Dell complaints

[umiwangu]

Hi,

Stumbled across a link to this site on another forum, widescreengaming or something like that. My experience with Dell is mixed. My brother had a Dell 3000, and it wasn't too bad. We live in Africa and computers are difficult to get, so we're just thankful for anything. He did just unload the 3000 for $900 to some business. He wants to upgrade to the e510. He just uses it for schoolwork and light gaming.

I have worked on computers some and I'm not really that worried about their poor tech support.

My sister just got an e1505 as a gift, and I think the first thing I will do with it is do a clean install of MCE (yes, I ordered the OS cd).

My dad is also looking at getting an e510, upgrading from a homebuilt Duron 700Mhz. (Yeah, it sucks) He just does a lot of spreadsheets, email, administrator stuff.

I also was thinking about upgrading to an e510 (have a desktop replacement laptop right now, ECS A-928), but I decided I wanted something much more upgradeable, so I will build my own.

Maybe I will learn enough on this forum to turn me off Dell. I'm looking forward to browsing.

Seth

[Ms_Louise]

I found you all after spending over 2 hours on Dell Chat today and still not getting a resolution to my issues. I am hoping that if employees and managers actually read this perhaps they will move toward fixing this issues within Dell.
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Why the heck did I buy a DELL???

[paul_dellcc]

[Ryudo]

T_T i found this website off of wikipedia.org after looking up some stuff on dells cause my dad plans on buying me a dell laptop for college. T_T i dont wanna dell!

[tga]

Well, I am here from searching complaints on Dell service.

I spent over 5 HOURS being on hold, diconnected, dealing with someone who knew NOTHING about the system and what to do and being transferred between various tech support people, only to end up back where I first called. This is Rediculous..

To make things worse, I simply called to get assistance with upgrading to vista because when I used the disk DELL sent me to upgrade it blue screened my computer, but I had it running again but was missing some original things my computer came with. The 3rd person who finally chose to talk to me (after I had been disconnected once and went BACK through the hold process, of course no one called me back,,, haha)this person said he would just restore the computer and had me reinstall the setup and then call back to the CORRECT person to finish. When I called back and simply needed to put the drivers back in the dude was so dumb that he could not even get the drivers back on right and NOW I can not even access the internet and finish installing. After almost 2HOURS of him trying to FIND the wireless drivers he NEVER GOT INSTALLED, he said he had to ask his supervisor AND HE HUNG UP ON ME AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I gave him 5 minutes to call back and then I called again... This is midnight now and I was left on hold until 1:45AM and then I was sent back into the initial call loop(if you need technical support press 1)!!

I knew they were ignoring my call, but wanted to see just how long they would leave me there,,, so the answer was indefenitely I guess.

I am so steamed right now that I wish I could return the computer if this is the support Dell has. I just got the computer in Jan and am regretting it.

That as REDICULOUS.. and now I have a new computer and have to borrow someone elses to get online..


I am steamed.

TGA

[FallenAngel]

There's hope!

Goto the Dell website, and look at the very bottom of the page. There's now a link that you can use for "unresolved issues". It DOES get monitored and I'm sure that someone would be all over your case.

In the good way

[swan]

currently working with OTS dell,i'm not so sure that i really hate dell but i love to working with them but anyhow we are having problem cause some of them not really over taken dell product.

DTS not facing the customer react but we are having with a lot of sucks attitude so problem can solve but need to improve the dell product very soon.

better play save...
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Dell technician will help customer what going on but 1800 num is boring to hear troubleshooting style.....

[NoRulez]

He he... some intersting views, positive and negative...
Stumbled here from the "tongue-in-the-cheek" Wikipedia "Uncyclopedia.org" - now there's some real gripes!
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You are what you believe! Be the Reason! Take pride in what you do!

[tlorang]

I've been waiting for 45 minutes for a technical call back and I whish from the bottom of my soul that I could go back in time 3 months and NOT order my new DELL.

I went on a search about customer satisfaction for DELL, something I should have done earlier, and found a on-line article that mentioned this site.

Truth is that I've owned a several DELLs and bought them for my Daughters when they went to college and I never really had any bad luck but this last one makes up for it. And the frustrating thing is that when I try to speak to someone about my frustrations or even write a letter I get no response that even indicates that they care about me as a customer or that they even want me to buy another DELL computer.

Reading all the posts tells me that my experiences are not unique so I won't even bother to repeat them here. Just know that it has involved failed hard drives, patronizing and condescending tech support, financial services from hell, misleading infromation from sales, tech support hang ups and no satisfaction at all.

Has anyone ever successfully returned a DELL product for a refund?

Thanks,
_________________
Tim

[Apathy]

[tlorang]

Thank you Apathy.

I suspected as much. It is just amazing to me that a company like Dell could be so clueless about customer support. And I used to be a fan.

My intention is to pay off the DFS loan quickly and I will use the "My Shit's Busted and I Need Help Fixing It" section because what seem like simple things takes HOURS to fix on Dell's technical support calls.

Thanks again,
_________________
Tim

[maod]

Per recommendation... moved to Why Employees Hate Dell

[FreeSpoken]

I found this site by looking for information Dell seemed hesitant to provide on Qualxserv i.e. contact information in case I missed their call, plus I wanted to find out how big the company is and where all they are located. This was done as Dell tech put me on hold. Below Qualxserv's Google link, I found this site and was intrigued, decided to take a look. When I saw what was being said about this company I showed it to the tech when he got back. He also was intrigued enough to take a look.

As a side note, this same tech said he'd call back today, but instead someone else called yesterday to say they would call again today to see if Qualxserv had set up an appointment yet. Hmmm, why do they need to ride herd on this company I thought, and why replace the tech I was working with, same one who said they'd take ownership of my repair and said they'd send an email which I could contact them through which didn't work. So now my case number has been changed, the original tech vanished, and I've been given a phone number and extension to call that also probably won't reach the person who had called. Got to love Dell, they know what they're doing and are determined to keep the consumer confused while bouncing us around like we don't have any choice in the matter, and we don't. Every time they pull this cra* I let them know I'm on to it at least! By now I'm on their 'difficult to BS' list which suits me fine.

[Studio17Destroyer]

Hi All,

I own a Medium sized PC repair business, which I branched out & started sellling Gamers, workstations, home PC's etc..

I had been a Loyal Dell Customer since 1995. I even have an old
XPS(before XPS were gamers) Pentium 100Mhz PC with 4MB of RAM and a 200MB hard drive, that still works.
(with Linux and a 160GB USB HDD upgrade)

In 2003 I had bought the HORRID Inspiron 5150. It overheated the first time 38 days after I was shipped the POS...

Damned Dell couldn't keep a P4 3.06Ghz CPU DDR333Mhz and a
64MB 5200 FX Video card cool. it overheated 13 times, in 15 Months.
(good thing they come out & repair them in 2 days) with the last, overheat, causing an actual browning of the palmrest & touchpad.

It ended by me telling them to keep the piece of shit, and I would buy a notebook from someplace who cared, and told them, I'd recommed my 4000 plus clients NEVER buy a Dell again, that they were worthless, untrustworthy, decietfull, etc expletives, expletives

Dell responded by sending my a Inspiron 6400/E1505 as a replacement unit.
2.26Ghz Core2Duo
2GB DDR2 667Mhz
100GB 7,200 SATA150 HDD
ATI 256 MB X1400 with 768MB of Hypermemory otherwise known as system memory when needed.
plus all the other goodies they could throw in it.

IT wasn't even refurbished, but a brand new build
"For all my troubles"

That has been the best notebook I've had so far. I never had a problem with it. I put a skin on it, and it looked great....Well I'm tough on my notebooks, they must be pulled out in places, people wouldn't dare, during weather that isn't great. Sand blowing, rain, etc...
What a brute of a Notebook.

However I was still hearing complaints from people, whom I hadn't recommended Dell to(I stopped after the 5150 fiasco)

#1 Indians who don't speak english.
#2 Dell don't care
#3 Dude Dell SUCKS


I saw a contest from Laptop magazine on:

How to Fix Dell !

I posted my 1,000 plus words to the editor, and was notified 3 Months later, that; I won the contest
I can't go into length here about what it contained, but lets say I covered everything above plus 100 other things!

(I got a $100 Visa card as the prize)

Anyway, two years go by, and I'm wondering how much of what I
wrote, which was sent to Dell had been put into effect. Dells were appearing in Stores, so that point got across.

Was Dell Listening to people?
They have that Dell direct blog, maybe they listen to that

I guess we'll see. I know they have North-American Tech support again, albeit, something a Dell customer must pay for, Dell is still phasing out the Indian Help desk, that is so BAD for them, and their image..
(another point taken.)
The Brahmen (spelling) Class from India
are the Highest class (of the Caste' system we learned about in history)

They a taught to believe they are better then EVERYONE, even if they are only making $20 US dollars per day, they still "Know"
in their heart of hearts they are
better...cough...bullshit...couch couch..

SO This is why they treat americans, and the rest of the world like shit on the phone.

Well, back to the story.

My Fiance' decided I needed a new notebook.
She built me a Studio 17, with an american on the phone (Custom) and it showed up, to my surprise.(I didn't know she had done this)

Wow a Vista Ultimate X64
Core2Duo 2.53Ghz
4GB 2 x 2GB DDR2-800
2 x 320GB 7,200 RPM HDD's
256MB ATI HD 3650 (1768MB Hypermemory)
Plus all the bells & whistles. I thought, WOW Dell hit another home run.

That night I put it to sleep, the power light was flashing on & off, to tell me of its slumbering state..My how happy I was.
That ended the next day, when (after putting the notebook to "sleep")
I woke up to seeing the power light that was flashing, was on Solidly.

I lifted the lid, and burned my finger in the process.(lawsuit anyone?)
The Mute & Vol-up lights were flashing on the Multi-media touchpad.

It was SO HOT, it took 4 hours to cool off.
I ran the diagnostics. Both the second HDD, and the fingerprint reader were toast
(Dell's biometric facial recognition isn't compatible with 64 bit, so I didn't get that as I prefer the 64 bit)

So I call Dell, during the call, I hear
(DO you want North-American based support 24/7)
click 1...I payed the $149 to talk with an english speaking Tech.

I told him about the flashing Mute & Volume up touchpad buttons. He said
It's the AMD drivers. Update to those in the link I'm sending you, and I'm sending out a Tech, with a new second HDD, plus palmrest, plus the other parts.
I said ok.. but send along the stickers, since this thing isn't even a week old. No problem.

Since it was still doing the:

Come out of sleep mode with the lid closed, 5 minutes after it was put into it, with no USB devices connected, and the Wake on USB feature turned off in the BIOS, I saw this as a Build flaw. someone really screwed the pooch, on this one.

They need to fix this in the BIOS!!

Since this was still going on, I bought a NZXT Model CRYO LX Aluminum Notebook cooler with 3 x 120mm Fans and kicked them to HIGH with the adjustable speed control.

Oh when the Tech came out to replace the parts, I figured a Motherboard would have to be part of it. NOPE. Just the palmrest & second HDD.

I showed him how it did this before & after he replaced the parts.

He told me he hated the Studio line they were Crap.

I contacted Dell, and told them the problem still existed, and how I couldn't see it being a Driver issue, as it did it with Vista's stock driver, and Dell's.

I asked were the blinking light troubleshooting codes were on the Dell site, they said it wasn't up yet. I said you don't have the troubleshooting codes?

I said this thing is going to burn up, if left un-attended, due to the fact that the LCD display comes on when it comes out of sleep mode, but the fan never kicks on, creating a fire hazard.

They told me a replacement system was on its way. I said no I'm going to have my fiance' contact Dell and request a refund.

Some how this Studio 17 was delivered on the 20th day of invoice. When we called, we were 28 days from invoice and the person stated a refund would be out of the question. I said if Dell hadn't taken So Long to build the POS we wouldn't be this far out of invoice, and I told them, I'd like to switch to a XPS M1730 and pay the difference. He said that was not possible, and suggested I take The Replacement system I was being offered.

I said OK, I'll take the replacement system. Interestingly, the replacement doesn't do the strange out of sleep-mode error, of the first..

They sent me a box to send the original back. I told them that it was damaged, and they said that was ok.

I backed all my Data, up from the original, and took it and put it on a cookie sheet, and put the CRYO-LX under my new (Remanufactured) Studio 17[Which at least still works 100%bas of now].

I then put the old one, on my desk, away from anything flammable
and used it for 10 minutes to make sure I got all my data off of it, then I closed the lid, planning on putting it in the box to send back, the next day.

Well I went into the office, the next day. I was surprised! The power light wasn't on at all???
In fact, when I went to open the notebook I founf that it was stuck shut, due to the LCD melting down into the keyboard. I somehow got it open, and it was a mess. I was surprised when I was able to get a picture on my HDTV with a HDMI cable. I ran Diagnostics but it was for all intensive purposes FRIED.

I called DHL for pickup, keeping the battery, as it still worked.

All I can do is hope my replacement doesn't do the same, and warn others
Keep it on Dell's recommended profile, when your not playing games or using Photoshop CS2/CS3 and need the High performance profile. Just remember to set the profile back!

Use hibernate instead of Sleep if yours does wake-up out of sleep. No you don't have a virus, I never had my first one connected to the internet via anything other then Cellular, and I don't do attachments, nor open email from anyone but close contacts.

I wish I'd taken pics, but by the time that happened the service tag had been transferred, out of my name.



Dakota Joe