Quote:Original post by xDS4Lx Unfortunately, their policy is that once it goes into "production" you can not cancel, the only way is to refuse delivery and pay a 15% restocking fee. I have filed a complaint with the better business bureau because this is just absolutely ridiculous.
Did you pay with credit card? Call the company and see what their policies are on revoking payments in cases where services paid for are not delivered.
Old Username: Talroth
If your signature on a web forum takes up more space than your average post, then you are doing things wrong.
So more to this now. My M17x's video died last Tuesday and I have been fighting Dell to get it repaired. On the first service call I told the problem and they would only send out 1 video card, but my machine has 3, the on board and the dual 260M's. So the technician came out and swapped the 1 card, didnt fix the problem. The way the cards are designed he couldn't even try it in the other cards slot, so I called Dell back and they said ok they will send out two cards. Two days go by, after being told i would be contacted in 24hrs, so I call them back up and am told they have no record of my second call and no parts have been sent out, so they create the order and tell me I will be contacted Monday morning since they don't do repairs on weekends. Well no one contacted me on Monday as promised, so today I call them and am told oh well they are waiting for a part to arrive it is in transit, I ask for the tracking number and look it up to see that it arrived at FedEx and is awaiting pickup, it arrived Monday at 6:56am. I point this out and they say oh well let me contact the technicians and put me on hold, finally they come back and tell me that a technician will be out to repair the machine today between 4 and 4:30, I ask why no one contacted me to set this up and they assure me that the technician will call and be out today so I say fine. Well 5:00 rolls around, haven't heard from a technician and no one has shown up. I dell back and am now being told that they will have to find a new technician and I will hear back from them by the end of the day on Thursday, this is unacceptable, I have been calling for over a week to get my machine fixed and all they seem to be able to do is lie to me repeatedly and feed me contradictory information from the previous calls. I want my machine fixed now since my warranty states next day service, a week is not next day. If you can not repair my laptop in a timely manner then send me a replacement!!!!
"Computer games don't affect kids; I mean if Pac-Man affected us as kids, we'd all be running around in darkened rooms, munching magic pills and listening to repetitive electronic music." - Kristian Wilson, Nintendo, Inc, 1989
Wonder why their service became bad. About a year ago I had a problem with my dell laptop, called for repairs, got the little briefcase where to put the laptop in, send it, waited a few weeks got it back all fixed. Maybe it's the economy...
After being on the fence about buying a laptop seemingly forever (having always had desktops) after much research I finally took the plunge and ordered a Dell 1555 (Studio 15) which seemed to offer everything I needed at a price I was willing to pay.
Ok I went for pretty much the entry-level spec (T4200, 4gb ram, 250gb HDD) but with the ATI 4570 gpu and after seeing many comments about the screen quality I also opted for the 1080p display. With my companies EPP discount this came to £515.
So this is how it went…
10 July: Ordered 16 July: Received invoice saying it had been billed and shipped 21 July: Received automated phone call saying it would be delivered on the 22nd (next day) 22 July: No laptop 23 July: Date given on invoice as being delivered on or by – no laptop 24 July: Laptop arrives at 8am, an hour later I get through the normal post a letter from Syncreon saying it’ll be delivered that afternoon!
Off to a great start...
So the laptop is fantastic, really impressed with it until I change my background image when I notice a flicker down the right hand side of the screen extending in about 2inches. Most noticeable with blue or grey backgrounds; very hard to spot with predominantly red or green backgrounds.
27 July: Call tech support – after 15 minutes on hold I get put through to a right muppet called “Dave” who claims if he can remote onto my machine he can see the problem for himself (how?!) – tells me to call back when I have the machine in front of me (I didn’t as I was at work).
Called back late afternoon – got “John” who after some quick tests decided that the panel must be faulty. Tries selling me an upgrade to at home support (and fails) then says as it’s a new machine they’ll send the engineer out to replace it.
28 July: Engineer arrives, changes the panel which reduces the problem slightly but doesn’t eliminate it. So he figures it’s the gpu and requests a new motherboard.
3 Aug: Engineer comes back to fit new motherboard. The problem initially appears to have gone but soon returns, although noticeable only at slightly more oblique angles.
Contact tech support again – this time “Lloyd” figures there is something significantly wrong so decides it needs returning to the factory for investigation.
5 Aug: Laptop collected by Citylink. I replace the desktop image with one that has scrawled on instructions on where to look for the problem. I also include a note describing how under testing the gpu idled at 56degC and under load hits over 92degC so heat may be part of the problem.
11 Aug: laptop returned, having had the screen replaced according to the documentation – and the problem still clearly evident. My note was obviously ignored and they clearly just ran the built in diagnostics (in which its quite hard to spot) rather than booting to the desktop and verifying that the problem had gone.
12 Aug: Contact tech support again asking for a refund since clearly they’re incapable of fixing it and the screens bezel is loose from having been removed so many times. “Mohammed” this time begs for one last chance as he thinks it could be the inverter or the heatsink. I reluctantly agree, on the condition that it is the last chance and if not resolved they’ll refund me – his supervisor also confirms this. The engineer is sent back out.
13 Aug: Engineer arrives and then checks the parts he’s been given – they’ve sent a new base, new motherboard and new lid – no heatsink and no bezel. On top of that he tells me the inverter is part of the panel and since that’s been replaced 3 times its clearly not that. I refuse to let him do anything since we know replacing the motherboard doesn’t fix it and since the other parts are absent it’d only mean rebuilding the machine yet again on yet another visit.
Contacted by “Mohammed” later that day who says they’ll collect the machine and give me a refund. Arranges collection for the 17th.
17 Aug: Laptop not collected
18 Aug: Ring tech support – didn’t catch her name (awful line) but she’s under the impression the laptop has been fixed. Spoke to the supervisor who eventually agreed that the refund had been authorised but she had no idea why the laptop wasn’t collected – told me to expect a call from their collections dept.
Whilst this is going on DPD deliver a flat-pack box to my house from Syncreon. No other instructions included.
Called customer services again who tell me that the courier will attempt to collect the laptop the following day. If I’m not in then they’ll have to rearrange collection.
Incidentally I never received the call from the collections dept.
When I got home and saw the box I laughed – it was just barely big enough for the laptop with a thin wrap of bubble wrap around it and I had real concerns for it if the box got damaged in anyway. Packed it as best I could anyway and photographed it for evidence just in case.
19 Aug: They call an hour before anyone is in for the rest of the day – typical. I ring them again and collection is rearranged for the 21st.
21 Aug: Laptop finally collected (at a reasonable time too)
24 Aug: Laptop confirmed as delivered back to Syncreon
27 Aug: Full refund put back on credit card – finally they get something right!!
Just to add insult to injury whilst waiting for the engineer for the first motherboard replacement I tried signing up for the Windows 7 upgrade - and failed. That took another 10 minute call to customer services... apparently they had to "activate" my service tag (?!)
So as you can tell I’m not a happy bunny where Dell is concerned – for various reasons I didn’t recommend their desktops but always had a high opinion of their laptops and the company as a whole from previous purchases (monitors etc). No more! I’ll never recommend Dell to anyone as long as I live.
My uncle on the other hand bought two machines and has nothing but praise for them... so let this be a warning to all would-be Dell purchasers – it may all go swimmingly but if something goes wrong Dell hell is a very real place you could find yourself in!
You may also have noticed my use of quotes around peoples names – apparently this is a tactic some companies use as they think giving them an English name will make us more comfortable – why? I had no problem with the sales person using her real name, I’m not an idiot so don’t take me for one! But then I did buy one of their machines so maybe the jury is still out on that one! ;)
The cynic in me thinks they do it so they can deliberately muddy the waters if you call back with further problems - can you prove who was “John” on that day and what he said?!
Lesson learnt anyway - if I do decide to take the plunge again I’ll be sure to do more research into the companies tech support first. In the meantime I’ll stick to my self-built desktops – at least I can only blame myself for crap support then ;)
