT have CAR (Collect and return) warranty.
You obviously have Bronze warranty which is the basic warranty that comes by default (NBD warranty), when contacted by Dell to say they had to send the engineer to another call YOU should have said
" Your service Level agreement is for NBD and you want Dell to stick to the contract" If they fail to abide by the terms of the contract ask for compensation.... or to put the wind up them ask them how they expect to be rated in a VOC survey if one is sent, they'll do everything you want then.
What really happened is a call came in for a 4 hour warranty customer and they pulled your engineer and re-assigned to the more important customer ...that is the person who bought the better warranty.

[Rocke_T_Sinetist]

Perceptive and concise, cherry. Much as Dell appears an exercise in ambiguity (which they worship, internally), there is a fairly-easily-arrived-at reason for everything they do. The overriding principle of course, is 'cheap'. I think we can safely assume that (snicker) Unisys and (shudder) Solectron have their relationship to Dell by virtue of having been the lowest bidders.

Just like their products--if you catch them on a good day you'll be satisfied; if you or your circumstance catch them on a bad day, you'll come here and grumble about it. That's what we're here for.
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Rocke T Sinetist
as in, 'it doesn't take a...'

[Faithykins]

Dang! I'm glad you at least got your tech! I'm still waiting on mine like a week later.

And they had my power supply shipment in August 8th! o_o And even before then, they were just always receiving the item back whenever they supposedly couldn't get ahold of me, which is bs because I always have my phone on and with me. No missed calls or ring.

[Tidus]

The technicians are quite nice guys, i had a good chat with them, and overall they got the job done quickly, and our corporate network was up again in no time, with only a few hours downtime.

The thing with Dell that made me despise them is what i've said in another post. They build desktops with nonstandard PSU wiring, and flog the systems cheap, so that non savvy users will be tempted to buy. The problem arises when the warranty is out, the customer DOESN'T need a new machine, and wants it fixing. You have to get in touch with Dell, who then send out a power supply, and bloat the charges.

My wife has never had to do it with her 3 Dimension 1100 machines, because i work with Dell's i have a few spare supplies.

Does anyone know exactly how much they charge for replacement power supplies? Including shipping and handling e.t.c?
_________________
Regards,

Tidus Johnson (KJ Computers Senior Executive)

[Tidus]