If you give Dell any of your money you're crazy

[God's Country]

The absolute hands down worse purchase/online/customer service experience of my life.
I have absolutely no use for any of their computers. I have never owned one. I considered buying one about 7 years ago, but found their sales staff arrogant and uninformed. I have purchased about 12 Gateways over the years that were/are nothing but workhorses. A good one mind you. Not the $500 pre packed special. So I’ve stayed away from the Dell hysteria. I actually never owned a digital camera for a variety of reasons, but recently decided to blow some money on a decent one. Well Dell had a decent price on it so I figured what the hell. Who can’t ship a camera. HUGE MISTAKE. Ordered the camera online on a SAT afternoon. It took till Sunday to get a confirmation of my order. The order had the camera and the memory card listed, but the only one confirmed was the card, and it was backordered for 2or three weeks. Waited until Monday. Still nothing about the camera. I paid for 2 day shipping and wanted to be sure it was going to be shipped. Called support. Spoke with a Hindu that could barely spoke English. After nearly an hour of being put on hold (no less then 6 times) I was finally assured that both of my items would be shipped no later than August 8. Well screw you cancel my order. Both of these items were in stock when I ordered them I’ll get it elsewhere. So after all of this I ordered it elsewhere. Three days later my newly ordered camera shows up no problem. Two hours later I get a second camera from Dell!
Freaking idiots. I knew this was going to happen. Back to Hindu hell for another hour.
I actually refused the delivery of the Dell camera. So I tell them I’ll never buy anything from them again. I speak with a so called manager. ( an Indian trained to sound American). He assures me everything will be taken care of. No problem blah, blah, blah.
So in the meantime I’ve been in contact with my credit card co. and the purchase is still pending. OK that sounds good. Now bear in mind that even though they shipped me a camera, and they had no record of me canceling the camera. I never received a confirmation of the camera being ordered, a shipping confirmation, a tracking number, nothing. None of the things I would expect from any company much less a bizillion dollar company like Dell. Ok it’s more then a week later. I vented to everyone including online to complain about Dell. I’ve only told you a fraction of horrid experience I had with their support staff. After all the BS today I get this in response to my online complaints.

Dear Mr. Wilson,
I read with interest your comments from XXXXXX.com and want to address any remaining issues or concerns you may have.
According to my research, the order was delivered on 7/25/07 via DHL.
Per your comments on XXXXXXXXX, you have purchased the camera thru another vendor. Please advise if you would like to return the camera for a full refund. I would be happy to assist you with this return.
Dell’s goal is to deliver to the customer the best product and customer experience, and I apologize if your experience has been less than satisfactory.

Sincerely,
Debby
Online Community Outreach Liaison
To which I replied:
Dear Debby,

Hmmm where do I start.

You and your company are freaking clueless.

1. Got my name wrong
2. Refused delivery of the camera from dhl because I had cancelled the order 3 days previous
3. Order didn't get cancelled because nobody speaks english.
4. Cancelled the order again
5. Got your e-mail proving you're clueless
6. Just called my credit card company and the camera I do not have, and have been assured has been
cancelled has been posted.
7. Going to file a formal complaint with the BBB
8. You better handle this because I'm not wasting any more of my time.
9. I highly recommend a US citizen residing in the lower 48 contact me and be prepared to KMA.
10 If this issue is not resolved post haste the next correspondence will be with my attorney!

I have absolutely had it. If they can’t put a camera in a box how the hell can they build a computer?
P.S. Who the hell is Mr. Wilson? The only Mr. Wilson I knew lived next door to Dennis the Menace.

[SteveXD]

I stopped using Dell a few years ago. There quality has always been suspect, but I was willing to deal with it for a good deal. Lately I've been able to find better deals in the store.

[Mark]

i just bought a dell laptop. My school has some sort of deal with them so i got a discount. My experacne with them has been nothing but postitive.

[Atomic Dog]

http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPL...cts/AppleStore

That should fix most of your problems right there. Have a problem, walk into a store and they fix it!

[D-FENS]

Apple OS X = Awesome
Apple Hardware = Expensive
AppleCare = total shit

We have hundreds of Dells and the vast majority of the systems are fine. When there is a problem, they overnight me parts or a tech to install them if I am too busy.

All I can say about ordering a camera from Dell is why not get dog food from Circuit City?

Sorry but I feel absolutely no sympathy for people that buy products from a manufacturer that doesn't manufacture them, or from a reputable merchant (newegg?) No offense but I find it mildly entertaining when people try for the lowest price and get the shittiest service. That shitty service and web interface you purchased from is why you get the deal. You want good service? Buy from a local shop.

/Multi-Billion dollar corporations aren't Mom n' Pop shops.

[phillyd2]

Welcome to globalization

Any way, I just got a new Dell Desktop to replace a 8 your old Dell. I for one have been happy with their systems but I have not needed much support.

Just don't get me started on Microsoft Vista!!!!

[LorDiego01]

The best way to buy a computer is to build it yourself, but for that, you have to know what you are doing.

Regardless of that fact, I freaking LOVE Dell, and I recommend them to anybody who is looking for a computer.

My Dell computer has been the most stable and reliable computer I've ever had. Same goes with DELL work computers, as well as the great majority of my friends who owns DELL.

My Dell Laptop has also been a workhorse, and the main reason why I am a big Dell fan. I bought this thing for $2,000 while in college, with the 4 year warranty and full protection plan. One and a half years later, I dropped it, hard. A quick call to Dell tech support and soon it was on its way to getting repaired. Three weeks later it comes back, looking and working better than ever. Then, a long time later after that, on a fine summer evening, my girlfriend drops a whole Apple Martini on top of its keyboard. It made the most horrible sound I've ever heard a computer make, and then it was dead.

I call tech support, here is a synapse of the 20 minute conversation..

Me: My girlfriend dropped an apple martini on top of my laptop and its now dead. I wonder if I still have warranty on it.
DELL: Yes, Mr.Diego, you warranty expires in two weeks. We'll ship you a stamped box so you can send us the laptop.

No fuzz, no questions, no hassle. In two weeks after that I had my laptop back, with every single inside component fixed/brand new.

Both of them are still going strong.

They didn't get to the top by offering a bad product or bad customer service. That defies logic.

[JayBell]

I have never had a problem with a Dell that was not fixed immediately, I have a Dell tower (home machine) since 2004, and a Dell laptop (business model) for a while now...the worst thing that happened was my DVD drive died after warranty ran out, darn, $13 for a new DVD drive.

I also use them at work, and found them to be high quality, and dependable, your experiences may vary.

[Chevmeister]

I have bought many dells in the past but no more, my last 4 computers were either store bought, mostly laptops, or my server which i built myself. I buy all my digial camera and electronics from circuit city, best buy, buy.com, or newegg.com. Its usually best to buy them locally, take it home, if its broke you have someone you can go back to and scream at.

[rich]

I bought a Dell last year and I'm surprised that I have not taken a shotgun to it and sent it back. First I tried to order a Inspiron and was talked into an XPS with DUO CORE. I had the computer 3 days before the hard drive fried. I only had to wait a little over 2 weeks for the part to be shipped to a local repair firm and then for him to arrive to fix it. That's not that bad considering it almost took me that long to explain my problem to "MIKE" my Hindu tech support guy. I won't even bother to call about the constant computer freeze ups. My experiences with them has only gone downhill from there. NEVER AGAIN