Hey Dell CA Group,

I've been in contact with a few people from the Dell Customer Advocacy group.

Overall, the work you guys are doing is great, and I hope you keep going strong.  I've had both great, and disappointing experiences in my interaction with you guys so far, but in the end you've been very helpful and have done good by me.

The two issues I've seen that need the most work from the Advocacy Group are:

 1) Some E-mail to your group either doesn't receive a response, or the response takes.. weeks.  I'm sure you guys have had alot of E-mail coming in, and it's likely not easy to keep up, but please see what you can do about this.  I've directed quite a few people to the customer_advocate@dell.com address to seek resolution with ongoing (and imo easily solvable) issues, but some of them have stated they never heard back from anyone at Dell.com and just returned or resold their equipment. :(

2) Follow up.  In my personal experience with your team, I've found a few minor, but very noticeable issues were overlooked. They'd fall under the heading of follow up.. going back over the original E-mail thread you have had with a customer, to make sure you're not missing a detail.  This is a time killer, but I believe it makes the difference between a happy customer, and a customer who walks away with a solution but isn't satisfied with the experience.

A small example of issue #2 would be as follows.. a customer with an Inspiron 1710 is looking for a way to play surround sound with their 5.1 speaker system.  After a few E-Mail messages back and forth, the customer is informed he requires a special cable/adaptor to use an RCA/coax s/pdif audio connection with surround sound speakers.  These Dell cables come with either component video, or composite video connectors with the audio connector they need on each type of cable.  Early in the E-mail conversation, the customer mentions they have an hdtv that has component video, wanted the surround sound while enjoying DVD's, but the actual question the customer first posed was "How do I get surround sound from my laptop to my 5.1 speakers?" 

The advocate in the end, provides a link to buy a cable with composite video and the audio s/pdif connector, which directly provides a solution to the actual question asked. But, it does not take into account some of the information provided during the discussion. The cable with component connections would have been appropriate for this customer.

I've noticed this type of situation has occured a number of times in different ways, to both myself, and others, and is an issue of attention to detail, or someone being too rushed to push out an answer and move onto the next customers issue.  Simple mistakes do happen, but when the same type of oversights occur regularly, it's not an issue of making a simple mistake here or there.

I'd like to reiterate, the work you guys are doing is great, and even with the issues I've mentioned, I have also seen ALOT of good resolutions being provided to Dell customers by the Advocacy Group. I'm hoping my feedback can only help to improve the customers experience, and my own in the future.

Also, Lionel... the Flash video solution in this post, functions far better than the WMV control did. Being able to use the slider to seek through the video would have been very useful in past posts, and will likely be for future video blogs. Thanks!

-DL

 I can't imagine any Dell user to be "happy enough" with the "results" provided by anyone from Dell.  I was approached by someone who said they were from Dell about a post I made on my lifejournal, and I can't help but notice that mysteriously, this user named "dellca" is now the owner of a suspended account.  Which is it--did Dell suspended it, or did livejournal realize what a fraud it was?  Seriously, is this where my warranty money goes?  Why not hiring more people to pick up phones so I don't have to wait on hold for a half hour only to be hung up on?  Why not hire more people to read emails so I can get a timely response?  Why not hire more people to make defective products to replace the defective products in people's machine.  I had to wait over a week for Dell to send me my last defective motherboard.  Now they told me one business day.  Two business days and counting.  Not surprising when I call and ask about my order status, after talking to a machine that can't understand me, I have to talk to a person I can't understand who tells me that Dell has no record of me even existing.  Not at all surprised.  There is no communication between any department at Dell.  Everyone I talked to said customer_advocate@dell.com is a fraud.  You don't even let your employees know what's going on, why should you tell me.  Trolling people's blogs seems like an inefficent use of resources, especially considering that there must be so many people dissatatisfed with the piece of utter worthlessness that Dell calls a computer.  This comment does not even begin to express how dissatisfied I am with Dell.  I'll end on a high note.  After over 12 hours of complaining on the phone and getting hung up on, I got stuck with a totally useless computer for 21 days until a refurbished one can be sent.  After just under 2 hours of complaining, by dad got me a sweet deal, supposedly, I have no faith in Dell's ability to follow through, wherein a tech would be sent out, was it today, surely not, and a new, not refurbished, computer would be sent to me in 10 days.  Why should I believe this is anything other than sexual discrimination?

Today I was contacted by "john, a customer service advocate at Dell. I had seen his email address here and had written to him about ongoing issues that Calcutta Tech support had refused to correct. I have three issues:

1) intermittant RAM failure

 2) The inital RAM configuration by Dell was wrong, resulting in double the upgrade costs when I eventually add RAM. I have 4 256mb modules instead of 2 512mb modules and 2 empty slots. I hadn't caught Dell's attempt to screw me until I pulled the cover while troubleshooting the RAM failures.

3) I bought a 2 year on-site service agreement covering parts and labor. Dell's best response to date has been to replace the defective module once I identify it - something I have spent hours on already. Note that I did not purchase a parts-only service contract. I asked John what would happen if I wasn't a geek, but a little old lady instead. We'll see how he responds. Personally, I think we should all quit doing Dell's work and start demanding a service call instead of parts-only service.

I wouldn't be so pissy, as I'm able to change out RAM, but after spending an hour on hold waiting on Calcutta tech support every time I've had to call, and/or have their phone reps drop the call, I've lost faith in Dell's service.

I've read the content and tone of other postings here, but have decided to give the customer advocacy program the benefit of the doubt. Whatever happens, I'll post it here. If it is more BS, I'll post it everywhere.

I found it interesting to see so many complaints when I googled "Dell Customer Advocate."  That took me straight to Emily's comments above, I can't believe that Dell has its warranty customer's changing out motherboards. Incredible!

I note that it took about a week for John to send his initial reply asking me for a status. He cited the recent bad weather as the cause of the delay. We'll see how long it takes for John to respond this time. We'll also see if this posting mysteriously dissapears, in which case, a copy of which will be posted to every blog I can find, in addition to the one I'll start.

Dell........ are you listening? Is the customer advocacy program your idea of damage control in response to public blog complaints?

We'll wait and see......

John,You

approached me a while back and I believe you were sincere in helping me out.  I didn't believe you at first, but when I saw the path you were taking to visit my website, I could see it was coming from a legit Dell address.  Other than that, I did of course believe you, but in the end I couldn't surrender my laptop even for a few days.  The service you supplied was very noteworthy, but when it came time to buy another high-powered machine, I went another direction.  Nothing to do with the service, but I just didn't like the way my Dell was built, the endless pre-installed software, or the way it keeps lagging in WOW after about 45 minutes of play. (I believe that it has something to do with the machine heating up).  Side by side with the new machine (HP), you can definitely see that Dell is putting out an inferior product in the $1,500 laptop range.

Eric 

I was here yesterday and authored some of the above comments. Actually, I should have given Dell's C.A. another day. This evening, I received his response.

Dell is addressing my RAM issues and I couldn't be happier. While I had a rough go of it with Calcutta Tech Support, I've got to say that the C.A. Program has been smooth.

Presently, I'm running on two of the four modules, so my inconvenience is minor. It may be another week before the new RAM modules are here and I'm fine with that as well as popping them in myself if that gets it done quicker.

As a suggestion to the others, get in touch with the C.A.'s if Tech Support is giving you fits and it can't be resolved. They really do have the power to do something, providing it's within reason.

No, I don't work for Dell. I'm happy with my E510 which has been dependable until the RAM issues surfaced. Thanks Dell/John!

The problem isn't your people, at least the ones that can speak English.  The problem I have faced is the loonnnnggggg time on the phone to fix issues.  I have called twice and have spent more than three hours on the phone.  That is nuts!  My fancy and very expensive Dell PC (XPS 600) is a piece of junk.  It is the worst computer I've ever owned.  I had two other Dells before this one and had a great experience until now.  Calling customer / technical support is similar to buying a car.  It is a terrible experience that I avoid like the bird flu.  I am on the phone right now because another part broke last night.  I don't know how you expect to stay in business with this type of support and machines of such poor quality.  I used to love Dell.  I can name 4 or 5 people that own Dells because I told them to buy a Dell.  I will never tell anyone that again.  In fact, I have told dozens of people in the last few months of my very poor experience and how Dell has fallen.  Maybe it's just karma for making outsourcing customer support. 

I too had a bad experience with Dell. For some unknown reason, my brand new Dell XPS 700 system decided to bite the dust to the point it just crashes constantly, blue screens, locks up, and shuts itself off. After dealing with Customer Care for a while I decided to vent some of my anger towards the situation on my personal blog and low and behold to my surprise I was contacted by Larry from the Dell Customer Advocate team. And thanks to Larrys hard work and dedication on the situation and keeping me informed about it, I changed my mind about doing a return on the system and getting a refund. I plan on keeping my XPS 700 and hoping all goes well.

Larry, if you ever get around to reading this, or my blog again - THANK YOU!

My current experience with Dell customer service and specifically the "customer advocate" is similar to Emily's in this thread. There has been NO advocacy for me, just the old school run around that has been so well documented in cyberspace already. I am still in the battle though!

I don't take it too seriously however, knowing in advance that this would all happen, thanks to the dell community forums. Which BTW I applaud dell for hosting! 

Perhaps the "Soul of Dell" corporate philosophy has not reached the cold realms of Canada yet, but we hope and dream along with our American cousins!

One of my blog friends said I should re-post my latest blog here. It's a great idea, so I am. Here it is....

Don't buy a Dell!

I was wondering if this site still gets a response of any kind from anyone at Dell???

I have written in detail about my woes with my 1800FP monitor just dying on me on three (3) different occasions in the last month with no response whatsoever. Even an automated reply would let me know there is someone on the other end. :)

After talking to countless repair techs in this area, I am amazed that Dell didn't contact me about the very real power supply problem this particular model has. Many of the techs said it should have been replaced or recalled by Dell either way long ago.

Why is the small business owner the last to know and the last to get a solution when Dell hardware goes bad??? I don't expect Dell to send me a newer unit, but I do think that they should respond and offer to fix the one I have already purchased.

I will be looking at other companies for our next upgrades this Spring. I have only purchased Dell's for the last 7 years and this 1800FP and the one they originally sent(dead pixels) were the only defective purchases I have made.

Hello There,

In Feb 2006 I bought a Dell Inspiron 1300. Right through my warranty period this notebook was 100%. This morning we switched the computer on and we have vetical colored lines all over the screen, different sized "blank ink" spots, and a green/black portion. 3/4 of the screen is not accessible. It all appears as soon as the computer comes on. I called Dell Customer Service and that mattered to them is that I need to pay $50 for them to address the issue. THIS IS CLEARLY A SYSTEM FLAW, and most probably a LCD hardware problem. Where is the recall for this?

This is a disgrace..where is the ethics and integrity. We have done nothing to this computer and the only thing that matters is how, after I have already been conned for $500, they can make some more money out of us.So what I am expected to do...pay $50 for them to tell me its a hardware problem, and that it will cost me $500 to have the monitor replaced.

My wife, 8 year old daughter and I share this notebook. How can a company operate like this....does anything matter besides how much money Dell can get of people.

Shocking!

Hey John,

    I am not very sure whether it was you who left a comment on my blog about Dell at Walmart. But do please see for my reply posted.

Thanks and appreciate the way you guys got to my blog!

Adarsh  

You guys are doing a great job. I posted my issue on a forum and John helped me to solve it. I do appreciate it.

Benkud

After an increasingly bitter correspondence via e-mail and numerous phone calls to India regarding my brand-new Dell and the failure to get anything approaching usable function on 512 Mb of RAM with the new Vista, I gave up and wrote a rather nasty post on my Live Journal blog, entitled "Dell Hell".  A month or so later, I too was contacted by John via my blog, he wanted more details, which I provided, I was contacted within 24 hours by a Dell customer service rep in my country (UK) and we were able to come to a satisfactory resolution (provision of another Gig of RAM and XP to replace Vista).

 So in summary, John does exist, John is A Good Person (as is Martyn in the UK), my new computer is now working and I am a happy camper.  I just hope that there can be some resolution to the chain of customer service and complaints, which is where my real frustration lay, but other than that, I have a working computer with plenty of power.  Go, John!
 

I have 2 dell computers. One older Dimension XPS and one newer E510. My older system works great. But my newer system did work great for about 6 month, then after updating drivers from dell's website, I have been getting the blue screen. Tech support was not very helpful, as is all tech support, because they do not speak fluent english.

 So, with all of this said, I will just build my next computer and spec out high quality parts.

 Too bad Mike let his company get out of hand. He lost future revenues from me.

 Phil

i have dell bought 6 month back from dubai and i stay in india and my dell 6400 inpiron doesn not start the scroll light and the caplock light blinks for 45 sec nad the lab top completely shuth down.the screen is blank and no help from dell.please help

I forgot to mention that I have found Dell's Phone Tech Support team to be OUTSTANDING for the most part.  They have really helped me out in some scary momments!!!

You all deserve a lot of credit!!!  Great job! 

Linda Edwards 

Nancy: I'm sorry that we're having some problems with unsubscribing at the moment. May I ask you to submit another comment and please fill in the e-mail address field so I can make sure we remove you from the RSS list?

Sorry for the inconvenience.

Working on a Dell Inspiron 5150. It will not power on with AC or battery. Checked the power cord with a multi-meter and it is fine. Battery is fine. The hard battery light blinks orange, and if I move the laptop just right the hdd and battery lights blink green a few times but no power up. No fans, no hdd sounds, just a few blinks and then nothing. Any ideas? Need help asap.

Thanks

Jeff 

Dear sir,

 Facing problem in webcam installation. Setup is giving error (windows xp, Vostro 1400). plz help

I have also had an Inspiron 5150 like others throughout the post.  It has always worked great, but here recently it just stopped.  I turn it on and the the power up lights come on, but nothing else......no noise or fan or anything on the screen at all.  I have heard of similar problems and on the other hand I have heard of conflicting stories on how Dell took care of it.  My family has also done business with Dell over the years and I would appreciate a response on what will be honored with the 5150 as I need it for my school work and hate to buy another if this one can be fixed.  Thanks again.

My dell xps 600 crashed tonight with a hardware failure message. I attempted restart a few times unsuccessfully, each time the only response being the fan blowing faster and louder, reving higher. Any help I can get in what might cause this would be appreciated.

Brad

I have really unhappy with Dell for several reasons:

 1. The Laptop the sent me look used. I returned it with hassle, and got another that appears used.

 2. Customer service hung up on me because I would not tell them WHY I was buying the computer. Like ITS ANY OF YOUR BUSINESS.

 3. I bought the Laptop in December during the "rebate special". But I just learned that my purchase did not quality. This of coarse is after I confirmed my online purchase via the phone with the sales department that it qualified for the rebate. Now the I am being told that I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN I WOULD NOT GET THE  REBATE BECAUSE IT WAS NOT LISTED ON MY RECIEPT. What a joke.

Mark: I'm sorry to see you are having problems with the laptop. I'll ask somone from Customer Service to follow up with you.

Wow, I see that the original post I madee on this board was deleted by the mods. Short and simple: I  have  an XPS400 that's an absolute lemon. Thus far, Dell has replaced the video card, the audio card and a hard drive. And at least once a week, I get the blue screen of death which is only resolved by restoring the computer. Until it happens again. And again.

Dell has been unable or unwilling to address this and to say I'm disappointed is an understatement. I was  truly hoping that someone here would help me resolve this matter. All I want is a fully operational computer that doesn't require a system restore every few days. That's what I purchased, that's what I'm paying for, yet that's not what Dell delivered.

Cary, I'm sorry to hear about your issues. I have escalated your issue.

Joanne

bought a dell laptop in nov. 2007 one of three dell computers that i have bought over the last several years .  when i bought  the laptop i qualified for a 100.00 gift card at that time. called your customer service  people three weeks ago and they told me that i should be getting it within two weeks. this is now three weeks ago so i called back and now someone else tells me that i won't be receiving this card. you can never get throgh to talk to someone and when you do you can't understand them. i'm really disgusted with this whole ordeal and wan't to get this resolved. dell should not be advertizing something if they don't intend to honor it. would appreciate a explanation.  would really like a telephone conversation instead of such an impersonal email response.       my name is dave and i can be reached at 815-224-1815

u 

Well, the motherboard that Dell allegedly ordered to replace the one on my nightmare XPS400 has not arrived. I have not received a call from the tech, have not received a call-back from Dell regarding this either. Meanwhile, this weekend, ONCE AGAIN, I had to deal with the blue screen AGAIN. I didn't have an hour to spend with Dell on the phone so I went ahead and restored my system AGAIN. What will it take for Dell to resolve this, please!!!?????

Hi,

I have Inspiron 5150 laptop. Recently I experiencing a problem when running any video or flash screen, the system shuts off without any warning. I have also experience fan noise more often now-a-days.

Also, I want to upgrade this laptop. Is there buyback facility available in DELL to get a new one?

Thanks.

The Blue Screen of Death appeared on Friday again and after numerous restores, I can't get the nightmare system up. I tried calling Dell twice over the weekend and after being on hold for 40 minutes and 35 minutes, I had to give up since I do have a life and didn't have all day to wait for a Dell Tech. Once again, I ask this question: DOES DELL INTEND TO FIX THIS PROBLEM FOR ME EVER?? Owning a computer (with a Service Plan until 2010 no less!!) does NOT constitute getting the blue screen of death once a week or spending hours every week with Dell's tech support (or lack thereof). I need this resolved PLEASE!

The technician came out to my home today to replace the motherboard. Upon rebooting, he got the blue screen of death three times. He apparently didn't know what to do next and called Dell. Dell told him I had to restore the sytem and will send me a set of discs. For the hundreth time, I need to ask the question: IS DELL EVER GOING TO RESOLVE THIS PROBLEM? Owning a computer DOES NOT constitute restoring the system every week. Someone at Dell needs to please own up to this and simply replace this system. PLEASE!

 I got 1 second freeze in adobe reader and games, random loss of control of characters in games, blue screens with intel graphics. wheres the help e mail Jeff Jarvis again ?

First off, let me say that after reading through these posts and others that Dell is not given enough credit.  Not only for the amount of business they conduct but also for the amount of people they try their best to help.  Patience and cooperation pays off.  Take notice that I posted a message here on the 14th of February about my 5150 and problems I was experiencing.  Mike B., a Dell customer service advocate, had contacted me on the 20th and promised to do everything he could to fix my problems.  By the 5th of March my laptop was replaced and Dell's product honored.  Again patience and cooperation go a long way these days opposed to negative attitudes and degrading Dell's image.  No one is twisting anybody's arm to buy Dell's products, but I am here to say they stood behind their product in my case.

Thanks again Mike B.  

I'm too disgusted to even write about it.  You guys at Dell have problems!

 

Okay my last experience with Dell two years ago was a nightmare and I swore then to never buy another computer from them again. Well now I am back with a new problem for Dell. This one has to do with my Dell Inspiron 9300 Laptop. I have the verticle line issue happening all over my lcd display. I am now going to contact Dell Technical support and see what can be done about fixing to resolving this issue. I purchased this laptop in April of 2005 and did not purchase any extended warrenty. I have read that my laptop could be related to a possible mgf. defect and some owners of the Inspiron Laptop have got them fixed for free. So we shall see what I will end up doing with my $1800.00 laptop.

Here goes.... I feel as if I am stepping into the Twilight Zone of Horror!

 Yes when you got a problem with your computer and have a WARRANTY then your already in the twlight zone, whats more scary is the BOSS wants India more, is he nitwit.

Hello????? Is this set of discs shipping by sea from India???? I've made THREE CALLS TO DELL regarding this and all the Indian techs have told me "yes ma'am, you must be patient. These are being mailed out to you".

  I purchased an Inspiron E1505 a little over a year ago.  Ironically the warranty runs out after one year.  However no sooner did the warranty go out my laptop flashed me a message when I turned it on saying that the battery is still charging normally but will not hold the charge as long anymore.  Ok, now yes the warranty did run out but lets be honest your telling me that the battery in my laptop after being on AC power for most of the year that I have had it is dying already?  When I take it off AC power now it lasts 30 minutes or so.  This is ridiculous. 

  Then when you go to the website that the computer suggests to order a new battery they cost $200 for a direct replacement and $300 for the 9 cell.  Now the most interesting part is that the ratings for both batteries are incredibly low.  When you read the messages every user has written they all say the same thing.  They have all had their laptops for a little over a year and the batteries are basically dying shortly after the warranty expires.  This is not right, this is not a specific issue, many more people than just me are having this problem and it needs to be addressed.  I have an Inspiron 8000 which is now over 7 years old.  I replaced the battery in that laptop once and that was after 3 years of use.  My Inspiron 8000 battery outperforms the Inspiron E1505's battery and the Inspiron 8000's battery is almost 4 years old. 

  How can Dell's expect the customer to be spending $200 to $300 a year on batteries for their laptops, it is ridiculous.  I called DELL customer service and I was told that the warranty on my laptop has run out and there was nothing that could be done for me but that my issue would be documented.  Well if the batteries in your laptops are going to die ironically after your one year warranties are up then there needs to be a disclaimer about this because I would have had the battery replaced before it ran out, or I would have extended the warranty if I had prior knowledge of this.  As far as I am concerned this is a scam.  There is no way DELL could expect me to spend that much money every year on my laptop that only cost me $1200, in 6 years I would have paid for the computer again and this is just for the battery no other replacement costs.  This issue needs to be addressed because your product is horribly flawed if your laptops can not perform after one year.  I attached the website link for the batteries where you can see the low ratings and the proof of the issue with more than just my laptop.  Thank you.  http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/category.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&category_id=2999&mfgpid=167760&chassisid=-1

Just looking for a contact/info.  We are a community of over 3000 in East Texas with an active computer club.  Periodically we are looking for presentations on various computer home / home office subjects.  Does Dell have any service that provide 45 - 60 minute presentations to groups?  Good sales and community relations opportunity.

Regards,

Jim 

 I am hoping to reach a resolution for an XPS I recently purchased. I have tried the customer advocate address today and will provide feedback on how well it works! I am optimistic to the end, and more than willing to cooperate even though DFS has now sent my account to collections over the pending dispute over my return.

Thank you,

~Colette

I am posting this because I have had no success in dealing over the phone with Dell Customer Care and am unable to find a way to contact
anyone in Senior Management to air my concerns with.

I have been a consumer customer of Dell for over 15 years!  In fact, I am currently on my 6th Dell purchase.  On 3-24-08 I had to replace my AC/DC power adapter for my Inspiron 9100 laptop computer.  Unfortunately, Dell's Sales/Technical Unit sent me the wrong one (order #21448965) - I was told that a 65W power adapter would work.  Because I was out of the country, I was not able to 'test' the new adapter until today (April 24). After experiencing problems
with the new adapter I, again, called Technical Support to find out that the 65W was the wrong adapter and I needed a 150W adapter.  I placed an order for the 150W power adapter and was told that I could return, for a full refund,  the incorrect 65W adapter.  When I talked with the Customer Care Unit to get the return instructions for the 65W adapter I was told that they could not accept the return since it was beyond Dell's 21-day return period.

Needless to say this is very frustrating since the only reason I have to
return the adapter is because a Dell employee assured me that it
would work on my laptop.  Because no one was willing to 'bend' the rules for a Dell mistake I cancelled the order for the replacement 150W adapter and will now need to shop for and replace my Dell laptop.  I assure you that I will not replace it with a Dell.

It is truly unfortunate that Dell's employees don't appreciate that they have lost a long-time and completely satisfied Dell customer over a $100 mistake made by a member of the Dell organization.

Linda Bernabucci

Linda I am sorry to hear of your frustration. I have escalated this issue. You should be hearing from someone shortly.

Joanne

I am disappointed with Dell's rude customer service.

When I called to extend my warranty, I was told that the longer service contract offered an incentive of a $40 gift card.  I informed the rep that I wanted to use the gift code to purchase a new battery that week.  He specifically told me that I would receive an e-mail that day, containing my coupon code, and that I could use it right away.

Of course, I did not receive it, and when I called to inquire about this, I was told it would take up to 6 weeks to process.  I requested to speak to a supervisor to voice my complaint.  I was connected with Bruce Hampton, who was extremely rude.  He told me that his employee had already informed me of the policy, that the coupon was "just a promotion", and that I should have purchased the warranty to protect my computer, no for the coupon!!  He clarified the policy again, informing me that he did this so that I would not "become confused."   He was not at all interested in the fact that I was directly misinformed.

I rarely compIain. I am a highly educated person.  I am not "confused," just irked by dishonest, rude, and even condescending customer service!  Very disappointing, Dell.

Anne: I'm sorry to hear that reps were rude to you. I'll ask someone from Customer Care to follow up with you to see if there's anything else we can do.

I've had two funny days of dealing with Dell customer service.  Let me say first that I've bought stuff from Dell for years - 4 computers, 2 printers, 2 cameras, modems, innumerable ink cartridges, 2 mp3 players.  Last week I bought a refurbished laptop.  When it didn't arrive on time, I called.  A customer service rep said that apparently it hadn't shipped, but they'd be happy to ship me a replacement within 16 (!) business days.  I asked what Dell might do for me by way of compensating me for the wait.  After all, I paid immediately and Dell was supposed to deliver in 3-5 days.  I fully expected some kind of bone - even just free shipping.  But nothing.  Nada.  Zippo.  From here I traveled a road of numerous e-mails and phone calls (twice I was cut off and once I gave up after 12 minutes of waiting), where people with nice Indian accents would repeat the mantra of being sincerely sorry for my troubles and insist that Dell was firmly committed to the best customer service.  The only problem was that each person sounded like a robot reading from a cue card - "Oh, I am very, very sorrow for that arrow sticking in your head, sir.  Dell is absolutely committed to your comfort and we will do everything in our power to assist you.  I am recording this conversation and I will forward it to the arrow-in-your-head department, where they will review it closely to see how we can better serve customers in the future."  I begged each person to give me a reason - any reason - to keep using Dell.  The best anyone would give me is a "sorry" and "we can have your laptop to you within 16 business days."  I used to love Dell's customer service.  Now I wish I could just speak with a flesh and blood person residing in this country.  I'd LOVE a reason to keep buying from Dell.  But it is like a bad Seinfeld episode.  I cancelled my order and now I'm shopping for a non-Dell laptop.  Too bad.  I wish Dell were still a stand-up company.

Tony: Not sure what can be done without more detail from you, but I'll be happy to have someone from Customer Care contact you to see if we can move things forward.

If you would please send me another comment (I won't publish), or e-mail me directly at lionel_menchaca@dell.com with some basic details like your order # or customer # and I can have someone contact you soon.

I can see why you'd be frustrated, but let's see what we can do. Thanks for your business, and sorry for the churn. Hopefully, we can give you a reason to stay a Dell customer.

OK, might as well give this a try. I've got the infamous 1800FP flat panel monitor that has the well known issues for not working properly. My warranty just expired (less than 3 months ago) and of course, the monitor died one morning without warning. Contacted Dell tech support and they walked me through all the usual attempts and determined that, yes, it was dead. Emails back and forth and the last one says "sorry" eiother buy another monitor from Dell (why would I do that since this one dies less than 3 months after warranty expired?? thank goodness Dell doesn't make cars! lol). Tech support says to call my XPS customer service to see what they can do to assist in getting a warranty replacement as I should have been mailed a recall notice long ago to rectify this known issue. Customer service (InDELLia - India) says I need to speak to Tech Support. Now the run around begins 5 times I'm shuffled back and forth between customer care and tech support with neither one providing me any assistance except to say how sorry they are. I mention the know issue and the recall, but Customer Care only says I should search the Dell site for the "recall" info and try to find the form to fill out and send in to Dell! After spending an hour trying to locate the recall info on the 1800FP, I give up, since there are over 28,955 recall posts on the Dell site and trying to drill down to the one I'm looking for doesn't help. Seems like Dell wants its' customers to go away and the India support people really could care less about even trying to assist us. My frustration is at an all time. When I asked why I wasn't notified of the recall for the monitor, the customer care women said; "well your monitor was working until it stop working wasn't it?, so why did we need to notify you of the recall?" Ah, that makes sense, wait until I have the problem happen, then my warranty expires by less than 3 months and now I can't get a replacement or any assistance? Maybe that's the reason the manufacturer is supposed to notify its' customers of potnetial issues and problems! It's called being proactive and providing good customer service to ensure repeat customers.

Well, here it is. As I type this i have been holding for 1hr 31 min after a supervisor asked me to hold while she gets me in contact with the right dept. In total I have been on the phone for more than 8 hrs for a fan assembly. This has been over the course of about 2 weeks. So, to sum it up, I have been transfered from one person to another an extraordinarally high number of times, wrong depts, hung up on, disconnected, been told i have put in a request and will contact you back 3 times and never been contacted, spoken to a lot of people from India , some with good easily understandable english , and some hard to make out broken english, been told supervisors are to busy, in a meeting, not available, put on for a supervisor only to find that i have been transferred to another dept, or put on hold like I am right now and do not expect for them to pick up.....ever...... I will let this sit here until I end the call to let everyone know how long it was Everytime I asked for a supervisor i had to go through this all over again because the employee is supposed to try and help me before i am sent to a supervisor.....this is excruciatingly absurd, rediculous,upsetting,and a whole lot of other adjetives I wont post. The lack of integrity in this corporation is appalling.....policies that dont work......and Dell knows dont work....lack of commitment to customers......the lack to right what you made wrong....the lack of effort to satisfy your customers.....and the lack of responsibility for your products,policies,customers,and employees. Dell will NOT stay in business if this continues. I am a highly upset individual who is attempting to make his trouble with Dell go away, but I still have these 2 Dell computers to deal with, so that wont happen anytime soon. There is more negative dealings to be listed, but I dont like to type this much. I have a Dell Dimension XPS GEN 2 system that had the 2 fans that blow over the cpu go out. I'm trying get new fans so that I can use my computer again. So, my hope is that this is a legitamate effort to resolve problems....unlike the phone based effort. I too, remember the days before Dell chose to go to India.....I had no issues at all with calling Dell...but since then........hmmf

The last time I saw my phone was at 2hrs27min.....the next time i checked it, the phone was off because the battery went dead.

I purchased a LCD monitor from Dell, they sent me a $25 "thank you" coupon.
I went online, found a usb drive on sale for $17.99 and redeemed the coupon and purchased the drive.
Then I find out they did not honor the coupon because the product was less than the coupon price... which now is void because I attempted to use the coupon.
And on top of that they billed me the regular list price of $24.99, even though anyone else could purchase it for $17.99 online at the time.
Some "thank you".

Couldn't it just tell me when I was ordering that the coupon would not be honored unless I place an order for a larger amount than the coupon was worth?... you can't build that into your online ordering? you can't print that on the "thank you" letter you send out?
 

Is this anyway to run a business?
 

I have a 5150, been problematic since I first got it. Was told power supply, got one and no difference. THen had a motherboard repair, worked for a year now it went back  to random crashes, and finally it will not see the power adapter plugged in even if I jiggle it. I called Dell and am awaiting a call back after they told me there is no recall, for which there is. Any help would be much appreciated.