Dell Rant...I'm not happy

[ranarama]

I'm all for credit where credit is due, however, I'm also in favour of telling everyone about crap customer service and in particular Dell and my wasted hours this evening.

For those that can't be bothered to read my rant I now declare that Dell are crap, read no further, take my word for it, and if Dell disagree I hope they prove me wrong in the next few days and my laptop is fixed. If they do I will praise them in this post. If they don't I hope you will join me in spearheading their downfall as a company not interested in their customers. I don't expect any miracles.

I bought an Inspiron 1525 with a 1440x900 monitor - one of their build your own type laptops. When I eventually got it there was something wrong with the monitor. From first boot there was something wrong with the screen. It looks to me like they did something really stupid like put an 800x600 screen into the machine but installed drivers for 1440x900 that I ordered as an upgrade. The main result of this is that when it's in 'native' (1440x900) resolution it looks absolutely abysmal and you can't even read the words on screen as they are so pixelated. Initially I thought the resolution was set wrong...nope. 800x600 looks OK (if enourmous) but anything above that looks pixelated in the way that there aren't enough pixels to resolve the image. I've put photos at the end of the post to illustrate the point. (The same ones I sent to Dell tech support while I was paying to be on the phone to them.)

Fair enough, these things happen. What I really dispise is being charged to call the helpline to fix something they didn't provide working in the first place. I was then lied to which really made my blood boil. They told me it was illegal for them to provide a freephone number for support and they were in discussion with the UK government to try to resolve this (WHAT???).

In the mean time they were not prepared to refund the cost to a 'non-geographic' call despite not fixing my problem and me having to pay at least 6p a minute for an hour and a half of unproductive support guff that I had already tried but they still wanted me to do.

Eventually I got to speak to a manger who told me that they would send an engineer out but he said that it was a special service...excuse me, your product is broken! They could only send the engineer when it was convenient for them - between 9:30 and 5:30 - really inconvenient for those of us that work which is pretty much anyone buying a laptop. I eventually agreed for it to be picked up from work which is best I could get but it's like they work in a different world.

Normally if I buy something faulty I expect it to be replaced, not repaired. Maybe I'm expecting too much. I also want refunds for my calls (at least £10) and a bit of compensation for having to waste 2 hours of my life trying to fix whatever is wrong. I requested a UK representative call me. There aren't any apparently so I await a call from customer service on Monday...from Bangalore..or maybe that's D(h)ell(i) or just dHell.

Photos of the problem:

 

[ranarama]

You're going to spread hate because 1 product failed on you?

No, I'm going to spread hate because their customer service is appalling.

I feel like a saint then, I've gone through about 5 machines and still do recommend them to others.

That doesn't fill me with confidence about their product, neither does OspreyO with 3 faults from 8 machines..

I had to take a day off college last time they were round here as I'm out at 7am and back by 6:30pm.

You miss a day off college, I miss a day's pay or have to use limited holiday time.

It's their work hours too though so unless they employ out of standard hours people, it isn't going to change.

It wouldn't be unreasonable to expect them to work until 8pm to cater for people with jobs IMO.

Much, much, much cheaper and easier to repair something and take your time over it than to build a whole new one. My m1710 had the 7950gtx replaced 5 times, the rest of the machine was the same one that I first picked up.

If they supply a faulty product they should replace it and take the faulty one back. Most retail outlets would do this.

I suppose this is where my talk-talk account comes in handy, I don't really have to worry about phone bills at all as they're so low. 2 Hours is on the lengthier side of things, usually they can sort something out in about 25-45 mins.

You still shouldn't have to pay to speak to someone to repair a machine that is only a day old and delivered faulty. It doesn't matter how cheap or expensive the call is, there shouldn't be a cost at all.

BTW have you tried 1280x800?

Yes, and thanks for the suggestions all but I tried installing new drivers and all the various refresh rates and resolutions before calling them. The only resolution that does not give chewed up letters is 800x600.

 

[ranarama]

OK well first update. I had a call from customer services today, as they promised to do. Good start, but it went downhill from there. They didn't do well.

They refused to refund the charges as the call charges are detailed in their T&Cs. I told them I tried to get the free support online but every time I tried it the service was too busy. He (the customer support manager) asked if I had emailed. I told him it was impractical to fix this problem by email as it would take too long (they didn't fix it in an hour and a half on the phone) and the problem I had was their fault. He asked if I had read the T&Cs. I said the T&Cs didn't matter as I couldn't get the free support they had promised to provide. He asked if I had read 8.2.7 or whatever of the T&Cs . I nearly made a Kryton quote but I think it would have been lost on him. Instead I lied and said I had but I shouldn't be expected to remember them and even if I had the T&Cs were nonsense. He then did an annoying 'speak while you write' mutter of 'customer says T&C's are nonsense' - guaranteed to **** me off. Back to the point...I repeated my point about not being able to get free support so the T&Cs should be overruled.

And so it went on. I was still insisting the charges were unfair and I wanted £10 refunded. He said he couldn't do that. I said he should call accounts and make it happen. He said he couldn't do that. I asked if he was a Customer Support Manager. He said he was. I asked why he wasn't supporting his customers. He said he was. I said you are ripping your customers off. He said he wasn't. I said you don't respect your customers. He said he did. I said I woulld never buy from Dell again. He said that was my choice. I said the American troops had invaded Baghdad. He said 'Americans were committing suicide by the hundreds at the city's gates' while a US tank rolled past him in the background (actually that last point isn't true, I didn't say that).

So we moved on after a while...I said I wanted to return the PC under the distance selling act. He got angry and started shouting about customised goods not being allowed to be returned. I conceded that one but I enjoyed getting him get so riled.

And so it went on until I ran out of time and had to go to a meeting after about 20 minutes of this. He then asked if I thought they should send £10 cheques to everyone that called them for support. I said 'yes, if they had been delivered a faulty PC otherwise set up a freephone number so you can support your customers as you were, after all, customer support'. I also pointed out that the 1st rep I spoke to the other day had told me it was illegal for them to set up a freephone number. He didn't admit or deny that was true.

As a final effort to get rid of me he said that he would offer me a 'goodwill' gesture, so I asked what it was. He said 'something in addition to the delivered laptop'. I said OK what is that. He said 'I was going to offer this from the start but I couldn't get a word in edge ways'. I stayed silent for 10 seconds. He said nothing. I said you just had 10 seconds to make an offer. He said 'you expect me to tell you what it is in ten seconds?'. I said 'you said you didn't have a chance to tell me in the last 20 minutes, you just had a chance and you said nothing'. He said I kept interrupting him (I only did that when he wasn't answering my questions). Eventually he offered me a 1gb USB key...big deal. I told him I could get them for £3 but then I ran out of time and had to go to that meeting.

So for all my complaining and pointing out how bad their customer services were I'm left feeling let down by these clowns. He could have fixed it straight away with a refund of the phone call. In the end it probably cost them more to get the customer Servece Manager to call me from India but that's not the point. The offer of a virtually cost free USB key is insulting. I'll see how the engineer does tomorrow, then I might write to the MD.

 

[ranarama]

And so it goes on...the engineer replaced the screen, but that didn't fix it. Then he replaced the motherboard and the replacement motherboard was broken, so I'm now waiting for a replacment laptop which could take another week. I'm waiting to hear what their customer 'service' has to say now.

BTW the engineer said it was a joke they offered me a 1gig USB mempory stick as a goodwill gesture.

 

[ranarama]

If they'd have done their jobs properly in the first place rather than ripping me off and insulting me with their dreadful after sales support they wouldn't have had to put up with my complaint.

I suspect I'm not the first person to have complained to them and I doubt I'll be the last. As long as they keep treating customers badly they'll continue having to deal with angry customers. It's not difficult to fix either.

 

[ranarama]

And finally they offer me customer 'service'. They're putting a larger HD in the new laptop which is not stunning given the nonsense we've been thorough but it's acceptable, though it wasn't offered until I asked for it.

I'm still bitter about the experience but at least I feel like the issue is resolved. Saying that I'll reserve final comment until the new one has arrived.