My wife has a Dell Inspiron 1545 laptop which came with a 4 year hardware warranty. It has a year to run before the warranty expires.
For nearly a year now the hexagonal power connector socket has been intermittent. So today I contacted Dell to get the connector replaced under warranty. The socket is on a small daughter board along with a couple of USB and other connectors. After about 15 minutes on the phone to India I was fobbed off with "this is wear and tear" and I would be charged to get it repaired. A quick look on the net shows pages and pages of people complaining of the same issue. It is a DESIGN WEAKNESS, as clear as day to me.
The power socket is on the side of the PC and it is all but impossible not to put a slight strain on the socket. Older laptops, ones that do not have built-in obsolescence features that is, have the power connector fixed so that any strain on the plug is not transferred to the socket. One laptop I have is now 12 years old and still going strong.
After being passed up 3 levels at Dell in India, I was passed to the Dell Legal Manager and Customer Relations Manager for UK and Europe who again, despite my reasoning, still stood by the "it's wear and tear" statement. It may be wear and tear, but only because with this poor design it impossible not to have wear and tear!
So, I will attempt the repair myself now, following the instructions on the internet from very many others with the same issue.
Dell will never again be graced with my business. Next time I shall buy from a decent manufacturer who listens carefully to customers and who actually cares, assuming there is one!
In my opinion, this demonstrates a total ignorance of how to manage customers well. In my business life I was taught to value customers so they came back again and again. At three levels in Dell, not one of them seemed to understand that a dissatisfied customer rarely comes back and shares his bad experience with at least 10 others. By this blog I hope to reach a few thousand.
Dell (or should it be renamed Dull?) - sorry, but your stance is unbelievable in the 21st century.
I now know what DELL stands for: Do Everything to Lose Loyalty.
I decided a few years ago that I will never buy a DELL computer again in my whole life. And I advice others to do the same. 73 Paul
ReplyDeleteMe too! Unfortunately many government and academic institutions throughout the world seem to allow people ONLY to buy Dell.. I don't know what sweetener Dell manage to seduce these institutions to do this, but it is probably why the service is so lousy.. many customers have no choice!
ReplyDeleteHugh G6AIG
mailto:Michael@dell.com
ReplyDeleteyou could try emailing Mr Dell himself but not sure if it would get you anywhere.
I had a Dell desktop some time ago and never had any troubles with it so never had the pleasure of dealing with service....I do have another story not with Dell but Nikon. I just purchased a D800 for my wife (3,000 for just the body) and learned of a know focus issue!! Called Nikon (somewhere in the far East) and was told "not aware of issue" send a picture to Japan and they can look at it" and " not sure of serial number of when the issue was fixed" GIVE ME A BREAK!!!!! Then they had the nerve to ask me if I solved the problem!!!! So it's just not Dell
ReplyDeleteMike
Well I decided to test the email address I gave you.
ReplyDeleteThis is the comment I sent as my friend had a similar response over a faulty power supply.
"And to think you started up from a garage at home building computers
Looks like you may just end up back there if your customer support is anything to go by
Any company rests on its reputation and Your companies reputation is becoming as bad as the support service you provide!
sigh!"
THIS IS THE REPLY I GOT
Looks like I reached the corporate offices!
Mamatha_Eswar_Rao@dell.com
15:33 (7 hours ago)
to me
Dear Mark,
This is with reference to the email that reached our Corporate office. We appreciate you having taken the time to bring our attention to this incident. I intend to address your concern. Please reply to my email with your dell customer number, phone number and the best time to reach you.
I look forward to your response.
Greetings Roger,
ReplyDeleteI am sorry to read about your experience in order to resolve the system issue.
I would request you to message us on twitter (www.twitter.com/niranjanatdell) or www.facebook.com/dell so that we can resolve this issue.
Dell-Niranjan