"As a computer tech / consultant, we make many recomendations to our customers for hardware. We have in the past recomended Dell as an excellent choice for quality computers/servers and super support, until a number of problems that seem to be more frequent and increasingly serious.
Just recently one of our customers had a problem with a laptop computer. I called the business support, and went through about 30 minutes of diagnostics (as if we didn't already know what was wrong with the laptop) and concluded that the motherboard needed to be replaced. We promptly sent the laptop back to Dell and waited for the return. Upon receiving the returned laptop, the repair note said BIOS Flashed... The system was not repaired and still needed a new motherboard.
I called dell, spoke with another Tech who proceeded to go through another 40 minutes of diagnostics to determine that the motherboard needed to be replaced. At this point I asked to speak with a Manager (don't do this unless you have a lot of time to burn). I waited on hold for another 20 minutes to have the manager tell me that there was nothing they could do except hope this does not happen again. I did ask the 'manager' why it takes 20 minutes to get a manager on the phone and he stated that they were very busy.
It seems to me that if the managers are that busy Dell has a number of problems. First, they don't have enough managers. Second, they have too many issues that require a manager to deal with. Third, they don't care too much about their customers or their time to make them sit on hold for 20+ minutes. It also became apparent that this 'manager' had very little ability to make the situation any better or even assure me this wouldn't happen again. The manager even stated that if this does happen again, we could expedite the 'next' shipment... boy that instills confidence! What do you mean if it happens again?
Dell does not care if you purchase $100 or $100,000 worth of their products, the service is the same, cold, and careless. As I mentioned to the tech, and the manager, if they don't have a way to take care of problems of this sort, I am going to include an article on our web site detailing why we no longer recommend Dell. Again, they didn't seem to care....
It is really too bad...."
"I received the wrong promotional item for a Dell Server, a 16MHz Palm Zire, when a Palm Zire 21 was listed on the invoice. I called in, waited on a long hold time and was finally transferred to another section (Dell Home, which doesn't even sell servers) since the Dell Small Business customer care person decided that her section couldn't help with an order placed in the Dell Small Business section. The transfer turned into another long hold time and the Home section customer care rep refused to take the call. When the original small business rep returned, she backtracked on the promise to substitute a $99 digital camera and only offered an unspecified substitute. She transferred the call again and of course it disconnected this time."
"Fast delivery, product arrived as description. Very good price"
"I own a Dell Inspiron 8200 laptop. The system had worked fine until recently, when dots/artifacts started appearing on the screen. The dots would gradually start to appear on the screen and would fill up the screen, eventually crashing the computer and then bringing up a blue screen of death. I searched Dell's forums and decided from other peoples' similar experiences that it was probably the video card. I took a screenshot (print screen) of the problem and found that the artifacts were also present in the screenshot itself, so it was not the LCD screen. I called Dell and told them about the problem and that I needed to replace my video card. Unfortunately, talking to Dell's support line is like talking to a brick wall. The people adamantly refuse to listen to you. They lack any degree of computer knowledge and rely only on what Dell has told them. Sometimes this knowledge is outdated or wrong (e.g. one lady told me repeatedly to download nVidia's Detonator drivers, which no longer exist and are now called ForceWave; in addition, nVidia says these drivers are NOT for laptops and you should use Dell's drivers instead, as I did. The lady would not listen to me when I explained this to her and persisted despite her flawed information). They also lack any critical thinking ability. In short, they are morons who know nothing about computers, and because they have no critical thinking abilities, they fail to understand me when I try to explain computer information to them. They cannot think for themselves and it seems they are paid not to. I will never buy a Dell system again unless I am able to get Gold support, which supposedly lets you talk to industry-certified technicians. It is painful and frustrating to talk to Dell's standard support, who actually made things worse for me by forcing me to perform absurd tasks that I knew wouldn't solve the problem. When they had me use System Restore, it corrupted parts of my hard drive!!! I knew I didn't need to use System Restore since I have a far superior program called GoBack that does the same thing, only much better, but the support guy refused to listen to me. This is no way to treat your customers, Dell. Once I finally got a dispatch to replace my video card (which took 3 separate calls to Dell despite the fact that I had told them from the very start all I wanted was my video card replaced), the service itself was fine, but the hoops I had to jump through to get there were ridiculous. I would never recommend Dell to anyone unless they get the Gold support, which is not available unless you know where to look (it was not an option when I bought my computer; had I known it existed I certainly would have paid the extra $40 for it) I have also had to get my fan apparatus replaced (it started making a horrible, loud grinding noise) and again had to deal with the horrible customer support line."
"I won't go into great detail. I just want to say that dealing with Dell has been the worst business experiance I have ever had. They completely failed at processing my order. Not only wasn't it processed in a tmely manner, they managed to overcharge me by $45 for the camera I ordered. I wasted nearly 4 hours of my time dealing with incompetant employees and wandering through the phone maze trying to get things straightened out. In frustration, I finally cancelled my order. At least I hope I did because I really couldn't understand the customer service rep. due to her heavy accent. If you have stock in Dell I'd sell it, unless a company can survive without repeat customers. "
"Next day Delivery for free!! Amazing service! Nec FE2111 is gorgeous! Dell came through!!"
"NOW I HATE DELL- they lost my PC business, I used to buy 200 PCs/year. They can't do ANYTHING for customer service anymore. I used to think they were a good company; now after being charged for items they NEVER shipped & having to call for 2 months to get credit, I will not risk buying from them again. And, their laptops have gotten incredibly cheesy (push down on the keyboard)."
"I am a computer, Internet and database consultant and an expert computer user. I have a piece of junk Dell Inspiron 8100 laptop, loaded with all the trimmings. In the less than two years I have had 10 major component failures: 3 hard drives, 3 motherboards, 2 CDRW/DVD drives, 1 memory set, 1 processor. When trying to get service from tech support, parts promised to be shipped never were, return pickups never happened and non-working replacement parts have been shipped to me as well on multiple occasions. In the first two weeks I had the unit, I had a motherboard and hard drive failure, scheduled two service calls and nobody showed for either.
Dell has moved their tech support group to teh Phillipines and service there is substandard at best. I have had great difficulty communicating with the tech support crew there...AND I AM A COMPUTER CONSULTANT!
This machine has literally been out of service for about 25% of the time I have owned it and Dell has done NOTHING to compensate me for my losses even though I have repeatedly asked. Dell simply has the worst customer service I have ever experienced. They simply don't care.
Being a hardware vendor as well, I have completely stopped selling all Dell products. I would not subject my clients to the awful experience I have had with Dell.
I will never buy any products or services from Dell again...EVER!!!!"
"Transaction went smooth. The following morning I recieved an email from a Small Business rep at Dell that was carbon copied to a list of other people that also purchased a Dell. Yes they all have my email address and I have all of their's. Not very professional when it comes to privacy."
"I bought a new 5150 loaded with wireless, etc. The display quality is a big disappointment and Customer Care is poor. It seems that one part of the company cannot communicate with another: phone calls are not returned to customers. etc. Dell has gone downhill in terms of service & their laptop displays are behind the times compared to SONY and Toshiba. I am a Dell Premier business customer & after this experience, I will never buy from Dell again."
"STAY AWAY FROM DELL UNLESS YOUR PAYING CASH THEY TACK ON SOOOO MANY HIDDEN FEES"
"Dealing with Dell is a pain. They shift you from one to another on the phone trying to find some way to avoid giving an answer to your question. This happens both in sales, tech support, and even the internet questions to their email. It seems they must be paid by the number of things they respond to... so if they shift the user to someone else, they 'both' get paid. I still have to deal with them for my laptop but I will never buy another computer from them."
"Ordered a Dell 2001FP 20.1" LCD Monitor on Jan. 27. It was shipped the next day with free 2nd Day air. I received it and noticed there was a dead pixel problem. I called tech. support and got someone within a few minutes. They decided to send out a new replacement. The replacement was shipped out Next Day the same day I called. The tech was very helpful. I got the new monitor, and this one had no dead pixels. The whole process, including getting the replacement, took less than 5 business days. I am very happy with the monitor and with Dell."
"SFP Transceiver was promised to ship next day air on the folowing business day. Its now a week later and Dell still hasn't shipped, and doesn't know when they will. These are items that need no configuration by Dell. All Dell needs to do is put them in a box and ship.
Customer Service SUX 100% They didn't ship. They don't know why they didn't ship.
They suck"
"Have had problems since new with the modem, floppy drive, internal clock gains 5 mins a day, won't shut down properly. Customer support is horrible."