Dell hell: Seller beware

July 1, 2005 by Jeff Jarvis
,

The age of caveat emptor is over.

Now the time has come when it’s the seller who must beware. Caveat venditor.

A company can no longer get away with consistently offering shoddy products or service or ignoring customers’ concerns and needs.

For now the customers can talk back where they can be heard. Those customers can gang up and share what they know and give their complaints volume. Of course, they can use their reviews and complaints to have a big impact on a company’s reputation and business.

Public relations has to take on a new meaning. It can no longer be about the press and publicity, which just separate companies from the public they are supposed to serve.

Public relations must be about a new relationship with the public, with the public in charge.

: All that is quite obvious to any of us. But it is far from obvious to too many big companies … like Dell.

I tested Dell and they failed. Their customer service mechanism did not recognize a machine and service pattern and customer that were a mess. They didn’t try to fix it.

I could have stayed on the phone for hours and gone up a tier at a time playing the customer having a psycho fit (ask anyone who has heard me go after customer service people who don’t serve: I play the role well).

Instead, I chose to write about the saga here. I chose to elicit the sympathy and conspiracy of fellow pissed-off Dell customers. I chose to see whether Dell is listening.

They are not.

Their media people were not reading the media that matters — media written by their very own customers. This page is already No. 5 in Google under Dell sucks. I gave them time. They failed.

So then I emailed their media department and told them to read this blog. I gave them a cheat sheet. They didn’t. They failed.

Only when I wrote to the Chief Marketing Officer, Michael A. George (michael_george@dell.com) did I get a rise out of the company: A very nice (of course) woman named Linda with an accent (Southern… and I don’t mean Bangalore) called to promise to ready the endless email exchange with Dell.

But as we say on the internet: That doesn’t scale. If every dissatisfied customer had to email the Chief Marketing Officer, Michael A. George (michael_george@dell.com), he’d never have time to market.

: So here’s where things stand right now. Linda offered scripted apologies (in the same breath that she read the standard notice that the call was being recorded). She didn’t hold onto her arguments about Dell policy on at-home service (when I said that her very own employee admitted that the at-home technician would not bring the parts necessary to fix the machine). She didn’t rise to the legal bait of calling the at-home program “fraudulent” and my complaining about lost work (can you say “compensatory damages”?).

She offered to send me a new machine.

I said I had no faith in Dell, in the quality of its products or its service.

I asked for a refund.

She then offered a full refund.

I said I would decide what to do my early next week.

In the meantime, Apple and PC cultists will battle over the dead body of my Dell.

: You know what: If Dell were really smart, they’d hire me (yes, me) to come to them and teach them about blogs, about how their customers now have a voice; about how their customers are a community — a community often in revolt; about how they could find out what their customers really think; about how they could fix their customers’ problems before they become revolts; about how they could become a better company with the help of their customers.

If they’d only listen.

  • Huw Griffiths

    My Dell ‘experience’ goes as follows:

    Fifteen months ago, I bought a Dell Inspiron 510m. I’d been told that they made reliable machines and that their customer service was above the standard we have come to accept as the norm these days i.e. Some poor person based in Asia getting paid 6 pence per week and with such a poor grasp of English that you spend 15 minutes trying to spell your name and Tag Number out to them at 50p per minute.

    Anyway, my machine arrived in reasonable time and I was starting to believe that the reports of their decent service may be true. However…

    Within a few months my CD drive had stopped reading CDs, which was somewhat unfortunate, as that was kind of its job. Anyway, I rang Dell, they ran a few diagnostic tests over the phone and agreed to replace it, as it was still under warranty. Inconvenient, but they’d done what they could and it hadn’t cost me anything, so I wasn’t overly concerned.

    Eleven months after I’d purchased my machine, the hard drive started giving me problems. Software seemed to be running slowly while the hard drive struggled to work and I would occassionally get that blue screen that is rarely good news.

    Within a week or two of the machine showing these initial signs of problems, the hard drive died completely. All information held on it was lost and I was slightly annoyed, as you would be. So, I rang Dell and explained the problem. “Your warranty ran out last week” they said. “Yes, but the problem has been showing itself for a number of weeks now, but has only just become a terminal one.” I replied.

    After a lot of debate and disgruntlement on my part, Dell agreed to replace the hard drive. Again, I was reasonably happy with the outcome, but having to re install everything onto a new hard drive and having lost a lot of data from my machine, my satisfaction at getting a replacement part was tainted somewhat and I started to wonder if my laptop was a lemon.

    A new CD drive and a new hard drive required within 12 months. Surely this wasn’t what one should expect from a machine which had cost over £1,000 was it?

    Anyway, I got my computer working again and put it to the back of my mind. Well, that was until two months later when I switched it on and the screen didn’t work.

    Back on the phone to Dell I went…

    “Your warranty is up”, I was told again. “Yes, but this machine has needed a new CD drive, a new hard drive and now a new screen in 15 months. Surely you’re going to accept this isn’t an acceptable level of repair for one of your machines and do something to help me.” I replied.

    “The replacement screen will be £600+VAT” came the reply.

    “£600+VAT??!!” I retorted. “I could replace the entire machine for that.”

    I hung the phone up having registered my dissatisfaction.

    A few minutes later some hard selling no mark from Dell rang me. He made the same offer of £600+VAT to replace the screen. I pointed out that this was extortionate and listed the problems I had had with the machine.

    “I tell you what.” he said “I give you special price. I will do the repair for £485+VAT but this is a one day ofer only”.

    I told him to ring me later in the week when I had had chance to ring round for some comparable quotes. He said he would ring back in half an hour as his ‘special price’ was only available for that day. I asked why, but he didn’t answer.

    I told him to ring at the end of the week, not in half an hour as I wouldn’t have had chance to ring other repair places.

    Anyway, half anhour later he rang back and asked for my credit card details so he could process the repair. I reiterated that I wasn’t giving him the business because I didn’t approve of him trying to rip me off for £600 and because I hadn’t had chance to ring other places for quotes, as I’d told him previously.

    Eventually, I found somehwere who relplaced the screen for £300 and sent it off for repair. A day later the man from Dell was back on…

    “Can I have your card details so I can action the repair at a special rice of £485+VAT?”

    “No. For one, I don’t trust you and for another, that price was a special one day, once in a lifetime price, so your price is now £600+VAT.”

    “I can still do it for £485+VAT”.

    “Oh, so the one day only thing was a lie? I’m not sure I want to do business with liars, thanks all the same.”

    This conversation went on ad nauseum for about an hour, with him trying to get my card details and me telling him he was a rip off merchant. He then tried to offer me an extended warranty as part of the deal, at which point I put the phone down.

    Once, I got my repaired computer back, I checked my emails and found I had a ‘customer satisfcation’ email from Dell. I filled it in, giving them the lowest marks possible in all categories and telling them the reasons for my annoyance in the box provided. Needless to say, I never received any response from Dell.

    I will never use Dell again. In 15 months, my computer has needed a new CD drive, a new hard drive and a new screen. And Dell’s response? “Laptop components do tend to go worng more quickly than on a PC”.

    No, Dell’s laptop components tend to go worng more often than a standard PC manufactured by a reputable firm.

    Don’t use Dell, you’ll regret it.

    HG

  • rOjOn

    Big props to Griffiths and the original blogger. I foolishly purchased a Dell 5 years ago and had nothing but lacklustre customer service from day 1. Without going into the gory details of their numerous failures (both an inability to techincally diagnose my problems and an overwhelming urge to adhere to a fixed script on the phone) I decided to build my own machine 2 years ago.

    Of course, I had to do all my own research. This took about 2 weeks of work on the web to choose all the components, from case to p/s to motherboard, etc. Here’s the secret that PC dealers like Dell and Gateway don’t want you to know. ITS NOT THAT HARD TO BUILD YOUR OWN PC! Most if not all PC components are now plug and play, configuring themselves almost automatically. I will never buy a pre-packaged PC again having learned how to do it myself.

  • Tim Turner

    Okay – Dell have the most irritating customer services people in the world. The Indian branch office are, in fact, useless. But if you’ve got a bit of nouse you can get through to an intelligent human being who can sort problems; or at least, I can – it wasn’t rocket science.

    Dell make cheap mass produced computers. You, the consumers, want the cheapest possible piece of kit; then stop whinging when it doesn’t work. Fix it yourselves.

    Get, in short, a life of your own.

  • mattfiller

    I bought about 25 Dell computers for a small business, including several laptops, most from 2001-2003. When the renewals started coming up for the extended warrantees after 3 years, the question from my boss was, why? We have never used the warrantees? Except for some software issues on the server, some problems resolved by re-seating the cables, and a zip drive that broke when I dropped the computer during a move, it was basically true – and a heck of a lot better than what happened when we bought 3 HP computers early on (only 1 is still functional, and many, many calls to HP customer service were required).

    Now, it happens that on my personal Dell desktop, the floppy and one of the disk drives did fail, and I did have a hard time getting service. The key on service is to get the “gold” service for $50 extra (sometimes my salesman would throw it in). Gold Service = an American answers (the first line of scripted support is skipped for Gold Service customers). But no problems at all with my son’s laptop (other than spyware).

    It is quite possible within my experience that Dell could be facing a dropoff in their laptop quality. Frankly, I resisted Dell laptops for a while because PC Magazine didn’t rate them as high consistently. But all of the Dell laptops still work fine, while the Viao’s are all junk now.

    I used IBMs at an Aerospace client recently, and now am at another Aerospace client that uses Dells. I still have to give the edge to Dell.

    Get a USB2 flash drive (I think I’ve seen 1GB for $70 or $80) and back up your data (download the security software first – be sure it comes with free security software available before you buy). Back up periodicly, and if you recover from a blue screen of death, be sure to update your backup. That goes for laptops and desktops, but laptops inherently are more likely to fail due to movement, dropping, or theft.

  • I Just Don’t Get It

    Okay, so I understand that you are upset that your computer had some problems…

    But, I find it funny that you vaguely describe the situation as “their customer service mechanism did not recognize a machine and service pattern and customer that were a mess. They didn’t try to fix it.” What was the problem? What specifically didn’t they do?

    I also find it funny that you say that you “could have stayed on the phone for hours” but instead “chose to write about the saga here.” What does that mean? Were you at least on the phone long enough to give them a fair opportunity to solve your problem? Or did you hang up after 5 minutes when they couldn’t magically wave a wand to make it all better?

    I’m not sure what you realistically expected to happen when you created this blog. Do you really expect Dell to have people on staff to comb the internet for any possible mention of their company and respond to you instantaneously?! Likewise, I’m not sure what you realistically expected to happen when you emailed “the media department”. Do you really expect Dell to instantaneously respond to every email they receive?

    I read the part of your entry where you reiterate the conversation you had with “Linda.” It seems to me that she offered to fix your problem: She offered you a new computer. But that wasn’t good enough. She then offered you a full refund. Despite the fact that you ASKED for a full refund, THAT then wasn’t good enough. Are you seriously looking for compensatory damages?!

    When I first read the article on Slate that mentioned this blog, I sincerely bought your story about Dell having bad customer service and lackluster products. After reading your blog, though, I JUST DON’T GET IT.

    Perhaps you allude to the real issue when you say “customer that was a mess.” Perhaps you were just trying to make some money off all the press that your “psycho fit” gets.

    I’ve had a Dell for years. It works great.
    Customer Service has always been really helpful.
    I’d buy another in a heartbeat.

  • Mitch

    I do not understand why you had to blow this entire thing out of proportion. I have owned a Dell for many years and the few problems I’ve had were taken care of quickly and efficiently. Maybe when you called Dell and started off by being a di** they decided they didn’t want to give the best service..because as far as I’m concerned di**s don’t deserve good service. My lease on my laptop is about to expire and I’m sure as he** going to buy another laptop for myself and more 80+ employees because I’m convinced that Dell’s are top of the line and their customer service is outstanding.

  • Craig

    I have had 2 Dell Hell experiences.
    1. Several years ago I purchased a Dell PC via their website. Several months later I experienced some problems and called their customer dis-service number and gave them the serial numbers, purchase order numbers etc. They refused to help me because they could not find those numbers in their system. Nice.
    2. My mother purchased a Dell a year ago and recently experienced some problems. Despite having the extra “home service” package where a technician goes to her home, Dell refuse to do that. Instead, a rep from India tried to walk my 68 year old mother through a number of highly technical fixes. When that didnt work, they sent her a new part that they requested she install. Nice.

    The long and short is that Dell has good PC’s but rotten customer service. The service you get is from someone in India who speaks limited English and is incentivized to end the call ASAP.

  • David H

    I have always been amazed when I’ve heard in the media that Dell has great customer service, because anyone that I have talked to personally that did have a problem had a very tough time getting it resolved – if at all.
    My experience was what I would call similar to a bait and switch. I bought a computer on a special no interest and no payments for 6 months if I opened an account with their credit service. Nothing during the process told me that I wouldn’t get this plan – and besides my credit score is near the best you can possibly get so there would be no reason to not accept me.
    When I got the first bill I assumed it was just like my Lowes account – they still send you a bill but you don’t need to pay anything until the promotional time is over.
    The next thing I knew I was getting a call from Dell wondering where my payment was. They said that I must not have qualified for the credit deal. This was ridiculous and no matter who I talked or wrote to wouldn’t even come close to attempt to resolving it. They demanded payment now or would report to credit agencies. I paid all minus the interest they tacked on and then got threatening calls for that. They would not even compromise one bit – and most of their service people were far from professional.
    I would have never opened that credit account with Dell if they had not promised the special plan – I would have paid in full. Since they would not accept me with my very good credit score they probably accepted no one – that’s the bait and switch. But then their customer service would not even begin to work with a customer to resolove a problem that should have been very simple to resolve.
    If anyone asks me, I say never buy from Dell.

  • H.A. Jansen

    Dell took $250 from my girl friends credit card WITHOUT PROVIDING ANY PRODUCT OR SERVICE WHATSOEVER.

    Is this not fraud?

    We have been trying to get someone within Dell to investigate. All we have been receiving from Dell so far is Dell Hell.

    It has been ten months now….

    H. J.
    Toronto Canada

  • RTM

    I’m just sorry I didn’t think to research “Dell sucks” before our recent purchase. We had the exact same experience as David H with the “no payments” lie/misrepresentation/bait-and-switch. It’s just sleazy.

    When I complained, all I got was an email stating “We apologize for any confusion you believe you may have experienced in regards to this matter.” I’m pretty sure that translates as “too bad, sucker, bwahahahaa!”
    They’re very sorry that I’m an idiot who fell for their scam. What jerks. As our president said, “Fool me once, shame on… shame on you, Dell.” Well, I can’t get fooled again.

    Here’s the email I just sent in response. I don’t expect another reply and really don’t care, but it was fun to write. I look forward to my Dell-free future, though it may take a couple years to purge them completely.

    —
    Dear Mr. Gray, Mr. George, “Linda”, whomever,

    I don’t expect an actual human to ever read all of this, because from previous exchanges with Dell I suspect most email is handled initially by a bot, and I doubt this one will pass that filter to reach a human.

    But, if by chance you are a human, please know that Dell’s apology is not accepted, and this is the last transaction I will ever have with Dell.

    I now find, too late, that I should have entered “Dell sucks” into google before our recent $2700 purchase with Dell. It would have saved me a lot of trouble had I simply read this blog a few months ago:
    http://buzzmachine.com/index.php/2005/07/01/dell-hell-seller-beware/

    My bad. You see, I just had the very same experience as Mr. Jarvis, and he’s right: The days of corporate lies passing for PR are over. Similar stories may be found in your own forum, here:
    http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=cc_dpa&message.id=6220

    It is abundandly clear and undeniable that you are not paying attention and simply do not care.

    To Mr. Michael George: You are either incompetent or a bad person, or possibly both. I am quite sure there is no other option to consider.

    For the record, as with Mr. Jarvis, both my wife and I are quite sure there was an offer that included NO PAYMENTS until 2007, not simply no interest. And as she said, “We’re not retarded.” C’mon, your company has either deliberately lied to us, or deliberately misled us, and it makes little difference which. I hold Dell marketing 100% responsible for this royal waste of time and money.

    I have had other unsatisfactory experiences with Dell, but this tops them all. I gave you the opportunity to set things right and keep me as a happy customer, but instead you chose to earn an extra $75 or so. How disappointing that you have such contempt for customer satisfaction, particularly for a customer who has spent upwards of $20,000 with your company over the years, both for personal use and for business.

    Fortunately, the $75 is not a significant financial burden for me, it’s just an insult. I’ll be making the payments as requested, so “You win, congratulations.” Apparently my only recourse is to join the rising chorus of dissatisfied former Dell customers. I look forward to the day when there is no longer anything Dell in my life. As a Director of Software Development I am often asked for advice on Dell purchases. My new reply will be simply that “I will always cherish the false image I had of Dell.” (With apologies to Ashley Brilliant.)

    Good day,
    Richard Minner

    P.S. If you are an actual human and not a bot, please don’t take my disgust personally, unless you are in fact Michael George or someone else responsible for the sleaze. For anyone else, I suggest you look seriously into the sort of company you work for and start looking for another job in your spare time. You are responsible for Dell’s sleaze in the sense that your willingness to work for a sleazy company allows that company to be sleazy. You should let your management know that you take it personally when people feel burned by Dell, and they should fix their policies to avoid that. If stating such an opinion would put your job at risk, well, all the more reason to start looking for a better one, and I do wish you, personally, good luck in that. If more people would quit their jobs over bad corporate policy, corporate policies would improve eventually.

  • Scott

    We too are not happy with Dell. Three months after we purchased our computer, our hard drive crashed. We lost all our photos and other important information. Had to reinstall our software again. Had a very hard time understanding the people from Dell (I think they were based out of India). On October 12th of this year our harddrive broke down. We called Dell. Our warranty was up and we would have to buy a new harddrive. We were not happy, because we knew we lost all our photos again. They shipped us a new part. When we got the part we tried installing it in the computer. The harddrive did not go in easily like the old one. The computer would not boot up. Tried putting CD’s in, and nothing happened. I struggled to take out the new part. I put in the old harddrive, which went in easily and a dos screen came up. I knew they sent the wrong harddrive or it was a bad part. I had to call Dell again. They said we would have to send back the part and then they would send us out a new one. We would also have to pay to have it shipped back. That was stupid, since it was their fault for sending us a defective part. We decided we were going to send it back, but not buy another harddrive from them. We were going to Best Buy to see if we could buy another harddrive. At the store we talked to a computer salesman. The harddrive we looked at on the box gave us some ideas. Told the guy about it, and he suggested removing the harddrive from the casing they sent us. I did noticd the day before the part looked funny compared to the old one. To make a long story short. The part Dell built was put together wrong. We were able to fix it and get it going. We told Dell about it, but they did not appologize. We will never buy a Dell again. We will help anyone else who has bought a Dell to get their computers running. People who work for Dell do not know anything about computers.

  • Ex Zell Customer

    See below

  • Ex Zell Customer

    The computer salesman who nearly conned the world

    This is the storey of the computer salesman from HELL
    Whose name by the way was Michael ZELL.

    He tried to corner the computer world
    But his empire fell and died cold

    He was a nasty old kook
    And he hated his own look

    He took Inspiration from his piles
    His people wrote virus into customer BIOS files

    He infested all of his PCs with the Impel processor
    And choked other makers ‘cause he was an evil aggressor

    His company spawned branches around the world every few miles
    He made computers whose components fell out like loose tiles

    He dictated to his customers what they could and couldn’t buy
    In the mirror he saluted himself like Hitler, this little guy

    Tried to create a Monopoly and forced the PC prices sky high
    He financed at extortion those people who could not buy

    He was rude to his customers and didn’t care about their needs
    He liked to shove blades of grass up his ass and retain their seeds

    He was chronically anally retentive
    To his clients he was wholly inattentive

    He kept the computer prices artificially high
    Sucked the soul out of the competition and bled them dry

    He bribed the officials and sold the government agencies trash
    And laughing all the way to the bank he counted his ill-gotten cash

    He charged extortionate sums for his upgrade
    He didn’t care much for fair trade.

    He conspired with Impel and tried to corner the PC world
    Bet he never dreamt his empire could so easily fold

    See his PCs were short of Dimension and depth
    He pissed off his customers with his foul breath

    He left his clients no Latitude
    Demanded from employees total servitude

    He exaggerated trade but cooked his books
    His wife didn’t liked his constipated looks

    The corollary of this story
    You’ll be told, don’t worry

    With unreliable poxy PCs and accessories like his
    Go find viable alternatives and get good service

    If you don’t think it’s a good thing to have a hole in your head
    Don’t throw your money at this guy; go buy from another “Ted”

    As to what happened to the little guy
    You may ask me, don’t have to be shy

    He urinated in his BMW racer
    Went crazy before he died of prostate cancer

    He tied his wife to the back of his boat
    And dragged her several times around the moat

    He took all of his assets out of the bank
    Like Bill Gates, he thought his dollars had shrank

    Then he set fire to his house
    And blamed it on a wireless mouse

    Before he could claim the insurance money for the fire
    He reached the end and his time finally came to expire

  • Pingback: Social Media as the new marketing and advertising « Pete’s View

  • Pingback: Customer Complaint Hell | StartUpToFinish

  • Pingback: Customer Complaint Hell | money news blog

  • Toni Anthony

    Glad to know I’m not the only one! I paid a tech $157 to come out and get a Dell password removed from my computer. After climbing up the ladder as you did he eventually had to wipe the drive clean. The next day I turned on the computer and again they had put a password on it and insist on charging me $39.95 to get rid of it. I didn’t want this password and didn’t know that they do it and now I should pay more money out of my pocket to get rid of it! What kind of crap service is this? I’m so mad I won’t fix this machine. I will never, never, never buy another Dell product as long as I live. This is the second machine I’ve had this problem with. From now on call me Ms. Hewlett Packard. They give wonderful service.

  • http://aol.com John Konieczny

    I do not know whether to buy a new Dell or not?
    Also heard items:
    1. Dell had a customer service center here at Huntingon, WV for some years. The local company name was Client Logic. I heard that while receiving service calls for Dell that their ‘Client Logic’ satisfaction, problem solved rate was almost 95% and one of the very highest customer satisfaction rates in the business. This office was moved to India
    #2. My brother works as a data warehousing manager and operator for a large computer data company. He bought a new Dell and had trouble with getting service on his computer.
    #3. My neighbors cousin bought a Dell in western Virginia and she had trouble with her hard drive and could not get any help or service from Dell.
    I do not know whether to buy a Dell or not?
    Hummm! John Konieczny jmk1950@aol.com

  • Pingback: Transmission Content + Creative, Mark Goren, New Marketing Coach » Blog Archive » Folded Corners: Join The Conversation

  • Pingback: Odiseo en los Medios » Blog Archive » Consumidores que quieren ser escuchados*

  • http://www.witenterprises.com Get back mack

    It looks to me that when all is said and done the author of the blog was trying to SELL HIS service to Dell. Life is too short to spend so much time complaining AND what looks like setting someone up.

  • Pingback: Future Of Social Networks | The Next Engine: Beyond Campaign Thinking

  • GAIL B.

    I bought a rebuilt DELL laptop Inspiron 1501-in 6 months it has had to back to the factory 3 times. 2 motherboards later and a hot plate replaced I am petrified of what might happen one day out of warranty. The Idians had me basically take the laptop apart before they took it back the last time for repair. My 80 yr. old mother could NOT have done it and she never got her promised “rebate” after one yr. of trying on her desktop unit. My nephew had so many problems with his laptop trying to get through college-he could not use it any longer, through it out-after smashing the screen and went with another co. I would never buy a DELL again.

  • Pingback: Dave Burke - Everyman Links for August 8, 2008

  • Pingback: Tendencias Digitales - el blog » Blog Archive » Los comentarios negativos pueden mejorar nuestra reputación

  • http://dell-inspiron-1521-laptop.blogspot.com/ Fellow Dellheller

    I ordered a Dell Inspiron 1521 on 8/5, and the delivery date was 8/20. Since then, my order has been delayed 4 times. I have called customer service each time. Answers vary from, “we don’t know anything you don’t know” to “it’s still in production” to “you should understand that a company like ours has no control over when an product gets made.” I was refused “escalation” to a supervisor 3x, with excuses like “he/she is not here” or I was simply hung up on. When I finally got through to 1 manager, he also told me he didn’t know when production would be completed and without listening to me further, hung up as well.

    See my blog for all the details:

    http://dell-inspiron-1521-laptop.blogspot.com/

  • Trisha

    Suddenly I feel somewhat better now that I know I am not the only one faced with the issues and problems with Dell. I bought a computer to return to college. I was an online student and my computer was my gateway. I relied on it for everything possible.

    I was first faced with issues of it crashing for no apparent reasons. I never downloaded anything ….it was for school use only. I had to reprogram my computer several times. This was a totally pain in the ass considering all of the valuable programs needed for college.

    As soon as my warranty was over after a year of owning my computer my hard drive stopped working. I purchases another one from Dell.

    My computer was okay until six months later and my mother board stropped working, I again purchases another one from Dell. The next thing was the processor needed replaced. Finally….my computer is working again.

    I have to say I personally tell everyone of how shitty these computers are. However no one will listen to me considering…they see the name everywhere. I guess I will just refer everyone to the websites that I found today!!!!!!!

  • Trisha

    Oh and another thing …good luck with the customer service considering you can not understand a word those poor foreign people are saying.

  • Pingback: SOCIAL « wowelster

  • Pingback: The Customer Service Experience - Not a very good one! « Just Let Me Vent

  • Pingback: Social Media & Business Marketing Examples « Rodrigo Frías Rivas

  • Pingback: Engaging the Blogosphere « PRinciples

  • Pingback: Social Media examples (this week, the letter d), podcast sites & video sites « G2’s Digital Space…by AJ

  • Pingback: Social Media Marketing rules.

  • Pingback: Social Media Examples « The Burrito King

  • Pingback: A List of Social Media Marketing Examples « Mandarmedia’s Weblog

  • Pingback: Cómo te puedo ayudar? | El Viaje de Odiseo

  • Pingback: Las conversaciones ocurren en la nube « Martin Mendez blog

  • Pingback: A List of Social Media Marketing Examples « ab

  • Pingback: Social Media Marketing: el ABC de empresas usando Web 2.0 : Cobertura Digital

  • Pingback: A List of Social Media Marketing Examples « social media & marketing karma?

  • http://MozillaFirefox Shirley Tyree

    It is interesting to know that I am not the only one having problems with Dell. Their customer service does suck. They try to play the consumers for fools. They block services, and then try to patronize you when they are caught in a lie. Verizon is my ISP. I called Verizon, and who did I get but Dell,with some sucker telling me how many times I had called Dell.Last week I had my landline and cellular phone numbers changed,to keep Dell from having them. It didnot help. Dell has bugged my phone lines, and gained access to my cellular services. As I write this blog it is being monitored,probably by Dell. Dell doesnot want the public to know how they really operate. If you buy a Dell,you will be sorry.

  • Pingback: ??????????????—??? - ??????? - ??IT??????

  • Pingback: ????????????—??? | ???????...

  • Pingback: Co-creatie best practices bij Dell: luister naar je klanten - Frankwatching

  • Pingback: Social Media: Kunden sind an der Macht | Telagon Sichelputzer

  • Pingback: Co-creatie best-practices bij Dell: luister naar je klanten | Martijn Staal.nl

  • Pingback: What Real-time Search Means For Your Business | iThnk.com

  • Pingback: ???????? ????????????? ???????? ? ?????????? ??????? « International relations & Communications

  • Pingback: Nestle and the Social Media Meltdown | clinteraction

  • Pingback: Third Tuesday – Richard at Dell

  • Pingback: Examples of companies using social media marketing

  • http://paulharness.blogspot.com/ Paul Harness

    Yes, Dell continue to frustrate customers; will they ever learn?
    My experience; buying an Inspiron 580 from their outlet site. The network card won’t work and it crashes when I connect my old CRT monitor (interesting it’s OK when I plug my LCD monitor in).
    Contact Dell; it appears to be a German service tag assigned to a business machine, so I need business technical support. Business technical support; you are a consumer so you need customer service dept. Customer service dept; it’s a German service tag and you are in the UK so the service tag must be wrong. Re-re-re-re-check the service tag; it’s still the same. Customer service; you’ll have to contact business technical support. I continually ask for somone to take responsibility for this; the people at the other end of the phone (where in the world are they?) just say I need to ring another number. And so the circle continues & continues.
    Have now resorted to using the Dell.com website to try glean the directors’ email addresses and fire off emails to them, but not holding my breath.
    Last resort; get my credit card company involved.

  • Pingback: Book Review: Strategies & Tools For Corporate Blogging | xpressivesilence

  • Pingback: Dell: One of the First Big Social Media Breakthroughs |WITS ZEN

  • Pingback: The Viral Content Formula That Could Double Your Readership

  • http://etinnitusmiracle.com/ tinnitus miracle

    Glad to know Im not the only one person!

  • Pingback: Blogs changing Dell | Open (minds, finds, conversations)...

  • Pingback: Over-Empowerment, Entitlement, and Anonymity: The Dark Side of Social Media

  • Leon Aldrich

    I always try to buy local from a Mom & Pop computer store. There is one here in the valley where I live that provides a 2 year parts and lifetime labor.

  • Pingback: Así es Starbucks 2.0 « retrino

  • Pingback: Turn a Social Media Lemon into Lemonade | Social Gratitude - Social Media Management

  • Pingback: Dell’s Social Media Turnaround: A Case Study « Reputation Issues

  • Pingback: Social Gossip – 5 Ways to Turn a Social Media Lemon into Lemonade