Dell complaints

[shawn.elliott]

Wow guys, this site is fantastic and really makes me feel a little better knowing I'm not the only person with Dell issues...a LITTLE better. This is my first post, and hopefully, with no discredit to you guys, not the first of many. I have had my Dell Studio 1737 for about a month now, and with no embellishment, spent no less than 4 hours per day on the phone with them for the first 2 weeks attempting to "resolve" various software/hardware issues. This is more time than I've ever spent with Indian people in my previous 27 years combined. Not that I'm saying they're not worth spending time with, simply that English is my first language, and when it comes to somewhat complicated machines such as computers, I expect the same from the person on the other end of the phone. For fear of making the readers ears bleed I won't get into the nitty-gritty and I'll skip to the end, but you should know up to this point my situation involved everything from basic stone-walling to actually being accused of having menstrual problems (an obvious note is that I am male, thus lacking the ovarian minimum requirements). After making what I can see is a common request to return my system, it seems that it went downhill from there, and that I had been forcefully shoved from it's peak. It appeared to me that Dell was quite content in washing their hands of this issue by not having to deal with my annoying i-want-a-working-computer scenario, however, even managed to make this process more complicated (go figure) than it needed to be. I officially declared 'Shenanigans' on Dell when I was given the impression that they didn't want me to call back, I could tell this, because an agent sternly said to me "don't call back here anymore *&%$!". The *&%$! was silent, but the tone in her voice said it all. Now at this point, I had spoken to quite literally dozens of people, most likely over a hundred, all from the same locale. Not to sound racist, but with names like Raj, Madhava and Amoolya, I was not the least bit surprised to find out I was mis-transferred (go figure again) to the corporate office when someone named Eric answered the call. Also, imagine the complication when asking these model Dell representatives for information on the ombudsman. I could practically feel them soiling themselves as they tried to decipher this 6-plus letter word, and was actually told that Dell did not have an all-goodsman (a laughable, but honest mistake), or an on-boardsman. After being hung up on 4 times, and speaking with 11 people, I finally admitted defeat on this quest and considered, again, hanging myself with my mouse corde. Since I have been denied, repeatedly, to speak with anyone above a supervisor (BTW: the individuals that Dell hires as managers, most companies wouldn't use to scrape gum out from under desks), I call upon you, my people, my companions trapped in the seventh circle of Dell, to rise up and help me take this company down. Ok, maybe I overshot that a bit, but if someone could give me the phone number of an ombudsman or director, that would be a huge help, and a decent start. Thanks for listening to my rant...

[Tailmon]

Welcome to Dhell Hell! What you need to do is contact someone in the USA. I think the ombudsman is for Dhell employees not issues with systems. Dhell used to have 2 of them I do know that the Black Guy is nothing but a Dhell mouthpiece and not to be trusted. You would be better to submit a complaint to the BBB. I'd also try these #'s

These for for an OSP:


8004563355 ext 7280260



8776713355 ext 7244444
_________________
Former employee of Dell and can say that they
definitely Suck!

[shawn.elliott]

Thanks for the advice. I think that contacting the BBB is a good idea, I had to deal with them once before over a Toys 'R Us ordeal and it turned out alright in the end. I should also include a part I forgot to mention in my rant about how one guy said that Dell doesn't have to abide by the Privacy Act. By the by, I worked for Dell for a short, albeit excrutiating time as well a few years back.

[incident_man]

If you used a credit card, not the DHell Preferred Account (DPA), initiate a chargeback request with your credit card company, indicating that you were stonewalled while exercising your right to return the product because of technical issues. This would be the best bet to avoid any restocking fees, and DHell would have to pay to ship the product back to them as well. If you used the DPA, then definitely contact the BBB, as well as bring your equivalent of a US State's Attorney General's office, the Canadian equivalent of the Federal Trade Commission, and your local/regional media into the equation. DHell has a tendency to listen to customer complaints when government agencies and media outlets are involved.
_________________
Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia.

[shawn.elliott]

Unfortunately I financed through their deceivingly named 'Dell Financial', a 3rd party (who's surprised?) financing company, which I'm sure will end up biting me in the ass sooner or later. When I do eventually send this thing back my plan is to remove a few of the keys from the keyboard and maybe the mouse button and await they're call, to which I'll reply with "Oh I'm sorry, did you not get what you were expecting and/or paid for? Please hold while I transfer you to to my mentally challenged cousin who refuses to pronounce consonants"...anyway, my concern is that they'll still keep taking payments out of my bank account due to this tomfoolery.

[shawn.elliott]

So today, just for kicks, I called in to attempt to get the contact information for Dell's privacy office. I already knew where it could be found, but figured since they've wasted close to 100 hours of my time on the phone, I may as well return the favor, and stir the pot a little while I'm at it. I'm well past the point now of being frustrated as it just seems typical that when calling, it takes atleast 30 minutes to have a conversation with someone that lasts for more than 45 seconds (obviously not counting hold time). As of yesterday I started to keep a tally of the amount of transfers and hang-ups I end up on the wrong side of, and today was reasonable (14 transfers and 4 hang-ups). I also got the name and employee number of everyone,which I'm sure led to some of those hang-ups. I recall speaking with a girl named Venkate (ven-kah-tah), which I couldn't help but giggle at when I asked her her name and I swear she said sphincter. Say "it's Ven-kah-tah" quickly and you'll see what I mean. There was one light in this tunnel, however. After accidentally being transferred to the corporate office (the only place where english-speaking people seem to be herded) I spoke with Gabby, who actually showed genuine interest in my situation. Of course this point was moot, as she was not able to help since she was not in the consumer department, and I was quickly whisked away back to India. The consumer department, as it turns out, is where all of us peasants get tossed into the maze and have to fight the minotaur at the end. I'm sure if most Dell customers were polled, and given the option to call in to the center or fight a minotaur, we'd all ask to be sized for chain-mail.

[shawn.elliott]

well it's been a while since my last contact with Dell, and ultimately, my last string of complaints. I noticed about a week ago that my computer was running slowly, and my internet connection was dropping more frequently than a football at a leper's-only picnic. After some self-convincing, I finally built up the courage to call in to technical support for some assistance. Of course I get the same first steps as any other call, about any other issue with any other computer: unplug the computer and plug it back in, then take out the battery and put it back in. When i asked the agent if he used this same method when a light-bulb burns out, he seemed dumbfounded by the analogy, and kindly advised me that a computer is not a light bulb. This doesn't answer my question, but does explain why my christmas tree looks funny this year. So after the nonsensical unplugging and re-plugging, the issue (wait for it...) was still there. The agent went on to what seems like the next automated response, and suggested I reset my computer to factory settings. I do believe that this suggestion is actually a bodily function at Dell computers in India, as it seems to be the most suggested "fix" in the history of computing. Rather than troubleshooting to find the exact issue, it's quicker and easier for them to just erase everything and start all over again. The agent stated that he was out of options at this point, and re-installing windows was the last thing he could do. As per usual, I needed to ask for a manager. At this point all the memories from my previous incidents came back at me like a tidal wave, and I knew I was in for a treat. After about an hour of arguing and holding with this manager, I finally gave in to the re-format. He suggested I back up my info and he would have someone call me back the next day. To my surprise, the call actually came, and only 10 minutes later than promised. I told the new agent that I had backed up all my data except for my internet bookmarks, which I asked if he could help with since I had forgotten. In all one word, he said "INeedToTransferYouToSoftwareSupportThereWillBeAChargePleaseHold". Obviously not happy, I quickly asked why, and he said because his department only deals with hardware, and the internet is software. I feared that he may have missed my point, but this would not be the first, or last time. I clarified for him that I meant why would there be a charge, and he simply reiterated that his department solely deals with hardware issues. By the time I was done with this agent, his manager, and his manager's manager, I had a total of 4 answers to a question I didn't ask, and 0 answers to the one I asked 4 times. Not a good ratio at all, but I believe this is somewhere around average for Dell. I was on the phone for about 45 minutes with Dell technical support, and it took me less than 5 to google "how to back up firefox", and actually run said back up. I called back in to tech support, and to my disbelief actually ended up speaking to someone who didn't have an unintelligible accent. Of course I was told this was the wrong department, and that I was speaking with the business tech support area. I asked the agent if she would kindly help me start the re-format, as it would only take 10 minutes to get things started and I could be on my way. Naturally this was refused, and she casually explained to me the difference between my piddly little "home-use laptop" versus the upper-crusty business-folk who have the honour and privilege of speaking with her. Her point was that she deals with certain types of laptops, while india deals with others. This point may have been valid had we been talking about a hardware issue, but when I told her I was using the same Vista OS that her "business" clients were using, she told me it didn't matter (which it does). She basically told me that her department is in charge of tying red shoelaces, and I needed to speak with the blue shoe-lace department. After making my point that there is a difference between "can not help" and "will not help", she still claimed to have no idea what I was talking about, so again, I asked for a manager. Her manager came on the phone a few minutes later, and advised me of the same thing, that she could not help with a "home-use laptop", and i'm surprised he wasn't curious about where I would plug one in in a cave anyway. I went through the schpeal with him again about how I'm only asking for operating system help, and nothing hardware-specific. He seemed more focused on his ego, and making his point that I am, in fact, a peon, and not worthy of breathing the same air as him. I told him that we had been arguing at that point for 45 minutes over an issue that could have been resolved in 10, he blamed me, saying that I was the only one arguing. He said that this issue could have been resolved if I had simply been transferred to the "correct" department. This was a ridiculous statement, as his department was no less correct in this situation than Dell India would have been, but he wanted to make his point. So again we went back and forth on this, arguing about not helping me, rather than just helping me. I think he was under the impression that we were somehow now involved in a contest, and if he gave me any information at all, he would lose, and the world would end. I asked again for his name. nothing. his manager's name. Nothing. The last agent's name. Nothing. I was told repeatedly that I didn't need that info, and that these were not the droids I was looking for. He ORDERED me to be transferred to India, at which point I told him another reason I refused to speak with them: our country's economic state. I was not going to support outsourcing when 3/4 of my family has been left unemployed due to the constant cut-backs that almost every company is going through, and has been going through, and will continue to go through. He understood this as "blabbity blabbity blah...blablablabbity boo", and completely ignored what I had said, so that he could tell me again I needed to speak with India. I know he put notes on my account saying something about transferring me directly to India when I call, since I called back later into customer service to file the complaint, and immediately after giving my service tag number, the rep said she would be transferring me to technical support in order to further assist me. She then put me on hold and transferred me. When I called back I was lucky enough to speak with the same agent, and when I asked her why she transferred me without even asking me what I needed help with, she told me that she assumed it was technical, so transferred me...hilarious. I registered my complaint, but I'm confident that the agent was ignoring me, and probably more focused on today's crossword. 17. Down - Incompetent

[Rocke_T_Sinetist]

Welcome back Shawn. Surely you didn't expect the situation at Dell to improve in 7 months? They only get more retrenched.

Editorially, you write well except for 2 things. Excise the redundancies, and paragraphicate. A 2-screen block of continuous scrolling text is extremely hard to read.
_________________
Rocke T Sinetist
as in, 'it doesn't take a...'

[shawn.elliott]

thanks for the tip, i'll try and make it a little easier to read going forward.
Now moving on to the reason for my visit; I need help. It seems both mentally and physically now, since my later encounter with the super-awesome-megatastical Dell Effing Computers.
Since my last post I have spent many hours on the phone with technical suppote (this is how they pronounce it, so I may as well spell it that way, too) trying to get my short-bus worthy laptop working at a reasonable pace again. As per usual, and as mentioned before, it was suggested that I reformat my hard drive and re-install windows. I advised Dell that I had misplaced all of my discs during a recent move, but they assured me that they would re-issue everything I needed to get back up and running without missing a beat.
I was shocked that it only took 1 business day to get the discs, so this could only mean that something else would go twice as wrong to make up for it.
And did it ever.
After re-installing everything, manually, one-by-freaking-one, I recall having to install my Microsoft Office. Oops. It was never sent. So on the phone I go for my daily spat with Dell, knowing full well it's not a battle I can win, but I unsheath my sword nonetheless.
After a rather short 15 minute wait I finally speak with someone from customer care, who advises me they cannot send out a free disc, even though he accepts blame for the mishap. He claims it's a Dell policy that they cannot send out free Microsoft discs, because it's not their product to give away. When I explained to him, kindly, that this seemed rather unfair, he asked, "who's fault was it that YOU lost YOUR disc? was it Dell's fault? huh?" Wow. After I gave him a decent blasting about being atleast somewhat curteous to customers, I then asked for his manager of course. He yelled "NO!" like I was trying to bathe an unwilling infant.
So we move on to the inevitable round 2, which like any sequel (I call it Dell Hard 2: Dell Harder) had more course language and twice the body count. I ended up speaking with a "manager", whom by the end of the conversation, had called me a liar and ignorant. Now I don't mean she implied that I was, or hinted that I was, she actually blatantly called me a liar, and that I was ignorant.
Up to this point I had not so much as raised my voice, I simply portrayed to her my dissatisfaction with the previous agent, and went on to explain my ever-groing situation. After the second time she called me a liar I demanded her manager, and I was told she had no manager, and that this was "the end of the line for [me]". A line only fitting for a sequel's villain, and I could only assume she had an eye-patch, or some other minor defect that she was trying to compensate for. I inquired as to how I could go about getting recorded copies of our loving conversation, as well as the notes posted to my account. This information was downright refused as well, even though account notes and any recording of my voice is also considered my property, just as much as it is Dell's. Once again I was hung up on because I wanted answers, and they couldn't give them to me.
So now I not only have a useless computer, but a useless phone, since i promptly smashed it against the wall in frustration. Go me.
So, to backtrack: I need help. Does anyone out there have a contact number for VP of operations? This seems to be my last resort before buying a plane ticket and just going Team America on the whole call center.

[Rocke_T_Sinetist]

I don't know a way out of that one. Dell may not be obligated at all to duplicate Office once they've sent you one hardcopy of it, so I don't think the attorney general/FTC route would help. Not sure a VP would either, they're not really paid to care ya know.

I should know exactly where, but I don't. Somewhere on this site is a list of Dell contacts. It's a couple years old and many of the contacts surely no longer work there. We got it from The Consumerist, maybe they have a current one.
_________________
Rocke T Sinetist
as in, 'it doesn't take a...'

[Altair75]

Go hang out on the Dell blogs, Dell Twitter, Dell Facebook etc, let everyone there know about your experience. Create a Facebook account or Livejournal account and document every call. Maybe even record a few and provide audio links. You will get their attention. Add lots of people to your 'friends lists' , this will motivate a Dell 'tiger team' to come and fix your problem to shut you up and give a happy ending to the story.

Keep us posted here, there's a sub-forum for this sort of thing.

Best of Luck to you.

[shawn.elliott]

[shawn.elliott]

[Rocke_T_Sinetist]

You may have perceived Shawn, that anyone you can actually reach at Dell is typing a keyword for your situation and reading what pops up. That's all they're authorized to do, and all most of them are capable of doing.

Even if you have a perfectly-clear and unquestionable claim, the script engine may well not recognize it, and the result is you get no result.

"Our policy is _____ so you need to deal with it"... by choosing another vendor. The stonewall inflexibility you encounter with Dell is intentional. There's an army of MBAs at Dell, doing and producing nothing but adding to that stonewall.

Let's face it, what can an MBA add to an engineered product? Absolutely nothing. The most patient, concerted effort to explain the simplest engineering parameters to them makes their eyes roll back in their heads. That's not prejudice, that's firsthand observation.

Now, line up about 5,000 of them. Give them nothing to do, but a piano dangling over their heads if they DON'T find some way to cut costs, regardless of from where. The stonewall you encounter is what 5,000 MBAs come up with over a period of roughly 5 years, all the while inbreeding by hiring and promoting each other.

That 'upper-level business' thing. Surely you've seen that before. You've just never seen it done as profoundly and unilaterally as it's done at Dell.
_________________
Rocke T Sinetist
as in, 'it doesn't take a...'

[shawn.elliott]

I put my face through my drywall yesterday. I'm not exaggerating, there is actually a shawn-shaped face print on the wall in my livingroom. It hurt, but not as much as the conversation that led up to it. On the up-side, I have an excellent new conversation starter.

I, once again, mustered up the energy to call Dell (there was a montage to "eye of the tiger" and everything) because after I re-set my computer to factory settings, it now has almost 100GB less space than before the re-set. I use an external drive for 99% of my work anyway, and anyone who uses a Dell should know why, so I really only had about 15 Gigs of stuff on the HDD before the reformat.

This somehow multiplied into 98 Gigs of hidden garbage that needed to be erased. I found the 'windows.old' file and erased that, so that got rid of about 35Gb of space. I'm not sure how that file was so big, but it doesn't matter. There's still 62GB's of material somewhere that cannot be found.

Dell made the fabulous observation that "it must be there somewhere". I made a joke that maybe it's in the same spot as my missing Microsoft Office program, but of course he didn't get it. It's ok, it wasn't funny anyway. The part that really pinched my sack was when he asked me "how am I supposed to know what's on your hard drive?". Once again a question that's both unacceptable and a testament to their lack of, well, everything that sets you and I apart from the animals. I told him that it's at it it's original factory settings, so he should be able to tell me exactly what's on on it, but by this time I'm sure he was already back working on the latest facebook quiz, since he deemed this issue resolved with a capital "F-U".

My phone rang about 2 hours later, and to my surprise, it was a "manager" from Dell following up on my call from earlier. I laughed out loud, I lolled. I may have even Rofled for this one. She asked what was so funny, so I felt obligated to tell her. I told her that I thought hiring tusken raiders for a technical support job is funny, especially when Jawa's are the obvious go-to choice for anything electronic. I told her it was funny that they hire managers whose resume's are less impressive than my last bowel movement. And I told her I was surprised that she could get any work done, what with the angry mob on her porch all the time with the pitchforks and pre-lit torches. She remained silent.........for about 15 seconds. Then asked me if I would like to speak with a hoddwer suppote represnejnfkjn to continue troubleshooting. And that's the tale of the dome-dented drywall. The End.

On another note, I sent out some emails to michael@dell.com, michael_dell@dell.com, michael.dell@dell.com and saul_dell@dell.com and have gotten responses from the first 2 from agents saying they are investigating the issue. I swear I heard the Benny Hill theme song in the background so I'm not taking it to heart.