Dell Computer Corporation Consumer Reviews - Page 5

About a year and half ago, my father bought me a Dell Latitude laptop when I decided to return to school to finish my degree. He also went so far as to get the extended warranty with home service to make sure that if anything happened, it would be taken care of quickly and efficiently. At first, everything was great. I had an issue with my keyboard where keys started to come off for some reason. The gentleman I spoke to on the phone verified my warranty and had a person there fixing my keyboard in about a day. I also had an issue where I was staying at a friend's place and they tripped on the cord breaking the monitor.

One more call to Dell and two days later I not only had a new monitor, but they had taken the time to ask if anything else needed replacing while they were shipping things. I was having some issues with my CD/DVD RW drive, so I had them fix it while they were at it. They asked about cracks in the case and even shipped out some parts to fix a few small issues. They went ahead and confirmed everything and said that since they had to special ship the monitor (I don't think any of their contracted installers had one showing on hand) and it was a weekend, it would unfortunately be delayed until Monday.

They then actually apologized for causing me to have to wait a whole 24 hours. I was floored since I was used to having to fight with their customer service for my old desktop. The installer showed up on time and fixed everything, it was great. Now, go forward about three months. Once again, I started to have keyboard issues. Silly me, I called Dell expecting the process to be just as painless as before. Instead I was told that the keyboard is now a self-install but that they would get me a new one shipped ASAP. I had watched the installer fix my other keyboard so I knew it wasn't hard to do and told them that it would be fine.

The agent even offered to arrange a call for me in case I needed someone to walk me through it. The keyboard came and life was grand once again. About a month or two after that, I moved to Alaska in order to attend the University of Alaska Anchorage. Here's where the real fun starts. First, my keyboard started to lose keys again. I just ordered a replacement off of eBay and installed it myself. Then my hard drive went. I called Dell customer service and the recording asked me for my express service code. Since this is printed on the bottom of the laptop, you know, the part that sits on your lap, it had long since worn away.

Foolishly I pressed the option that said I didn't have an express service code. I then got routed to "normal" laptop customer service. I didn't know there was a special one. Anyway, after finally connecting to a customer service agent, I was told I had called the wrong customer service; that my father had used his government discount to buy the laptop so I needed their customer service. They then gave me the number and we disconnected. I called the other number, they told me that they had actually stopped making the Latitude D630 so I would need a different "Latitude specific" line. I was given the number and transferred to this line.

Come to find out, this was the regular customer service line, and it only went to Latitude when I put in my express code to tell the machine that I had a Latitude. How did I find this out? The customer service agent told me and transferred me, back to the same line. Rinse and repeat that process about three times. In the meantime, I'm trying to do a diagnostic boot of my system so I can get my express service tag off of the hard drive. When I finally got to a latitude agent, I was informed that this too was now a self-install. I questioned her on this since we had the extended contract with house calls, but I was told that yes, this was the only way they did it now.

Furthermore, she would have to check in her computer to see if they had a refurbished hard drive for latitude since the parts weren't made anymore. Now I know the hard drive is a pretty easy, "drop-in" part, but come on! I paid for someone to be able to come to my house if I so much as sneezed at the thing. It would be nice if they fulfilled their contract. Moving on, she verified the shipping address with me and I informed her of my new one here in Alaska. She changed it for the one computer, not for any of the others on my father's account.

To her credit, she was very nice and polite the whole time and once again asked if there was anything else that needed fixing (cracks, etc.) The part came and I put it in and started reloading my whole system. A month or two later, I received three packages in the mail from Dell. All three were external DVD-RW drives. Now, there is a fun little quirk that has made my life a living hell on more than one occasion and that is that I am a Jr. A great example of this is where I went to the school my father got his second BS from and they had my financial aid and file all kinds of mixed up.

Thinking that there was no way Dell could make that big of a mistake, I called my father in Tennessee and asked if he had ordered the drives. He told me he had and they were supposed to ship them to Tennessee as they were Christmas presents for my nephew and nieces.

This all started about the first of November. He called Dell and they called me and said someone would come and pick them up tomorrow or the day after and they would give me a call when they were coming out to get them. What they left out is that that "someone" was FedEx. I know they left it out because about a week later when they still hadn't come to get it and I had talked to dad about it, I just happened to be stopped on my through the mail room to get my mail by the attendant and told that FedEx had been looking for a box being shipped by me. I immediately went to my room and took the boxes to the mail room and handed them to the attendant.

Three days later, they were still in the mailroom. Thinking it might have been an epic fail on the attendants' part, I asked one of them about it. Come to find out, since they were originally shipped UPS, UPS had to take them, not FedEx. I took the boxes back and called my father again who called Dell again. I never got a call from Dell this time and another day or so went by. My dad then asked me to take the boxes, put them in one box, and then take it to the mail center (different location on campus from the mailroom) and ship it. I forgot to do it for a few days and then the holiday came and campus was closed for about a week.

Once we came back from break, we were had a week until finals and I was studying like mad. I tried calling Dell a few times, but with the time difference and the lack of 24-hour customer service, I couldn't get through to anyone. Finally, I had taken all but one final and had some time when I would normally be in class. I got up at around 7 am Alaska time so I could called Dell, thinking this should be an easy, quick phone call. I informed the agent I had a final at 9 so I needed to go ahead and get this taken care of. They put me on hold while they went over the account.

Then they told me I had called the wrong customer service line and gave me another number and offered to transfer me. I agreed and got transferred to a sex line. Laughing a bit at the mistake, I called the number they had given me before transferring me. I was speaking to the agent and they hung up. I understand mistakes happen. I used to do phone customer service for BellSouth DSL, so I know that sometimes you accidentally hang up people and stuff. However, I was running out of time and needed to get this resolved so my stress level was going way up. I actually informed the next person of this and tried to maintain my calm, they hung up on me too.

The next one transferred me to someone who transferred me to someone who transferred me again, then I got hung up on again by the person who picked up. By this time, I was livid. It was getting close to 8:30 and I needed to leave for my final if I wanted to get there in time and/or get breakfast. I decided to try one more time before I left for the final. Luckily, I got someone who knew how to do their job this time. I actually started the conversation telling them I knew it wasn't personally their fault that I had received such bad customer service that day, but I needed to vent and to speak to a supervisor.

Before he transferred me, he asked if he could attempt to resolve my issue. I let him read over the notes quickly and he told me it wouldn't be a problem. He created the order in the system to get the packages picked up by FedEx that day and sent to Tennessee. He even went so far as to ask if he could put me on hold while he called FedEx to verify the information and see if they could go ahead and generate a tracking number. I told him OK and about 5 minutes later he was back and the packages were ready to go in the system. All I needed to do is make sure they were taped securely and drop them off at the mailroom.

Amazingly, he verified my dad's shipping address with me before he called FedEx to double check the order. He also went into the account to try to see why the boxes were shipped to me and not my father's address. Then he took it a step further and offered to still connect me to a supervisor and apologized for all the trouble I had been through that day!

I declined the offer and thanked him profusely. I then dropped the packages off and a day later I had a confirmation email from him giving me the tracking numbers for the packages, just like he had told me he would do! I was floored to say the least, but also very upset with Dell in general since apparently he was the only customer service agent who could actually do his job. Also, instead of wasting roughly an hour to an hour and half of my time, it would have taken about five minutes of work if someone had bothered to either do it or actually get me to someone who could.

Now, I have two USB ports on the back of my computer that have gone out and need to be replaced. I'm putting off getting these replaced because I'm afraid that once again they will tell me that it's a self-install and who knows where they'll ship it this time. Overall, other than a few people who genuinely seem to care for their customers, I would say their customer service is terrible. The fact that it took almost a month to get a simple shipping error fixed, the lack of communication with customers, the idea that as soon as they stop making a computer they also stop really supporting it combined together to inspire me to get a new computer when my financial aid came in.

I got a Mac instead since they actually stand behind their product and will fix it if I have problems. Of course, that's a big IF since it ran flawlessly from day one. On a funny side note, I know there are a lot of people who complain about almost all customer service being outsourced to overseas companies and note getting someone who speaks very good/clear English. Funnily enough, during the whole shipping fiasco, it was one of those overseas agents who was the only one that could help me, so for him at least I am grateful.

My only real regret (other than having a Dell computer in the first place) is that I did not respond to the customer service survey on my last agent. It's a regret because I did not get the opportunity to really show him my appreciation or show the higher ups that he is actually a valuable employee.

ONE DELL WAY, TEXAS -- Dell Studio 15 Notebook purchased 28 June 2009 for $1,005.90. I was out of town for a week when it first arrived, but the following week I initiated setup and found a number of issues wrong with the computer. ** identified the issues as being initial setup issues that would not happen again and if it did they would take note in their system to process a refund. They informed me that they stand by their product. They informed me that after they intervened that time, I would not have the problem again.

In Aug 2009, I had additional issues which Dell deemed to be more software issues that was not covered by current warranty and contrary to the previous call they would not honor the refund promised. I was then told I could purchase online software tech support ($182) to resolve the issue. When I did, we solved the problem (so we thought) for another few months. Then there was a virus that McAfee did not stop. Dell Tech Support informed me that their McAfee Anti-virus which was sold with the computer was not as good as Norton.

So, under their guidance, I purchased Norton Software with the technician on the line. Issues arose periodically at varying levels literally every month thereafter. Issues took up my weekends after I just returned from a war zone for 15 months and am working for the Dept of State and taking Army class for my new rank while getting reacquainted with my family.

In the most recent issue which started in mid-February 2010, a blue screen with a random error and physical memory dump followed by a shutdown of the system. I called in to use the 3rd of my 5 tech support issues purchased after the purchase of my computer to resolve this latest problem. After doing a full system diagnostic, I was told that I then needed to purchase an additional memory card ($68.24) for RAM in order to speed up my computer. That this would help with my computer processing so slow.

I was also then told I needed to purchase an optimizer from Norton. Now after 9 months and purchasing countless additional items beyond the simple purchase of the computer, Dell finally informed me that I needed to have the motherboard, hard drive, and both memory cards replaced. They sent a technician by house from Worldwide. ** (Worldwide employee) informed me that the motherboard was not viable after spending 3 hours on the computer. A new motherboard and other parts would have be ordered and replaced.

However, before he left he made sure to tell me that there were frayed wires in the laptop that was likely causing many of the problems over the past year. When the next Worldwide Technician (contracted by Dell) came by the house on 12 March 2010 to finish what ** initiated leaving me without a computer for 3 days, he repeated what ** said about the computer having many issues and the second motherboard, of course, would not work. I was then put on the phone with tech support at Dell that tried to tell me they would get me a replacement but that it would take 14 business days.

In my work with the government and school, a timeframe greater than 2.5 weeks where weekends are time I have to prepare briefings for my class address overseas programs for the State Dept is NOT acceptable. I informed him that he needed to make an exception to the 21 day internal Dell policy to provide me a refund so I could go out that day to purchase a new computer from a local retailer. On 12 March 2010, I spoke with several managers and numerous representatives. Despite being told I would get a call back by a escalation team in 24-48 hours, I simply could not wait that long for a resolve.

I continued to call back to be batted back and forth between customer service and tech support getting little to know help to expedite the issue. Finally I was informed by tech support that they would grant my refund and conference me with customer service (refund) dept to execute. However, I was disconnected in 2 conference calls.

On the third call, I spoke with Siddhesh (supervisor) where I was told I was NEVER promised a refund.
At this point, the only option that is acceptable is a refund for the Dell, the horrible tech support, and the memory card that was promised to have already been refunded on 6 March but wasn't. That amount is $1256.14. Dell should also have to reimburse me for the days of having wasted my time after return from a 15-month deployment in the Gulf.

TEXAS -- I purchased my first laptop, a Studio XPS m1330, from Dell in January 2009. I ordered a high-end laptop thinking I wouldn't need to upgrade for quite some time. Dell talked me into paying extra for the "North American Tech Team" who speaks English--there is something wrong with having to pay extra for someone who understands you when you have a problem. The laptop began locking up and not responding in July 2009, and after MANY (futile) hours on the phone with Tech Support, they finally decided that I needed a new hard drive--at this point the laptop was only 6 months old. The problems continued, locking up, not responding, crashing.

Numerous hours on the phone with Dell, running diagnostics, to no avail. My husband began to complain that I talked more to Dell than to him when I was home. Then the laptop started crashing whenever Windows Updates tried to automatically install. More hours on the phone with Dell. No one could determine what the problem was. Dell refused to allow me to send the computer to them for direct examination, they refused to send a technician to my house to fix it, and they refused to replace the laptop. Finally, I brought it to my brother, who is a software technician, and asked him if he could get the Windows Updates to install without the computer crashing.

My brother called me the next day to tell me some very alarming news--he told me that my laptop was overheating during the installation of the Windows Updates, which was causing the laptop to crash. He pointed out that this had likely been going on for quite some time, as the white label on the bottom of the laptop was brown and burnt-appearing, and he relayed that it was likely that the high heat had possibly damaged other components of my laptop. My brother expressed great concern for my safety and advised me not to use it.

Dell FINALLY agreed on 1/27/10 to replace the laptop after I told them what my brother found. The person I talked to on 1/27/10 at Dell also agreed to "suspend" my extended warranty, which was due to expire on 2/16/10, in light of the fact that I had a totally dead, non-functional laptop and I was not in possession of the replacement laptop. It took them almost 3 weeks to "approve" the replacement laptop, after I emailed them every few days--I was called back by Dell on 2/11/10 and was advised that my laptop would be built.

When I tried to verify that my extended warranty would be suspended as previously promised on 1/27/10, I was told (after the tech person talked to his supervisor) that they couldn't suspend the warranty, and if I wanted it to continue past 2/16/10, I would have to purchase an extension. I argued that I was told on 1/27/10 that my warranty would be suspended until I received the replacement laptop, but was steadfastly told they would not do this. I refuse to give Dell any more of my money for shoddy and fraudulent customer service. Dell really does not care about their customers once they have your money.

This whole situation has made me physically sick, given the amount of money that I paid for the laptop, accessories, and extended service plan. I told the Dell person that I planned to file a complaint with the Attorney General's office, and he quickly refused to talk to me any further and got off the phone. Whenever I finally receive the replacement Dell laptop, I plan to sell it ASAP, along with all the accessories, as I NEVER want another Dell product in my home.

I have since ordered an HP laptop that should be arriving in the next few days, and I am hoping I have a vastly better experience than the horror show I experienced with Dell. Please do yourself a favorDO NOT BUY A DELL COMPUTER. They are no longer a reputable company.

I called and made an order $1000.00 purchase from them and when I received my confirmation email of the order and shipping address I noticed that they had my shipping address wrong. It irritated me because I went over the address three or four times and she repeated it back to me at least one time. So it was only twenty four hours past due to time difference of where I'm located. I call them immediately and tells them about the mistake. After being cut off a couple of times and the "call this number" dance I finally spoke with someone. He couldn't help me because he was too busy trying to sell me insurance on my order so I spoke to someone else.

Now about 45 minutes has past and still no resolution. I finally speak with a young lady that tells me that she can help me but she would need to cancel my order and reorder it to do so and also she said the she could get one of the items that I ordered cheaper if she did that so I said "Well I just made the order yesterday why didn't I get it for this price then" and she said that person that took my order messed up or something to that effect so I said "Fine".

So she put me on hold and a couple of times and came back and asked me for the correct shipping address and I told her and she asked me again and I repeated it and I asked her to repeat it so she said "Okay sir it's okay now". So after I hung up the phone I walked away feeling assured of the order. Later that day I call my mom and she tells me that some lady from Dell keep calling so I called Dell and started getting the run around again so I checked my email and she said that I needed to call a number to authorize my order so I did.

Later on that day something tells me to check my Dell account so I go online to check and my balance shows that I was charged twice for the same order. The only difference is that the canceled order was about $45.00 more than the new order but I have to wait till they open the next day to talk to them about it and now I don't want the order at all. So now I'm getting upset because I know how crazy businesses will get and I was right, it got crazy.

So after numerous calls I finally speak to someone who couldn't help me so he gave me a number after a connection failed again so I called the number and told them that I wanted to cancel my order. I was told that it couldn't be canceled cause it was already in production. I told them "It was about 24 hours ago that I made the order and you're telling me you can't cancel the order?" So after being transferred and fussing I hang up. I can't believe they are just going to make me take this order.

So I call back a few times and I speak to one agent that tells me that since its only been 24 hours they would be able to cancel my order but at the same time I had Dell on another phone line and I told the guy that said I could cancel my order that I was speaking to another Dell agent and thanks and hung up with him which I regret now and spoke with the other agent and was told that they could not cancel my order because it was in production at a third party.

So after fussing to no avail I ask to speak to another supervisor and I ask him "Why is it possible to cancel and order for your convenience but not for the customer? I called 24 hour just yesterday to make a correction of the shipping address and you can cancel that order but when I when I want to cancel for my own reasons you can't cancel it." I told them that I didn't want the order anymore that it was too much stuff for my mom and I told them I was not happy with the service from Dell. I ask them why my balance which was $3500 before the order is now $1498.98. I was told that I had a order going to Illinois and one to Florida.

Now I made the order to Florida so who made the same order to Illinois? They replied "You did".I said "I did not make an order to anyone in Illinois". So now I'm really pissed. I ask "Who did you ship that order to and who authorized it?" and was told for security reasons they could not tell me. I said "Are you serious? You're telling me that I'm being charged twice for the same order and one order I never made and on top of that neither order can be cancel" and was told that one order has already shipped.

I said "First of all I wasted I lot of time just being on the phone and getting no help so now you're telling 24 hours later that "Oh looky, the order just shipped" while I clearly see online on my account that it's still in production." There is so much more to this story but I'm too upset to finish so now I have so see how this plays out but one thing for sure is that I am done with Dell after this gets resolved. This is my story as of 02/8/2010.

I am a commercial customer of Dell and have purchased over 100 pcs in the last 15 years. I am totally shocked at the horrific service I have received from Dell. On December 20th I received a new Dell Vostro Desktop 220S. This was the second machine I had purchased in the month of December alone. While trying to install my 2008 version of Quicken I received an error and research indicated that I needed the new 2010 version to run on this machine. I searched the Internet for a download copy and the Dell site came up with a $29 download deal. I entered my credit card and purchased the 2010 version of Quicken.

Shortly after my card was charged I received a notification that it would take 1-2 business days for the email with download instructions to be mailed. “Download to me should be Immediate”. I waited the 4 days due to the holiday and still no download email. I then contacted Dell support via chat and waited for the 22 people in front of me for my turn. After waiting some 45 minutes I was greeted by the Dell representative and told that the order was already shipped.

When I explained that it was a download order, He said he knew nothing about how download orders worked and that I needed to contact Dell Customer Care via phone during normal business hours. The next day I waded through the voicemail system (again some 45 minutes) to reach a foreign speaking individual who informed me I needed Business Customer Service due to being a commercial account. He said he would transfer me (only to hang up in me).

I then called back waded through the same voicemail system (another 45 minutes) to reach the business support who said he also knew nothing about how to get a download product. I then said "Just credit this product". He said he would need to be transfer me to the person who issued credits and when he transfer me he hang up on me also. I called back again (45 minute process) to reach the credit department only to be told that download orders were not refundable. I said "Send me the download link or credit me". The agent said he would have to forward the request to management and this process would take up to 1 week.

The moral of the story is… “no matter how good of a customer you are Dell dumps on everyone”. (It took over 3 hours of phone time only to be told no one can help). I have had good luck with Dell equipment of the years but this service is Horrific. It is a shame that a $29 order has cost them a good customer.

1-14-2010 I received a call today from Dell stating my credit card had been refunded for the Quicken product. I asked if there was someone in management I could relay this experience to in order for them to learn form the issue. The agent said I would need to call tech support if I had any other problems and please don't tell her about my problem for she was busy and could not help me further. (Just thought management should know of the problem so it does not happen to others.... perhaps they will read this review?)

Dear Readers, At the risk of coming off as talcum powder in amidst a blizzard of other unhappy customers, I urge you to look at HP or any of the other numerous high-quality brands of computer manufacturers (they're a dime a dozen these days). I got my Vostro 1400 a little over two years ago - the customer support was passable during the support window which was sufficient. However, approximately 3 or 4 months ago I began having graphical issues with my laptop which soon resulted in a PC that wouldn't boot or POST.

I researched my laptop, and I found that there were many lines of laptops from Dell that suffered from a hardware defect pertaining to the nVidia 8400M graphics card that is integrated into the motherboard. I contacted Dell, and after a lot of fussing I was finally able to contact a supervisor who was able to find documentation about an extended warranty that applied to these affected models. And thus my real hardship began... I sent my laptop to Dell to replace the motherboard which the technician determined to be the root of the issue. The laptop worked fine for about a week and then - kaput - the exact same issues surfaced again.

I promptly contacted Dell and after several more hours of phone calls and arbitrary troubleshooting procedures, Dell agreed to replace the laptop for a second time. I finally received my laptop back again, and two weeks later the exact same issue occurred for a THIRD time. Again, around-and-around I went with Dell amidst accusations that the system was out of warranty and pointless troubleshooting. Reluctantly, Dell gave in again and replaced the motherboard for the third time.

Guess what? And this is a huge shocker - THE MOTHERBOARD FAILED FOR A FOURTH CONSECUTIVE TIME! Ring, ring - "Hello, Dell Computers, this is ** how many I help you?" and around we go again!!! The supervisor I talked to this time agreed to replace the entire PC after reviewing the entire case. I thought, "Finally, could this be? Competent technical support from Dell?" NO! ABSOLUTELY NOT! The engineer places an order for the replacement PC which is cancelled a few days later with NO phone call, NO email, and absolutely NO attempts from Dell to tell me why!

After expecting the PC for 2 weeks, I log in to discover this information. After waiting on hold for approximately two hours, I'm told for no less than the 100th time (I really, truly wish this was an exaggeration) that the system is out of warranty and I'm S.O.L.

The icing on the cake is that, after telling the engineer that I'm about to go buy a new laptop from HP (I already purchased a new tower from HP during this whole debacle since I was left without a PC for so long) - guess what he says? THE DELL ENGINEER RECOMMENDS I PURCHASE A NEW LAPTOP FROM HP!!! With customer support engineers like this, who needs enemies? Needless to say, I will not be buying another thing from Dell. This is **, fading back into the white noise of complains about Dell's horrible customer service. Over and out.

PICTURE BUTTE, ALASKA -- On November 11, 2009, I ordered a Dell Studio Slim Desktop online through the Dell Canada website. On November 12, 2009 the order was approved. Dell did not provide me with a shipping date. I assumed that late November, maybe early December the computer would have been shipped and at home. That would allow me to have the computer easily in time for Christmas. I was mistaken.

On November 23, 2009 Dell sent me a e-mail notifying me that the computer was delayed. Considering that it was a customized desktop I didn't find this any cause for alarm. In the e-mail Dell requested me to contact them if the order had not been shipped in 5 days and if I hadn't received any further notification from Dell. After the 5 days came and went I sent them a e-mail notifying them of the delay and requesting information about my order. In the e-mail I sent Dell I allowed Dell a 5 business day response time with the suggestion that if there was no response within 5 business days that I would be seeking a refund on my order.

After 5 business days had come and gone I still hadn't received any response from Dell. Just as I was about to give up on ever getting a response Dell finally sent a e-mail. This was on December 12, 2009. Dell apologized for not responding in the time period given saying they were experiencing a high volume of emails. Then they informed me again that there was a delay in the order. They also informed me that there would be no refund and the only way to get money back would be to return the order once it shipped. I was requested to reply for shipping information in 48-72 hours.

On December 15, 2009, I replied with a request for the shipping information. On December 16, 2009, Dell replied with the same information. The order was delayed. I was to contact them in 48-72 hours. On December 18, 2009, I replied again and requested an update on the order. On December 21, 2009, Dell responded. This time they requested that I provide the first and last name associated with the account for some security reason and to verify information of the account. I responded On December 21, 2009, by providing them with all the information including first and last name, associated with the account.

On December 22, 2009 Dell responded with a e-mail very similar to the ones they sent me on the 15th and 18th. Dell continues to inform me of my order being on back order and that there is no estimated delivery date. Dell says they have sent an e-mail internally to obtain this information and that I am to contact them for it in 48-72 hours. However, I continue to wait and wait and wait.

As I am a resident of Canada and the order is coming from the United States. I can forget about it being here by Christmas. I also recognize that because it is a customized desktop that it may take a little longer to get shipped. At the same time, considering the ordered was confirmed on November 12, 2009, it's seems to be taking extremely long. And on top of it all, I still have no indication that the order is any closer to being shipped than I did on November 12, 2009. How patient must I be?

ROUND ROCK, TEXAS -- Here is the copy of the letter I wrote to Michael Dell. I need to preface this with letting you know, the letter got me a fast phone call from his representative in INDIA! SHAME ON YOU MICHAEL DELL!!

Excerpts of letter: On Monday, November 2nd, my Dell XPS 710 turned itself off and would not go on anymore. After one and a half hours on the phone with the Philippines they agreed to send a service technician to my home. He came on Thursday. When he was done replacing the mother board among other things, my husband walked him out to his car and came back in the house to get ready to leave on an appointment. Fortunately, he did that because he came in to find our office was filled with smoke and the computer on fire!! I hate to think of what could have happened. My dog could have been killed and my home destroyed!

My husband had the technicians phone number and called him immediately after unplugging the computer. The technicians response was that he could not return without a written work order from Dell. How ridiculous is that! My calls to tech support, once again in the Philippines initially got me, “So sorry Miss”.

When I pressed the facts that a Dell representative, nearly caused my home to go up in smoke, they moved me up to the resolution level and it was agreed they would send me another computer equal or better to replace this one. Beyond that point I can get nowhere. They also asked my husband to plug in the computer to see if it went on. Plug it in? What? Cause another fire? I don't think so.

I was told the following: It would be a built using refurbished parts - NOT acceptable to me. I want new with full warranties and service; It would take up to 3 weeks for the computer to ship - Again, NOT acceptable. I am virtually unemployed without this computer. What do I explain to clients who have set deadlines for their work. Additionally I will be away for 10 days after November 18th. It cannot be delivered. AND I have to finish work before I leave. NOTE: IT IS NOW THE 19TH, IT IS NOT BUILT, LET ALONE SHIPPED.

If I ordered a new computer on line it wouldn't take that long to build it! I requested that a service tech come out when the new computer comes to rescue whatever can be salvaged off the hard drive of my now useless computer. My recent work and programs are on there! I was told “So sorry, we don't do that: You will have to hire a technician on your own". I have to pay? I didn't cause the fire!

Mr Dell, we have had only Dell computers for the going back 12-15 years. Ever since you sent you outsourced your technical and customer service to overseas, the service has been slow and ever so frustrating, while listing to someone you can barely understand, read out of a manual. They are respectful and courteous to a point of frustration because they tell you nothing!

With the utmost respect I want to say that my house could have burned to the ground, my dog could have been killed, and to hear days of, 'Yes mam, so sorry to hear this mam.” And, “This is all we can do, you have reached the top level of our support team."

When you do not get called back as promised, and a message is left that they will call again in a few days”. This is not acceptable anymore. When you are told there is no one on the escalation team available and they mysteriously find one, who just happens to be the woman who left the message, she would call again on Monday. On top of that she tells you she was too busy to call you again, but that I call too much. Well that is just over the top.

I would like to resolve this replacement of the computer, I am unemployed until this happens. My business is in jeopardy because I cannot meet client deadlines and my house could have burned down. I would think it would behoove Dell to want this taken care of, and me to be satisfied so this would just go away.

It is very simple and easy. Send me a new computer, not a refurbished one, equal to the XPS 710 as soon as possible. At the very least I would like delivery before I leave on November 18th. Send a technician who can retrieve the information on the hard drive of the damaged computer.

I do not think I am being unreasonable in my request, as this could well have caused the death of my pet, damaged to my home, and altered my life in too many ways, due to something a Dell representative did or didn't do while repairing my computer. Dell's liability would have been far greater than just replacing a computer.

We purchased Dell products when the catalog we were mailed offered a great deal. Twice I caught them putting a higher total price on our purchases. I had them change it. Now they won't allow us to see what they are charging. They only show us the balance. They said they don't believe it, truly, is us. I asked why and they say with an overseas Indian accent (every call) "We are not allowed to discuss this security matter with you." We had to send a faulty computer back from ** and got the new upgrade replacement 1525. I could not use it for some games..which we purchased it for.

The topper to this was that we began paying $100.00 over our usual monthly payment to get the interest down. We never ever signed any type of agreement to continue it, or allow any direct draw on a continued basis. When we stopped paying that $100.00 to Dell, Dell continued to take the $100.00 out of the bank over and over from our bank...while still paying the low regular monthly payments to them. I sent emails and called the financial department to make them stop (As a "preferred customer"). There was a month they stopped taking the $100.00... A month later I had to begin it again, as Dell started pulling the hundred again.

With no late payments, ever, they began pulling an extra $100.00 above our monthly payments. Stopped them for a month and last month they began again. B of A says they can replace money from India if they try that out of their accounts, but our hometown bank could not. I tried stop payments. It did not keep them out... seriously! Now I am still not allowed to get into the Dell accounts we pay on, and they rip off a full one hundred dollars a month... and see how much money they actually have taken and where it went.

The security problem came when we took a trip in our RV. I had a home away from home address in that RV, when we stayed on base in San Antonio. When I explained my husband was a Vietnam War Veteran and had to be there for his war-related disability... that is when the trouble began and I believe they are against us because of the word "Vietnam War Veteran". So feel free to mention ** a 100% Service-Connected Disabled Vietnam War Veteran, and his wife, ** who he actually fed many starving children of Vietnam in the war.

He is unable to work due to his war disability (a plastic plate over much of his skull) and we worked 7 years to get his disability pay which was far easier than working with India, I promise. We are moving our bank account out of a small hometown bank, sadly. We are upset the Bank of Beaver City, Beaver, OK. could not keep the "Stop payment" working against India's computer savvy Dell employees. Tell Dell you are concerned about how the ** family of ** have been treated, go ahead.

Signed, Mr.& Mrs. ** (Do you like American Candy?) I was told to FAX Dell at 713 977 0119 to explain the problems by faxing bank records which I shall do tomorrow. Pray for us. We need some Godly power to intervene. I called our government and they seem confused.

Note: This falls into the categories of service fee's, rep mistakes, poor customer service, warranty, repair services, reliability, product quality, product performance, & quality of service. So two weeks ago I bought a brand new 1075 dollar laptop. Two week later (today) my screen's shutting off repeatedly blue screen. I call tech support which I have free for a year, mind you no one speaks fluent English. I got hung up on 4 times, each time after putting in my code, giving my code to a rep, being transferred, and giving my code again, after literally 30 minutes each.

The second time I gave the man a # to call back in case it hung up because I told him I'd been hung up on. Well he never called back. The third guy said my issue was Microsoft update. So he said to do a system restore and it would work. Well I did that. When I cut it back on, my computer was no long protected. Mind you I paid over $100 for 3 year protection! Why is my computer not protected??? It won't let me fix the problem, and it won't let me do a quick or full system scan. And it's telling me that my computer and e-mail files need attention. So I call back. Another 45 min on hold, this guys transfers me and tells me I'll have to pay.

I said "no thank you" because I am not willing to pay. He said "I will see if we can get something worked out" or something like that so I wouldn't have to pay. Well this guy tells me that it's a software issue and I have a virus. Why did the last guy not tell me I had a virus? He said that it was Microsoft update and that a lot of calls were about that! But I gave him the same error message. Wth is going on? Not only do I have a virus now, but I have to pay $129 to get them to tell me how to fix it. What? I was protected before the last guy said to do a system restore to a previous point.

Are you serious? He really didn't give a freaking frack when I said I am not paying for something that was fine before I called you guys. And $129? How do I even know that it's a virus? The last guy didn't say that and I gave him the same error message. If he knew it was a virus why didn't he tell me that? And how do I have a virus when I have a hundred something dollar virus protection software? Now I'm being jipped. What do I do now? A two week old computer? The internet won't connect? And that's what I need it for. I take online classes and I needed it for school. I'm very disappointed in this service. Dell doesn't give a rats booty about its customers.

If they don't do something I'm going to go as far as I can go. I'm being ripped off completely. How could you charge 129 dollars for something that should really be covered. They only care about the money. No one but their own pockets. And the customer service is the worst ever. The very worst customer service I've ever experienced!! Ever. I'll be writing letters, emails, making calls and everything I can get my hands on until this issue is resolved. But for now this is my 3 cents (please excuse my grammar and punctuation, I'm on a Blackberry since my computer is unusable and very tired after my 3 1/2 hour holding hang up session with Dell).