Disappointing Dell Customer Service Experience

Hi All,

I would like to share my experience today with Canadian Dell Customer Support regarding my recent M17X purchase and get some advice on the situation. I ordered my m17x back in October, waited 6 weeks for it to arrive. Absolutely love the machine. At the time I ordered it, I did not haggle sales or get a quote with anyone on the forum(big mistake), I just priced it out, used a $150 coupon code and ordered. Since my order went straight into production I did not want to risk canceling and re-ordering plus I can see this being a big hassle/waste of time for Dell. I figured I can always call after and see if they can maybe give me a gift card or something instead of having to return the unit based on the price difference people were getting on the forums compared to my price.

M17X came with these specs:
i7-3740QM
7970 2GB
12GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1600MHz
64GB mSATA caching SSD
750GB 7,200RPM SATA-II HDD

for a Grand Total (with coupon code) of $2100ish Canadian

The machine works amazing and I absolutely love it however the only problem is having read thru these forums, you see other members getting the same config or better at MUCH lower prices plus perks like 5% gift cards, or free TactX mouse, Orion Bags etc. Also, having a local Boxing day/New Years sales going on, I saw a LOT of comparable ASUS G series laptops with 680m's, higher specs for $200-300 cheaper than what I paid a month ago with perks out the ying yang(free black ops 2 with purchase for example), so naturally you feel a little ripped off. I would rather not be the guy that returns the product and re-orders as I feel thats not really the answer. If everyone did that, it would certainly take a lot of Dell Admin time, shipping charges etc. I already have the product and its not defective, whynot try to give a discount or something to make the customer happy in his time of doubt to keep him a loyal Dell/AW customer. So, I reach out to Dell Customer Support to see how they handle the situation.

I called Dell CS just out of curiosity and explained my issue that I really enjoy my machine, I just feel I paid a bit too much for it and asked if anything can be done. The rep transfers me to the retentions team, wait a bit on hold, original tech comes back on and says call volume is too high, no one available to take your call, someone will call you back in 48 hrs. Waited 72 hours and no call back which I kind of grew to expect from Dell having gone through the 6 week order process of getting lied to about parts/shipping delays rather than being told the truth. Not a very good impression from the start but I managed to overlook it due to the quality of the AW product I got was really good, just not a good word of mouth impression was given to me wanting to run and recommend Dell to everyone regarding my AMAZING experience I got from Dell... rather it was really frustrating and sub-par.

Anyway...So I called back, and asked the rep who took my call why didn't anyone call me back, I was told someone would? He rudely responds," we already gave you your $150 off coupon code, I don't know what else you expect from us....The retentions team didn't call you back because you already got a coupon code." He asks me why I'm calling and complaining about the issue so I respectfully tell him its like any other company that price-matches similar items and I was just curious if Dell would go above and beyond to keep me as a customer or stick to their guns and go through the giant hassle of returning the unit. Seems like a simple straight forward question, we all know AWs are over priced, otherwise you wouldn't see people getting $600-900 discounts on m17x, m18xs with Dell still being profitable.

He puts me on hold, comes back and says I emailed you the return labels and processed the return if thats what you want to do and disconnects the call.

Having worked in a call center, I know I cannot generalize DELL/AW on this one person but this is a little sad. It does not paint a good picture for Dell. For me, its these little interactions with a company that make consumers return loyal buyers or not. It seems the only satisfied people are the ones on this board that post their easy problem and ridiculous response they got from DELL CS... and the reps on here come to the rescue and save the customer and somehow manage to change their perception of Dell.

Now I'm totally stuck so I'm reaching out for some help. Long story short, I'd like to keep my Alienware as I love it, but having Dell deal with it the way they did has really turned me off, right from the beginning: ordering, delays, being lied to about follow ups etc. I feel like I should just print the labels, send it back and go get something else. As a consumer, I would even pay more money to a company that wows me with the way they do business and treat customers(customer service, sales, tech support etc).

Anyone have any advice if this situation can be rectified?

 

Is this buyer's remorse? As much as you would like to talk it out, I think the fact ( you think ) you overpaid for your AW is the result of not doing researches before buying AW laptops. And honestly, it can happen to many other brand, not just Dell/ AW. To be fair, I don't think Dell has the responsibility to give you anything but you do have 30 days to return that you can certainly use it as a point to threaten the CS reps. I don't recommend doing so, though.

You can pm a rep here or go over their Facebook/ Twitter's page. I guess they can work it for you, somehow.

 

Like I said I love the product, I just didn't spend hours researching and getting quotes to get the price I wanted given it took 6 weeks to get it. Once I found out this forum existed, I was 3 weeks into the order, I felt cancelling and reordering was a big hassle to both me and the company. Sure, its buyers remorse, I didn't spent hours of endless negotiation to get where I wanted, but neither did some of you guys so I'm just asking to be treated fairly. Some reps are better than others I guess could be the bottom line, whoever they are I'd like to deal with them and get a positive experience with Dell.

I understand I have the right to return it and re-order, but some part of me believes there is an easier way. As a business I can't imagine this makes much business sense.(pay for return shipping and than try to re-sell and recoup the cost on the Outlet I assume) Assuming I re-order, there would be that shipping charge+the hassle/cost of building another one

For curiosity sake I have gotten a $200 lower quote for the same specs + a killer wireless card. If its easier to just return and re-order I suppose that's what I will do. Dell has to understand, when you make deals and users post about them, that others are going to want a similar price/experience. At this point in the market we live in, they don't have the luxury to be like Apple and say "This is the price take it or leave it"... Alienware is in a niche market.

I personally love Alienware just like everyone on this forum. I want to drink the koolaid and believe what people are saying but coming from a non-biased view, there are 10-15 bad experiences to every 1 good experience. Maybe people just don't post about the good ones

 

I would agree with leesjnn. I had to call back multiple times with several reps to get a good discount on my R4. My take is just because you found out now that others received their laptops for a cheaper price, does not equate to you receive a discount after the fact. That would be like if you purchased a vehicle and then the dealer had better cash incentives several months later. Is the car dealer going to lower the cost you paid for the car? I think not.

 

Remedy, actually in the consumer electronics market it is extremely common: MOST companies will price match/compare just to keep the business. Purchasing a car for $20,000-$100,000 is not a similar market, historically they never have priced matched anything. Also, this isn't "several months later" this is within the 30 day period. I fail to understand that analogy.

The issue here is, if Dell is only willing to haggle to make a sale before hand? Some companies really emphasize sales over customer support. If this is the methodology at Dell I will happily send back my perfectly functioning R4.

 

Quote from rusty " I saw a LOT of comparable ASUS G series laptops with 680m's, higher specs for $200-300 cheaper than what I paid a month ago with perks out the ying yang(free black ops 2 with purchase for example), so naturally you feel a little ripped off."

Something is wrong in this one and guaranteed he will edit that thing off lol. Can you guys guess what he lied about and what is wrong with what he just said?

 

In fact, most companies like Best Buy, Target, Walmart will price match within 30 days on any product if the price is lowered. The big difference here is that it takes over 1 month for AWs to be built and shipped. Also, prices aren't consistent in advertising as they are at Best Buy, if you have one rep giving crazy deals and 20 others giving next to nothing, naturally the other 20 people aren't going to be too happy, its just not a good business model. And unfortunately for me, I discovered NBR forums where everyone scored a crazy deal and went online to brag about it! haha

 

Yeah I made a typo, watched too many reviews about the 680m. The model in my local shop is $1599 comes with the 3GB GTX670 not the 680. All other specs the same, in fact more RAM at 16 GB and Bigger SSD 256 + 750 and non glossy matte display. Only thing different is the 3740 I ordered in the AW, ASUS has 3730. To me thats not worth the $500 hike.

 

I don't understand why you are disappointed. So you didn't save a few hundred dollars, you didn't want to interrupt the production of your machine, and now you are raging at Dell CS because you didn't save money. That's akin to buying a new car, and a few months later raging when it suddenly drops in price.

 

First off, I'm not raging, having worked in the CS business for years I understand how to treat agents and reps. I spoke to Dell in a very calm and fair manner. In return they treated me poorly and extremely rude in their explanation. In fact, he processed the return without even getting my consent and basically said take it or leave it. I should be raging now if ever....

and 2nd, this is not MONTHS later and it is NOT a car.... This is LESS THAN 30 DAYS LATER on a consumer electronic device. Everyone that posts on here that they would rather pay MORE for lesser specd PC is a hypocrite because in another thread your researching and begging reps yourself to get deals. Why didn't you pay full price if that is your theory?

All I want to know is if anyone can help me or if I'm sending this thing back.

 

I paid full price, joined this forum a few days later and was dismayed to discover StevieJones discount thread.

I then went on youtube and watched a alienware unboxing video and forgot all about it

I love this rig. Am i disappointed i didnt get a better deal? yes, do i care now? absolutely not. Im being deadly serious when i say this thing changed my life. Im a night shift worker and before it was reading book/playing on the iphone. Now its 12hours of BF3/COD/Mass effect and movies/tv shows on blu-ray.

 

I'm really failing to understand what the big deal is about this. Isn't is more hassle and worse for Dell to have to go thru a return/re-sale and me submit a new order or worse go with another vendor and lose the sale all together? To me this is bad business ethics...In the same sense, it doesn't really matter to me either way, if Dell can't make good business decisions I'll just return it.

We do this all the time at my work and on extremely expensive racks/servers. They do it every day at BestBuy to appease consumers. The fact is, nobody likes to buy something and than 14 days later find out it could have been had for $300-$500 cheaper so I'm not really sure why people are already trolling this thread. If it was you and your purchasing experience it would be the same thing I guarantee.

I can't see it being an irrational request at all and in no way does it merit to be treated the way I was. Someone just spends $2G's at your company and the first call to your CS get treated as if your sale doesn't matter not to mention further business. And if it makes any difference I am a Dell/AW supporter still, its just a bad thing to witness.

The main thing I gathered from all this is that AW products are amazing but Dell Sales/CS is horrible. Just read the order status thread, people have waited 3-4 months getting their orders canceled and not even being notified. That's basically like saying TAKE MY MONEY PLEASE and Dell finding some way to screw that up. If Dell is going to charge a premium price for a premium product, consumers are going to expect a premium level of support and its not happening. The only ones doing a premium job are the reps on this forum.

 

Nobodies trolling. This isn't your personal forum, friend. You have asked for opinions, whether you like it or not, and you are getting them.

 

Joe I feel your excitement. I love this machine. I like AW and I like the people on these forums. I wish it had changed my life to warrant the difference in price.

 

Sorry Joe, the trolling comment wasn't directed at you. The other two responses comparing the m17x to a car purchase and accusing me of Raging to Customer Service. That's fine to have those opinions, but the comparison isn't valid and the accusation of me raging simply wasn't true. If this is a community, users usually help each other out, not troll threads and post irrelevant/untrue things

 

I get it fella. I think if its that much of an issue, which is understandable, send it back. Order a new one. It will be at their loss.

 

No worries man. I understand your predicament. See above for my opinion

 

Thanks man, I guess I will just send it back. It may be a fight not worth having and more hassle than what I want to deal with. It's really a shame. Oh well. Thanks for your input.

 

Good luck. Hope you get it sorted!

 

It's honestly just going to waste more time in the end to return it. Time is money my friend, if you're happy with the laptop, just keep it

This isn't your fault, that you lost out on a good deal, just think of it as a life lesson, always shop around and search for options!

 

Yeah this is true. To me its not a big inconvenience to send it back. I already have the shipping labels. Only issue would be waiting but its not like I absolutely need this machine. I work in a Data Center surrounded by powerful rigs.

Even if they offered me a $150 gift card I would be happy. Seems like an easy fix.

Can any reps comment on this before I just ship it away please and thanks

 

Waaay too much stress. Working with Dell is always a gamble. You can receive an excellent rep the first round who will bend over backwards for you, or you can get consecutive script readers who burns time and resolves nothing - the latter of course much more frequent.

If it were me, I'd return and wait for a bargain, especially if you don't NEED it. Less stress and remorse this way.

 

Let me see if I have this right.............you didn't take the time to research a purchase and paid full retail for it...........then you found out that others paid less than you and now you want Dell to pay for your lack of effort? Does that about sum it up?

Lannbot, it most definitely IS his fault, he is the one that didn't research before buying. It's asinine to think that just because Johnny got a better deal than you did you're somehow entitled to special treatment or even a refund at all. Personally I think Dell needs to change their return policy and stop accepting returns from folks unless the product is defective....it'd lower the prices for those of us that don't try to game the system for as much free stuff as we can get.

 

I GAVE Dell the option to make it right and they PROCEEDED with the return without my consent! How is that my fault? Before you jump on here and start trolling, understand that I preferred to keep the laptop, just throw me a bone, $100, $150, split the difference, something, 30-50% profit margin is a little much on their products without discount. I told them I don't want to return it, I don't want to incur extra shipping and admin costs but let's be fair. By no means were they polite or professional about the topic, I never called in ranting and raving. Every single person I've spoken with at Dell going from Sales, to CS lying to me several times about "missing parts" and waiting 6 weeks for this thing to arrive. It's no surprise to anyone that Dell front line support is terrible. Not one person at Dell ever portrayed to me that they genuinely cared about my business.

I don't care what you say about it. The average consumer doesn't know about the NBR forums and gets raked over the coals every day by Dell.The fact that you have to call multiple different reps and possibly waste hours/days to get what you want is ridiculous. Who has time to do that? I certainly don't. Does that mean I should miss out on the good prices? Some customers might get $400 off if you get routed to the right rep in the IVR and some get jack, how is that fair business? Right or wrong, there is absolutely zero consistency in the discount pricing which will naturally peev customers off and guess what, CUSTOMERS ESSENTIALLY RUN YOUR BUSINESS. Dell can't seem to get this right in ANY of their departments, SALES, CS, (maybe TechSupport I've heard good things.)

What retail store do you know that 10 people walk in the door, buy the same thing for 10 different prices. As I mentioned before, this is the Consumer Electronics Industry, not the black market and thank god there is a return policy to protect people from getting gouged once they found out they did.

I still find it outrageous that trolls come on here and beak about how its the customer's fault. DELL set up this sales model, not the customers... if the tables were turned and you just got over charged $400 while Johnny got the SAME product for cheaper... tell me you wouldn't be upset. It's absolute hypocrisy. I get the impression that a good majority of people on this forum have nothing better to do than jump on peoples threads and be judgmental and ignorant rather than empathetic/helpful and productive. A few people gave me their kindest advice and than you decide to chime in.

It doesn't make you sound tough and it certainly doesn't make you sound intelligent. I personally invite you...You can continue to pay the mysterious floating profit margin for Dell if it makes you feel empowered, but the majority of the customers want to know they spent their money wisely and got a good deal. This type of respect is what keeps customers coming back.

I entered the Dell/AW world without bias and I can tell you the ONLY thing AW has going for them is the great design and hardware.

 

Why should Dell have to offer you any money? I'm failing to understand your whole post/rant. Again, you bought the machine as is, maybe with a coupon or something. You then realize hey I could have gotten a better deal. That doesn't mean Dell has to offer you anything. Attempting to return the laptop just because you didn't get a discount is akin to fraud. IMO it's people like you that make laptops more expensive, ordering without doing previous research then crying because you didn't get the "maximum" discounts.

You do know all resellers and even OEM giants offer different coupons and deals all over different regions, so I don't understand how that amounts to fraud.

 

I DID NOT ATTEMPT TO RETURN IT FOR THE 17TH TIME! OMG... you trolls are ridiculous. If you read my posts, the DELL CS REP(not me!) suggested the return and processed it WITHOUT my consent. How is that fraudulent? How many times do I have to post that, until you stop trying to make an invalid argument.

I paid FULL PRICE for my laptop, how do people like ME make laptops more expensive? It's people like me that funded the rest of your discounts. In fact, Dell will rarely go below COST on their products, so it's not the consumers fault. DELL's profit margins are ridiculous, they price them so HIGH then give $900 off the rig in attempt to make the consumer happy.

It just so happens I have better things to do than troll NBR looking for coupon codes and begging 10,000 reps for discounts. Now that I am informed, I am still on the fence if I should return this unit ON ADVICE OF DELL THEMSELVES or just keep it. How is utilizing a companies Return Policy fraudulent? In NO WAY did my actions directly affect the price you paid for your Dell product so please be quiet and keep your un-intelligent comments to yourself....

 

Bro... Just keep it. If its perfect you.... Should keep it. What if your next one is defective and you do the refurbished parts dance or exchange after exchange? Huge hassle, plus it will take forever to get your refund.... Take it from someone who has had tons of exchanges because I demand perfection.

Sent from my SPH-L900 using Tapatalk 2