Where is Michael Dell and why has Dell gone to Hell?

01062010 | myself

[snippy_about_it]

Please excuse this vanity but I have the need to shout from the rooftops in frustration, Dell Computer Company has gone to Hell.

Oh my gawd. I have had the worst time with these people. I have owned Dell computers for over 20 years but never again.

I have some Alienware on order from them and have since October. OCTOBER people. It has been delayed yet again. This is the fourth delay with no notice and no explaination.

The only reason we know it is delayed is by checking the status which always changes right before the ship date.

You see we don't lead a life of such luxury that we can take of work anytime we want so we have to plan ahead. We therefore check the expected date of shipment and put in for a day off so we can be here for delivery.

Low and behold it was delayed from an original ship date of 11/19 to 12/23 to 1/6 and now to 1/22.

But wait, there's more.

THEIR CUSTOMER SERVICE SUCKS!!!!!!!

Good luck getting anyone who has English as their first language or can do any more than tell you what you already know....the new ship date.

They can not tell you the rhyme or reason behind the delay so I cannot determine if the computer will ever be delivered.

I have spent on average two hours on hold with about 5 different "customer care" workers as they pretend to understand my frustration and move me up the chain.

Oh yes, they ask for your phone number and email in case you get disconnected. We did, after two hours but did they call back? No. Did they send me an email? No. They simply hung up on me.

Tonight they actually asked me after being on hold and on my third person to call back in two hours. I said, pardon me? They said in their usual un-understandable accent, yes sir, we have making change and cannot see order, call back two hours.

I told them to go to hell.

I can't take it anymore. There is absolutely no where to turn and no one to speak to. Last night they said they would send me to the "specialized queue" and when I got there the lady said, oh yes, the problem we have been having with Alienware is..bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. That's when I was disconnected.

Tonight I asked to get back in the specialized queue. They had no idea what I was talking about.

There is no service any longer. They all suck.

Thanks for listening. It's more than Dell is doing.

[dit_xi]

My experience with HP has been quite satisfactory, although I’ve only had to deal with them once. I bought an HP desk top recently for my children from Sam’s Club, my first HP computer. Good deal on it, bright 24” monitor with HDMI connection, BluRay drive, 1 TB hard drive. 5 months later, the wireless keyboard went haywire. I called up HP support around 3PM my time, spoke to a guy who was obviously Indian by his accent, but his English was clear and fluent. The very following morning, a FedEx truck came to my front door and delivered a spanking new replacement wireless keyboard and mouse, as mine were still under warranty. I didn’t have to pay a dime, not even for the rushed overnight shipping! Thus far, I’ve been very impressed with HP’s customer service. But as I’ve said, I’ve only had a single encounter with them.

[FTJM]

I understand your frustration. It sounds like the run around I’ve been getting. From India to what I thought was Mexico but you say it’s El Salvador. Either way it isn’t good.

Yeah, it's El Salvador. It's the return department which is strange because I haven't received my monitor yet TO RETURN IT. It's become a surreal nightmare.

It's taken everything in my power not to yell profanities at them.

[Mr. Jeeves]

I personally cant use a computer if i dont have a right button on my mouse.

All Apple mice have a right button - it's enabled in the System Preferences. Just click the right side of the mouse and it works exactly the same as any PC mouse.

[wardaddy]

I see your point that snippy is being snippy but that is a bit unfair....by that comparison no one can complain here about anything except if they are dying a slow death, just lost a child or something tragic.

Snippy is just bitching. Hell, I get tired of sub Continent phone banks too where no one can understand jack.

[Harley]

Here's a stock analyst's assessment:

Dell (NASDAQ:DELL) has underperformed its peer group in the stock market by a wide margin. Dell’s shares are off over 30% over the last two years while the share of Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ) and IBM (NYSE:IBM) have shown impressive gains. The PC industry’s score has been steadily increasing in the American Customer Service Index over the last decade, up from a 71 of 100 rating in 2001 to 75. Dell’s score has dropped from 78 to 75. Dell trail Apple, Toshiba, and HP is many Consumer Reports measurements of laptop computers by screen size. It does somewhat better in the slow-growing desktop business and has abysmal scores in the fastest growing part of the PC industry—netbooks. In the netbook category Consumer Reports ranks Dell behind seven other manufacturers. In Forrester’s recent Customer Experience Index rankings, Dell was behind every other PC maker measured. Dell employees have been through a series of layoffs which included 8,800 people in 2008 and at least another 1,400 last year. Dell fired another group in November.

[ConservativeMind]

For myself, I believe desktops are best bought as components you or someone you trust builds from scratch. I just did this with my mother, for whom I put together a super-top-notch system from components I bought almost exclusively from NewEgg.com. The system runs super quiet, super efficient (even a 90%+ efficiency rated 650 watt power supply) and super fast (the Intel i7 920 overclocks easily to beyond 3.6 Ghz when it is rated for 2.6 Ghz) and has an ATI-based 5850 card in it that kicks all but the top Nvidia option currently out (of course, the 5870 beats the top one and the 5900 series goes far beyond what Nvidia offers). Total price with 6 GB of RAM and a 24 inch 1920 x 1200 monitor? $2200.

If I were to buy a laptop, I'd only consider the Latitude or Precision laptops at Dell, an Apple with dual-boot, or an ASUS laptop. Of those, the Apple is the most expensive, the Dell is hard to get without being a business customer (but buying from the Dell Outlet is how I've done so in the past), and ASUS is the best, easiest and cheapest choice.

With Dell, they have an excellent Next Day Onsite service with the CompleteCare option to cover any coffee or drop damage you may inflict on it, so when someone shows up the next day, there's never a question about “warranty” or “abuse.” I believe there are similar options with the other two companies, though. For a laptop, I would ONLY get one with such options, as they require custom parts that are often only available via Ebay or specialty shops to fix.

[leftee]

I ordered a xps 9000 the 29th of November. Was a little leary after reading some of the unhappy posts. Received PC on the 17th of December .(the date the salesperson had given me)Unit has an upgraded video card , a 750 hd and no monitor or speakers. I did not order on line and must have got lucky. Am very pleased.

[snippy_about_it]

It's taken everything in my power not to yell profanities at them.

I'm sorry to say I don't have the will power you have. I know it's not the individual's fault but the frustration level is just beyond reasonable.

[snippy_about_it]

Thanks for your support.

[FTJM]

I'm sorry to say I don't have the will power you have. I know it's not the individual's fault but the frustration level is just beyond reasonable.

Actually, it is their fault when they lie and hang up on you. Dell has been steadily getting worse and worse. I know of other horror stories and they are all over the net.

I am shocked at how bad it is.