"I used to be a fan of dell as an option for my friends and relatives that aren't technically savvy, I always thought they had a good service staff and a quality product, though I knew their product performance was terrible.

After buying a Dell Vostro 1015 a while back, the computer had problems from the outset, the audio never worked correctly, but I had to wait until I was less busy to send it in for repairs. The day before sending the laptop in, the computer started experiencing screen issues (horizontal lines) so I called dell to add that to the list of repairs before I sent it in. Once dell finally received the laptop, I was notified that none of my repairs would be covered under warranty. I could understand the screen because pressure on a screen (from a backpack or attache can cause screen problems) but the fact that they wouldn't fix the audio problem sent me over the edge. Unbelievably awful.

Dell quoted me $795 to fix the laptop, which cost $400 new (and which I could repair myself for $150, buying parts @ retail), which i certainly didn't pay. After about 10 phone calls and a dozen emails (though dell is still sending me emails) I finally got them to understand that I wasn't paying for the repairs and they needed to send the laptop back unfixed (it doesn't help that 100% of their support is in India). When I got the laptop back from dell it was nice to find that a partially broken screen (top right corner) when I sent it in, is now entirely broken (huge crack all across the screen) and unusable.

Needless to say, from this experience, I will never buy another dell product, nor will I recommend them to anyone, ever. On top of getting an unsatisfactory result from dell service, their service personnel were terribly rude throughout the entire process. I've had bad experiences with service before, but nothing quite like this."

"Dell XPS 14z is worst laptop. Please i won't recommend any one to buy this laptop in current deal. They are selling faulty hardware laptop to customer. Mother board problem, performance problem,fan noise,internet wifi issue and top of that worst customer care and refund policy.
Please tell your friends and everybody that Dell is doing cheating with customers. ALso don't ever book your laptop through online chat agent , they are fraud and third party vendor on the site and Dell won't support Employee purchase program .I am really harassed by Dell customer service and support. I got my laptop yesterday and it has faulty hardware and but getting trouble to refund back.I wrote the review on the Dell website and they are not publishing the bad review because they want to get rid of these faulty laptop. The customer service support is worst and they are lying on the phone ,they will provide you wrong email address ,contact no and service number."

"Since Dell started up I have always bought their computers. I have lost count of how many. Until now I have been happy with their product and support. I think it is still probable they provide a lot of value for the money, but I just cancelled an order and will not buy my next computer from them. The flexible configuration choices Dell used to offer are gone, making customers essentially buy what they themselves configure. I think most of their phone support is now overseas based. It is difficult to understand the representative. The main reason I cancelled the last order is price confusion. The quote had one price and when I ordered I got a different price. There was no difference in the order from the quote and taxes were included in both. Talking to their representive was difficult and did not resolve the issue, so I cancelled. I am paying significantly more for a different computer, but I was able to configure it as I wished and the company is totally US based. I hope Dell gets the message; they were an excellent company in the past but I no longer view them favorably."

"Somebody placed an order from Dell.com for a 14z laptop, and used my credit card info that was stored on my Dell account. My credit card company put a stop on the order, but when I contacted Dell to see how this happened and to inquire why my credit card info was stored there, I got nowhere. Their customer support from India or Philippines is really annoying, after apologizing every 30 seconds,they transferred me ( twice) to the security department, where I was on hold for over 20 minutes twice in a row. I called them at 8:30 AM US time, and it looks like nobody is available to take the call. I am very dissatisfied with so called Dell cust support. Maybe Dell will learn it makes a lot more sense to have US people take care of US business."

"I have purchased many, many Dell machines over the last 10 years, but it had been a few years since I last purchased one. I am amazed how far Dell has fallen. Here are the highlights:

This is my experience with Dell Outlet. They state that these machines (desktops and laptops) are fully working and tested.

I placed two orders for multiple machines. In the first order one machine (out of two) was not properly working (out of the box) on the second order one machine (out of 3) stopped functioning correctly after less than a week.

Dell is apparently (based on my experience) sending machines that (I assume) they know to be faulty or at the very least they know they are not properly testing. Regardless of this, they require the customer to spend hours on the phone to *prove* the item does not work before taking it back without a whopping 15% restocking fee. That's right, 15%! It does not matter if the box is opened or returned sealed, they take 15% unless you spend hours on the phone with tech support.

Once you waste the required amount of time to prove the machine is obviously faulty, they offer to give you $25 off the price if you keep it and don't return it. Both times I declined. I believe that the ENTIRE purpose of this $25 offer is to simply have you keep the machine past the 21 day return policy... and by return policy, I mean they will take it back and charge you 15%... even if it was broken (unless you prove it by spending hours with tech support). The fee also applies even in the case where the unit is sealed/unopened.

On top of that, calls to get the 15% restocking fee refunded are met with a stone wall. You can ask for a supervisor, and you might get one... but even if you do, they will not (and I believe cannot) refund the 15% restocking fee. They simply do not have the power to do so. Any attempt to move up the management chain is met with a firm "No, that is not possible". That's right, no manager above the supervisor level will talk to customers and the supervisors have no power to refund the restocking fee. These geniuses don't even know that Dell policy states that the restocking fee is at Dell's discretion. So arguing your case is pointless.

Perhaps Dell Home has better customer service, but from the other reviews here at ResellerRatings, it does not look to be the case.

In summary, I strongly advise against purchasing from the Dell Outlet. The machines are not tested thoroughly (or at all) and then they require you to prove you got a lemon.

I suspect that Dell Home is just as bad, and I also recommend avoiding them as well.

I should mention that each of the machines I bought were listed as Scratch and Dent, but every single one of them had a big REFURBISHED sticker on them. So don't believe that those people who say "Scratch And Dent" are better than refurbished, since they are one in the same

Lastly, If you do buy a Dell Machine (not recommended!), you should avoid any use of using a Dell Preferred account. Although you can often get a couple of percent off the price, you have virtually no recourse in disputing the restocking fee. Sure you can file a claim, but who do you think Dell Financial Services is going to side with in the case? So if you have to buy Dell (and I don't recommend it) then pay 2% more and use a 3rd party credit card to pay for it. Many of them have cashback anyway that will net you a better discount and will give you the added benefit of some level of objective arbitration should you need to dispute a claim.


"

"I bought a defective computer recently. Being that I buy so much from dell I didn't expect the hard time they gave me trying to return it. It took over 2 weeks for the refund to finally post. I hope this bad experience was an isolated incident!"

"I wish I could give Dell.com less than 1 star.

Difficulty of Purchasing
------------------
I tried to use my credit cards at Dell.com. A couple hours later, I receive an e-mail saying, "My order had been placed on hold because of my credit card". I call Dell and my credit card company numerous times and Dell's indian reps LIED to me and said they would claim the funds. In reality, they were attempting to charge my card dozens of times. I finally gave up after about 5 hours of hassle to buy one of their junk computers. It then took me 2 HOURS to cancel...

Customer Support was horrid
---------------------------
As if speaking to non-American reps was bad enough, the reps had NO idea what they were talking about and it took me 20 minutes to figure out what each rep was saying. OUTSOURCING TO DEVELOPING COUNTRIES IS NOT WORTH IT, LET ME SPEAK TO SOMEONE WHO UNDERSTANDS MY **** LANGUAGE. I tried to be as polite as I could before I had to calm down because the rep I was talking to simply had no KNOWLEDGE OF COMPUTERS.

Bottom Line
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Dell and HP are the LEAST reliable when it comes to working computers, but at least Hewitt-Packard has AMERICAN customer support reps. DO NOT BUY FROM DELL!"

"NEVER spending one more dime with this company. My husband is active duty military currently stationed overseas. We were approved for credit through Dell financial and all was well for about 48 hours until Dell cancelled our order. Why? Because they were having issues verifying his identity. That's ok, I thoroughly understand wanting to verify identity to protect from identity theft, however, the ONLY way Dell will do this is through a phone call. Because of this policy ANY member of our military not stationed in the US will not be able to do anything through Dell. After being disconnected 4 times trying to get in touch with a supervisor I reached a man who said they had a separate verification process for the military and gave me a new phone number. That number does not connect to anything. Called back and asked about a different verification for the military and was told phone calls in the States only. After that call we have decided that if this is how they are going to treat us while trying to get our business we never want to find out how they treat people once they have a problem and shut it all down. High prices, no "service" in their customer service, and a lack of care for our military all add up to - We will NEVER buy from Dell again."

"I will never deal with Dell again. I spent $1500 on an XPS and a couple of hundred for AMERICAN customer support and service. When I call, I get India who tries to sell me additional customer support and service, cannot answer my questions, and refuses to connect me with America. Once you get your computer, you will never hear an American voice again. Corporate doesn't care once they have sold you the product.

So, I get en email from Dell corporate with a phone number to call. Guess what? I call the number with the proper extension given, get India,and they never heard of the corporate executive. WHAT A COMPANY! I've also noticed that the 5 star reviews of Dell are from Dell employees. Go figure."

"UPDATE: 3/29/2012: Dell sent my replacement computer overnight. It has the exact same problem. I'm back to numerous phone calls, hours of hold times, broken promises about call backs for resolution. I'm looking into filing a complaint with the attorney general for consumer fraud, and also filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. Research on google shows numerous similar complaints and contact info for taking the issue higher up than India.

UPDATE 3/20/12: Last week I was promised my tech would be at my house today to install more parts, and he would call me no later than noon. When I called Dell at 2 pm, I was so fed up, I refused to accept their placating, told them if they knew what the words "I understand" meant they'd stop saying it...I spent one hour on the phone being transferred from one "manager" to another, like on that Capital One commercial, Everyone tried to sell me an extended warranty, to which I gave witty rude replies. I finally told manager number 3 just forget it, I'll have my attorney call your legal dept, and my local news consumer fraud reporter will be by to interview Dell in the US regarding this rip off. I was offered a replacement computer. We shall see if it arrives.

My desktop has been turning itself off. I bought it 3/23/11, the warranty expires 3/23/12. For the past 3 weeks I have spent endless hours on the phone w/tech support - burning up tons of my cell phone minutes - and yes, many many transfers to people who barely speak English. Many promises made then they lie and say promises were not made. Two trips by techs to replace hard drive, mother board, power supply, and other stuff I can't pronounce. Was promised if 2nd trip/parts didn't fix problem they'd replace computer. Now lying, saying they never promised new computer, and I have to take off work for the 3rd time for a tech to bring more parts. In the meantime they call me every stinking day to pressure me to buy additional extended warranty, to which I reply "if you ever make good on the original warranty I'll think about it." Look up SCAM + FRUSTRATING in the dictionary and you'll see the Dell logo...and just writing this the computer crashed again!"

"NEVER AGAIN will I buy anything from Dell. A year ago I bought an XPS 8300.. lucky for me, it had a warranty, because it's now on the THIRD motherboard. They also talked me into buying upgraded warranty (both software and hardware) to support other problems.

Then my external drive failed (not Dell's fault), so I need to install a RAID 1 array to ensure backup. They helped me select another hard drive for the second drive, but cautioned me that it had to be from Dell to be covered by the warranty, instead of the identical drive from Amazon at a lower price. When I ordered the drive, the price went from $170 quoted to the final $230 price. Because of the warranty, I ordered it from Dell for stated delivery on Feb 8. They claimed at the time that it was IN STOCK.

Since then it's been nothing but lies, obfuscations, and lots of little brown people speaking very bad English (except for their clowns in Costa Rica and the Phillipines). Nothing if not from the script in front of them - amazing how every time the wording of their replies was identical.

They kept extending the delivery time by three days at a time (latest was until Mar 9), promising me they were expediting the order, but wouldn't give me any direct info as to availability from Seagate in Thailand, and tell me the unit is now unavailable.

I finally cancelled the order and ordered the identical unit from Amazon. I followed the order, and it shipped within 45 minutes after ordering.

I ordered over 2000 computers from Dell in my days with Capital Purchasing for a major food company, and my last three personal computers have been Dell. Never again. They have lost my trust, my patronage, and any future purchases I have any say or influence over.

If there was a way to rate them 0 (zero) or lower, I'd do that."

"Never order from Dell again! Saving $30 on a laptop is not worth the aggravation and time lost. I ordered 2 laptops President's Day weekend. They were supposed to arrive on 2/25. FedEx showed that the order was shipped, and then pulled back by Dell. Called Dell after waiting several days past the delivery date. I was asked why I needed 2 laptops and whether my address was a home or business. Then they told me that I had to call from my home number (instead of work) to verify the order. Did that. Waited another 5 days and called Dell again. They asked the same questions, and asked me to call me on my cell phone. At this time, they told me that they need to cancel the original order and re-submit it. They did that, but did not refund the entire amount, and still there is no re-booking of the order. Called Dell and canceled the entire order. On the phone, they still had problems calculating the refund amount that they still owe me. What a nightmare and waste of energy!"

"I have a 2004 Dell Dimension 4600 MCE. I have never had any major problems that I couldn't resolve myself. Until Feb. 2012. I called Dell,they sent me a recovery disk,free. Then they called to make sure I got the disks(xp os and drivers)and helped me instal them and connected to the Internet. Very helpful. All Free!"

"I got the XPS 15 on February 2011 (one year ago) with a one year warranty, one week after the warranty has expired the motherboard of the compute died.
Dell wants to charge $504.00 for a $700.00 computer… I called them 3-4 times every time I spent more the 60 minutes on the line… no help what so ever.
Very disappointed, will not recommend this to anyone.
"

"I bought a Dell Inspiron laptop from Walmart in Nov 2011. It came with manufacturer warranty and I purchased an additional warranty from Walmart. Neither helped me at all!

In mid-Feb 2012 the computer crashed and wouldn't restart. I called Dell and Tech Support ran through the basic diagnostics and said the hard disk was bad. They said they would mail me a box to mail it back to them to install a new hard disk. From the day they received it, they would get it back to me within 13 business days. So, ultimately 3 weeks without a computer?!?! When I asked for assistance with data recovery, they said it was a mechanical failure and there was nothing they could do. They told me to call Best Buy. When I called Best Buy they said $250 MINIMUM for data recovery... OVER 35% of the price of the laptop new. I called Dell back. Explained to them that I had gone through the entire set up for daily data back up, I saw the computer doing the daily back up - where the heck are my files? They said they were still gone b/c it was a mechanical failure. They refused to physically pull the data from the hard disk while they had the laptop. They acted like the couldn't- but if Best Buy can, so can they.

I've had about 5 laptops and never had any trouble. I will NEVER buy anything from DELL again EVER. They sold me a PC with a defective hard disk and instead of taking responsibility and fully correcting the situation, they refused to help. I incurred a $250 charge for data recovery that DELL SHOULD HAVE COVERED. When there is a mechanical failure in the first couple months of use, the manufacturer should take care of correcting the problem. Instead they made it worse. Wasted my time and even more of my money. Whatever you do, don't buy a Dell."