XPS 1730 Horror Story - Unusual Read

NOTE>As I state in my last post, this entire issue has been resolved by Dell now as they are providing me credit.

I bought a dell xps 1730 laptop from dell in December for over $4,000 thinking it would be the best laptop I have ever owned. 5 days after I received the laptop, I started to have an error message regarding the hard drive upon boot up. After a few more days the computer would not boot period. I was out of town at the time and did not call tech support. When I returned I did call tech support and eventually went through the process of determining the hard drive had failed and a new hard drive was sent. The technician at that time sent me the following email:

to me
show details Jan 12 Reply
Dear Mr. Hay
Thank you calling XPS Customer care today. It was a pleasure working with you to resolve the issue of the damaged hard drive in your new computer. As I explained to you, the replacement hard drive we have dispatch to you is considered as new as your PC and it's warranty period is the same as the PC. To provide you with additional comfort, I am assuring you now that should the hard drive fail, after your return period has expired and up to 6 months from today and the technical failure confirmed by our technical support team, you will be allowed to return this computer for an exchange or credit.
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.
Thank you for choosing Dell
Dell Inc
XPS Customer Care Agent,
Ottawa | Ontario | Canada


The hard drive was replaced and everything was fine for a while, then the same problem starting happening again. I called tech support and they confirmed that the hard drive had failed once again and told me they would send me a replacement again. I told them that Eugene (the last tech) had promised me credit or an exchange and they told me the policy did not allow that. I then spoke to the supervisor 94997 (Mark) who recited the policy to me again and said it did not matter what I had been told by Eugene because the policy did not allow it. I then asked Mark (who by the way could not care less about my case and sounded like a broken record just telling me the same thing over and over again regarding the policy) how a support person could tell me (and email me) one thing and then the company does not deliver. He had no answer. I then asked to speak with his supervisor (Sam Gonzalez Mark told me) and Mark said that is not possible and suggested that I contact tech support to get a new hard drive.

My problem is that I did not escalate the problem when it first occured to try to get credit because I relied on what Eugene had told me and thought maybe this was just a freak accident. When a hard drive fails on a computer that is 5 days old it is not a good sign in my book and I was worried (with reason). I know that it is most likely a hard drive problem but how could the same problem happen with a hard drive twice (two different drives)? Add to that the fact that installing all the software dell puts on the computer takes a few hours and dozens of steps and it is a real pain. At the end, how is it possible that a customer support person can tell me something via email and on the phone and then have his supervisor say it is not valid and conflicts with policy (and do nothing and not allow me to speak to his supervisor)? The customer support person doesn't know the policy? In addition to this problem there have been other with this laptop.

I have owned more than 10 laptops in my lifetime as well as at least one dell desktop and laptop. I have never had a problem like this and have never returned a laptop. Right now I have a sony and a fujitsu (as well as old apples, gateways, etc.) that are still functioning up to 7 years after their puchase date. I cannot believe that this can happen with dell or anywhere. If you cant rely on what the customer support person tells you then what?

 

I think I'd probably send an email to the BBB explaining the situation and asking for advice, and cc perhaps the Attorney General's office, Mark, Eugene, CNet, PC World, Maximum PC, George W and the Tooth Fairy. Maybe Dell can be embarrassed enough by the BS of your pal Mark, to correct this and stand by its employees statements to you.

 

agreed this is such a load of bs its not funny. thats not how you should treat a customer especially one who has bought your high end laptop.

 

Dell's customer service is award winning.




.. yeah, right.

 

you would think you would be a valued customer cuz u spent 4k on a laptop, a thing in which i would never do. i mean you have to just bring ti up to people with authority. these low-level hotline people really can't do much so you can't be blaming them

 

It seems impossible to talk to anyone with authority. Seems like everything is overseas, apart from XPS tech support.

 

Thats the problem one person tells you one thin another tells you something else .I hate to sy to but anytime you get someone in India you know they are not going to budg with my last experinece will never buy a dell again .

 

I agree.. they all tell you something different. The point isn't that it's in India, the point is that Dell doesn't give a damn about its customers.

 

Oh I know you feel like a rat in a maze when working with dell that has to be by design .

 

Thank you to everyone who read and responded to this. Below is part of the mission statement/core values of dell.

Customers:
We believe in creating loyal customers by providing a superior experience at a great value. We are committed to direct relationships, providing the best products and services based on standards-based technology, and outperforming the competition with value and a superior customer experience.

Direct Relationships:
We believe in being direct in all we do. We are committed to behaving ethically; responding to customer needs in a timely and reasonable manner; fostering open communications and building effective relationships with customers, partners, suppliers and each other; and operating without inefficient hierarchy and bureaucracy.

Dell has in my case failed miserably in pursuing its mission statement. Eugene, I thought, did perform what the mission statement states and gave me a personal guarantee that I would be provided with a credit or replacement if the hard drive failed again. I relied on this and felt somewhat reasured when the drive failed because I had the email from him (only to have his supervisor tell me that what Eugene told me conflicts with policy and cannot be done). What does this mean for anyone being told anything by a customer support person? Who do I need to talk to in order to make sure I am being told something is valid? Or do I need to hire a lawyer to read all the dell fine print after being told something by customer support to make sure it is valid? What is the answer? In my mind it is to not by a product from a company where a customer support person can tell you something and document it in writing only to have the company state it is invalid two month later.

The point is, if the customer service personnel and customer service manager aren't the ones who are supposed to follow the mission statement (these people being the only ones we have contact with generally) who is? If the customer service manager knew about this mission statement, which he should have, he did not follow either the letter or the spirit of it. Eugene did at first with his email, but then disappeared.

I sent an email to maximumpc and went to the websites of the other places that were mentioned (cnet, pc world) but could not find a ready place to complain (but will try again now).

I definitely felt like I was getting the run-around and that the person in india would not budge. I would expect that he would at least want to know the full story and find out exactly who had given me this guarantee or do something but he would not change his story and could not care less.

I think people are right that I just need to talk to the right person at dell but who is that and how do I reach them? Someone at Dell has to care that their mission statement is not being carried out and how can they develop consumer confidence/support or what is even the purpose of the mission statement if it is not followed? Thanks in advance for your help.

 

Good news guys. I found the email address for someone higher up and emailed them. He responded this morning with the following message:

Mr. Hay – Let me apologize for all of the problems you’ve had with your XPS laptop…this is definitely not the level of Customer Service we strive to provide. I have forwarded your email to our Escalations team and someone should be contact you shortly…feel free to contact me if that doesn’t happen by tomorrow evening.

I knew someone at dell must care about something like this happening. I will follow up later but I am very happy that someone responded.

 

So, Dell came through. They contacted me this morning and are providing a credit which is great. I won't name names but the people at dell who I worked with today were really nice and understood my frustration. At the end of the day I want an xps 1730, but one that works and is reliable. I will be ordering another dell computer now (and hopefully will not have the same problem this time)!

 

Dang.. I wish you luck with the next one Jhay!

 

i just bought the same LAptop, and im not happy, it gets 5269 points in 3Dmark06, and almost any game i try plying on it laggs like a biatch!
I've tryed contacting e-mail support with this problem but first they didnt answer me, then, (4 weeks later) i got an answer telling me to translate my message into english -_-' (i may not be sp good in english but i think its understandable) anyway, i sendt another message witch i checed in the dictionary so there would'nt be any missunderstandings, and i haven't heard from them since... I want to call them , but i dont want to end up quarreling with some looser in india ='( i payed alot of money for a gaming laptop that cant even beat my old laptop at 3Dmark06, as if that isnt bad enough, Dell couldnt care less about my problem