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Ripped Off, Lied To.
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

TENNESSEE -- I am a 5 time Dell computer owner. I have been buying Dell computers since 2003. Dell is the only computer brand that I have ever owned. I recently helped my Mother purchase a Dell and highly recommended them. Upon receiving it the orig computer did not work from the factory. They agreed it was a bad computer. Took it back and we upgraded to a better model.

About 8 months in the computer was working perfectly but stopped charging the battery. Dell assist worked and getting it resolved at home even sending out a new battery. Upon getting it did not fix the issue. They accessed the computer via remote desktop, did testing and confirmed a bad i/0 daughter board sent a call tag to just fix that. We sent it get a call a few days later requesting money for a USB repair.

We stated we did not have a USB problem but a non-charging issue and that it was sent in for an i/0 daughter board replacement. After 2 attempts the calls asking for money stopped. We received the computer 4 days later not in the factory box and packing we sent it in, Upon getting it out of the box immediately noticed the intel inside labels was missing from the case, then noticed the case had been burned back together with a heat gun where the case had been broken. further, an inspection found cracks in the lower case that had not even been repaired. We tried to power it on and all we get is a Dell assist error screen saying no bootable device.

Now a week later of lies and broken promise and accusations toward us, were told that it was in this condition when we sent it is which is lies, told it would not be replaced nor any extended warranty given on it. They have agreed to repair it, but this is major damage and we do not feel this computer will ever be the same as it will have to be gutted and rebuild in a new case in a non-factory setting.

My 74 yr old mother did not damage this computer at her desk nor could she attempt repairs with a heat gun on a case and its clear to see it was an attempt to hide a broken case, not only did they break my case and destroy my computer they tried to charge me the consumer for their damage under the false pretense of needing a USB port. No I did not need a USB port as they said but I did need a new case that they broke. This is an outrage. It was my 5th Dell computer and it meant nothing to their customer service team, I had to call them 50 times just to get a response.

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Dell Refuses To To Honor Responsibility for Repairs Under Warranty
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

ROUND ROCK, TEXAS -- DELL Repair Depot Ruins Professor's Laptop: Sends It Back Without Repair, Replacement, or Regret

"DELL continues to demonstrate its commitment to avoiding responsibility to repair under warranty. Worse, philosophically it appears to be grounded in a "not our problem" point of view. Recently, DELL Repair Depot took a problematic but functional new Inspiron laptop and then not only refused to repair it, they sent it back completely nonfunctional. Still, in the interest of full disclosure I should mention that the laptop backlit keyboard will glow but the computer will do nothing else. Now it's a thousand dollar doorstop. Every relevant manager at their headquarters in Round Rock, TX knows: The President, The Vice President for Customer Care, select members of the Board of Directors, and a key representative of the Advanced Resolution Team.

Over the last year I have sent them 75 emails. My computer was under warranty when it needed service but DELL refused to honor the warranty. See a detailed discussion of how they Dodge responsibility in earlier reviews that I wrote for all the major consumer outlets.

One thing is certain:

DELL, from bottom to top, simply does not care what the consumer thinks and it would prefer to lose hundreds of dollars, thousands, possibly hundreds of thousands in sales rather than honor its obligations (even if the obligation amounts to a $300 repair).

I would like you to help me make them care. After you read this please send this to your circle of friends and ask that they send it to theirs with a similar request that it be sent . . . and so on. In a very short time we should have hundreds then thousands, then perhaps hundreds of thousands of posts circulating. It will be interesting to watch them try to ignore a social media campaign of that size. In your message please be sure to include all the other computer choices out there Lenovo, Microsoft, Velocity Micro, Acer, Asus, Samsung, Apple and any others you'd like to include.

Thank you for your help, this is truly one of those times that I could not do it without you.

Best,

Dr. Smith

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Don't buy a Dell TV or anything else for that matter.
By -

DETROIT, MICHIGAN -- This is the longest rant I can even think of. It doesn't even cover it in full but it should cover 90% of what I'€™m trying to get across which is don'€™t buy a Dell unless you want to spend hours punching yourself in the face. I purchased a 42" Plasma TV on December 26, 2005 for $3,000 with a home install, extended warranty and mounting brackets. I mentioned that this would be installed on a brick fireplace to the sales rep to ensure I would get the correct brackets for mounting the TV. I received the TV on Jan 12, 2006 after being guaranteed a quick delivery.

I opened the product to make sure I received a complete order and noticed that the screws given for the mounting brackets were for wood or drywall and NOT concreted/brick that I had mentioned. I then proceeded to look for the number to schedule my install and correct my bracket mounting issue. No information was provided with the product so my wife called customer service to get a phone number but Dell'€™s computers were out of service and they couldn'€™t help at that particular moment.

She called back again and spoke with someone about getting the right parts for the mounting bracket which said was not part of the mounting kit and we would have to purchase those separately. Dell decided to give us a partial credit on the mounting bracket to purchase our own bolts. We then proceeded to ask for the number to the install department, we were given a number to their computer install department which does NOT install plasma TV€™s. The wife called several more times back to customer service to get the correct number and was put on hold and transferred to another department for printers and then transferred again.

I decided to call from my cell phone to the sales department because I know they answer the phone a hell of a lot more quickly then customer service. When I talked to the gentlemen on the phone I explained that we purchased a TV and it just arrived and that we had also purchased the home install but was not given the instructions or who to contact. He paused for a good long second and then informed me that to have the home install it costs roughly $150 dollars and he would gladly help me with the purchase. I asked him if he was kidding or if he wasn'€™t able to decipher what I had just told him 2 minute ago.

I repeated again, "I already purchased the install and I need the number to those individuals who will be installing it. Nothing came with the TV specifying how to go about getting it installed!" He then replied, "€œYou'€™ll have to call customer service for those numbers"€. My blood is boiling now because my wife has spent the last 20+ mins on hold while I just had that enlightening conversation with the guy from sales. So I decide to call customer service myself while she sits on the line because I may get a different result with the call. I sit for about 15 mins on the phone line and my wife looks at me and says she thinks she was just disconnected.

I wait about another 10 mins and get someone on the phone but the phone has so much feedback that it sounds as though the guy is riding on top of a 747 and I had to end the call because we couldn'€™t understand each other. My wife makes another attempt because I was going to return the TV and purchase it from somewhere else. She finally gets the correct information and we make the call to the install department and are told it will be about a week before they can have anyone come out to install it. I tell my wife not to schedule an install and that I'€™ll do it myself and we'€™ll just get a refund from Dell for the install.

She calls back to unscheduled the install appointment and they offer to have a guy out the next day to install it which she accepts because she doesn'€™t want me attempting to install a 70-lbs + expensive item on the wall by myself. I agree to let them do the work and I finally have my TV up and running on the wall. 6 days later I come home Friday from work looking forward to watching some football over the weekend on my new plasma screen TV. I turn on the TV and a large black vertical strip is present through the DELL logo that starts up when you first turn on the TV and is present through all of the TV shows.

I chuckle to myself that this can'€™t be happening, so I take a couple pictures of the TV as it is and call Dell. I get someone on the phone from Dell and we go over the basics, "Is it plugged in? Do you have all the cables connected right?" Did you have this mounted in the shower next to a heat lamp while pouring dirt down the back of it? I explain that it'€™s been 6 days and everything that has happened thus far. So the gentlemen assures me we'€™ll make it easy and it looks the return is going to be a BREEZE!!!! They tell me that a technician will call me to schedule bringing out a new TV and swap the old TV out.

I wait about 4 days and I call them back to let them know I haven'€™t received a phone call to schedule a delivery and they go over my phone information and I find out that it'€™s wrong. I remember when we purchased the TV that we had to correct the address because they had our old information from when I lived in a different city and bought a Dell laptop when my confidence was HIGH with Dell. So, they take the number and they also have a tracking number for the replacement TV. I was a little confused. They said a technician will be delivering the product and taking the old one back.

The product is scheduled to be delivered in 10 days and was shipped the same as before and I asked him I thought was to be expedited to my home and he says that it was expedited it was shipped within 3 days from our warehouse. 10 days later I get my new TV to replace my old TV. Again, I have no numbers for the technicians that will be swapping out the TVs. I don'€™t bother to call Dell. Instead, I decide to take the TV off the wall, take off the brackets and install them on the new TV that came in. I put the old TV back on its stand and put it back into the container of the new TV. Along with the shipping information was a slip to return the product through DHL.

I get everything wrapped up and my wife schedules to have the product picked up by DHL to be delivered back at Dell. They pick up the TV and I even help the driver pick the TV up and put it in the back of his truck. 2 weeks after the delivery of the new TV I get a call from the technician looking to schedule a time to come out and service our TV. They received the information from Dell and were ready to swap out the TVs. I inform them that I had already shipped the TV back to Dell with the return slip that was provided on the box. The technician is a little puzzled but not so much as he says "Dell is pretty much a bunch of idiots and expected the mix up."

I said be sure to BILL Dell for all the hard work you'€™ve provided me because I'm certainly not getting ANY benefits from purchasing from them. 6 weeks after the delivery of the new TV I get a letter in the mail stating that I have NOT returned the product and that our account was to be suspended until they receive the item. Now, I'm fuming!!!!!!! I am now getting accused of NOT doing something that I did. My own mistake was misplacing the shipping slip I got from DHL not thinking that they would lose a 70 lbs + TV in the mail!

I'€™m at work now making phone calls to Dell to clear this information up because I'€™m certain it's probably sitting in a warehouse waiting to be checked in or has been repackaged and sent out to some other unwary customer who will find they have just received a broken TV. So I ask Dell for the information on the Airbill they provided to me for the return that I sent them because I'm sure if they followed it up they would have seen that it has left my house and they need to do the work of finding it.

Unfortunately, they don'€™t have any numbers that would translate into a return number even though they provided me with the easy to return slip for the paid amount of the product to be returned. They also said they tried to contact me but the number they called which was my old number that I asked them to change was still on the account. I'€™ve mentioned it so many times that the number was wrong - that it'€™s irritating. The lady informed me that when a product is shipped to an address with a number, the number for that order cannot be changed.

So they go about it by noting the account that the number doesn'€™t match the old number and you hope that someone would do their due diligence to read over the account notes to see that the number is incorrect. So I call DHL thinking they can just do a reverse lookup or the originating address of pickup to my house. It seems that they don'€™t keep records longer than 1 month and they don'€™t tie the tracking information from an address rather the originating zip code and the destination zip code.

Here I am now, helpless as ever waiting for (2) big companies to figure out where they screwed up and it all comes down to (2) things I did wrong. I purchased a Dell product, didn'€™t keep a shipping receipt. I'€™ll even mention my calls to Dell to have my payment for the TV deferred until I actually received the product. I didn'€™t want a bill showing up prior to my product especially after all of the grief I'€™ve had on the phone. The lady that did the deferred payment said she had no problem doing it and reschedule it for the end of the following month.

I asked her to send me an email confirming the deferred payment for my records but she could not because the owner of the account happens to be my Mother and that they could not send me the information. So I asked the lady, "You can let me change the date at which my payment is DUE but you can'€™t send me an email?" She said "That is correct because I'€™m not the owner of the account". Do you see missing logic here? I work for a large corporation who purchases Dell products and I'€™m sending this story along to EVERYONE in the corporation so they do not have the misfortune that I have had from purchasing a Dell. DON'T BUY DELL.

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A Letter Sent to the Dell Board of Directors
By -

My name is **, and I have been a Dell customer for over 15 years, going all the way back to a Dell 386. During all of that time, I have never had a bad experience with your company, and have recommended it to friends, family, coworkers, and anyone else who asked. After purchasing two new desktop computers for myself and my wife, that will no longer be the case. I thought you all should know why. The issues began when I first purchased the computer. The representative with whom I spoke that day did not understand many of the questions I asked about the configuration of the machines.

She also had an annoying pattern of using the same phrase over and over again, which grated on the ear after a time. Eventually, she transferred me to her supervisor, who was able to answer some of my questions, but still could not answer a fairly straightforward question regarding the printer that was included with the system. After agreeing that I would attempt to use the printer for its intended purpose and, if it did not suit my needs, I could return it, I went ahead and placed the order. I received both PCs within a few days, but immediately began to notice problems. My wife's system arrived first, and I set it up myself.

The speakers didn't work, so I attempted to contact technical support. I first tried the chat option, but I received a message telling me that I wasn't a home or home office user, so I could not use chat support. I then proceeded to call technical support and inform them about the issue with chat support. They informed me that they could not fix that problem, and that I had to write to the webmaster. I did so, but received no reply for some time, so I went ahead and called technical support again. At the time, I informed the support representative (as well as both representatives with whom I subsequently spoke) that I was visually impaired.

I was first asked if I had the speakers plugged in correctly, and I described to them how and where I had plugged the cord. I was then walked through a number of tests, and eventually was informed I needed a new sound card. I accepted this diagnosis and went ahead and scheduled a visit from the local service technician. Also note that, during this call, I found the representative using the same type of repeated-phrase pattern that I'd encountered during my initial call to purchase my machines, and it continued to annoy me to no end. Later that day, as I was reviewing the installation, I discovered that, indeed, the speakers had been plugged into the wrong jack.

Despite all my descriptions, and my suggestion that I had difficulty seeing the back of the computer, none of the support representatives even checked to see if the hole into which I'd plugged the speakers was, in fact, the correct one. I immediately called back to cancel my appointment. The representative with whom I spoke said it would be handled. It wasn't. The next day, my wife received a call from Dell when I was unavailable to confirm the appointment, and my wife again told them that it was no longer required and to cancel it.

This wasn't enough, either, as I was then woken up at 9 AM on a Saturday by a call from the technician, attempting again to confirm the appointment. I told him that it wasn't needed, and finally that issue was resolved after three attempts. Shortly thereafter, my wife and I both noticed that our Windows sounds weren't working. All other sounds worked fine -- Windows Media Player worked fine, MusicMatch jukebox worked fine, I could even play the Windows sounds from within the window where I set up the sound scheme -- but when the Windows events that are supposed to trigger these sounds occurred, no sounds played.

After my past experience with the support staff, I tried to address the issue myself, trying a number of tweaks in all the various places where sounds can be played or methods for handling sound can be set. I had no luck. Finally, today, I decided to contact technical support. I was first amazed to discover that the chat feature worked, as I'd never been contacted about that issue after reporting it nearly two weeks ago. During the chat session, I kept getting redirected to a blank page, and had to press the back button to return to the session. This occurred three times. Finally, the representative told me I should try to create a new user account in Windows XP.

I told her at that time that I would need to import my old settings, and she expressed nothing that would lead me to believe this would be a problem. I admit that I did not tell her WHY I would need to do so, but given what was about to happen, she should have told me this would cause problems. In any case, I created the new account and restarted the computer. Again, let me remind you that I am visually impaired. Specifically, I have some difficulty focusing, and viewing a computer screen with high contrast gives me a headache in short order. With that in mind, I logged back onto the chat feature and entered my case number.

A different representative picked up the chat, and I asked to speak with the person with whom I'd already addressed my problems. The new representative told me that was impossible, but that he would help me. I then proceeded to tell him that I was having trouble with the screen, and that I needed to import my old settings. He didn't seem to know what I meant, so I told him about my difficulty viewing the black-on-white color scheme that is used as the default. For some reason, he had me open the Device Manager, and I informed him that the text was too small and I couldn't make out the fonts. His solution to this was to tell me to reinstall the Video Driver.

I told him that all I needed to do was use my old settings, but neither he nor his supervisor, who eventually joined the chat, was able to understand this. Eventually, I gave up and ended the chat session. The supervisor then called me and I explained my problem again. He then told me that they couldn't fix it because transferring my old settings was a software issue, and that I needed to call another number. Why I wasn't told that earlier is still a mystery to me, but I accepted this at face value and called the new number I'd been given.

Upon reaching a representative at the new number, I was told that if I wanted his assistance, I would either need to buy a software service contract or I would have to pay a one-time fee of $49. I was quite surprised to discover there was a separate software service contract, as this had never been mentioned when I bought the computer. I told him I could not afford this, as I'd already blown my entire budget in buying this PC along with the maintenance agreement and hung up. I then proceeded to call the sales number again, and described to the representative what I'd so far encountered. By now, I was fed up.

I told her that I hadn't been offered this software service contract, and that I would have to return something if I needed to purchase it. I also said that I couldn't understand how a company such as yours could justify shipping me a defective product and then charging me to fix it. I gave her three choices -- either fix the machine, replace it, or allow me to return it for a full refund. She wouldn't even tell me which of those Dell would be able to do for me, so I asked to speak to her supervisor. She offered me a $50 gift certificate of some kind to placate me, but at this point I just wanted my machine fixed, so again I asked to speak to her supervisor.

She said she would do so, and left the line for a few moments. When she returned, she did not allow me to speak to her supervisor, but she did say she was going to place some kind of service order so that I could access software support to fix my problem without being charged. After waiting a few minutes for her to place the order, she said she was going to transfer me to the software support line. Finally, I thought, I would get some satisfaction. I waited on hold for a couple more minutes... and then I was disconnected entirely.

She never told me the number to which I was being transferred, and never gave me the order number which she'd placed, so now I'm stuck. My original issue was never resolved, and now I'm stuck with a useless user account sitting on my system to boot. All this, and I haven't even TRIED to get my wife's system fixed yet. I must admit, Dell has impressed me. I have never encountered such a company-wide level of incompetence. The sales staff couldn't provide me with the information I needed, and didn't offer me necessary options that I now cannot afford to purchase.

The telephone customer support staff seem unable to even solve simple issues such as where to plug the speaker jack. The chat customer support staff tried to solve nonexistent problems while ignoring the actual problem I'd reported. I am at my wit's end. Only Dell's superior hardware is preventing me from just packing up the entire machine and sending it back.

I hope that you all will understand it when I say: given that the entirety of my experience with your company over the past two weeks has been beyond sad to the point of being laughable -- or at least it will be once I'm done being angry beyond belief -- that I will now tell anyone and everyone I meet that Dell makes a good product, but if you want even the most basic level of customer service you should stay far, far away from them.

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Ignored and Lied to by Dell
By -

This is the letter I have emailed to Dell repeatedly! "I purchased a Dell laptop because I was under the impression that it was at least a decent computer and that they had excellent support and warranties. They have since proved me wrong over and over again. I paid nearly 2000 dollars for an Inspiron 5150, a three-year Complete Care Warranty and Preferred Technical Support with next day service.

I was relatively satisfied with the laptop until the end-November 2004. That is when the problems with the laptop began. In a period of about a month, everything in my computer was replaced because the part that was actually bad, the processor, was on back-order. The technical support people with Dell continued to try other parts instead of ordering the processor for me, despite that both the third party tech and myself repeatedly told technical support that the processor was the problem and not all the other parts they kept sending.

During this time period, I was hung up on by Dell technical support people twice. Both times they would ask if they could put me on hold when they were stumped by the problem with the computer, and instead of putting me on hold, they would hang up on me. Twice in this time period I was lied to about the availability of supervisors. One representative told me that his supervisor had gone home for the day and the other told me the a supervisor was not available and would not allow me to speak to them.

When I finally reached a supervisor, he was actually the first and only helpful person I have reached with Dell. He got my processor shipped as quickly as he possibly could, being that it was on back-order, and fixed the problem that I had with my service.

The problem I had and still have with my service contract is that when I purchased it, I was told I was getting next day service and preferred technical support. When I finally reached this supervisor, he informed me that I did not in fact have either one of the services. I was under the impression at that time that he had given me next day service for the remainder of my three-year Complete Care Warranty. However, this week I found out that I only have it through the end of this year.

The fact that I do not have it does not really matter that much to me because Dell has never been able to provide it anyway. On Thursday March 10, 2005, I once again called Dell because one of the few parts that had not previously been replaced in my laptop—the fan, has now gone bad. After going through all the troubleshooting with yet another representative, I could barely understand he wanted me to flash my BIOS. Flashing my BIOS is completely irrelevant to the problem I was having as were most of the other things he had me do.

At this point I asked to speak to a supervisor because this representative refused to go any further without me first flashing my BIOS. Once again I was lied to about the availability of a supervisor—he said that the supervisor was in a meeting and that it would be hours before he could return my call. After telling this representative that the previous supervisor I had spoken with had informed there is always a supervisor available, I was placed on hold for about twenty minutes while he filled out “paperwork” to transfer me.

He then finally transferred me to a supervisor who was rude and only helped by agreeing to send the fan and a few other parts I needed without any further troubleshooting. However, once again I did not receive next day service. The call was made at 3:30 on Thursday afternoon of March 10, 2005, and the tech cannot come to my house until Tuesday.

I am writing this letter because I believe I have a defective laptop. I also believe Dell's policy is to have representatives lie to customers about the availability of supervisors. Furthermore, I believe that the next day repair service offered by Dell is false advertising as I have never been able to receive any kind of repairs the next day. I was informed by the third party tech that came to my house that someone with next day service receives no priority over anyone else. They are not even informed of who does or does not have this next day service.

Finally, I paid for all these extra warranties and services because I need my laptop to work, and it has failed me every time I have needed it most and so has Dell's technical support costing me hundreds of dollars. The perfect solution to my problems with Dell would be for Dell to take the laptop back and refund me all of the money I paid for it, as well the money I have spent in cell phone bills and lost income due to not being able to work on projects when I needed to. I can be contacted at the address and phone number above. A prompt response would be greatly appreciated, although it seems that promptness and customer satisfaction is not a priority of Dell."

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Nightmare
By -

TEXAS -- The problem: I must admit that after reading all the reviews about Dell on this site I feel lucky. Lucky that my computer at least comes on and connects to the internet. The problem? The Philips rewritable DVD Rom Dell put in my computer will not burn music or video files. And apparently Dell has no intention of fixing the problem.

The history: When I discovered the DVD Rom wouldn't burn music files, I called Technical "Support" and like everyone else was shifted from one number to another, holding every time for 15-30 minutes each time, and repeating my express code number, service tag number, email address, and telephone number every time. Finally, I got a "specialist" aware of "issues" Dell was having with the Philips DVD Rom. I spent two hours on the phone trying to burn music files every way possible but had the same result every time.

The DVD Rom would kick open, disregarding the blank DVD+RW I had in the drive, and a message would demand that I "insert a rewritable blank disc." TS finally said it was a hardware problem and dispatched a technician with a new Philips DVD Rom to be installed at my house. When the technician arrived and installed the new DVD Rom, I asked him to wait so I could test it. He did and the new DVD Rom demonstrated exactly the same problems as the first one. The technician said, sorry, it wasn't his problem and left.

I called TS again, spending another 45 minutes holding, giving all the personal information plus my new case number and then waiting 10 minutes while the TS agent "reviewed" my case. He came back and said the problem was I was using blank rewritable discs on my rewritable DVD Rom and that I should instead use NON-REWRITABLE blank discs!!! I knew this was insane but went out and purchased a five pack to satisfy TS that I was at least trying. Of course the non-rewritable blank discs didn't work either.

I called again and spent several hours for TWO DAYS with my calls being "dropped" after I would spend 10-30 minutes on hold and another 10 or so minutes giving my personal information, each time, every time, over and over and over.

After two days of futility, I tried calling TS once more. After going through the usual song and dance for 25 minutes, the real DELL HELL began. I was shifted to no less than eight (YES, 8!!! different numbers) and ended up spending literally over 6 hours HOLDING for various TS agents until one of them came on and informed me they had discovered a DIFFERENT reason my DVD Rom was not burning music files: software incompatibility.

And despite the fact that Dell was the one who installed the hardware and the software on my new computer, TS says that since it is NOT a hardware problem Dell no longer has any responsibility to resolve the matter. They offered to SELL me new software. I pushed the matter and demanded restitution and compensation but was told that my 21 day product return period had just ended. That day, nonetheless! (See how things work? String along the customer and then dump them once you've got their money and their return date out of the way.)

This was my second Dell. The first one, bought over six years ago, worked fine and had only a few problems that were handled by TS back then rather handily. The new TS in India, however, is rude and incompetent. Their English is incomprehensible and their sense of urgency and customer service non-existent. This is the last Dell product I'll ever purchase. Everybody else, when you hear the word "Dell" offered as an option, start running and don't stop till you pass the county line. Avoid these people, because Dell is the Ebola Virus of computers.

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Fraud by Dell Financial Services (DFS)
By -

SCHENECTADY, NEW YORK -- This is a letter I am writing to DFS. I am considering a class action. Any thoughts? This is in regards to account **. The entire present balance on the account, $70.53, is in dispute. In May, I purchased a new computer for $1983.90. The balance to avoid finance charges for this was due by September 1, 2004. I paid off this full amount before September 1.

In June, I purchased a service contract for $169. The balance to avoid finance charges for this was due by October 1, 2004. I paid off this full amount before October 1. When I paid off the $1983.90 balance, I included explicit written instructions to apply the payment to the May purchase. These instructions were disregarded, and about $3-$4 of this payment was instead applied to the $169 service contract, and I was then billed over $70 in finance charges because of this $3-$4 balance that you kept on my account despite.

Even more importantly, there was NOTHING on your written bill that informed me how much I needed to pay in order to avoid all finance charges. In good faith, I paid the full balance, in time, which your statement said was due by September 1, included the amount listed as the minimum payment due. Your statement makes no attempt to advise your customers what amounts were really due to avoid finance charges, and in fact, your statements are purposefully misleading and designed to trick people into paying less than is necessary so that you can post finance charges of several thousand percent.

After a lengthy call through several layers of your organization I was assured by one of your managers in late September that all charges had been removed, aside from the $166 balance which I paid on September 20 and which you posted on September 25. The difficulties and sheer aggravation I encountered during that call made it clear to me that your deliberate practice is to make it as difficult as you possibly can for people to obtain adjustments on highly-questionable charges. Nevertheless, I persisted.

This is a matter of principle, not money, because I believe I am being defrauded. And, in the end, I was assured that these charges has been removed. I am sure that most people would walk away and pay, rather than bother with the hassle you deliberately impose. That is what you count on. I thought, after I was done with this exceedingly unpleasant call, that this matter was disposed of. Yet, in my latest statement – incredibly – this balance still persists! I hope this is merely a mistake on your part and that I was not simply lied to as the next layer of the gauntlet that you have in place to avoid having to account for your trick finance charges.

In any event, I am livid that after spending close to two hours on the phone in September, this is still not resolved, and I am forced to spend even more time now writing this letter. I have become extremely disenchanted with your business practices to the point where I will no longer purchase anything from Dell (after having bought five computers from Dell in the past several years).

And, if this balance is not removed from my account immediately, I plan to file a complaint with the New York State Attorney General, and may well initiate a class action lawsuit against Dell Financial on behalf of what I am sure are thousands of others who are being similarly defrauded by your misleading lending practices. I would greatly appreciate a prompt reply putting this matter to rest. This is no way to treat Dell's loyal customers who have repeatedly done business with Dell.

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Dell Customer Service Outrage
By -

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK -- I feel like a citizen who's become so disillusioned that he decides to change political parties. I've been a Dell customer for several years now. Last August, I bought an Inspiron 8500 laptop. By May, the laptop's video card had gone bad and I was told to return the laptop to Dell for repair. I was given an address to which to send my laptop (and an accompanying code by which my issue should have been recognized).

A little more than a week after returning my laptop to Dell, I phoned to follow up on its status. I should have been suspicious when the customer service rep had trouble pulling up my name in association with my machine. Ultimately, she told me, however, that my laptop would be returned to me on Friday. I double checked my address with her and waited.

Friday came and went with nothing delivered to me. On Monday I phoned Dell again. After several hours of being transferred, put on hold, and dropped, it finally became clear that the address I had been given was the "Returns" address, NOT the "Repairs" address. (Who knew?!) My laptop - with 9 months of class notes and other irreplaceable data - had been REFURBISHED and RE-SOLD. Imagine my surprise! I would truly have thought that Dell's service people would have referenced my account and seen notes (I assume notes were taken and input) relating the fact that the machine was only to be repaired.

Dell apologized and the representative told me she'd call me back "shortly" to give me the details of the machine that Dell would send to replace my system, considering that this was Dell's error. She did not call me back. On Tuesday, I spent another approximately 4 hours on the phone with various clueless Dell representatives. I was at one point told that Dell would replace my machine (which I had bought brand new and was still paying for) with a refurbished machine. I WAS OUTRAGED! I asked the representative if he would accept that if he were me. He, by the way, said no.

I demanded to speak with a manager. First I was told that the manager was busy with another customer, and then I was told that the representative was experiencing difficulties with his phone system and could not forward my call. I asked for the manager's direct line. I was told that the representative did not know it. I asked for an address to which to send a letter. I was told that the representative did not have one. I was asked if I'd like to have someone call me back. Laughable - considering that the last representative that promised to phone me back had still not phoned me, more than 24 hours later.

In the end, Dell agreed to send me a later model, new machine, but that the machine's warranty would pick up where my old machine had left off, i.e. I would effectively have only one month to be able to return it for free servicing. I am still arguing that Dell should give me the same warranty that my old machine had and that the clock should be reset so that I have one year in which to have this new machine returned to Dell for any necessary servicing.

This machine could easily be a lemon that I'd be stuck with. Dell has thus far refused, even though a year's warranty costs less than $200. You would think that they would offer that to me, considering that I have lost almost a year's data due to their bungling. Not to mention that the company should have the confidence to stand by its own products.

Dell seems like it has become a decentralized nightmare. Not having a brick-and-mortar shop into which I can walk and complain, I feel nearly powerless to get things resolved. Some of the customer service reps I spoke to were in India and others were in Panama. The left hand did not have a clue what the right hand was doing. And many of the service reps I spoke with were just foolish. At one point, a rep asked how he should refer to me, though he had asked me my name three times. I wanted to scream!

At this point, I will not buy another Dell machine and I will advise others likewise. I have never had such poor customer service in my almost 40 years. Certainly Dell professionals know that it only takes one event like this to ruin a customer relationship. Until about June 15th, I was prepared to continue being a loyal Dell customer. No more.

I will scream this from the highest mountain top and will send a letter to Michael Dell, though I don't imagine much attention will be paid. I can only believe that he doesn't know the depths to which his baby has sunk in terms of customer service.

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Dell does't honor It Warraties
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Rating: 1/51

ROUND ROCK, CONNECTICUT -- Dell warranties mean nothing/Fortune 500 company shames them by doing the right thing

Read my other critiques and you'll get a full sense of what I mean. This is a company who took a product that was under warranty and refused to fix it. What they did is make up some absurd reason like there's a spill on the keyboard. There's not, I would know. They said that had proof: pictures and engineers testimony. They never produced any of these. Instead what they did is take a computer that had some measure of function when it when in and then sent it back stone cold dead. Again, they haven't taken responsibility. I was talking with someone who is the President of a company that very is high up on the Forbes list (top 14%.). He became so disgusted by Dell that he gave me the money for the computer. He knows, as do you, that customers should not be treated the way Dell treats us. This is just an update. I plan to keep writing until December 31, 2017. Here's what I can say at this point emboldened by a very savvy business man. Do not buy Dell. I have since bought a Lenovo 920 and an HP360. These are superb laptops and Customer Service is superb. Please pass this on through your social networks.

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Horrible Customer Service
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

AUSTIN, TEXAS -- I have been dealing with Dell for over 30 days, and yet to have a resolution. They have been to my home 4 times, and can't seem to fix. The last visit was close, as the initial issue was resolved, but the keyboard does not function properly. The space bar does not work, nor does about 6 different keys, which tells me that the keyboard was installed improperly, and if they returned quickly, all would have been solved. Nevertheless, they have chosen not to return, or communicate in any way!

They can build a laptop in less than 60 minutes, but can't repair it in less than 30 days! I had to go to my yearly business show and carry a wireless keyboard and mouse around to function properly, which was a horrible inconvenience and embarrassing! Every time I communicate, they state that it is in the hands of the "Escalation" dept, and will be resolved. It has been 10 days and not a single call???

BTW, I was in warranty when this started, and now I am out of warranty, which is why I think they are dragging their feet! I was going to extend when this issue was repaired, but now I will donate this laptop to the Church and purchase another brand!

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