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Full user review
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42 out of 43 people found this review helpful
1.5 stars
"Poor Service"
Pros: Computer seems fine in and of itself.
Cons: On hold for six hours to get answers to questions
Summary: I received the 9100 and set it up on a Monday. Immediately the fan for the processor turned itself on high and did not shut off. Additionally, e-mail would receive but not send. I spent several hours on the phone with my ISP to address the problems and they finally said to reinstall Outlook that there seemed to be a software problem. The system would not allow the reinstall saying if was sorry the reinstall had failed and ?it was sorry for any inconvenience?. I finally called Dell and held for one hour for a tech to tell me that I need to hold for another tech that they were simply a router for the calls. I held another hour and a tech answered and then hung up on me when they were unable to hear me and me them. I called back and went through the Queue?s again. This time after one hour I hung up and called sales where I immediately was picked up, amazing. I explained the problem to the sales person and they put me with their manager and he attempted to walk me through to a tech. This failed when I fell into the same Queue again. After another hour I hung up and called sales back and demanded to return the system, this time a person came to the phone to give me a return authorization. This was quick but then they said to hold while they sent me to the final person to approve the authorization. This was quick also. This person said that it would cost me the shipping back and Dell would not pay for this. But if I bought another system they would give me a gift certificate for $50.00, yeah thanks. This person finally convinced me to let them assist me and schedule a tech to call me to help. He would then send me to a software tech to handle the e-mail issue right then and I would have to wait only five minutes at most. One hour later a hardware tech answered the phone in India or someplace near there. I had a terrible problem communicating with them in English and I speak no other language. Finally a manager got on the phone and I explained the problem to him with the fan. He said it was normal for the fan to run on high. I said it sounded like a vacuum cleaner and that it was way too loud. He said that was normal. I held the phone to the computer and then he said, no that is not normal and said he would order parts for me and have them next day air?d in and a tech would come to my house to fix the computer. The hardware tech that was supposed to call did and said that the parts were not in stock and he thought it would be two or three more days before they arrived at Dell, would I mind waiting. I reluctantly agreed. He called me back on the weekend, Saturday, and said the parts had not arrived and they did not know when they would for sure. He asked if he could replace the system. I agreed but was concerned about all my data, he agreed to let me swap hard drives when the new system arrives. My total hold time on Monday night was over six hours and the inability to communicate with the staff in the India region beyond frustrating. I will not buy another Dell unless they bring the service back into the states and reduce the wait time to less than 15 minutes for assistance.
- 9 replies to this review
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I dont understand where Dell was responsiable for your Email. or the Outlook software, that would be Microsoft you'd want to complain about, I've read your post and I understand your anger. but Dell tried to help you although you were put on hold a lot. maybe they were trying to find help for you. and that takes time. hope you got everything worked out. also, maybe you had outlook set up wrong for the sending end. thx Rus
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It seems as though I may have experienced the same arduous "run-around" from Dell. Once I received the laptop I ordered, in less than 30 days it crashed and needed a new hard drive. Of course I didn't know that until I was on hold for over two hours and I too was "disconnected" repeatedly. After days of disconnections and misunderstood communication, I did receive a new hard drive in the mail, but it is not working any better. I have tried to call for additional support and have specifically asked for a tech to come out since it is VERY difficult to understand most of the employess that have been outsourced. (It really is a bad connection -- they are in the middle-east!! -- and it is not mine or their faults that there is a language barrier; Dell should know better and specifically match regional techs with regional customers!) I am STILL unable to get anyone and my computer is now slower than ever. I will not ever purchase another Dell computer and will not ever recommend Dell to anyone I know.
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This has got to be the worst service. Not only bad service but thay scewed up my order.I did not get what I orderd.I whanted a 500gb hard drive and got 2 250 hard drives this is a whole different beast.That is not all it has failed on faitial errors 5 times and it is only one month old. Dell gas done nothing to help me.I should get somthing for 3,138.24 don't you think? That is why tohell with dell.
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On Feb. 13, 2004 I also experienced the "India Connection" the tech could not resolve the problem with the OS. I was told that I would be sent a new hard drive to swap out. It is Oct. 10, 2005 and still no drive.
Dell was known for it's excellent service. It's now known for it's excellent DIS service. -
Lately DEll has become too irresponsible. Lousy customer service, they put you on hold forever, and when they answer the phone, and who ever answers, they put you on hold again, not resolve your problem, I don't know, how they get "Best Customer Service" and by whom. Now to get service you have to buy Technical Support and Ltd Warranty, also they tell you shipping free when you buy a new computer while the handling you have to pay for: What ever happened to Shipping and Handling Free!
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This computer did not work right immediately out of the box. My 15 y/o son saved up his money to get his perfect computer, and was very disappointed. We were on the phone literally for 3 days, several hours at a time. We were told that we would have to pay the shipping back because we did not pay for the extra $99 for a 1 time software support or $300 for a 1 year subscription.
When I asked why we should pay the extra in addition to the original $1700; and could I speak to a supervisor; I was told I would first have to give them my credit card number. We have bought from Dell in the past without any problems, but NEVER AGAIN.
BUYER BEWARE. -
I agree with "daddyspoor". The phone support at Dell is terrible. I had a similar experience and was on the phone with them getting transferred around for 5 hours! A software tech told me one thing, the hardware tech said another. The salespeople assured me that notes would be in my file for the next tech to read and the next tech never got them. I could barely understand half the people I spoke with. It was hands-down the worst customer service experience I've ever had. I buy their products and I've been very happy with them, but their customer service has got to be the worst the world has ever seen.
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After a similar experience, I acquiesced and bought Dell?s Gold Support. The intent is to have 2-minute hold times, connect to a qualified and certified technician. Techs are excellent and CARING. But I have been incorrectly routed to the ?India queue? on two of four support calls, wait averaged 30 minutes, and when they discover that I am a ?gold Customer? will not attempt to help, but will transfer directly to Gold Support. Alas, nothing is perfect, but it is an improvement and for the most part, you get what you pay for.
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I used to get tech support for my Dimension 8300. My cordless phone was a bonus gift for buying a corded landline phone. As such, the battery is only good for one day's of talk as opposed to standalone cordless phones with roughly 3 days of talk time. I usually end up having to switch to my better cordless phones since that one with the poorest battery life would give out low battery warnings while waiting for tech support (3 to 4 hours roughly)
