Awful Dell customer support with faulty brand new laptop

[iamanantichrist]

In late April, my mother bought me a brand new Dell Inspiron 15 windows 8 laptop as a gift for my 20th birthday.

 

As soon as I turned the laptop on, I ran into problems,

the disk use would hit 100% just running background applications, making it nearly impossible to run anything else.

 

 

And just the other day, I found that the laptop screen had cracked from simply being shut in the normal manner.

 

 

I contacted Dell to try and sort the issue,

initially we ran a diagnostic test on the laptop with the built in software, but it showed no faults.

 

 

At this point, it was approaching the call center's closing time, so I agreed to have a call back the next day to try and resolve the issue.

The next day came, and after waiting all day for a call, nothing came.

 

I called back the next day, frustrated, but still just wanting a usable laptop,

I spent a further hour on hold waiting to talk to someone, and when I finally got through,

I was told exactly the same thing as the day before,

after running further diagnostics,

the computer still wasn't showing any fault according to Dell,

again they said they'd call me back the next day, which I had plans for.

 

 

Annoyed, and still wanting my laptop to be fixed,

I cancelled the plans I had for the day in the hopes the issue would finally be resolved.

 

 

After spending most of Wednesday 20th of May on the phone with Dell, still nothing was working,

so they agreed to send out a technician to come look at the laptop and see what the issue might be.

For this they told me to wait 48 hours for the appointment.

 

48 hours came and went, but as it was over the bank holiday weekend,

I gave them the benefit of the doubt that they meant 48 hours on working days only,

but I was still waiting a week later.

 

 

Today, I received this email:

 

"Hello Adrian, 　

 

This is in follow-up to your service request ........ for your Dell product. 　

 

We would like to inform you that we are still waiting for the product description to be updated on our records

and it will mostly take about next 2 to 3 business days. 　　

 

In case of any additional concerns/questions please contact us directly by replying to this email (DO NOT change the subject line).

Our work hours are from 8 AM 8PM GMT (MON FRI). 　

 

Thank you for choosing Dell. 　

 

Abigail 　

 

Client Technical Support Specialist

 

Dell | UK & Ireland Technical Support"

 

This email only served to confuse me, as it's their product, so I don't know what description they were waiting for,

and to be told that after waiting over a week already that I'd have to wait even longer,

I decided to travel to their Bracknell office, as I was staying close by anyway.

 

 

After talking to the receptionist at Dell, someone came down and told me that there was nobody in the office that would deal with my complaint,

which considering this was a huge office, I highly doubt that there was nobody senior in the building that could have dealt with my complaint.

 

 

I was told that the matter had however been passed to a senior member of staff, who would be calling me today to offer me a resolution with my issue.

It's currently around 10:30 in the evening here, and I'm still waiting on the call, so yet again, they've failed to keep phone appointments they promised me.

 

 

Also, when I was talking to the lady she was saying "not to worry because the people that call back will be proper British people"

which I feel was hugely inappropriate and also insinuates that I have a racial issue with their call center staff,

(I am an avid human rights and anti-discrimination campaigner, and was horrendously insulted by this).

 

This has now been going on over two weeks and I'm completely at the end of my patience with Dell,

and fail to see why I should even want to remain a customer of theirs after weeks of what has been the absolute WORST customer service I've ever experienced.

 

 

My mother is also terribly upset as she worked hard as a single mother to afford to buy me such a lovely gift,

and now she's out of pocket and feels responsible for the grief.

[dx100uk]

how the beep will running a diagnostics prog repair a cracked screen?

 

 

how did see pay for it

and was it an online purchase please

 

 

dx

[iamanantichrist]

The screen cracked after the whole diagnostics issue, she bought the laptop direct from Dell using PayPal.

[dx100uk]

and how is paypal paid

 

 

I hope by credit or debit card?

 

 

chargeback

or section 75 could be useful here

dx

[iamanantichrist]

UPDATE: I emailed Michael Dell and Tim Griffin saying:

 

"Dear Michael/Tim

 

On 5th May my mother purchased a Dell Inspiron 15 - 3521 - 0Ghz - 500.00Gb HD - 2000.00Mb Memory from the Dell Outlet store for my 20th birthday. One of the main reasons she chose Dell was because of the reputation Dell have for excellent customer service. Unfortunately, on this occasion I am sorry to say that your team have badly let Dell down.

 

As soon as I started using the laptop I had problems with the CPU maxing out despite the fact that all I had running would be the Chrome browser, so I contacted your Customer Service department. For two weeks I have spent many hours repeating the details of my complaint to many Customer Service agents, and been promised time and time again that someone will call me back or come out to examine the laptop, but to date, not one of those promises have been kept. I even tried visiting your offices in Bracknell to try and get the issue resolved, but after explaining at length that Dell Customer Services had not kept any of their promises to call me back or come out to see the machine, after waiting several hours for ‘a senior manager’ to contact me, I got a message to say that Customer Services were already dealing with the matter.

 

18/05 - I telephoned Customer Services, (45 minutes on hold before I was able to speak to an agent ), and they carried out a remote screen takeover and updated the drivers. The lady I spoke to promised to call back after a few days to see if it had resolved the issue.

 

19/05 - As the CPU was still maxing out I called back, (another 45 minutes on hold before I was able to speak to an agent ), and the agent talked me through carrying out a factory reset (this took about 5 hours to run). The reset did not resolve the issue, so I called back and explained to the agent what had happened up until that point. He suggested I do a factory reset, even though I had just told him I had done this. After I told him again that I had just done a reset he asked me to run extended diagnostic checks, which took another 4 hours to run.

 

20/05 - I called Customer Services again as the diagnostics reported no errors, but the CPU was still running at 100%. I was promised that a technician would come out to check the machine, and this would take 48hrs to arrange.

 

28/05 - (Even taking the Bank Holiday into account, this is much longer than 48hrs) - Received an email from Customer Services:

 

Hello Adrian,　

 

This is in follow-up to your service request 911274162 for your Dell product.

 

We would like to inform you that we are still waiting for the product description to be updated on our records and it will mostly take about next 2 to 3 business days.

 

In case of any additional concerns/questions please contact us directly by replying to this email (DO NOT change the subject line). Our work hours are from 8 AM 8PM GMT (MON FRI)

 

Since the laptop was purchased directly from Dell, and I had provided the Service Tag number I am confused as to why your records would not have the full product specs?

 

29/05 - I visited your offices in Bracknell but was informed that there was no-one on site who could help me. After explaining the problems I had encountered the receptionist corresponded with a manager via an internal messaging service and formed me that a senior manager was currently in a meeting, but would contact me within a couple of hours to resolve the situation. After waiting several hours with no contact from anyone at Dell I tweeted @DellCares and again explained that I had been in contact with Dell Customer Services and was getting nowhere. They replied “it looks like you have had a bad experience” and asked me for my Service Tag so that they could look into the matter. They eventually responded by saying “Customer Services are already dealing with this matter”.

 

As you can imagine, at this point in time I am extremely frustrated and feel badly let down. No-one has ever called back despite numerous promises, and the only response I can get to my complaints about the fact that the Customer Services department are not keeping their promises is that no-one else can help me because Customer Services are dealing with the matter. I have spent many hours either on hold, carrying out diagnostics and resets, and waiting on promised callbacks that never came. I have even had to cancel planned outings based on the (broken) promises of the callbacks / visit from a technician.

 

I have now contacted the Consumer Advice Group for their advice on how I can progress my complaint, and they have provided me with your email address.

 

Please can you restore my faith in the Dell brand. I hope that you too are as disappointed as I am that Dell’s reputation has been brought down by your UK team. I therefore respectfully request that you intervene on my behalf. "

 

I got the following response: "Dear Adrian,

 

 

 

I do apologies for the challenges we have caused and understand your frustration. You will appreciate this is not our intent nor what we deliver the vast majority of the time. I have asked my team to reach out to you soonest and restore your faith in Dell.

 

 

 

Many thanks.

 

 

 

Best wishes and warmest regards

 

 

 

Tim Griffin

 

Vice President & General Manager"

 

I have since received a phone call fro a CSA saying that they'll be sending out an engineer tomorrow, and while they're willing to replace the motherboard and hard drive under warranty, they're not willing to cover the cracked screen, although they will offer me a discount on a new screen. Although even with this discount, the price is £226.88 (which I definitely cannot afford)

 

Personally I feel this doesn't compensate for the hours spent on the phone to customer services and the weeks I've spent stressing out trying to get my computer fixed.

 

Does anyone know if there's anything more I can do, or do I just have to accept things the way they are?

[dx100uk]

how is paypal bill met?

 

 

dx

[iamanantichrist]

It's taken as a direct debit by PayPal I believe

[dx100uk]

I would suggest that she has a debit card entered

and the full sum of the laptop came out as one sum?

 

 

I also suspect this could be resolved or atleast 'pressure' brought to bare by investigating doing a chargeback.

[iamanantichrist]

Another email sent to Tim Griffin and Michael Dell -

 

"Dear Tim,

 

I have been contacted to day and been advised that Dell are prepared to replace my screen at a reduced rate of £226 as the damage is not covered under the warranty. Before I respond to this offer could you please consider the following:

 

1. Dell have not yet checked the screen to see if there was an existing fault, so how can you ascertain that this is not covered under the warranty.

2. The screen broke within a month of the machine being used. At no time was the machine treated roughly or dropped, so I therefore suggest that the screen fitted was not fit for purpose, bearing in mind that laptops are designed to be portable devices that would encounter minor knocks and scrapes as part of the reasonable use.

3. The laptop in its entirety did not cost £226, so I am struggling to understand how it would cost such a sum to replace a part of the machine. I have found numerous replacement screens (new) online from £38.99, and as your Technician is already coming out to replace the motherboard and CPU under the warranty there should be no ‘call out fee’ element to the cost, and little or no additional labour costs - could you please explain how you have managed to arrive at a ‘discounted cost of £226’?

 

Thank you for your continued assistance and consideration,

 

Yours faithfully,

 

 

Adrian Wright

© 2015 Microsoft Terms Privacy & cookies Developers English (United Kingdom)"

 

I eagerly await their response.

[The GodMother]

and how is paypal paid

 

 

I hope by credit or debit card?

 

 

chargeback

or section 75 could be useful here

dx

 

 

 

DX.

 

 

According the Martin Lewis Banks are refusing S75 requests if using Paypal as its not covered.

I don't no how true it is but his latest newsletter was saying not to use a credit card with paypal for items over £100

[AndyOrch]

Payments through Paypal

 

If you use your credit card to pay for something through PayPal and the funds go direct to the seller, then as long as the company you're buying from has a 'Commercial Entity Agreement' with Paypal you may still be able to claim under Section 75 for any misrepresentation or breach of contract. There are arguments that having another party involved in the process takes away the Section 75 protection.

PayPal offers its own buyer protection scheme, called PayPal Buyer Protection, so it's worth checking if you'd be covered by that if you have a problem with your purchase. If you particularly want to have the protection of Section 75 then look to pay the trader direct with your card.

[paulcc21]

See if the CEO CAN HELP

 

Tim Griffin

Vice President & General Manager of Dell UK

 

Mobile [removed]

Tim_Griffin AT dell dot com

Edited July 23, 2015 by dx100uk
please dont publish pers details