Goodbye Dell Computers
I read about the battery recall Dell issued last week.
I have an Inspiron laptop that uses that battery. Mine hasn't burst into flames yet, but my hard drive crashed yesterday and can't be repaired according to Dell tech suppport. I didn't even wait for mine to catch on fire, I set it on fire myself (just kidding).
Not a photo of my laptop. I would have let it burn completely.
Like most Dell users, I hate dealing with Dell's support and repair services. It's gotten to the point where it's so consistently bad, that you can count on it being bad 100% of the time.
I'm just going to give one example, out of many. Months ago, I sent in my laptop (and AC adaptor because they needed that too) to have a new video card installed. Instead, they installed a new motherboard and kept the old video card, then sent it back to me. The laptop didn't work. Nothing had changed. But, they charged our credit card $500 for the motherboard. I sent it back again two days later. They installed a new video card and returned it to me, except this time they sent an AC adaptor that didn't work with my laptop. I sent back the adaptor and a week later they sent me the right one. Okay, so now it was working.
I tried to get a refund for the $500, but I never did. After several phone calls, letters, and emails to Dell I kept getting the run-around or ignored completely. Finally, I talked to a supervisor who said I could only ask for a refund within a month of sending the computer in for repair. Okay, except by the time I got the right AC adaptor back, a month had already gone by. They said there was nothing they could do about it.
When I went to some computer forums (I read a lot of forums), I found that many people were having these problems with Dell; including, getting ripped-off.
A few years ago, I would have recommended Dell computers to anyone. At one time, they had the best customer and repair service. But, when the tech rep jobs were outsourced they went downhill fast. Customers experienced record-high hold times, bad connections, and communication problems with India's new staff. There were countless shipping problems and other confusions too. For instance, several people reported that after telling a Dell Tech Support Rep their computers had crashed, the Rep responded with, "Did you try restarting it?" Frustration ensued.
This year, Dell's image has gotten worse and profits are down by half compared to last year. I'm looking for a new laptop to replace my Inspiron and I'm not considering a Dell this time.
PCMag.com has two articles with opposing views on Dell:
Anti-Dell Article: Has Dell Lost its Way? (note the part about how if you drop a shitload of money on an XPS system, you can get American customer service. Interesting.)
Pro-Dell Article: We Should Praise Dell, Not Bury It (even the pro-Dell author couldn't find enough good reasons to back up his position.)
Share your pain: Dell General Discussion Forum
From ConsumerAffairs.com: Links to a bunch of Dell articles, including this one, Exploding" Dell Laptop Destroys Truck, Imperils Outsdoorsmen. If it wasn't so sad, it'd be funny.
