"I ordered a system everything went smoothly until I actually got it. The system was crashing constantly and I had trouble keeping it running. After some time troubleshooting it with HOROBILE tech support on Dell’s end I decided to just return the system. Dell scheduled a pickup using DHL (they would cover the costs). I packed up the box and waited for DHL to come and get it. It is now one month later and I have yet to receive a credit for my purchase. It appears that the package was “lost” at DHL since there are no scans after pickup. I have proof with tracking number that the package was picked up from me. I called Dell and they told me they will resolve this issue promptly and get back to me within 24hours. I gave them a week before taking matters into my own hands. I contacted DHL and was informed that I need to file a claim with DHL and that Dell never contacted them about this issue, even though they told me they will call DHL. I called again and they told me the contacted DHL and have found the package, so I called DHL to confirm this, of course DHL has no info about Dell calling (again). I’m stuck with a tracking number that goes no where and promise from Dell that they will resolve the issue “promptly” (B.S.!) and a charge on my credit card. "

"I purchased a Dell D600 laptop in July last year and all was well until the hard drive packed up three weeks ago. I arranged two on site visits and on both occassions no one showed up. This depite both visits being agreed in advance. I've also spent countless hours on the phone and email and still my laptop doesn't work and I'm told I need to take more time off work to arrange for Dell to visit. The prices might be good but customer support is dreadful."

"Ordered a Dell FP2001 20.1" LCD monitor on February 20th. Using a 25% off mail in rebate from www.techbargains.com, I was able to get the monitor for hundreds less than its already cheap price. In addition, there was an offer for free shipping at the time as well. The monitor arrived sooner than expected and is absolutely beautifal. It works exactly as it should and as I hoped it would and its build quality leaves little if anything to complain about.
Though I didn't need to contact tech support for this order, I have had to work on numerous Dell systems for friends and customers, and have spent hours on the phone with tech support. Honestly, I never expected to buy a product from Dell until I bought this monitor. Now, however, I'd change my personal policy to never buying a Dell system (too many shortcuts taken with inferior parts), but their monitors (and quite possibly all their accessories) are wonderful for the price."

"I ordered a top of the line XPS gaming system with 2001fpw monitor on 2/19. I decided to order at that time as this was the best price in months on top of the line equipment. On 2/20 I realized that some of the components might not fit my needs so I called to speak to someone concerning this and perhaps adjust my order. (I had made the original order online.) I spent a total of 2 hours on hold trying to speak to the correct individuals. My calls were cut off after 35, 40, and 35 minutes respectively. On my last call I was informed that there was no way to directly connect me to someone in online sales despite my experience. At this point I was concerned that this type of customer care would be the norm if I had any further problems. I was again transfered to online sales and this time I was able to speak to someone after 30-35 minutes of waiting. At this point I chose to cancel my order as I was concerned about my ability to obtain customer care in a timely fashion should I require it. (I had opted to obtain the top of the line warranty, but how would I be able to use it if I cannot contact anybody.) I was informed that I would receive a full refund as my check card had already been charged. This was to occur within 24 hours. After 48 hours my account still has not been credited.

I have previously ordered from Dell and had no problems, but at this point I fear that the size of the company precludes good customer care when there are problems. And, in reality, it is these times that are a real measure of customer care.

UPDATE:
My account has been credited. Two days later than promised, but still credited."

"To be honest with you, I don't mind dealing with outsourced technical support provided that they are all sufficiently trained. With Dell however, their technicians are certainly far from being sufficiently trained. Most technicians from either India or Argentina know very little about the products Dell sells (especially the parts and peripherals division) and rely mostly on reading out of a manual that I am capable of reading myself. Even worst than their phone support, is their useless technical support email system. Expect to receive nothing more than inpersonal, automated emails that do little or nothing in addressing your issues."

"I had a HORRIBLE experince with Dell yestarday and today. I will post the email i sent to them, even though i know it will be in vane. Very dissapointed =(

I Purchased my Dell 8600 on February 4th. I was emailed a coupon that gave me 600 of a 1600 dollar purchase. I contact Sales yesterday (Sunday) and spoke to a guy about pro-rating the coupon to my purchase. He supposedly noted my account with the inquiry and told me to call customer service today. I called them earlier today and was informed to return my notebook and purchase another one with the coupon. I was transferred to returns, set up a return. I tried logging on and applying the coupon that I had received and was unable to. I called Sales and they told me the coupon had expired. I was then sent back and forth between sales and customer care a few times. Inevitably i was told i could do nothing. A manager in customer care told me he couldn't help.

What I don't understand is that the coupon I tried to use yesterday, and was "Told" to call customer care that was open today, can not be used today, since i tried to use it yesterday, and it was supposedly applied to my account.

I, nor my wife, nor any of my colleagues at the University of Oregon have had any issues with Dell yet. I am a bit unnerved that after being bounced around between departments for hours and going through the whole process that all of a sudden at the end of the whole ordeal that the coupon is no longer valid (Even though I tried to apply it yesterday when it was still valid).
I feel as though I have been bounced around. I have never had this bad of an experience with an order before, from any company. I am disappointed with the outcome, and disappointed with the service I have receive. I hope this isn’t how your customer service always work.

I wish to be contacted about this issue. My information is on my account. If this email will not be passed along to someone that can assist me, please inform me and I will write a letter. For the customer service representatives and sales representative that I have talked to told me they couldn’t get me in touch with anyone that could help me further.

Robert L. Coli....
****@****
"

"While it seems many people have had very bad experiences with Dell, mine was a very positive one. Here's what happened:

Bought a new Dimension 4700 for a very good deal, and it was shipped within a reasonable amount of time, maybe 3 days or so. I had bought a soundcard on my own, and when I installed in on the computer, the computer stopped working. I called tech support (at about 1 AM so I got right through), and they guided me through a self diagnostic check. They decided that the motherboard was corrupted. Dell offered to send a new motherboard and have it installed for free (which even surprised me as I had installed an outside soundcard that corrupted the motherboard). A computer tech guy came out the NEXT DAY and put a new motherboard in- however, it still didn't work. They figured the power supply went bad too. So the following day another tech guy came out with a new power supply- still nothing. The next business day they came out again and replaced most components of the system, and it now works again. Dell worked very fast (and free) to get my computer working again, and for that, I have to thank them.

I understand people have different experiences, but I would definitely order another computer from them. "

"We have five Dell PC's in our home: an Axim X5 PDA, a Dimension 2400 desktop, a Dimension 4550 desktop, an Inspiron 1100 notebook and an Inspiron 600M notebook. With the exception of the Axim and the Dimension 2400, we've bought all our Dell computers from Dell's refurbished stock.

We've found dealing with phone support to be frustrating, especially at peak calling times and when reaching customer service reps who do not have a good handle on the English language; e-mail and chat support have been very good, however.

For example, when my husband had trouble with his Axim, he called Dell and after telling them the specific issues he noticed, they arranged immediately for a replacement to be sent. It was overnighted to us, along with a pre-paid return label.

More recently, I noticed a high-pitched whine coming from my 600M's hard drive. Also, they keyboard was cheap - not what they'd used in the past - and I had problems with keys popping off repeatedly. After looking in the support forums and seeing that there was, indeed, an issue with Dell's keyboards, I e-mailed Dell support from their "contact us" link and told them the specific issues.

They overnighted the parts out to me and I swapped out the keyboard and hard drive myself. They, too, came with pre-paid return shipping labels. The new keyboard they sent was a much improved model and the new hard drive's made nary a peep.

I some folks who complain bitterly about Dell have perhaps been rude to the employees. As they say, you catch more flies with honey than vinegar. We've always found Dell's reps to be very accommodating when we've been polite, but firm, and provided lots of detail to help them diagnose problems and approve replacement orders.

We recommend Dell to everyone. That said, I will note that their website has a lot of inconsistencies. If you access order/shipping information from the account links at the main Dell page, you get different information than if you access your account links from the support.dell.com address. Shipping information was up-to-date when accessed one way, but not when accessed another. Their site is user-UN-friendly, especially to those new to the web, and it is a pain getting to the information needed. They need to give current customers, or even registered users at Dell.com, the option of creating a profile/portal page. It is *vital* information is accessible and accurate once you find it.

Other than the occasional foreign call center issues and the website design, we are very pleased with Dell."

"I ordered a refurbished PC priced $600, which seemed to be good deal. Alas, the PC was defective (extremely loud shreaking noise, DVD player fails, etc). I requrested return on February 2, 2005 for refund. I unequivocally requested for a refund, but the customer service returned an Email:

From the information provided, the issue is not clear. In order to
resolve the issue, I would request you to please send the detail
description of the issue.

And also answer the question mentioned below.

1) What is the source of this noise?
2) When this noise started?
3) Did you recently added or removed any hardware?
4) Does the noise persist or fades away?
5) Does this noise come every time you start the system?

Please write back with the result of the questions and the detail
description of the issue. So, that we can resolve the issue on time.

I responded:
There are several other glitches I noticed since I received this
computer.
1) Twice, the computer failed to boot up. It stopped in "welcome"
screen, not proceeding any further.
2) Media Center failed to run. After booting up the computer, it began
to work like normal.
3) I received "critical error" message when booted up, which seemed to
stem from McFee antiVirus software. When I eraced Mcafee program, it
stopped "critial error" message.
4) One time, I could not open the DVD. When I pressed the open button,
what seems to be the sound of motor could be heard, but it refused to
open. This problem dissappered after I booted the computer.

I am losing confidence to this computer. The problems may get worse in
the future and I hate to be stuck with it. That is why I requested to
return the computer for refund.

However, their reply was:
Thank you for choosing Dell. You must contact our Award Winning Tech
Support to get any tech issue including your Axim, laptop or your
printer, will be handled by them. The only way to check the status of
your laptop or printer that is in for repair is to call our Award
Winning Tech Support at 1-***-***-****. THEY NEVER CLOSE! Customer Care
will not be able to assist you in any way in this status of your
notebook. Please call them.

You are a valued Dell customer!

Sam Johnson
Dell Special Case Manager
Online Escalation Team.
For future questions please feel free to visit us at,
WWW.Dellcustomercare.com

Thus, they don't address my problem at all.
Finally, on February 7, they gave me Return Reference Number, which is required to return the PC. They told me that I have to pay for the shipping. I objected because I did not feel responsible for shipping cost for returning a defective product. Dell says there is no exception. Thus, I am stuck with a very unstable and noisy PC, although I am still trying to resolve the issue. Whoever says Dell has great customer service must be a lier or did not have to contact the customer service in the first place. I even belive that Dell is a bad faith merchant and I will never buy from them. "

"bought the computer at the end of december.
was disappointed with it and had problems from day one. ended up returning the computer on jan 17, 2005 and still have not been credited for the return that they recieved on jan 19, 2005.
I have spent many hours on the phone with them and never seem to get any where. I sent back the computer in the original boxes that it came in, the monitor and the tower where in the same box. and they seem to have lost the monitor. how I dont know cause they had to pick the monitor out of the box first to get to the tower. but now it's missing and that is why I have not been credited. I have talk to so many people and told my story so many times. and they still dont know what is going on. I have been very dissatified with their customer service and technical support. "

"I ordered a dell latitude x300 and a 1600n printer (2750 euros about $3000) last december with the explicit request that the invoice should be dated before the end of the year (because of taxation). I also mentioned, that if it was not possible I needed no computer. I payed the full price on the following day. For tweek weeks there was no sign at all about my order at all. The order was impossible to trace back online and custumer care did not answer the phone. I called the number for placing orders and they finally connected me to costumer care. They had no information on my order at all and my order was not processed. After about 6 phone calls and two faxes, unexpectedly someone called me on january 5 and told me that one of the options I opted for online (the 80 GB harddisk) would not fit into the x300. Instead they promised to dubble the memory, as a kind of compensation which they indeed did. As far as dating the invoice, there was no problem. I was told that the computer would be ready by 25 january! At the end I received the computer unexpectedly on 12 january and the invoice dated from 5 january. I wrote back to the project manager, but received no answer. I wrote again without any answer. I called again costumer care but they did not answer the phone. Again, via new orders I got connected to cc and there a lady (Carmen) told me that the invoice is always set on the date whe the computer leaves the factory. This could hardly be the 5 january since on that day I still had to approve thier compensation. Anyway it is rather strange to get this information two months after my explicit question. I have never received an answer from dell. I did not give it up, and phoned once again. I finally got hold of the project manager who assured me that he would send me the invoice with the correct date. I was very sceptical about it, but on the same day the invoice arrived with the correct date. I was finally deliverd from my dell hell. All well if ends well. None the less, I have a very bad opinion on Dell's cc. The computer itself is great."

"The Finance charges they said I wouldn't have to pay for 6 months appeared on my second bill. 29%APR is ridiculous."

"After reading all the bad reviews on this site I was ready for the worst. In fact though it was great. The order shipping only one day late and arrived perfectly. No problems and everything is great. If you need handholding I wouldn't look to Dell's website but for me it was perfect and I saved alot of money. The system itself is great as well."

"I have made six large purchases from Dell in the past year and ALL orders have arrived on time and as advertised with NO problems with any of the equipment. "

"On 12/18/2004 I placed an order for a Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II Lens. Dell claimed it had a 1-2 week wait and the estimated shipping date was 1/5/2005. No big deal I thought, I wasn't in a hurry to get the lens anyway. Today is 2/7/2005 and I have yet to receive my lens.

The estimated ship date now is 2/9/2005 but like every week before this one I am willing to bet vital parts of my anatomy to the fact that it will get pushed back until 2/16/2005 either today or tomorrow and I will get the obligatory 'We Must Have Your Consent To Continue' e-mail.

Their customer service has been anything but helpful. I get the same generic answers by the (seemingly) same robots they call customer service representatives.

Typically I would cancel an order that has been delayed 5 times but here's the kicker. I used a $100 coupon on this order and Dell has informed me that if I do cancel this order I will not be receiving another coupon for reimbursement. In other words they apparently have the license to steal on top lying. I assume I will one day receive this lens but I certainly do not anticipate receiving it before Spring 20005. To make a long story short, Dell is horrible and I recommend people shop elsewhere.
"