Dell Hell

[cube_rat]

I will never order another part from Dell.

Situation 1:

I purchased a great computer, don't get me wrong. Since my purchase of my desktop in early October, I've had to replace the wireless keyboard which was still under warranty. At no time did the CSR tell me I needed to ship the defective wireless kit back. I received an invoice in the mail yesterday billing me for the wireless kit replacement. The invoice indicates that I need to ship back the replacement by 12/1 in order to receive a credit to offset this invoice. It's only $59, no biggie. I'll pay to spare myself the aggravation of having to run around and ship things. Then there's the overhead of following up on shipped back items and ensuring I get credit, which I can't deal with. Oh, the wireless replacement kit was refurbished to add insult to injury.


Situation 2:

I went on-line and ordered two black printer cartridges and 1 color. How hard is that? Confirmation comes back with the items I ordered. It's bad enough we get screwed with paying $106 for two black and one color cartridge (ouch), but they messed up the order! I get the cartridges I ordered yesterday, but the packing slip indicates, 4 black cartridges and 1 color. I call and indeed there is another shipment on it's way to my home for the remaining two black cartridges. So, my credit card will have $180 charge on it until I return the two cartridges, which means running around to ship and follow-up on items.

Okay, I'm done ranting.

 

[JPatrick]

Yup, the boys at Dell are doing their level best to kill the golden goose.
I went through Dell Hell last year over a laptop they couldn't seem to fix.  Ended up with a free bigger/better machine, but no forgiveness on my part.
Never again!

 

[education]

IMHO, Gimme a Gateway any day. They are great machines at pretty reasonable prices. They have a good tech staff and can be fixed locally--and that's a deal maker for me!

Professor

 

[Marshac]

I used to be a Dell cheerleader- good products, and good (corp) reps. Unfortunately my last two reps were promoted (too many sales? ).... the first one was totally awesome... the second one, ok... my current rep blows chunks. I request quotes, and the prices quoted are usually HIGHER than the prices on the enterprise website. It pisses me off. These days I have to cruise the small biz/enterprise website for the best deals, and PRINT OUT my shopping cart and fax it over to her so that she can 'match' the prices.... I have never ever had to do this before, and probably won't continue to do it much longer. When I fire off a quick email requesting a quote for a 48 port gigabit layer 3 switch, I want a quote for that- not a 48 port 10/100 unmanaged switch- which is what I got recently. Good thing I double checked those specs!

Golly... I initially responded in order to support Dell, but looks like I can't.

 

[justin]

As a small business Dell customer, the prices are always noticeably higher when talking to a phone rep than when pricing a system online. I think they have more deals and promotions online. For some reason they won't match the deals on the phone. Plus, I didn't like the constant upselling from the rep.

"No, I really don't need 4 gigs of RAM and a 500 GB hard drive for my mother in law's new internet surfing tool. No, I don't need a 21" HD monitor with that. No, no, I don't need the x Blaster 4000 super mega bass subwoofer speakers with that either, even though they are $20 off of $399."

 

[SteveR]

I have been a long time Dell user and am distressed to hear these issue with their customer service. I recently purchased my 6th Dell for home use and have two others still running. I have also funded several other units for college use by the kids so I am no strange to Dell products and service.

You need to report your issue and concerns to Dell customer service so they have a record of your issues. This may not have an immediate effect but will in time rise up to the appropriate levels for resolution. Costs are a bear in this business and upselling is one way to make more money with little effort on their part. The use of "live" CS reps. on the phone is an added cost over the internet so they upcharge for this. Banks do this all the time. I don't agree with it as a customer but do as a share holder.

 

[Marshac]

Our 'Systems Consultant' from Dell's 'Advanced Systems Group' came on-site today to chat, and I asked about switching dell reps... he didn't necessarily like hearing about my issues either, and said to contact him directly if I have any other problems like that. So there you have it- contact your advanced systems group rep.... sounds like a good solution for all you small biz/SOHO users, right?