Update September 2006: If you’re having a problem with a Dell product and haven’t been able to get satisfactory service, Dell has established a special group to help you. See my follow-up post, Dell rolls out Cluefulness 2.0, for more details. Comments are closed here.
CNET News interviewed Dell CEO Kevin Rollins:
How’s Dell doing on customer service these days?
Customer service has been a challenge, but I think if you watch the scores now, we have hit the trough, and that’s now coming back up. The whole company is focused on the customer experience, first and foremost. So we think we’ve got that one now under control.
Memo to Kevin: No, your customer service problems are not under control. Not even close. Do you have anyone at your company reading blogs like this one? I didn’t think so.
I wish I had seen this site before ordering my monstrous computer from greedy no-heart Dell. The ads look so nice, don’t they? What a joke (on us).
The only American I talked to was the one who took my order in the beginning. At that time I explained that I wanted a computer I could play lots of games on and I had to have Dial Up because I live in a remote area. The rep never told me that I might have trouble with downloads on a Dial Up which I found out after I got the computer. Not only that, but the thing freezes up and gives me error messages daily. Online games will not download. Many other sites will not download either. After at least 40 calls and emails to Dell (always someone different and very hard to understand), I finally did as they had planned and gave up.
But that is not the worst of it.
When I purchased the computer I signed up online for automatic monthly payments to be deposited from my bank account. This went on with no problem for 6 months. Then, suddenly, I started getting phone calls from their collection department saying that my account was past due and I was being charged late charges. It did not matter that I explained there had to be a mistake because my payments were on time each month through the automated system. I had proof from my bank statement.
After numerous harrassing calls, I was informed that the past due and late charges were the result of a Credit Protection Plan they “said” I signed up for by telephone. This was absolutely a lie. I have never and would never accept one of those gimmicks!
I have argued with Dell for the past 3 months about this blatant error on their part but they will not listen to me, insisting that I must pay for this charge forced onto my account without my prior knowledge and not only that but to pay the $39.00 late fees! My account has risen more than $100.00 in these fees.
One time I was directed to 3 different people to discuss this matter and after 30 minutes of leading me on I was told the real department I needed to speak with was not in because of a holiday. I was told that a supervisor would call me the following day at 11 a.m. No one ever called me that day.
Yesterday, I told one of the barracudas that I refuse to pay for something I never requested. I was then told that the extra charges were not just for the “protection plan” added to my account but also for raised finance charges which I knew nothing about.
This outfit is a scam and a devouring snake and I wish the public could be aware of it. I shudder to think of others being sucked into this atrocious operation.
I brought an Ispiron 5150 back in 2004, my first problem developed exactly 1 year after the warranty ran out. I had it into our local repair store, where I was advised that there was a problem with the mainboard power connector, this was the subject to legal action in the US. The tech at the store also advised me that the mainboard had been worked on previously, as I had brought the laptop “new” and had not had any work done it, this supprised me. It appears that Dell recycles refurbished parts through supposedly new equipment. So watch out folks