To whom it may concern,
I have very recently exploded with frustration due to my experience with your customer service department for Dell Canada, and for that I sincerely apologize. I know that it was inappropriate of me to do so, and I regret my behaviour. It was just very difficult for me to remain calm given the circumstances of my situation which I will describe shortly. My outburst came after talking, and waiting, on the phone with customer service for over two and a half hours only to be denied the opportunity to speak with a supervisor. I believe any consumer should have that right and I was infuriated. I was beyond all patience because I was transferred to and from the same departments over and over again. I was even transferred to Dell in the USA to finally reach a supervisor but when I got a hold of one, she told me that as a Canadian consumer I needed to talk to customer service in Canada. The issue there is that I initially called a Canadian customer service support line. Regardless of the scenario, it was inappropriate of me to behave the way I did and I sincerely apologize for how I acted.
In any event, please let me explain my experience with the M1730 and where my situation stands now.
When I first ordered the computer, everything was fine; but it wasn't long before I started noticing little things that were imperfect with my brand new, $4800 computer. Simple things like the audio crackling and popping during start up, apparently because of the light effects on the keyboard, speakers, and mouse controller. It also didn't take long for the hard drives I purchased with the computer to start experiencing failure and read/write errors. Instead of sending the computer off for repair or calling tech support, I decided to simply upgrade the hard drives from 640GB raid to 1TB raid at my own expense.
That was fine, but then after a while I started noticing extreme performance issues with my computer and noticed that it was impossible for it to be performing the way that it should - after doing some investigating I came to discover that the battery wasn't charging properly and after a series of tests with Tech Support we denoted that the power supply was failing or malfunctioning, so I attempted to send my computer off for repair. Despite telling tech support repeatedly through several phone calls that I was a student and that I was currently residing at a different address than the one they had on file, they sent the box to my parent's address - twice. Upset by this, I escalated my warranty claim and got a hold of Immanuel Jaidheep who was extremely helpful and finally had a box sent to the right address.
After having it sent off for repair, everything seemed fine until I started noticing artifacts and graphic issues during games and start up of the computer - after some tests, we denoted that the graphics cards were failing and I had to send my computer off for repair again. The process was easier this time but still frustrating because of the frequent downtime I was experiencing with my top of the line product from your company. I believe they were replaced, the computer cleaned up, and the system board replaced.
Figuring that most of the major parts in my computer were taken care of, I figured that I would be okay for a while. Well, it wasn't long before the graphics cards were failing again, and I had to send it off for repair for a third time. At this point, I was through having patience with the M1730 and got a hold of Immanuel Jaidheep to help me obtain a warranty replacement of equal or greater value/performance spec. He asked me politely to just have patience and to give tech support another chance at repairing my computer, so I did. They replaced the video cards and the system board again, and I believe even changed them from the 8800 series to the 9800 series, which was nice, even though I knew it wasn't really a performance gain.
Well, I am now experiencing issues again with this computer, and have noticed that it is extremely hot - too hot to even touch the DVI ports on the side. I investigated the issue I was experiencing - intermittent freezing during video games of 2-3 seconds, upon which the game would kick back in - and discovered that it was most likely caused by the computer being too hot. So, following some advice on local forums and other resources, I purchased some compressed air dusters and dusted out the system as best as I could, and tested out my games again, but to no avail. The issue remained and so I decided to take it to the next level; I purchased an all-aluminum NZXT Cryo notebook cooler with three, 120mm fans mounted near the top where the M1730's fans are and started to use my computer with it. Again, this was all in vain, as the issues persisted. Just out of curiosity, and I know it is by no means an accurate test, I decided to take a digital meat thermometer and stuck it into the screw hole of the DVI port on the side of my computer. After I gave it time to settle down and figure out what it thought the temperature was, it read a whopping 42 degrees Celsius. I found this temperature to be outrageous, especially given that it's an external port that is never used. The fact that the inside of the computer was capable of heating the metal up of the port to the point of 42 degrees blew my mind.
Anyway, I called support and got a hold of a supervisor after a very long time and he offered me a Dell Studio XPS 16... I went over the computer's specifications with him and he described to me that because my M1730 has gone down in value over the time that I have had it, that the Studio 16 was the best he could do. I explained that I purchased a gaming laptop and wanted one that would meet my needs as a gamer, and he simply reminded me that the Studio 16 was the best he could do. I purchased a top of the line gaming computer with a 17" monitor, with dual graphics cards and an extreme performance profile for playing video games. The computer I was being offered had a maximum 16" screen, a horrible graphics solution (ATI HD4670, which is comparable to one Nvidia 9500, where as my M1730 had TWO 9800M graphics cards - one 9800 can dominate an HD4670, let alone two). When I mentioned the Alienware line, he told me that I would have to wait and for my request to be processed, which I should have accepted but didn't because of my negligence and impatience. I just wanted to be rid of the M1730 as soon as I could. To be frankfully honest, I planned on receiving the Studio XPS 16 and selling it as soon as I received it so that I could just get a desktop or something else from your Alienware line-up the manual, hard way. I simply have no need for a laptop anymore.
In any event, before I even received the computer the value of it dropped a whopping $800 which took me FAR away from even being close to budget something decent from your Alienware line up. At the time of accepting the Studio XPS 16, I was under the impression that it was worth at least $3100 plus taxes (my estimate/build online was for $3300 plus tax). Before it reached my door, the price on it dropped to $2600 plus taxes. This deeply upsetted me because I bought a computer for $4800 plus taxes and was being given a computer worth $2600 plus taxes that didn't even meet my needs in the first place. For ease of convenience I chose to settle for a product that was worth much less than the one I paid for - which included three years extended warranty. My warranty on my M1730 expires in August of 2011, which is very, very far away.
I haven't even turned on the computer or used it yet because I know that it simply won't satisfy my needs or performance requirements as a gamer. I emailed Michael Dell and Immanuel Jaidheep explaining the situation and then I attempted to contact tech support to describe my situation to them and to explain to them that I was deeply unsatisfied with my warranty replacement. After two and a half hours of being juggled around back and forth between support departments in Canada and the United States, I was finally told that I wasn't permitted to speak with a supervisor and that I had to accept my Studio 16 as my replacement because, I quote, "that's just how it is." Infuriated by the way I was handled, I hung up the phone and wrote an email to Immanuel Jaidheep and a couple other individuals that I thought could help me. After a few days, Sunny Sharma got a hold of me and after a brief couple of "Hello's" and "how are you's" he unleashed at least a 2-3 minute solid speal about why I had no other option but to accept my Studio 16. It was very defensive and in a way I felt attacked. Despite this, I asked him very straight forwardly if there was anything he could do to satisfy my concerns and he told me no. I was told that, despite Alienware being sold on the Dell Canada webpage, there was no way I could be warranted a replacement with similar specifications to my M1730 because Alienware is a seperate division and they do not share the Dell logo. So, because of that technicality and circumstance, my best option was a fully-loaded Studio XPS 16.
I felt extremely betrayed by the company due to that statement and felt that I completely wasted my money by purchasing the extended three year warranty with my computer. It was at this point that I exploded with frustration and filed a complaint with the BBB and sent a less than friendly email to some people at Dell. I want to sincerely apologize again for that behaviour and I hope that you can understand my feelings by that point.
Anyway, it is my experience that a warranty protects specific specifications of a product including the dollar value of it despite the way economy revolves around deterioration. Yes, computers deteriorate in value rapidly just like most other electronics in the world, but I don't think it's fair to honestly expect me to accept something that doesn't honour the $4800 value of the computer I originally purchased, let alone the 17" screen size and extreme SLI graphics solutions. I understand that FutureShop isn't the same company, but I don't understand how your warranty system would be different than theirs. When I purchased my 47" flat screen from them and was offered the option of paying for additional warranty on my product, just like I was given the option of paying for additional warranty on my M1730 (which I did), I was told that, if anything happened to my TV during the period of my warranty, I would be given a tv of equal or greater value - so in two years, despite my TV likely being worth $700 instead of $2000, they would replace my tv with one worth at least the same amount that I paid for initially. So please, can someone explain to me why my warranty with Dell doesn't protect the value of my purchase?
Right now I have my original M1730 at home and the Studio XPS 16. It has been opened only to look at it and to take photos, but has never been turned on. I would greatly enjoy the opportunity to return both of these products back to Dell in a prompt fashion and to be given the opportunity to receive in-store credit towards an Alienware product with your company (even if it be via gift card somehow). I would like the in-store credit amount to be $4800 as per the initial value of my M1730 but if this does not seem fair to you please make me an offer that you believe is, and I will take it into fair and understanding consideration. The reason why I would like in-store credit is because I am unaware of whether or not I want to deal with the risks of a laptop again, or if I want to have the option of using a desktop which will allow me the choice of expanding and upgrading each part later on as I see fit. I am going to be buying computers for the rest of my life and I promise you that given the chance to be treated in a premium, prioritized manner (which I believe I am entitled to because I spent nearly $5000 with your company on a single product), that I will continue buying products from your company and will even recommend my friends and relatives to your company because of your excellent customer service possibilities.
Thank you for taking the time to look over my email and to consider my situation as a consumer. I am not trying to be a bandit or anything here with your company I am just honestly trying to get my money's worth for a very expensive product. I apologize again for acting irrationally and hope that you can understand at least some of my feelings on this matter.
Kind regards,
David
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Problems? See this thread at archive.org.
I have lost at least 5-6 months of use, I just went out and bought another PC because the one I had I can't depend on anymore...I could continue to rant about the wrong OS being installed on delivery so I had to reformat a new PC out of the box..and thats just some of the things that have transpired. OH and the 2gigs of ram instead of 4 (They did ship the 4gigs out which I installed)
