Is it just me, or does Dell's tech support smell like bull...? (XPS M1530)

We all know Dell's support blows so much it could make a hurricane quiver in fear, but I think they just took it to a WHOLE new level. Here's my story, but shortened. PLEASE READ THIS. I know it's long, but I'm going on 8 weeks into a system exchange here and am getting desperate... I really don't know what to do anymore. =<

Jan 14th: Contacted Dell support via phone line. Spent well over 2 hours doing pointless tests, all of which passed. Politely "argued" with a chat agent that my microphone port wasn't ACTUALLY supposed to distort when provided audio (among many other things)... he told me to go buy a new microphone to test and he would call me back the next day.

Jan 15th: Chat agent called me again at about 2am. (?) Didn't call back the next day as asked.

Jan 17th: Contacted another support agent via chat, who finally supplied me with a system exchange.

March 5th: (After skipping over a month of my stories from dell-hell,) I contacted chat support again after discovering the 22 BUSINESS DAY DELAY on the WLED they decided to include in my XPS1640's build specs. I was told the order would arrive to me in 5-8 business days. Later that night, they CANCELED and replaced the order for the **5TH TIME.**

Tonight: After Attempting to contact chat support on the 5th, only to discover their systems were down, I again tried to contact them at about 12:45 EST (11:45CST), only to discover that the support center had closed early.

Called support instead, asked to be transfered to the USA support department, who then transfered me to customer care, WHICH WAS CLOSED.

Called again, asked to be transferred to the USA department, after which the lady proceeded to tell me that she could help me instead. Politely repeated myself, saying that I would like to be transferred to the USA department. Instead she directs me to the "My Tech Team" office. (At this point, I didn't much care anymore.)

After sitting on hold I was finally told that my system, under the new order number, had been "dispatched," aka shipped. (It was created last friggin' night.) The support rep. told me that I should receive the system in 7-10 days; despite my overnight shipping and the fact that both the online order page AND the automated phone line list it as still being in the "build" stage of "In-Production," which is the same location where it's sat for the past 7, going on 8 weeks.

He then proceeded to tell me that I really shouldn't call again until the end of this 10-day period, when I could ensure that I hadn't received the system. (To me this just sounds like "We have no freaking idea where your computer is, so you need to quit calling us. Hopefully it'll be there in 10 days, if not: come back again and we'll tell you the same thing.")

So do I believe him and hope that I receive it next week, or should I just try to not lose any more sleep hoping for it? Is there anyone I can talk to who can give me some REAL answers? Is there a department I can e-mail to find out what the hell is going on?

I know this post was long as hell, so I thank you for reading it. I have such a headache over it it's not even funny. It shouldn't take this long to replace a defective computer.

Thanks for your help, my heart goes out to you.
-BLiT

 

I feel like we're brothers in the cosmic sense....lol

I too am awaiting a system replacement under warranty and my XPS 1640 has been ordered, cancelled and ordered yet again with inferior specs that the system I have.

I hope to The Almighty God, Allah, Buddah, whatever that I don't have to go through this sh!t 5 times........because it will be the last Dell, especially a premium offering that I ever order. I would rather use a file cabinet....lol

 

You may be able to track the order here: https://support.dell.com/support/order/status.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=gen&~ck=anavml

If you have a case number, you can also submit an escalation here, especially if the replacement doesn't meet specification: https://support.dell.com/support/to...lcare/outstanding_issues_tech?c=us&l=en&s=gen

It will go to a second level support team.

 

Thanks all. I'll have to keep that Unresolved issues link nearby for the next few weeks.

I'm going to give my new tech support rep the benefit of the doubt and say he and his supervisor bumped this thing in the , as it just moved into boxing tonight!

Although if I had to guess, the new order was made because they finally got the back-logged parts back in. Between that and the order getting expedited again, it must've been built in the past two days and is now being flown into the US for UPS, FedEx, or DHL to deliver.

Thanks again guys, hopefully this is almost over for me! =P

 

Reading this, I am glad to see that I am not the only one that has had problems with Dell support. I have been a faithful Dell buyer for well...15 years, maybe? I have had desktops and laptops, with my latest being an XPS 1530. I just spent 5.5 hours trying to get help with issues and I got absolutely and positively NOWHERE. I tried to call someone that was not from India, and even will to pay to get my Blu-Ray fixed but I kept getting transferred to everyone else...9 transfers until I get back to the original person!! I can't get into the community forum and nobody can help me get signed on...they all "hardware specialists". I absolutely know that I will never ever buy another Dell, and I paid well over 3,000.00 for mine in 2008, with all the latest and best upgrades just so I wouldn't have this problem. I can't even find a number to call customer support, as I am connected to India. Anybody know how to get in touch with an English speaking American working Dell representative? Thanks...
I think a MAC might be in order. Any opinions?
Ralph

 

If you have Your Tech Team as part of your warranty, then you should be able to be transferred to a rep in either Seattle WA, or another office somewhere in FL. If you don't, just ask for the Canadian department... surprisingly, they both work, and with no-to-minimal wait times.