Complaint Review: Dell

I have now spent more than 150 hours trying to get some
form of cooperation from Dell. The first computer they sent either didn't work or the the tech was uninformed. I was sent another (surprise) which also had to be reformatted before it worked properly. This was In Jan., 2003.

I asked to have my 4 year warranty updated to a time when the second computer arrived. Appx. 1 year later I tried to access Dell support on-line with my service tag number and it said that my warranty had expired!?! I contacted support by e-mail and she said that my information had been incorrect and she would fix the problem, and, yes, at that time I could access my account on-line.

Now, another year later, my system completely crashed. When I called Dell tech support they initially refused to help me, as my warranty had expired. I offered to send proof, but they refused to accept any proof and said they would try some minimal fixes, out of goodness of their hearts,...

After 4 supervisors said the same thing (the techs were almost useless, and multiple promises were made by these supervisors to return my phone calls, which never happened),they insisted that I pay for software support. I am now appx. 50 hours into trying to fix my system.

I very reluctantly agreed to do anything that would move me on in the process, and no surprise to me, the first software tech I spoke with sent me back to (Hardware)tech support stating that my problem was not a software issue, something I had said since the first day after we did 3 clean reformats and reinstallations of Win XP and encountered the same problems repeatedly.

They denied my request for a replacement unit and sent me back to software support, still stating that I had no warranty. Now 60+ hours. . . Finally this thoughtful
software support tech looked up my record as he couldn't understand why I kept saying that I had a 4 year warranty and his computer said otherwise.

He found that they had erroneously transferred my name to someone else's account and that, yes indeed, I had a 4 year warranty (why not one supervisor in hardware ever did this is beyond me!). He compiled a list of all of my repairs order numbers and the accurate information into one file. We tried some fixes, but he, too, said I had a hardware failure and sent me back to (hardware)tech support.

Unbelievably, they still refused to accept this, and would not replace my CPU. I was so fed up at that point that I tried to access their problem escalation team. When I finally heard back from them,(after a of couple days someone actually returned my call !), he had not read my file, wanted to do all of the tests that I had done 6-10 times already all over again, and he, too, claimed I didn't have a warranty!!??

Now 75+ hours into this fiasco, I told him I would not run these tests again, confirmed that he had not read my record by asking him outright, and said I was done with Dell. They needed to send me a NEW computer, with a new monitor and a new 4 year warranty as I was completely done with being treated like a criminal, having been falsely accused of lying so many times, given the run around and wasting my precious time.

(I must add here that I am disabled and have little functional time each day, was trying to make invitaitons to my father's 80th birthday party, which ended up taking more than 200 hours, one hour with a semifunctioinal computer, 5 hours fixing it, and that I fell and severely sprained my ankle secondary to exhaustion, from trying to obtain any kind of competent service and finish my special project (I had to be awake for 40+ hours in one stretch at one point talking to techs, and trying to get a supervisor to return my calls, that were never returned). . .my house was never cleaned and the rest of my life had to be put completely on hold...).

I also asked him for a refund of the $40 fee for software support that I had been promised if it turned out not to be a software problem, and he refused until I could send him a copy of my bill, which I had not yet received, sort of conceeding that I DID have a hardware failure. . . Angry does not cover how I felt at this point, but I continued to try to get something from Dell, but they still said my CPU was not broken, only now I said that they could only replace my system with a new one, or not send one at all, as I was done being abused.

Of course they refused. Then suddenly starting appx. a week later I received 4 calls in one week from Dell (hardware) techs asking me if my computer had arrived. I asked, ''what computer?'', and they said that they had sent a replacement and asked if I had I received it. I asked if it was a new system, they said no, and reminded them that I had very specifically had asked them not to send anything unless it was NEW.

Well, nothing arrived until after the fourth call. I looked at the packing slip, and they had sent a completely refurbished system, just as old as the faulty one I already had, and not nearly enough anymore to compensate me for my wasted time and resulting faultering health.

I called immediately and told them to pick it up, which they acknowledged, but nothing happened. Some time later, after a couple of calls from Dell asking if I had send the old system back, and requesting that I speak with a supervisor due to the complicated nature of my case (who never called), I received a call from a women (from a different department) who wanted to ''work someting out'' with me, or so she said.

I tried to be open to her at first, my mistake. The only choices I actually had were to send one or the other system back, no dfferent than any other day. I told her that I was tired of doing Dell's work for them (I had actually fixed much of the system myself, including hours of internet research and purchasing a new ethernet hub, obviously at my own expense, and which, of course, the Dell dioagnostics program that came with my system didn't find, but the MSN support tech did, and this replacement fixed many of my internet connection problems, but not all. . .), and that she could arrange to have it picked up. ''Then you'll have to be home when I (!) have arranged for it to be picked up!!!!!''.

No, problem, I am disabled and exhausted... No one came! I have received several more calls and letters, but no one will take any action. They have no record of my $40 charge, of which I offered to send a copy of, but they refused, and would not send anyone to pick up anything.

Then a week or so later I needed some info. to keep my system creeping along, and found that, again, I had no warranty according to the web site. After a big run around (you won't be on hold...no(?), only for an hour in one queue, and there were several 'passing the buck' transfers to different departments), only to find that they had tranferred my original warranty to the computer that was mailed to me, and that they would not transfer it back until I sent one of the systems back. Talk about blackmail and deceptive practices.

Well, its not over yet, now with 100+ hours invested in this problem my system crashed again this past weekend, but as I could not access Dell support anymore (!#?%#@), I went to my son's computer, and after 40+ hours of research and tweaking resulting , again, in complete exhaustion,(I ALMOST set up the refurbished system at one point), I was able to recover the system on my own.

Unfortunately, this has made me even more outraged, as I had lost THREE years of data in the first crash because they said I had to do a debugging and wipe out everything, then as noted done 2 more times. Given what I now know, I could probably have regained access to the original data if the tech had not been so ill-trained and uninformed!!! But I trusted that anyone in tech support knew more than I did (the last programming I did was on key punch cards and in Fortran).

It has taken me three days to recover my strength, but at least I can now copy the few data files I have to CD's. And now, my floppy drive is dead, even the diagnostics agree on that one, and my speakers are crackling. I am too angry to call again just now, but am more than outraged at the unneccessary loss of 3 years of my data, I couldn't even do my taxes, as the repaired system will not read my backup files. . .

I tried contacting several consumer advocate groups, TV stations and even PC magazine, but no one will help me (''You,ve got a replacement,(after how long?!?!? and after how many lies and false accusations) what else do you want. . .'') and contacted 3 law offices who are filing class action suits against Dell, but I didn't fit into their critria, so I feel quite helpless and beyond frustrated in this situation. No customer should ever have to endure this kind of abusive and criminal treatment from any company!!!

If anyone can help please let me know. I should certainly fit the criteria to join some group who is interested in filing a class action suit, even with my limited resources! I look forward to any feedback to help me resolve this issue!!

Abby
Broomfield, Colorado
U.S.A.

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