Any Dell customer service gurus here?

Over time, my 2209WA has developed a stuck pixel issue. Dell said they'd sent me a replacement, but I was skeptical since the monitor hasn't been in production for nearly 2 years.

What I didn't expect was that they'd send me a clearly inferior U2212HM - at the very least I was expecting a U2311H, if not a U2410.

Before I go back to Dell, could anybody here share their tips on what to say to get what I want?

 

You may have a bit of a battle here.

Specs wise the new monitor is better than your old one - The only thing I can't confirm s the viewing size of the old monitor (22 inch vs 21.5 inch) as the viewing size of the 2209 was not listed.

If your truley not happy you can always try to argue the screen size difference and since the next step up is the 23 inch, hopefully they agree.

Another option is to sell the new monitor and upgrade to a larger screen

 

The 2209WA is an 8-bit 16:10 monitor. The 2209WA was probably a $300 USD monitor on release so they should replace it with a monitor of equivalent value. I'd probably ask for a U2412HM. It's not a true 8-bit panel, but modern FRC technology is very good, and it's also 16:10 (albeit somewhat larger).

You could push for a U2410 on the grounds that your work and your life depends on 8-bit color reproduction. However, the U2410 is quite a few notches above your 2209WA. They'd rightfully balk at replacing your $300 USD monitor with a $500 USD monitor.

The sad truth is that Dell has no replacement for your 2209WA. However, the U2212HM is clearly a deficient gesture on their part from any perspective.

 

@dave-p: Putting up with a 2212UM would mean accepting a downgrade (and consequently a financial loss if I were to sell the monitor) when Dell's replacement policy clearly states replacements will be "equal or better". It's cheaper than the 2209WA was and both screen size and image quality are inferior.

@exaltare: I could accept a U2412HM, the only question is whether or not they'd be willing to send me one - from what I've read from a Dell employee on Dell's official forums, even if the support agent puts in an order for one, the fulfillment center might decide to unilaterally cancel it and send out yet another 2212UM.

 

It's worth pushing for it for sure. Just present your argument and continue asking for escalation if they reject you.

Point out that a U2212HM:

- doesn't use 8-bits per color channel which means it has inferior color reproduction.
- doesn't have a 16:10 aspect ratio and has about 10% less panel area than your 2209WA.
- doesn't have the same value as the 2209WA when you're comparing release prices and functions. The 2209WA was a mid-range $300-400 USD monitor on release. The U2212HM is an entry-level $200 USD monitor. The resale value of the 2209WA, even with a stuck pixel, is very close to a factory-sealed U2212HM.

I think a U2412HM is a fair exchange with some compromise on both sides. Asking for a U2410 is more slanted and way harder to justify, but you could try on the grounds that you require true 24-bit color depth and that none of the lower end models can do this.

 

Peon,

In my experience at least, Dell have constructed their systems to do business according to what they can get away with. If you try to solve this, they will try to waste an *incredible* amount of your time until you give up.

Their action sounds like the typical decision of some consultant, who doesn't care, who has tried to figure out what is the minimum they can get away with for an average, busy, uninformed consumer.

I strongly suspect they carefully profile the psychology of the average customer and use this profile to calculate how to exploit normal people.

For example, they tried to suggest to me replacing an i7-2630qm processor with an i7-2640m, stating it was an upgrade, when in fact the latter isn't quad core, it's only dual core, and it runs 30% slower.

For example, the Studio 1558 had throttling issues, meaning the quad core processor would run at a fraction of it's proper speed, a bit like a care with a 3 litre engine being limited to operate as a 1 litre engine. Instead of Dell contacting all Studio 1558 owners with the fix, they waited to only deal with people who raised the issue and knew how. Bill & Mourin - WHERE IS THE INTEGRITY IN THIS APPROACH?

They they have a team who manage their social media who are paid to respond to threads like this with a goal to create "positive sentiment" for those who read threads. If Dell really cared, you wouldn't have to do their job for them because they would be on the ball. Keep in mind, you're not getting paid to deal with this, and any ways you need to deal with it costs you time and money and hassle.

So I encourage you to:

1) pursue a fact based approach
2) escalate it immediately via "DellCares"
3) know your consumer rights and bring any shenanigans on Dells behalf to the attention of such authorities
4) don't let them use BS on you because they will probably try

Do not let them bully you, because you're just a number to them somewhere. And maintain visibility so other people don't get conned.

 

Peon,

Please send me a PM with your order number and name and I'll be happy to look into this for you.

EDIT: please check your PM.

Thanks,
Mourin@Dell

 

Monitor exchanges can be tricky when we no longer have the product on hand. We have to send you "like or better". So exaltare was correct that the replacement must be a 16x10 U2412HM. Going to a 16x9 is a downgrade. We have contacted the fulfillment center and are in discussion. For now, Peon should contact Mourin@Dell in private message and provide the original 2209WA order, shipping address, etc. Peon, do not return any monitors until we setup a second monitor exchange. We cannot do anything about the 8bit or 8bit+FRC. They are the same as far as we are concerned.

 

Just sent Mourin a PM - I'll keep you guys updated on how this goes.

 

Well, after 3 weeks and 3 replacement monitors, I finally got something functional. Here's how the process went:

- A couple of days after I got in touch with Mourin, I got a call from a CSR who had no clue what was going on. I hung up as soon as I realized that he couldn't help.
- A couple of days later, I got a call from the CSR who originally took on my case. He offered me a U2312HM and told me that he would call back the next day after giving me time to consider.
- The next day, he indeed called back. I refused the offer and he then told me that he would have to go back to the escalations team before giving another offer.
- The day after that, he called back again. This time, he offered a U2412M, which I accepted. At this point, I'm wondering why he didn't just offer it in the first place.
- A day later, the U2412M arrived. Unfortunately, it had a dead pixel, so I got in touch with Mourin, who advised me to contact the original CSR. I was unable to get in touch with the CSR, so I asked Mourin to look into it.
- After some back and forth - a long story in and of itself - the original CSR called back about a week later. He told me that singular dead pixels are considered universally acceptable (I'm sure most people here on NBR would disagree with that belief...), but that he would nonetheless do what he could to request another replacement.
- The following day, he called back and told me that a replacement had been negotiated and was on its way.
- 2 days later, the replacement arrived (I should really ask the courier what form of shipping they use - I bet the shipping costs associated with 3 shipments + returns would be enough to pay for a brand new U2412M).

This monitor has a few scratches on the back around where the Kensington lock slot is located, but since the LCD itself is fine and I never look back there anyway, I decided to let it go and just have the CSR put a note in the system. Having to sign for shipments and having to be there for pickups has taken up way too much time already.

All in all, I don't know what to think. The customer service itself was good in the sense that the CSR listened to all of my requests and delivered on all of his promises, but Dell as a company is insanely bureaucratic. I can't help but think that this could've gone a whole lot faster had the CSR been empowered to help me without having to escalate or check with other departments every step of the way.

 

Point 2 reminded me of something:

During the call where the CSR offered me a U2312HM, I read Chris's post word-for-word to the CSR, who told me outright that what Chris said was incorrect, and that the appropriate replacement for the 2209WA was a U2212HM.

At the very end of this process, during the final call, I had the opportunity to speak to a supervisor. He apologized about the initial replacement (I'm assuming he was referring to the U2212HM) and informed me that "the product team" was responsible for sending out replacements. He also told me that this would be addressed in the future, so I will be very interested in hearing the experiences of other 2209WA owners going forward.