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A Dell Customer Service Dispute

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Re: A Dell Customer Service Dispute

#61
post #13
post #11

Reading the separate petition about the same support rep that's linked from there[1], the corporate nonsense is worse even that what's described in the Facebook post. [1] https://www.change.org/p/prawin-k-dell-com-dell-computers-fi...

Seems like these are different situations under the same support rep. I feel bad for the rep honestly, they're probably not allowed to do any more and I wouldn't be surprised if they ended up taking the fall for this.

The rep may be limited in what s/he can personally do and/or authorize, but I'm guessing it's not Dell policy that they a.) tell the customer that they are the manager and there's no one else, higher up, that they can talk to or b.) respond to legal threats with the equivalent of "come at me, bro".

Re: A Dell Customer Service Dispute

#62
post #53
post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had that Nvidia card replaced 3 times. Each time an 'expert' came to my home and replaced the motherboard in front of me. Each time I had it replaced apparently it extended the warranty for 1 more year. The laptop scorched a mark in my table. The charger exploded and scorched my carpet. They wouldn't exchange it until I told them I would send my bill for the carpet as well.... I didn't buy a Dell again for 8 years.…

In EU the warranty resets for the component that is replaced. Of course there are many times the seller/manufacturer will try to present it in a different way and you might have to contact the chamber of commerce or even a lawyer but the EU law is there for the consumer to use.

> In EU the warranty resets for the component that is replaced.

Do you happen to have a link stating this?

I only found http://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/consumers/shopping/guar... but it doesn't say exactly what you say.

Re: A Dell Customer Service Dispute

#63

I do admit in this case Dell has messed up a lot. But for heaven's sake, why does a school buy Inspiron? Here in Europe, we buy Dell latitude - thru Dell Education Portal. I got 2 harddrives for my group with 10 machines in the University - next business day. No waiting with my express code. These days I recommend Latitude even for my friends and family (unless they want OSX).

Does Dell offer different customer support for Latitudes than it does for Inspirons? I collected on my warranty for a broken harddrive on my Latitude laptop and also had a terrible time with their support. If you are just going through the common path of buying their product, it is not surprising that they offer a painless experience. The problem comes when something goes wrong and you need support.

Dell offers different warranties depending on the channel you use to buy. I always buy through the small business section and buy next business day service. It's far less of a hassle.

Re: A Dell Customer Service Dispute

#64
I work for one of the largest PR companies in the world (we are in the EU, where customer protection laws are kinda okay, too) and as a rule of thumb they buy Dell when it comes to PCs, don't ask me why!). When I was employed, I chose to go with a Mac and my manager had his old HP replaced with an XPS 15 at the same time. We all got brand new machines, but his XPS bit the dust within 2 weeks, so he sent it back to IT. We have premium enterprise support from Dell. They took 3 weeks to send a deffective machine back, which got returned instantly. Not sure if they eventually replaced it or not because after another 3 weeks of waiting IT just told him to pick another Dell. He went with a Mac instead.

Thought I'd share this with you to underline how bad their support is on every level.

Re: A Dell Customer Service Dispute

#65
post #31
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems like these are different situations under the same support rep. I feel bad for the rep honestly, they're probably not allowed to do any more and I wouldn't be surprised if they ended up taking the fall for this.

Support reps are always allowed to do more. There's always a path of escalation that ends at the CEO. If a Dell-partnered senior exec (like from Fry's or Best Buy) was having a terrible customer support experience trying to RMA their Dell device, you can bet that if it didn't get resolved ASAP that there'd be a Dell exec personally flying out a new device and repairing their business ties in-person. It just sucks for…

Just this week I went nuclear with a particularly bad customer service experience. I'd been messed around trying to buy a Razer Blade Stealth which claimed same day shipping. Three days later I had no shipping confirmation and no response from customer support.

The day after tracking down the founder's email address a laptop was shipped FedEx direct from the factory.

Re: A Dell Customer Service Dispute

#66
post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And what do you buy?

I've moved years ago from Dell to Lenovo. And specifically to professional models which come with onsite warranty. The onsite warranty is of course very good thing on its own, but I also believe it puts pressure on the vendor to focus on quality and getting issues sorted out quickly (because doing onsite visits is not cheap). It also indicates the computer is built in a way I can also replace parts, because you can't…

And what about the backslash from Lenovo SSL hijack from some months ago ?

It really looks like there are no pro or business solution, just a more expensive variant of `pick your poison`.

Re: A Dell Customer Service Dispute

#67
post #62
post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In EU the warranty resets for the component that is replaced. Of course there are many times the seller/manufacturer will try to present it in a different way and you might have to contact the chamber of commerce or even a lawyer but the EU law is there for the consumer to use.

> In EU the warranty resets for the component that is replaced. Do you happen to have a link stating this? I only found http://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/consumers/shopping/guar... but it doesn't say exactly what you say.

You might have a point here because there is the general direction for 2+ years of guarantee and then each country in its legislation can provide even more benefits like this one. For example if you check here

http://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/consumers/shopping/guar...

Per country you'll see that eg. Germany and Greece reset the warranty period after repair/part exchange but Czech Republic and UK don't. As I come from a country that does reset the warranty period I wrongly assumed it is part of the EU regulation.

Bottom line some countries respect the consumer more :)

Re: A Dell Customer Service Dispute

#68
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems like these are different situations under the same support rep. I feel bad for the rep honestly, they're probably not allowed to do any more and I wouldn't be surprised if they ended up taking the fall for this.

The rep may be limited in what s/he can personally do and/or authorize, but I'm guessing it's not Dell policy that they a.) tell the customer that they are the manager and there's no one else, higher up, that they can talk to or b.) respond to legal threats with the equivalent of "come at me, bro".

I had a rep tell me a), they were the final arbiter and nobody to escalate to, quite a few years back. Was before they reorganized Dell Outlet... scratch & ding was a separate choice from refurbished. I chose the former and received the latter, a 2 years used tower. After his declaration I ran data recovery and started sharing my findings and quoting the rep with random operators when I called back and they asked for my ticket number. First couple forwarded me back to my miserable operator, but through persistence the 'right' person was found and I had a brand new replacement overnighted the next day. If memory serves, there is no longer any designation to choose, if it's from Dell Outlet you may(probably) or may not(less probable) get a refurb.

Re: A Dell Customer Service Dispute

#69
post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, logitech is very different in this case. Couple years ago my trackball got broken and i was a fan of trackballs, but they started to disappear from shops. Then i just emailed them that my device broken and they immediately send me a replacement, they even didn't ask about check or any warranty proof.

Same happened to me. I have an unreasonable loyalty to Logitech not just because their product are decent but because their customer service is great. The only other company to come close is Sandisk, who once sent me an upgraded version of my mp3 player when my head phone jack broke

MSI sent me 5 out of warranty mobo's during the 'great capacitor plague'[0]. Never before or since have I had anything that close to painless doing warranty work.

[0]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague

Re: A Dell Customer Service Dispute

#70

There's one missing piece in the story here: I told him if [returning the laptop again is] the best solution that he can provide (customer care is not an iterative process), I would have no option but to pursue this through my university's legal department. So what was the best solution that the complainer wanted? It seems like a replacement would have been a pretty reasonable thing to ask for at this point. This, on…

This is the thread:

This is in reference to the Better Business Bureau correspondence that reached our corporate office. We appreciate you taking the time to bring this issue to our attention. Thank you for taking time and discussing the issue with me today, I apologize for the delay in getting the system issue resolved, we will make sure this time the depot engineers work on the system technical issue, test the system functionality before shipping the system to you. We regret to inform you that we are unable to accommodate your request towards providing a new system replacement, a complete refund for the original system or only the out of warranty charge or extend hardware warranty for six months. Kindly understand that the option provide to you by us is the best option we can provide you. Request you to reply to my email if you are find with the option we have offered.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding the issue discussed today, please do reply to this email or call me and I would be glad to assist you further.

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