Mission statement:

Armed and Safe is a gun rights advocacy blog, with the mission of debunking the "logic" of the enemies of the Constitutionally guaranteed, fundamental human right of the individual to keep and bear arms.

I can be reached at 45superman@gmail.com.You can follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/45superman.

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Why I'll never again buy a Dell computer

Not only am I many hours later than usual to post today, this post will have nothing to do with guns--it's just an angry (outraged, really) rant about the "customer service" I have received from Dell.

I have had been a satisfied Dell customer for a number of years, and have bought four computers from them. Therefore, when my father (who doesn't touch computers) asked me to do the ordering for him, to get a laptop for my mother's 75th birthday, while she was in the hospital, I didn't hesitate to order from Dell.

I submitted the order on April 23rd--plenty of time, I thought, to get it here in time for her birthday (May 5th). I was annoyed that every time I checked the order status, I saw that tracking information was "temporarily" unavailable, but since I was told that it had shipped on April 26th (my father's credit card was charged on the 23rd, by the way), and that the estimated delivery time ranged from April 30th to May 2nd, I wasn't particularly concerned. Finally, though, as May 2nd drew to a close with no computer, and still no tracking information, I decided to call. After the long delay to finally get to a human to talk to (I'm not picky--I don't demand that English be the person's primary language), I was given the tracking number. Using that, I discovered that they had shipped the computer to Maryland (rather than Illinois, where it was to be delivered).

Upon informing Dell of this little problem, I got an email suggesting I pop over to the DHL facility and pick it up myself--in Maryland (over 800 miles away). I politely let them know that I was not receptive to this idea ("Are you insane?" I asked--politely).

Since then, we have been exchanging emails, with mine getting progressively less polite ("you idiotic criminals" might have been mentioned in a recent email), and I still don't know that we're any closer to getting a computer here (nor has my father's credit card charge been canceled).

Anyone who reads this, and still orders from Dell--don't say I didn't warn you. Colossal incompetence, compounded by utter indifference to resolving the problem, is what you can expect.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sorry to hear about this 45, I also have two dell computers and have had good luck with them (just don't call tech support--you will get "Frank" speaking with an indian accent. I hope they clear this up for you, and make sure you give us an update.

gravyboy77

Laughingdog said...

As far as I have been able to tell, it's not like there's a place to buy a notebook computer that doesn't have horrible service. Sony may have good customer service. But I only say that because I don't actually know anyone willing to buy something that overpriced that is also impossible to upgrade.

I can strip a Dell, Sager, or Alienware almost down to component parts. With a Sony, you can't even change out both memory sticks. Even if you could reach both, the harder one to access is soldered in.

I can honestly say that, with 4 Dell machines, I've never had a problem with buying a Dell. Of those computers, only one of them had a technical problem. The monitor on the older notebook died, and they just mailed us another with instructions on how to change it out. Then we dropped the old one in the mailer and sent it back. Granted, my newest Dell is about 3 years old, so my experience isn't even remotely recent.

TheBronze said...

I didn't have a single problem when I bought my new Dell desk-top last winter. It actually arrived sooner than expected. I ordered it through the Dell kiosk at my local mall.