Dell complaints

[kimberlemae]

At first I was so angry, I emailed and called and emailed and called, and all I ever got was Rajeesh telling me too bad.

Now all I can do is sit and cry about the $2k I still owe to Dell Financial Services, and the two, year old identical laptops I have with bad boards they couldn't care less about. I get better service at freakin WalMart.

There has to be some way they will be held accountable for what they are doing.

[AngelusDaemonicus]

Sue them. DELL isn't fairy too well withing the legal system of late.
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"One man's garbage is another man's DELL."

[kimberlemae]

What kind of attorney do you hire for that type of case?

[Rocke_T_Sinetist]

Hi, Kimber. We're neighbors. Euless.

Sorry, but I don't think you have any grounds to sue. When the warranty's out, it's out. Expensive way to learn that Dell is crap. Also, expensive way to learn NEVER to use Dell Financial. The payments are guaranteed to last more than twice as long as the machine, and that guarantee doesn't expire. I think you'd find if you sent them the balance you owe today, you'd get another bill for ~$100 for paying it off early.

See if you can get a local shop to look at them. Best case, they could make one working one from two brokens. But I don't want to get your hopes up too high. Since they're Dells, chronically cheapened and underdesigned by people who don't really know what they're doing (Chinese who don't give a fark either way), it's likely the same thing wrong with both of them. Some shops won't even take Dells. They're so chronically unreliable, the shop can't guarantee the repair will last 90 days.

Let me guess, they might charge the battery but the power won't come on?
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Rocke T Sinetist
as in, 'it doesn't take a...'

[kimberlemae]

Hey, yeah were are neighbors, I am in Roanoke.

I know you are, in all likelihood right, but it doesn't hurt to be a squeaky wheel. I emailed a bunch of the "higher ups" at Dell (that I found on this website) and cc'd the OAG, several people at PC Magazine, the Dallasnews, Austin Statesman, and a couple consumer complaint websites I found.

If nothing else, typing the emails relieves my stress and anger over the whole situation for a little while.

Kim

[Rocke_T_Sinetist]

See your other thread for more legal data and options.

And it never hurts to make your problem widely known. Dell DOES occasionally clean up its messes, once they reach the level of public awareness.

That you have 2 identical, failed systems barely out of warranty, brings into question the marketability of Dell products, which has become increasingly suspect since they started laying off engineering and functional staff in 2001 and dumping design integrity off onto give-a-shit Chinese vendors. It might fall under the Texas Fraudulent Business Practices act, which does strike fear in retailers, though I can't say exactly why or what conditions qualify for compensation under it.
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Rocke T Sinetist
as in, 'it doesn't take a...'

[kimberlemae]

[Rocke_T_Sinetist]

They're calling YOU, about an out-of-warranty system? You must have piqued them, somehow. Most people in-warranty get promises of callbacks which never materialize.

Total screwball company. That's why we say to never do business with them.
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Rocke T Sinetist
as in, 'it doesn't take a...'

[AngelusDaemonicus]

See, "nothing they can do," hanging up on you and raising their voices or screaming... what part of that does DELL think is an OK way to treat a customer?

There's a reason why they're losing in court so very often. Stuff like this comes out.

How would they like it if every customer they ever burned, drove to their local DELL offices and shot their PCs through the windows and vandalized the entire property? They'd be pissed, I reckon. Well, that's actually exactly what they deserve and worse. What they deserve is for every single one of their customers to not pay another DPA bill and never buy another one of their shitty machines.

DELL needs to come to an end. But, as long as people are gullible or ignorant, there will always be customers to screw over.
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"One man's garbage is another man's DELL."

[Commendatore]

@ kimberlemae

I think you have a case if the the bad boards were not caused by misuse. If not, Dell obviously sold you lemon computers. A desktop system sold today will have a practical life span of approximately 5 years. Three years is a reasonal lifespan for a laptop.

State Lemon Law and Federal warranty law protect consumers from being stuck with "Lemon" automobiles, computers, and other defective consumer products. To add insult to injury, you still owe $2k to Dell Financial Services. I would definitely pursue it.

Consider starting by writing a certified letter to Dell Inc. corporate headquaters in Round Rock, Texas. Tell them the problem and politely demand satisfaction, that the laptops you purchased and are still paying for are lemons and you would like new replacements or a full refund. Also submit it to the Dell Unresolved Customer Service Issue webpage:
https://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/dellcare/outstanding_issues_care?c=us&l=en&s=gen&redirect=1

That's a start and by taking action it will relieve your stress and anger over the whole situation, like you said.

[kimberlemae]

It may be odd, but yes, they have called me daily for at least the last 7 days. Each time, they try to get me to settle for their offer de jour. Today's was, if I purchase the 2 new boards, they will send a tech to me at no charge to install them. Other offers were; refunding me the two, $40 fees I had to pay to out of warranty support, which told me I needed a new HD in one, which I purchased, only to have the same problem. They spent 3 days trying to get me to accept that one.

I don't have a lot of spare time, but I am using what I do have to push this to the absolute limit, even if that involves some type of lawsuit. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that if 2 exact computers have the same problem, there is a glaring defect somewhere, as there was no misuse involved with either of them.

Hopefully tomorrow when the 30 or so people I emailed get back into their offices, I'll get at least one reply to the email I sent. I'm not holding my breath though.

[kimberlemae]

[Rocke_T_Sinetist]

Though their initial response is always stonewalling, diligence and persistence HAS paid off against Dell, short of legal action.

Hawhawhaw, where did you get the line "it doesn't take a rocket scientist"? If you got if from me, I charge $15 to license that. I'll just bill your DFS account. They will triple it plus interest and service charges. You might as well just paypal it to me. You know, the 'direct model'. I'll try to arrange zero-percent financing, but I can't guarantee you'll qualify.
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Rocke T Sinetist
as in, 'it doesn't take a...'

[kimberlemae]

[rustyboots]

kimberlemae,

If you have to email anybody at Dell again, add in the CC line every email address you can find in computer and business magazines. I did this once and got a call from high up in Dell. Though he was more concerned with the email I sent than with the fraud I explained.
Dell covering the rear end.
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rustyboots (i use to slave at dell)