Will never ever ever ever buy another Dell!!!!!!

Took delivery of an XPS M1530 Certified Refurbished a week ago and received one where the cover was badly scratched. Put in a call to Technical Support to complain and they issued a Tech repair order; after 1 week still no call from the Tech. Also called to report a defective keypad, no Vista Operating system disk and no accessories...offered me a $25 credit but never issued it??

Called them and learned they had DEFERRED my repairs; I have no idea why?; said that I the customer had asked for the deferral????

Finally got super frustrated and tired of waiting to talk to someone in Technical Support or Customer Care that I could understand. Totally gave up and returned my Notebook today.

It's really pathetic that Technical Support and Customer Care has gotten so bad; probably would have kept the Notebook if Dell offered any kind of customer support; all they ever do is make you wait hours on hold, transfer you to dead numbers, blame the problem on another department or just hang up on you.

It's no coincidence that Dell stock is trading at $9.50 per share (the lowest in 11 1/2 years). Unfortunately Dell customer support has really gotten Pathetic.

Think I know what has changed over the years! They have been cutting costs to compete with HP and Apple. Their quality has gone straight downhill and now their Technical Support and Customer Care departments are getting bombarded with calls. Why would Dell continue to sell NVidia 8600 GPUs when they know they're defective? What has Dell done to resolve the NVidia problem? Absolutely nothing, they continue to sell them????????

Will never ever ever ever buy another Dell disaster.

 

I'm sorry this happened to you...

When will you receive your refund?

Providing superior Customer Service is always going to be an issue with Dell, as it is with most companies. Until, Dell takes the initiative on better training, of their Reps, going forward..It is going to be up to that individual Rep to provide excellent Customer Service.

It's unfortunate this happened to you. A loss of one customer, will have some effect at some point.

Best of luck to you on whatever your next notebook purchase may be.


Cin

 

Dell didn't manufacturer the Nvidia cards, Nvidia did and they continue to produce crap cards. Sorry to here about your poor customer service experience, but it seems as if you knew about the bad cards previous to buying and still bought anyhow.

 

I dont understand why dell's still using the 8x Nvidia series either. Also, I dont understand why nvidia's still offering those cards though they know that they're defective. Maybe you should give ATI a try?

 

Hi Cin,
Thanks for the reply; have really loved Dell over the years and hope and pray they clean up their act.

They said I would see the refund on my AX statement within 30 days; sure hope it doesn't take that long.

Am sure you're correct that some Customer reps do a better job than others; .some probably really do care and want Dell to be successful.

I keep coming back and hopeing because I really do love Dell design but I'm concerned that they're Quality control has suffered badly over the last few years.

After buying several Dell computers, I switched 5 years ago when I was screwed by Customer care. Then in March 2008 I came back; I bought a Dell 1525 from Best Buy. Unfortunately I immediately returned it because of a sound problem and a video problem.

Then a week ago I tried again. But I came to the realization that Dell has gotten much wore instead of better.

Michael, please correct the quality problems. I miss not having a Dell!!

 

Hi atbnet, I know Dell didn't manufacture the GPU but you have to take responsibility for what you put in your product; that's why you have a Purchasing and Quality Control Department.

I did know that there was a problem with the Nvidia 8600 but didn't realize it was as serious as it is until I read it here and did some additional research.

But it does upset me that Nvidia and Dell are doing almost nothing to rectify the defective chip. They should be working together to provide better and more support, not less.

 

Dell has stepped up and extended the warranty on the GPU for an additional year past your warranty. There really is nothing you can do to fix a chip that is no longer being manufacturered.

 

I saw that they did extend the warranty for another year.

My problem is that I'm frugal and only buy a 1 year warranty but I often keep a computer for 3-4 years. I kept my E1505 for 3 years and it was flawless.

Based on the failure rate stated here, I don't have a lot of confidence that it will last beyond 2 years.

 

If you are looking for a machine that will last a long time then you need to look beyond a consumer model and try the business line. That being said, the 'failure rate' you see here is not the norm at all. There are millions of these notebooks out there and you only see posts about them failing instead of the many millions posting every day saying their notebook is fine. This is because no body posts when they aren't having issues.

 

not only graphic card, intel processors also, txxx series, not pxxx , i mean most laptop, will they make a change this year or they just try to dump all the cheap laptop then manufacutre new?

I remeber when i bought my first dell laptop, xps m140, back then, i had no idea whatsoever, paid more than 1000 for it. half year later, price went down more than half to 600 something. Same thing happen to Inspiron 15, I mean, they are dumping laptop and kind of disregard customer's needs or what so ever. If that's the way business is, then the only thing that i can do is switch to other brand.

Very much like the publishing company, keep updating edition with little change of question or some content. then poor students have to spend hundred of dollars to buy this book. JUST TO MAKE PROFIT!! I mean, if bookstore takes back old version book, and in exchange for new book with some money, that's ok. Same with computer, if new model comes out, and they recycle old model + some money for the new computer, that will be ok. However, so far, no comany make such move , at least i am not aware of it yet.

 

I do agree that the complainers are the most vocal and often post here.

But I have recently learned that Nvidia has admitted high failure rates and have even set up loss reserves for those GPU's.

A company doesn't admit to product failure or set up a 196 Million $ Reserve for chip failure unless it's pretty serious.

 

Why not buy an older laptop if you have such big issues with this practice?
If you want to have the newest thing around you're paying premium for it, if you dont want to spend that much, buy an older system. I doubt other brands don't have the same practice

 

Umm.. what? There are so many things wrong with what you said that it is almost comical. The only thing that holds it back from being comical is that it is sad.

Are you really complaining that because there is a new product out, that the older product goes down in price? Unlike textbooks, if Dell adds a new processor to the lineup your current processor doesn't become useless. If you would like to buy a newer model you are free to sell your current notebook on eBay or any of the many forums that have marketplaces and then purchase a new notebook. Last time I checked, businesses are in business to... wait for it... make a profit.

And if you think notebooks are bad, I hope you never buy a car!

 

Good point about CARS atbnet.

Thats one of the reasons Car manufacturers are going down the tubes.

Dell is expected to post a loss for the quarter when it reports on Feb 26th. Maybe Dell can get some TARP funds?

 

I've found that the Online Chat people are pretty good. They have enough time to formulate their responses in English and it's written so you don't have to deal with accents.

 

They are writing off some restructuring costs that will affect the bottom line but they are still targeting a nice profit, according to the Wall Street Journal:

"Dell is expected to report Feb. 26 that its fiscal fourth-quarter revenue fell 8% and profits remained unchanged from a year ago."

 

But they wouldn't have to write off restructuring costs if there structure wasn't such a disaster. But maybe the good news is that Dell management realizes they have SERIOUS problems and may make positive changes.

I'm still convinced that the quality of their notebooks has gone straight downhill in the last 5 years and has caused bottlenecks and overload in their Customer Care and Tech Support departments (it's been the snowball effect). Believe they were trying to deliver by cutting costs to compete against HP and Apple.

I've gone from an E1505 (was flawless), to a 1525 (returned because of defective Audio and Video components) to a M1530 (returned because of a defective GPU and Touchpad and botched Technical Support and Customer Care); quality have gotten progressively worse.

Still trying hard to love Dell but they no longer deliver any Technical Support or Customer Care; Technical help from members of this forum is 10x better than talking to a Technician that knows nothing and you can't understand. The problem comes in when you need parts and can't get through to Dell.

Hopefully their restructuring is geared toward better Quality and getting back their previous alienated customers. Dell has burned so many good customers and must now depend on only new ones. MOST OF MY FRIENDS THAT WERE DIEHARD SUPPORTERS HAVE GIVEN UP LIKE ME.

Dell, PLEASE COME BACK and fix your mess.

 

great post, above one. nothing but to agree with u, but not that knowledgeable as u, so just comment few thing.

To me, the only me that will convince me to buy a Dell computer is the warranty. Prior to my m140, i had that big one, can't remember the name. But one day i brought to school, and slided down from chair while in the bag. Damaged, and returned, still got the full refund. Then bought the one currently using. I mean, to a certain point, Dell is still very valueing their customers, that's for sure. But i agree that their quality is going down compare to other Brands.

comment about my own post, i am talking about the dramatic free fall of Dell laptop price. It's just ridiculous. I am not too sure, but not long time ago, Inspiron 1520 still tagged at around $1000 with near the same spec. with current price at $400 something. What Dell is trying to do is Dumping, Dump as much as they can, so that they can Loss Less. And please dont tell me u wont feel like a fool when u realize u can buy this "cheap" laptop with 400 something instead of 1000. It angrys me, for sure. But what can I do? basically nothing, 'cause i was a fool back then when i bought the laptop for more than 1000 when not even half year later, the price went down to 500 something. U mention about the car, and thanks to the great experience with Dell, i will consult with so call experts, and ask for the most reasonable price estimate, so that i will not repeat the foolish decision i made before.

Outdated product line, though abandon them might cause losses, but selling them = to cheating their customers + poor support, Dell is not doing their job. This is just personal view, not try to offend anyone or any related. If any words use inappropriately, please forgive me, nothing personal.

 

Let me get this right... you are mad that a laptop that came out 1 and a half years ago is now cheaper? Or not to mention that the 1520 has been replaced by the 1525 which will be replaced by the 1545 soon.

I think before you make any large purchase you should study a little bit on how prices work because you don't even come close to grasping it right now.

How is Dell cheating their customers by selling their notebooks for less? You make no sense. Or would you rather them keep them artificially high?

 

exactly. i'd be glad for the option to buy a laptop that's "just" a year old or so that much cheaper. The lappy i have is cheaper now already and this is something that's done everywhere with pretty much ALL electronics. Technology advances so older models go for less money and the newer ones are often put out for around the same price (or more) the others used to be.

The other options is to keep the older models at the same price and ADD even more money to that price for new models. This would drive new laptops (and other electronics) sky high because of the rate at which new things are released. Now i don't think anyone would want that would they?

 

sorry to hear but dell is a great company i hope u will keep supporting

 

Hmmm, these issues should have been resolved by now. Remember when Dell pumped 150 million in support back in 07? http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20070815/022843.shtml I'm thinking the problem is due to systemic hardware designs which is overloading their support systems. Probably have inadequate processes in their manufacturing assemblies as well. Poring hundreds of millions into support won't fix systemic defects in hardware failures. But whatevers ailing dell its been going on for years now. Personally, I feel they did improve support back in 07. What killed them was the hardware end of it IMO. And all the crap they sent out just overloaded their support system and eventually killed off sales. Now their trying to cut corners to save money and it just gets worse.

 

I don't think it had much to with Quality. We have been using Dell systems for at least 7 years and our failure rate across our many departments continue to go down with each new generation (Mostly Latitudes/Precisions) I think the problem with their support that needed the $150 million was the fact that the volume of computers continued to rise from 2000 all the way into 2007 as prices continued to fall. This left the big boys like Dell, HP, Lenovo/IBM with lower profit margins and less money to spend on warranty costs. I suspect that as volume rose and profit margins declined Dell mistakingly spent less per system on warranty support costs thus leaving their support channels in a bad position.