Dell complaints

[Barabajagal]

Dell make nice machines I was told, good value, etc, if you're one of the lucky few, if you're even lucky enough to have it delivered... My bad I guess for not doing my own research.

This is a long rant, I apologise in advance :p

My funky new Inspiron 9300 was s'posed to be delivered Monday, after waiting like a patient monkey for 4hrs, I thought I'd phone the courier... the automated telephone menu directed me to Dell.. the automated telephone menu directed me to the courier.. the automated telephone menu... you get the idea. Not to be thwarted cunningly I fooled the menu system the next morning by stabbing random buttons til I got a human voice.

'Customer refused delivery'.. wth? The courier had either attempted to deliver in a parallel universe or my modem problems finally had sent me barking. They would phone the courier and get back to me.

Next morning I phone again, to be told I had refused delivery (ahem?), then that there had been a payment problem, and my laptop had now been returned to Dell. Straight onto the bank, absolutely no problems miss, the payment has been authorised and is waiting for collection. Back to Dell again, I ask when this apparent payment problem happened, to be told on Monday before the delivery. "So this 'customer refused delivery' line is complete rubbish?", some hesitation.. "yes ma'am". o.0! They couldn't have given me a call to let me know on Monday? "...". Their finance department would call me.

Yesterday I call again, by now I can hear them groaning at my voice, and I'm almost starting to enjoy myself. I was told he would personally phone the finance department and get back to me...

This was a bit bizarre, as I'd been recommended to Dell by a couple of people as an ok company, and ran my laptop choice past a couple mates to their approval, so...? Time to stop being lazy and do my own research - I started finding entire websites devoted to Dell bashing , loads of dissatisfied customers, unlucky ones who'd had their laptop die or fry and spent months having similar fun with the customer 'support'. In one consumer poll, Dell customers were 18% of the respondants and accounted for 58% of the complaints. Dell appear to have also taken down their customer support forums due to the mountains of complaints and bad publicity. One Dell complaint site is unavilable as it's 'been hacked by unknown persons'.

I had a very interesting conversation with a collegue, also an ex-employee who had worked in the finance dept until made redundant as part of Dell's cost-cutting, along with farming out their helpdesks to India - she told me all about the rapidly dropping standards and proportionate radical increase in complaints, with some worrying anecdotes, and told me not to bother. I had written a formal letter of complaint on Wednesday, and complained through the website with it's '24hour' response. Needless to say, no response from either. However good Dell may have been for the people who recommended them to me, the message I was getting was that they're going down the toilet in terms of customer service, fast.

Don't get me wrong, it's not the poor guys stuck on the end of the customer 'care' lines, they did their best to help within the limits of what they're allowed to do. I've no doubt they're under specific instructions. It's the ones higher up who need a good slapping.

In light of this I decided this was a warning of what could be to come, and phoned today to cancel. Whoa! Suddenly I finally get a call from them 10minutes later, offering to send me a unit immediately. I want to cancel. They offer me 10% off and give me a manager's number to call at any time. Sorry I don't want to chance it, if this is indicative of your service, then I'll be in dread of something going wrong with it. They offer 15% off! Desperate Dell? Yea I paused, but they could have done this way before, on principle alone I told em to stick it (politely of course) :p

So the moral is, don't buy Dell unless you have a ton of patience or fancy your luck, or if you do and have a problem - you might be able to get a nice deal

So I'm adding my rant wherever I can, like here, and to anyone who cares to listen and to those who don't. I wish I'd bothered to find this site before I ordered.

Personally, I feel I had a very lucky escape.
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Everyone is normal until you get to know them.

[paul_dellcc]

[Barabajagal]

Thanks for the advice, I didn't think I'd have to worry about getting a refund as I phoned to cancel on Friday before they shipped out a replacement.. I was s'posed to get a phonecall yesterday confirming cancellation, but instead got a phonecall confirming delivery!

Despite the previous 'payment problem' it's now miraculously gone through, so I'll take your advice on getting the refund.

On the plus side, one of the customer service agents has taken my case on board and seems to be keen to rectify the situation, so fingers crossed.

Thanks again ^^
_________________
Everyone is normal until you get to know them.

[paul_dellcc]

Anytime.

Please keep me posted.
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I see DELL people!!

If we don't remember our past, we can't understand our present and we can put in danger our future...

[dontbuydell]

I know several people at Dell... Most of them are former co-workers who are now with Dell as project managers, service mgrs etc. After some questions to them about their procurement system I was told it was somewhat... ok very antiquated. It was written in house several years ago and evidently they have problems with it frequently. I know it's not a small task to migrate to a new purchasing platform, but seems to me in Dell's case it would be in their best interest. Put a little of that 28% jump in profit from 2Q and 14B in revenue back into the business.

[Badger]

From what I understand, pretty much every system they use is old and outdated, or at the vest least, doesn't work properly. You would think for a major corporation they could at least picked the systems that worked and kept them for themselves.
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[Barabajagal]

Two weeks after I cancelled (for the second time) finally got my refund, as well as a letter of apology from one of their senior execs, which I feel I need to reply to in case they're sincere in their promise of an internal investigation. I don't want the customer agent who took on my case after the mess up on delivery to get scapegoated, not his fault.

Given the length of time the refund took, and the confusing messages over delivery problems, it sure seems like it's the processes and systems that need an overhaul. I hope Dell sort it out, it's a shame as I hear the machines are good if you get lucky with a robust build, but they won't be getting my custom again, or my family's (I'm the family helpdesk/guinea pig for all things PC, I have one waiting for a laptop recommendation and another saving for a desktop, both first timers :p). The importance of service can't be underestimated imho.

On the plus side it's forced me to do my own homework on what's available, and I know a lot more than if the machine had arrived without problems, so every cloud and all that - I'm in a much better position to make increase the chances of a positive experience for my parents on their first laptop, and reducing the number of calls I'll get

Thanks for the help and feedback
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Everyone is normal until you get to know them.

[paul_dellcc]

I'm glad to hear that you finally got your refund.

It's very good from you to reply that letter saying that it was not the rep's fault.

I'm happy to know that this website helped you in some way.

Feel free to continue to browse the forums and share another experiences
_________________
I see DELL people!!

If we don't remember our past, we can't understand our present and we can put in danger our future...