Dell complaints

[djangojazz]

Buyer warned NEVER I repeat

NEVER

buy anything through Dell Financial Services. I could show you the whole yahoo conversation but 4 key things about Dell and you can read my blog or don't but please skip to my 2 conclusions as well at the end:

1. They never like to put anything in writing, all sales are over the computer or phone. They can deny everything later this way.

2. What you saw on the internet site, mailer, or other publication for "INTEREST FREE FOR 18 MONTHS!!!" is absolute BS, but I would like to hear from you if you do have something interest free and what your credit score is compared to mine, but I'm at a not too shabby 704 and I was at about 730 till Dell's crap happened.

3. No one that speaks English will ever help you, everything is outsourced by them it seems as of the 3rd or 4th quarter of 2004. You'll see here and other places these pathetic employees that say "I LOVE DELL!!, I WANT TO HAVE DELL's Kids!" or stupid crap like that. Generally they'll say that thing to you over and over again instead of explaining why they are too stupid to get anything done for you. You get better help on Dell's forums than from their own support staff, they hire people that barely have the equivalent of IC3 certs try to tell you your Win32 error might be fixed by restarting your computer and recycling the running processes... WOW and did you know you can delete programs by hitting start>control panel>Add and remove programs(add sarcasm).

4. Dell will ignore your direct question if they are at fault as long as possible untill made to answer it, ask you to call another place that doesn't speak english because financing for a part isn't the same as financing for a credit protection plan.

My story as basis month 7 of it:

I got my last computer in Oct 04(and last Dell product ever) and thought it was pretty cool they did direct financing. I got an atrocious 29% APR, which is basically highway robbery and believe me they DID NOT tell me the APR on the phone, just the ole trick of it varies.... yeah and so does the amount of BS Dell now does. Anyways fast forward a year, I make decent money I pay it off with the atrocious interest as well. I start looking to buy an HDTV, Dell actually has good deals on prices, they aren't listed as horrible on their TV's anywhere I found, I see they are interest free for 18 months. Score, I go to an ACTUAL KIOSK of Dell's in a Mall, talk to a PHYSICAL person, they say I qualify for interest free, yay! I get the TV, keep in mind I already am part of their "Preffered Account" club, I get my bill about a month and a half later no interest. Yay I still have a 2 weeks to send back and it is interest free.

Here's the fun part next bill: Well Dell says I owe them the full cost of the TV minus my one payment, but a deffered interest payment(any accounting majors here? How do you defer a payment on an account that is already open?) that is huge, another interest payment(just for fun I guess), and I'm enrolled in Dell's credit protection plan for the low low cost of only $20 a month that seemingly does nothing. I immediately call Dell, I wait 20 minutes to talk to Panshaniguu that wants not just the customer code but my birthdate, I wouldn't give my social over the phone, and it seems like everything else. He can barely type and woops I get disconnected midway through. I email them about charges and a plan I never authorized I get this crap like:

"We offer our sincerest apologies...."

and then basically a whole lot of nothing, no explanation, no real meat just an empty apology. I threaten legal action, I get this idiot response like I am 5 years old and explained what interest is. No sh!t Dell but it wasn't what I agreed to and I never authorized the plan, no explanation of why I ask again, get 1st response again. Ask again (4th time mind you), it's suggested I call! So keep in mind kids when Dell screws you, it's up to you to make time to call and get disconnected from them, their button that says "support" really means "screw you!". I get disconnected ask a 5th time why and get no answer except somewhere at this point someone points out they use an "internal" scoring model(in layman's terms you have to be so rich to not need Dell's plan to actually qualifty for anything interest free).

I'm pissed at this point, I file a claim with the Better Business Bureau against Dell. They take forever just to respond, who does respond is completely incompetent, says I opened my account on a wrong date, says that the interest free plan was only for XPD systems(yes that's right Dell's new models to replace the decaying XPS systems), and that I was told I didn't qualify but they would refund my money in their credit plan and unenroll me. Now I must admit I was hasty before and once bitten twice shy, so NO I DON'T drop the claim with the BBB I want my interest free HDTV damnit!

Well lo and behold they credit me one $20 fee and keep me in the plan, the BBB doesn't have the might to go against the multibillion dollar world's largest PC manufacturer. They basically say "good luck man, get a lawyer" and what does Dell care they can have a 100 complaints a month against them and that's just a few million in costs. So here I am with what I thought was a good deal of their(In January mind you) 26 LCD TV for about $1,000 when I saw it at it's lowest after watching for 3 months. I now after all my bitching got credited only about $160 or so back to me. Should I really take this to court? Is it worth the time?

I don't know, but I do know Dell is not charging a darn cent more than what is legal anymore on paper and I'm keeping my whole Yahoo Email with their incompetent staff in case I do need to go. But I'm ranting here, and aside from their mindless drones that come here and invade other places telling you about how great they are think of it this way:

Dell 3 years ago used to connect you right away to someone to help you IN AMERICA that just wanted your service code, and could answer questions on your hardware, OS, or possibly your LAN connection.

Dell now puts you in touch with someone in India that has a heavy accent(but I will admit they are friendly at least), wants tons of stuff before they will even start, and will ONLY help with hardware related stuff.(so basically my 2004 plan for the ultimate super duper 4 year plan is now trash, I didn't get Dell on Call, how stupid of me not to get something that didn't exist at the time).

Dell uses CHEAPER than cheap parts from China, and aside from if you get a new GPU, it's mostly cheaply made parts that aren't tested unless you get a long warranty. There are tons of horror stories on the internet of people getting brand new pc's with other pictures or documents on them.

2 conclusions:

1. Dell sucks not because this happened to me but because they did nothing about it, have tones of people they continue to think they can just ignore and I was a loyal customer for 3 generations of PC's and a TV from them. Where if you are asked me about the other 2 PC's I would be telling you to buy Dell. Dell went from first to worst in customer service, they don't care, they sell more, f you if you have problems buy another PC, pay us more money or shut up!

2. Dell isn't the only one that makes computers. Might I suggest Fujitsu, A Fry's Machine, or other company that will put something in writing before you buy. I would have said Alienware, but guess what Dell bought them so expect the Porshe of the prebuilts to become crap in under a year if Dell brings their level of service to Alienware. Do your research before you buy and if someone won't put something in writing, WALK AWAY!
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If you advertize something enough in America and are big enough you can make something that doesn't work, has no support, you won't fix, and keep making a profit.

[david (aka dvdpiddy)]

Sorry to hear that you had experienced dell hell. I_Luv_Dell_Corp is probably gonna argue like hell with you over this.

[djangojazz]

Fine, I would love to have someone that is about Dell resolve this. If they can't then what they say is just empty talk. Dell sucks, everything they now do is to cheapen their product and charge their customer more by enticing them something is too good to be true. Chances are with technology and costs.... it probably is. I learned the hard way.
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If you advertize something enough in America and are big enough you can make something that doesn't work, has no support, you won't fix, and keep making a profit.

[Rocke_T_Sinetist]

Under an electron microscope, the sales agreement says:

If you fall into the 15% of Dell customers who have a problem of any kind with the transaction, we have NO INTEREST! in helping you.

Good luck with the TV. I don't want to jinx it for you, but 'Dell' TVs cannot be repaired out of warranty.
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Rocke T Sinetist
as in, 'it doesn't take a...'