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Reviews of Dell Computer
Desktops and Portables

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This file is filled with individuals' opinions and experiences with Dell, which sells a wide line of computers and products. The most recent experiences are at the beginning of this file.

If you have bought a computer from them and have not yet made your contribution to this list, simply fill out this review form about your experiences with this company and your review will be added to the top of this file. Thank you and good luck!

Other Experiences with Dell (Most recent first):

I dont own a Dell and never will. I hate the services they provide and the people who fucking call me four times a day like clock work asking me for a Celly Smith. They cant speak English well and are very hard hearing because I curse them out till there is nothing to say, they still keep calling. I asked them nicely the first time to take me off their calling list, but they just keep on calling. The Number traces back to Dell!! 1-800-443-1638. Dell Financial SERVICES. I call them to ask to speak to the manager and They hanged up on me. Bunch of Fucking Assholes!!!.

I'ved used Apple macs for years. Was short of cash and needed a machine to work on at the house, so bought a factory-refurbished Dell Dimension 8100 for a decent price, came with a three-year warranty and one-year dial-up ISP. Worked fine during the warranty, natch. The joys of rebooting Windows were a common habit, seems multitasking isn't as easy as on Macs. After fours years my power supply died. After three long phone calls with India (and several email exchanges), I finally gave up after getting hung up on by some nasty Indian fellow who didn't like that I couldn't remember my old telephone number from a previous house where I had first registered the machine when new. Sorry, guy, we're a mobile society. So now I'm enjoying my new Apple Powerbook laptop. To be fair, the machine WAS cheap, and worked fine until the power supply died. But their mumbling call center staff are hard to understand, although most try to be helpful, except for the nasty idiot on the last call. But to be honest, as the Macs are more secure from viruses and crash far less, it's nice to say goodbye to Dell.

I received a $400 coupon via email from Dell. The fine print read that the coupon was good with other offers and must be purchased with a system of at least $1299. When attempting to purchase a computer online I was unable to activate the coupon. I talked to four different people and after two hours decided to give the project to my secretary. She spent eight hours with several of the Dell salespeople and managers and still was not able to get the deal done. Dell has refined the bait and switch sales tactic to a fine art. I am amazed that a company with such a reputation can continuously drop the ball with customers and still be a leading computer company. It won't last for long with service worse than a Wal-Mart store on the day after Christmas.

I am receiving 16 calls a day from people stating they are from Dell. Yes 15 and I have a list of all of them. The calls start at 8AM and go on until 9:00 PM. To make matters worst, I cannot understand the people, they keep saying "give me your checking account information" The call is from a toll free number and when you call the number back, the person answering never says they are with Dell. How am I to know these people are really with Dell and not a person who hacks computers? I even told one of them to have tech support call me, because I had been unable to talk to them, due to their lines busy and long wait times. I needed dell support. Wake-up Dell, who ever these people are and where ever they are from.. they are not professional, very rude and their use of English is very very poor!

I would just like to add that I will never buy Dell again. Not only did I pay $3000 for an Inspiron 8100 that I found out later could be purchased for $1500 (I thought it was that expensive b/c the GeForce4 had just come out, but in retrospect it appears I was simply ripped off!), but Dell Financial Services seem to have nothing better to do than to call me incessantly when my payment is 1 day late. Their phone calls are beginning to make me feel harrassed; they even call at 8 in the morning on a Sunday.

If this type of harrassment continues, I will be contacting my lawyer.

I have had a dimension 4300 for over 3 1/2 years with no problems. upgrading RAM, adding a Network card, CD burner, and a second hard drive was a breeze. Between the tracked hard drive bays, simple installation, and more mount points than I'll need for quite a while. This machine has ever failed me, and support will even walk you through formatting your HD if you want. They were helpful, and they even told me the exact specs of my machine because i was too lazy to open the toolless hinging side-panel. The support wanted to know of upgrades, so that they could help me later and know exactly what I have in my machine. I know a man who worked for DELL for most of his career who never saw a single faulty computer roll off the line. I use a DELL, My Father Uses a DELL, and my cousins also use one.

I bought a Dell Dimension 4100 about 3 1/2 years ago. I never had any problems with either hardware or bundled software. As I was totally ignorant as to how one puts one of these infernal machines together, I called Dell tech support, and they walked me through it with the utmost patience. I would definitley buy from Dell again.

DELL....what a joke. I bought a computer from dell in Dec. 2004 for a christmas present, it was supposed to come with free 2 day shipping and a free printer. The shipping took 5 days and the printer didnt show up until January sometime. So the complaining began, We fought back and forth for 2 weeks, they finally offered me a 350.00 coupon to be used on ANY purchase of 350.01 or more...then they stated they would have to break them down into 3 100.00 coupons and one 50.00 coupon. Now I told them I was not interested if I couldnt use them all at one time, they assured me I could(I have stacks of e-mails that confirm this) but when I went to use them they of course said no!!! But they did confirm that the coupons were stackable, what a laugh. Now I tried ordering a 100.00 item (total price with shipping and all is 103.94) you guessed it,,,, the answer is no, it has to be 100.01 before tax(again not what I was promised). Trying to get ahold of Texas is impossible, the techs told me that 1 they dont have phones in the Texas office, and 2 that they do not do have e-mail addresses in Texas either...Anyone know how to get ahold of those assholes???? I will shoot myself before I will ever get another dell.(oh yes, each one has offered me more coupons, lol I now have coupons for about 1000.00 worth of dell crap...but cant use any of them....Thanks for letting me bitch....

James

I purchased a new Dell Dimension 4700 in January of 2005. I made the purchase during their "no interest until 2006" promotion. I saw that it said that it was for "qualified" customers and applied for the credit card. I was informed that I was a "qualified" customer and told that there would be no interest on my purchase until 2006. Being the skeptic that I am, I even called their customer service number just after receiving my computer to make sure that I was a qualified customer and wouldn't have to pay any interest until 2006. I then planned out my monthly payments to make sure that I would have this computer paid off by 2006. I just received my fourth statement from Dell with a $66.12 finance charge. I called the customer service number to explain that there must be some mistake and the lady basically told me that I was not a qualified customer and was only given a 90 day promotion. I asked to speak to a supervisor and was told that he would tell me the same thing. I then wrote an email to Dell describing what happened and they basically said that there's nothing that they could do about removing the finance charge and if I didn't want to have any additional charges that I would have to pay my entire balance off in full this month. I feel completely taken advantage of and am hoping that something will be done about this widespread fraud.

Jack Broad

my dell account was never late , they caused a finacial late charge on there end computer error I beleive yes in deed!!! glich NA just 2 Stupid Dogs running the show for everyone else and fucking up ever one elses credit! log your harrassing calls from overseas I average about 20 day
I even told them that I was not the person they were looking for they still call 6 am in the morning to 8:30PM at night Bull Shit!!! I will not change my number because of this bull shit!!! I will STOP PAYMENT and Sue DELL in COURT!!! they can come after me what are they going to get I have nothing and own nothing!!! :-) all they can do is screw my credit report up and I will fight it through the beaures!!! I am Disabled I will use that as well!!! thanks for letting me share

We love our Dell computers but BUYER BEWARE......when you purchase through Dell make sure you pay with a credit card no matter what type of discounts they offer for you to pay with a check. Speaking from experience - we purchased a system back in Dec. 2003, agreed to pay with a check after the sales person begged and pleaded with us not to use a credit card. We were told we would have a certain time frame to pay without the account rolling into a lease program. Well, an invoice was never sent to us but we kept track of this and requested an invoice online. We received the invoice and made our payment by check to the address stated on the invoice well within the time frame stipulated. Next thing we know we start receiving invoices (about 2-3 months later) from 'Dell Financial Services'showing a minimum monthly payment due on our 'lease' account with Dell. WHAT LEASE ACCOUNT?!?!?! After many phone calls, many faxes, many frustrating conversations. A very long story short - It took us 3 months to finally get Dell and Dell Financial Services to straighten this out. We thought it was over......guess what - we just received an invoice last week (keep in mind this has now been 1.5 years later) stating that we had a past due amount on an account that was paid in full within 15 days of ordering! We give up - here goes another 3 months of our time. The ironic part of this story is that we recently purchased 3 Dells for our business, thinking that our initial bad experience was just a fluke and paid with a credit card (we learned from the first time. We contacted Dell regarding this most recent invoice thinking it was happening all over again on this new order. As it turns out it is the previous situation rising from the dead to frustrate us once again. After having spoken to a customer care person (who by the way cannot do anything about this problem because Dell and Dell Financial Services do not speak with each other) we were told this is not the first he had heard of this. Does this 'fluke' sound like fraud to anyone?

We need to stop Buying computers from large manufactures such as DELL, HP and the rest of theses ass clowns. Why should we care if to support there company if there going to send the job of technical support agents overseas so that they can make more money. The product and tech support of DELL has gone down majorly in the last 2-3 years, like this is big news. I own a DELL i bought in 99 and it still works great except for a harddrive failure which is common after 3 years. I have also done onsite work with a company that services DELL, HP, Compaq, Sony just name a few, and all these companies have one fault in common, There all just alike. There so worried about gettin your hard earned money that if ones profit margin is better than the others than they too with do the same to make more money, Inferior products, outsourced tech support, etc. and yet these are the same "American stock holding companied" taking jobs away from certified hard working american people and send then to India and training them to read a teleprompter aslong as they can speak half-ass english. The money needs to be spent in america like in a local computer company with qualified induviduals that speak english and can fix it right the first time. There are some shops like in any other buisness that are out to DELL you (out to get your money and thats it) but some research must be done on a investment of that importance. You most certainly would not go out and just buy a car or house with out some information. Second thing is that the product would be built to your specifications with quality parts or you dont buy it. Try that at a large company when, your a number in how many millions of customers? When a defective part is pulled from a machine, where does it go? Back into another machine to be sold after it has ben refurbished. Now thats a word no one in there right mind wants to hear.I have built several systems and never have I had anyone call me to replace a part in 3 or so years. I use quality brand name parts, ther not cheap but they last. But the biggest factor in Ebay america is " I can go to WAL MART or DELL and get one cheaper." You get what you pay for, product and service wise.And lastly if there is a problem take it back to them. No need to wipe out a hard drive or send it off to a depot for a month only to get it back more screwed up than it already was. There are plenty of Certified experienced induviduals out there that Have been laid off by cut throat companies like DELL or HP that take pride in there work and would help out the IT industry if given another chance. All I'm saying is let's put the money back in the local shops (Like DELL use to be when they gave a shit" and eventually the companies will get the picture that the REST of us were taught grownin up, THE CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT. Peace

I have had problems since it came in the dooor evey week any on crah microsoft doesnt help, and will Dell they do not have a clue I got tried of calling them I finally got them to send a new microsfot window xp professional cd butthe problems still process on. Couple times a week. The software has been under troubleshhoting and hardware says there is nothing wrong. Something must be wrong. Dell had the nerve to call me and Tell me they would give me a new computer for $299.00 I told Iwouldnt take it if it were free

HARASSING AND RUDE PHONE CALLS FROM DELL FINANCIAL OVERSEAS CALL CENTERS , SOMETIMES UP TO 10 PER DAY.

AFTER I SENT FEDERAL CEASE AND DESIST LETTER, THEY STARTED CALLING FROM A PRIVATE CALLER COLLECTION SERVICE NUMBER

APRIL 2005

I WILL NEVER BUY FROM DELL AGAIN.

PHONE ME FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

831-426-6863

W is for the money I have Wasted
O is for the Odious customer service
R is for this Really crappy product
T is for the Tightwad Michael Dell is
H is for the Hard drive which is garbage
L is for the Lousy technical support
E is for the many Error messages
S is for the Sparks from my faulty adapter
S is for these Shoddily made computers

Put them all together and they spell WORTHLESS. Which is what my Inspiron is.

My experiences with Dell have been nothing short of a nightmare. I've had my Inspiron 500M since August of 2003. The first AC adaptor burned out two months later. Since then I have had to replace it two more times, and since I've had the current one since October it should go any day now. Every time I call Dell to ask them to replace this part I am in the middle of the semester, and the people who take my calls are extremely unhelpful and unsympathetic to my problems. They will never overnight anything to me because even though they are the manufacturer they never seem to have anything in stock. (Probably because so many other peoples' AC adaptors died.) The computer is now 20 months old and the hard drive and the memory are already shot and need to be replaced. I don't know much about computer hardware myself, but I am thinking that these parts should have lasted a little longer than a year and a half. Once again, Dell would not step up to the plate to help me in any way, and when I explained that I thought they should replace or deeply discount the parts I need, the guy I talked to was a total dick about it. They do NOT care about their customers and their products suck. You get what you pay for, and if your laptop costs $500, expect $500 worth of quality and no more. I am just hoping the damn thing lasts until I graduate in December and can buy a Sony. If you are thinking of buying a Dell ask yourself why - do you really have the time, energy, and money to replace parts when they die every couple months? And since a lot of Dell parts are proprietary, do you WANT to have to deal only with them?

I note that most of the bad experiences with Dell on here are from the USA. I don't blame you there. I've heard the horror stories. I've got to say though that the experience with Canadian tech support with Dell is awesome! True, some parts fail. Dell doesn't manufacture individual parts, but merely puts them together into something meaningful. Their machines aren't any more special than a Compaq or HP or Toshiba, etc. It's the customer service that sets them apart. It's sad to hear that in the USA, (where Dell started!) the experiences are so bad. I've never had a bad experience with them when dealing with support for my XPS.

I've read a lot of disgruntled comments about Dell and their tech support. People who expect quick results from a large computer company are living in dream land. When you call a large company (any large company) expect to be on the phone for a minimum of 30 minutes. As for the people with accents who help you, you can ask for someone with no accent. But, come on, you can't expect every person in the United States to speak english perfectly. Not even Americans do. You can understand any accent if you listen well. I have had good experiences with the tech support people and they have helped me a lot. I have bought different brands of computers throughout the years and worked with many other brands in my job which takes me all over the country and I rate Dell as one of the highest in tech support for their computers. It was the Japanese techs from Toshiba who were very condescending and rude because I couldn't get through their instructions fast enough. I have had computer techs come to my house, had to send my laptop in and each time the support and repairs were done to my exacting expectations for having put so much money into the machines. People who want immediate results must give immediate results to others, otherwise, why would they expect it?

I've owned many Dell's, both desktop and laptop. Most I've have for years. Although I read the negative experiences people have had with Dell, my own experience is positive.

Even years later, the desktops are bullet-proof. I've added drives and they're still kicking. The laptops are excellent as well. Probably about 7 computers in all. Parts are available from a variety of sources years later (eg, eBay).

I did have one problem with a laptop keyboard, and the on-site support doesn't know what they're doing. If you want a Dell fixed right, you MUST mail it into their depot. No exceptions!

I do agree the Indian customer care has a lot to be desired. Fortunately, I can take the computer apart to some extent without technical support. I also agree that the collections department is terrible, condescending, and . . . enough said.

However, if you want a valued-priced computer that will last for years, this seems to be the way to go.

I know there are a lot of complaints about Dell out there. I think a lot of it is due to sheer volume. When you sell as many PCs as Dell does, you're bound to have an issue here and there.

I am about to buy my first Dell. The computer I have now was purchased at a trade show, the kind that travel from city to city. So ANY customer service whatsoever will be better than what I have now. I am very accustomed to being on my own for tech support.

I'll be back on here to document any problems should i have any.

hey everyone you know the saying you get what you pay for? well thats true with dell systems. sorry to have to say. look a little advice i know computers are expensive and dell offers you a "great deal" but you have to ask yourself why dell offers them so much cheaper than it's competitors. it's simple the use low-end products it's like buying a bently with a VW bus engine. the price is good and on the outside it's a computer and runs the programs you need, but it's bound to brake down, and you're bound to be stuck doing the work to get it up and running again. and unless you replace the parts with higher quality parts then things are bound to keep happening. i seriouly suggest that you really look around and ask different people about computers before you buy you next one. trust me put the money into it, get protection software the first time around other wise you're just wasting your money, and it's bound to come back at you in the end, with you ultimately buying a new computer. don't get me wrong computers do break down and thats usually the owners fault, no virus protection etc. but when it's malfunction after malfuntion it's usually the product itself. often times it's cheaper to buy a whole system than to have to continually replace parts. save your money, shop around!

For the most part my machine has been good (Dimension 4400)
I've added many upgrades (RAM DVD 2nd HD )
Now I'm trying to find a better power supply and they have it rigged so you have to buy proprietary parts unless you want to hack your case up to make a standard ATX to fit.
Theres only one R&R unit I can find on the whole web and it's like 150 bux.
Thank God I haven't had to deal with customer support. Ihad a very brief taste of that. Like a previous post stated....when they wanted my money I GOT RIGHT THRU
When warranty was up they wanted over $70/hr and it's true I COULDN'T UNDERSTAND THE PERSON I WAS ATTEMPTING TO TALK TO.

Doesn't Michael Dell even realize what's going on?
How can A CEO be so ignorant to the fact that 99.99999998% of the posts on this forum (and numerous others) are NEGATIVE in regards to customer support and PRODUCT QUALITY

I'm building my own when this thing finally does croak.

The best thing I ever did was do a clean install of XP and was able to install the software I WANTED....

Half of the software they gave wasn't even full versions and we're absolutely useless.

I COULDNT EVEN BACK THINGS UP TO A CDRW BECAUSE THE STUPID MACHINE COULDNT FIGURE OUT WHAT TYPE OF DISK IT WAS....I HAD TO TELL IT EVERYTIME.....

Two words: DELL SUCKS!
For one my dad bought me a halfway decent Dimention 3000 and he told them to add a few things to the piece of shit to make it more of a gaming PC. (i'm not a computer genious) SOOOOO all i know is that is that I just bought a fucking $300+ video card and it doesn't even have a slot to plug it in! Theres a little "un-screwable door" and an empty space RIGHT WHERE THE PLUG SHOULD BE! it's like those basterds decided to play some sick joke on a kid who just wants to play his little RPG's without massive lag. well if you can get one of those mother !@#$ing plugs please send an e-mail to Teret430@hotmail.com ......thanks in advance.

Dude dont get a Dell, unless you enjoy being in HELL. First my HD crashed, AFTER 3 DAYS so they tried to get to me break down the computer one system at a time, first take out the floppy, then the CD, then, NO thanks, took them 2 weeks to send me a new drive that I had to install myself. Then my CD rom went bad, they made me meet up with a service tech and exchange the drive because she was too busy to put it in my system when it was convienient for me. Then I decided to upgrade and add a new HD, they sent me the wrong drive and would not credit my back the money without waiting for 3 weeks. Think I would have learned? So I bought what was supposed to be a special no interest no payments for 6 months as advertised on the Dell web site. They billed me after 1 week and said I didnt qualify for the promotion because my credit rating with them. Even thought I bought a desktop system and new HD. I had a earplug jack go bad and spent 3 days talking to the idiots from India to try to get the part ordered. What a joke that was, I had to take the part out myself and then they couldnt find the part number that was printed.... ON THE PART... why was I not surprised! I am sorry Mr Dell computer owner, but the part number you gave us is not in the database, please hold, I will transfer you to our parts department,
Dell parts department.... How am I helping with you Mr Dell computer owner? You have reached Dell small business parts department. Please hold while I transfer you to Dell home office parts. Im sorry the part number you gave me is listed with our small business department, part number V Victor G Gomer L Lacy D Darby... No I said V Victor G Gravy L Lenny B Barby... Oh Im sorry Mr Dell computer owner, did you say D Darby?... please hold, for ten minutes with loud obnoxious music blaring in the background while I transfer you to Dell employee sales and service. WHAT???????? There is no other company in the US with the wonderful world of INDIA customer service. Just try to understand one of them. ANY ONE! They all have the full APUH from Simpsons accent that is as thick as it gets. VERY FRUSTRATING! How am I helping you today Mr Dell computer owner. I have often wondered why enough people have not put together a class action suit against Dell for False advertising and inferior products and service. You should not have to wait for 5 to 30 minutes to talk to a real person that you can understand. I think it is a DELL strategy to make people so frustrated and confused with poor information and service that they just give up. How many times do you have to wait on hold until you are going nuts, then to talk to some uneducated person from India that you cant understand 2 words they say, wow now thats service Michael Dell, you really know what your customers need/want. I know the money you make goes to good use, Dallas appreciates you. But why dont you wake up and take a good look at this site and do something about you terrible customer service and shoddy products that you keep pumping out to the public. I used to have alot of respect for Dell when I first read all the impressive reports through PC magazine, but now I realize that PC mag was mostly sponsored by DELL and GATEWAY. Just stand behind your product, and give some real customer service without all the BULL SHIT Michael Dell, Dude Im not getting a DELL, GO TO HELL!
Lets put Dell out of there misery, LETS SUE THEM. All we need is 100 people to jump on the band wagon. Get you records ready, and document your experiences.
rmtoelle@charter.net

I bought mt Dell Inspiron 1150 laptop on the 12/22/04 and i have went 4 months without any problems. Last saturday it crashed so i rebooted it and then it came up with the error message "Primary Hard Drive 0 Not Found". So i called up Dell and was told my details weren't correct so i went to the website, changred my details again and waited. Monday i call back and i am told my details arent right so i think ok and i tell them about how i really need my laptop, the guy was indian so i couldnt really understand him but he helped me out a lot. I got given a case number while i went to find a screwdriver so i called back again and i got another indian. He helped me out and when my laptop still wouldnt work he told me he'd send out someone from tech support with a new hard drive the next day. So i just have to wait till tomorrow and see what happens...

But so far i have nothing but praise for Dell Tech Support becasue i mean it wasn't THEIR fault my laptop crapped out and they are only trying to help out. If you don't like the way the do things don't call them simple as that.

ive bought many dells in my lifetime...two desktops, one laptop, and i just bought another laptop (it was a really good deal, couldnt pass it up, even if it was a dell)

i dont understand how they have such high ratings for customer service, because it SUCKS. ive had problems with two out of the three computers i bought from them (hard drives crashed, floppy drive fried, laptop battery wont charge) and i had to fix and replace them out of my own pocket. wtf is my warrenty for, i really wanna know. the customer service reps just transfer you all over the place and they dont help you at all.

and youd think after all the years of long lines for customer service on the phone, theyd hire more reps, NOOOOOOOO ive been calling for help for over 5 years from that damned company and i always go on hold for over an hour at least

this new laptop better not screw up on me or i swear to god ill go there and kill them

So get this... I am smart, I know computers.. I would NEVER buy a Dell.. Not saying everyone else isn't smart but I know crappy Dell is (I build my own computers). Anyways.... I haven't had on my cell phone in about a couple of weeks now because I have been really buisy and my phone cannot be on when I am in class or at work. So, yesterday I turned on my phone and a few messages. One of them sounded like either a kid or a girl and said something along the lines that "my message made me sound like a fag" (I saved this message because I thought it was kind of funny).. I just figured it was some kid got the wrong number and heard my JOKE message on my Cell Phone.. Then after I hung up with checking my messages I get a call in a matter of seconds.. I barely had time to put the phone in my pocket.. *ring ring ring*.. Caller ID says: (800) 443-1638.. Hmmm.. I answer and no one talks.. They hank up on me.. I figure.. OOOOK.. Now.. This morning (while trying to sleep).. I got 8 calls from that exact same number.. They left ONE message.. They said a name which I couldn't understand what they first name was but the last name was Smith.. That's all they said "Something Smith" and then hung up. The voice was exactly the same voice as the person who said my message made me sound like a fag.. So, now I am getting a little annoyed.. I searched the internet to find mystery (800) 443-1638 info. Turns out that a lot of people are getting annoyed with this phone number with 2 people named Smith.. Hmmm.. Weird thing is this is DELL's PHONE NUMBER! Now why would they be calling ME? Do they want me to buy a Fag Computer at a rip off price with award winning crap support? I hope not.. It's just sad that even if you don't have a Dell you still might have to put up with their BS and harassment!

i purchased a Dell PCI laptop via QVC mailorder in feb. 2005. i will never buy another Dell product, nor will i do business with QVC again! QVC and their Reps are a bunch of liars, and they're dishonest. QVC Reps said that we would get support, and special treatment[not true]. also, Dell Techs were of no use to get me online. i had to pay SBC extra to get online. they were there for me everytime, they're not only helpful, but very courteous. i think it,s only a matter of time before they go under, and who cares anyway, i don't. isaac corona [thanks for listening to my story]

I agree with the others. Dell only cares about getting your money. When you have a problem and you call the number for the specific problem, you keep getting transferred to a different person. You are put on hold for 20 minutes at a time for each call you are transferred to. On one occassion, I was transferred out of the country and was ask to pay for the call in order to continue. When I finally did get someone, they knew nothing about what I was talking about. NOW, WHEN YOU WANT TO BUY SOMETHING OR A COMPUTER FROM THEM, WELL BY GOD, YOU CERTAINLY GET SOMEONE ON THE PHONE TO HELP YOU RIGHT AWAY!!!! I don't even think that who ever started this company, knows what the heck is going on and the right hand does not know what the left hand is doing. I know one thing, for sure, I will NEVER BUY ANYTHING FROM THEM AGAIN!!!!! and if you are smart, you won't either!!!

Forget the story, I'm sure you’ve heard them all. DELL SUCKS! And I will never do business with them again. I was charged a late fee because I made an early payment as opposed to making the payment on their specified due that. “What the hell!” Anyway, I'm thinking a class action lawsuit. Anyone For Tea????

Dell stinks! I purchased a rather expensive ($1,600) Dimension from them, just 3 weeks ago. I specified software I wanted loaded onto the hard drive--which they promised me, but didn't deliver. I also ordered Adobe Acrobat--to be sent separately--for me to install myself. They sent me an upgrade for Adobe Acrobat instead of the real Acrobat software. The upgrade would not install--duh--because the full software was missing. I was on-hold for 2-1/2 hours with those bastards. Finally I got them to promise to refund my money when they receive the returned Acrobat upgrade. When they phoned today to check on whether the product had been picked up by UPS, they did not have a clue as to what the original problem was. Don't they read their own documentation? Are the managers complete morons? I feel sorry for the customer service folks, because I'm sure people yell at them all the time. The problem is with the idiots who run and manage the company. Here's the punch-line: The customer service representative offered, as a conciliatory gesture, to sell me the correct Adobe Acrobat at $280. I found it on-line at another dealer for $99!!! Guess which one I bought. Fuck you, Dell Corporation!

Dell support sucks. My computer has been down for over a week and you can not get through to customer service. One day I was on hold for 3 1/2 hours before I finally hung up. When you finally do get though you can't under stand what they are saying. And they try to get rid of you as quickly aws possible. Don't buy a dell unless you can work on it yourself.

I bought a Dell Inspiron 1150 laptop (retail price: $799USD) at the Pegasus Computer Center in Woodbridge, VA two months ago. It was just sitting there on the shelf when I walked in the store, and I walked out with it. The only waiting I had to do was while another customer drooled all over it before I left the store--I bought the last one. I got them to knock off $99 from the sticker price for NOT having Windows on it, and added $200 to upgrade the 512K RAM to 1gig.

After installing SUSE Linux 9.2 Professional, I was pleasantly surprised to find it had a built-in wireless card. It´s based on the Broadcom 4306 chip so I had to use ndiswrapper and the windows wireless lan driver to get it working, but I´m using it to post this. It was also a nice surprise to learn that OpenGL is supported by the video card. It isn´t as fast as the Nvidia GE Force 6600 that lives in the AGP slot of my tower, but I can play Neverwinter Nights on it.

Executive summary: nice hardware at a fair price. I'm a happy camper.

What A Nightmare. I bought what I thought was a wireless computer with an upgraded graphics card from a Dell salesman on Dec. 22, 2004. I took their free one year financing and was told I'd have two day delivery. The computer arrived 4 weeks later, no wireless capabilities, no upgraded graphics card. I spent 3 longggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg phone calls to various tech support in numerous places around the globe in third world countries with limited English only to return the computer, at a cost of $70.00, back to Dell 2 days later. First, they told me I didn't send the monitor back. However, I had a signature of the accepting party at Dell. Took 3 Longggggg phone calls. Now the financial corp. says I owe $20 still. The financial corp. has called every Saturday for the last 3 weeks BEFORE 8 in the morning-They continue calling on both Saturday and Sunday, I've explained many times about returning the computer. They have no authority to remove this charge and now it's going to have an additional $35 late fee added to it. I've talked to customer service, not open on weekends, numerous times, who insist that only the financial corp can clear this up, who insist only customer service can clear it up and round we go. Well, next time they call, damn my principles-they win-I realized I'd send them $100 and a pint of blood to never hear the word Dell again!

We purchased a Dell for Christmas, 2004. It crashed two days after it was turned on. I contacted Tech support and was on hold for two hours before I got a warm body in the sales department who told me I would have to hold on as long as it took to get tech support. Two hours later I was on hold. Finally I got a technician who "restored" my computer. Two days later, it crashed again. Once again I had the hastle of waiting hours for tech support. Again the computer was "retored". When I asked the technician why my computer kept crashing, he said he didn't know. I insisted that I would not keep "restoring" my computer and I wanted answers. I finally reached a very nice lady in customer care who authorized a tower swap. I got a new tower, but (big surprise) it didn't work either. Straight out of the box the modem was bad and we had phone problems. The phone company found the problem and I had another round with Dell...hours of waiting for customer care and tech support. They sent a tech to the house who put the new modem in; however, the computer still was not working properly. Tech support had me strip the computer and we were to put all of the programs back on. Two CDs were missing which had to be sent later and, needless to say, the computer is still not right. I was assured that striping the harddrive and reinstalling the software would make the computer just like it was from the factory. Needless to say, it is not just like it was. The video is not quite right and we do not have all of the programs we once had. Tech support says nothing else they can do. I was on hold for 58 minutes last night waiting for customer care only to be finally told the office was closed and I would have to call back today. Customer care does not return calls. I have in the past even spoken with the corporate headquarters resolution department. Patricia Fogel, the representative gave me her e-mail address (which was incorrect) and promised to return any calls. She also promised me $100 for my inconvenience, which I have yet to see. Nor does she return calls. The problem is not just foreign tech support. It is corporate headquarters (Americans) who do not follow through with customer care. Dell does not care about repeat business, obviously. The right hand does not know what the left is doing and NOBODY IS HELD ACCOUNTABLE. Buyer beware--DO NOT BUY A DELL THE SUPPORT IS NOT THERE!

First of all, I can't understand them over the phone. Second, my Dimension 4500S is worthless. It is 4 years old and in January the monitor went out. We bought a new one. Everything was fine until last week with my hard drive quit booting up. We ordered a new hard drive from Dell, installed it yesterday along with Windows XP, Home Edition, etc. It was fine for about 4 hours and has started doing the same thing again. If I keep pressing the button off and on, eventually it will boot up, but not stay on. All I see is a blue screen with white writing flash quickly before it turns black. I have no idea what the blue screen says. If anyone out there has any advise besides tossing it, please advise. You can email me at e_daigre@yahoo.com Thanks.

My experience with Dell is fine. The experience that I am COMPLAINING ABOUT IS THE DELL FINANCIAL SERVICES. I HAVE MORE THAN PAID THE PURCHASE OFF, AND NOW I AM TOLD THAT MY "CONTRACT DOESN'T END UNTIL 2008. I PAID THE TOTAL BALANCE IN JANUARY 0FF $606.70 AND NOW I AM TOLD THAT THERE IS ANOTHER $84.34 TO PAY AND THAT IF I WANT TO PAY THIS OFF "EARLY" IT WILL COST ME OVER $250 TO DO THAT. THIS IS HIGHWAY ROBBERY.

I bought a Dell 4600 desktop about a year ago and I want to beat the living crap out of it!!!!! Hard drive died---lost all info (this is jump-off-tall-building-devastating---as you surely know) Can't find hard drive to replace it......needs a 'special' one.......boy, how smart of DELL: create a product that can only be repaired with products from it's own company----how original! And how incredibly STUPID of me to have bought from them..........NEVER AGAIN........I honestly don't think I could get more than $50-100 bucks for it at the pawn shop......and I bought it for nearly $2000........

I have a new Dell Dimension 8400 computer which was installed on Jan. 29 by Dell. We paid an additional fee for the installation and the data migration. In the beginning of March, the computer crashed. After several hours of phone calls to tech. support they determined that the hard drive was at fault and that their technician would istall a new one and the computer would have all of the factory installed components. Their technician spent all of 10 mins. in my home, during which time he loaded windows and plugged all of the cables back into my tower. None of the software and/or factory installed components were on the new hard drive. When I began attempting to do this on my own, I realized that the computer was still not working properly. I called tech. suppport again. AFter several hours, I was transferred to a supervisor and assured that a new hard drive would be sent and that the technician would not leave my home until all of the factory installed items were on my computer. When I called several days later to inquire about the hard drive, tech. support could find no record of my phone call or of a new hard drive being shipped to me. After two hours of useless troubleshooting, I was one again transffered to a supervisor. This supervisor informed me that Dell does not send technicians to service their computers, only to install faulty parts. Therefore, it is up to the consumer to get the computer up and running on a faulty piece of their equipment. We have now scheduled a two hour telephone appointment to try to resolve the issue. They inform me now that Windows was installed improperly because their technician connected all of the cables to the tower while this was happening. Originally they told me that the wires were not connected properly, but they changed the story after having me open the tower. I have had this computer for just over one month. They have lied and put me on hold for hours as they try to figure out what is wrong. They do not care that this should be their problem and not mine. According to them, it is my problem. This was a top of the line piece of equipment, and it is useless. The supervisor actually tried to blame the company that manufactures their hard drive. Every one you speak to tells you a different story. Dell used to have a reputation for the best customer service. Apparently, they are not interested in keeping that reputation. I would never, ever buy another one of these computers. They gladly accepted our order for three of these very expensive items, but from that point forward have offered no service. They don't even communicated amongst themselves, and they are not to blame for any of these problems.

Ditto, Ditto, to all the people that own a Dell. All I can say is I bought a Dell for the Dell name and I will never own another computer that is a Dell.I bought my first Dell on 12/04 and it crashed on 2/17/05. The only thing that tech support knows are the following. 1. hardrive 2. motherboard 3. research it. But first its the hardrive. Sent another hardrive, not formatted nothing on it! After a week of tech support and customer service, passing the buck, they sent a new tower (refurbished) they can do that if you own after 21 days. Well it runs for the time being but doesn't have what I paid for. Talked everyday since and here's the thing, once Dell has your money, kiss it good-bye. If the item sheet that is a photo copy, states you have it, then you have!! It doesn't matter that you know it isn't on your computer, that piece of paper with the packing says you have it and that's final. I have a Warranty that is actually useless. If this computer crashes again, and I have know doubts that it will shortly. I will have a local computer company repair or build me what I want. I have already told all my friends do not buy a Dell, and will continue to file complaints all over the internet until Dell gets the message. Hopefully this will help others.

We have been making payments on a Dell computer system for a few years, and have been faithful customers. Recently, I attempted to pay off our account and close it. I spoke to a customer service rep. who could not speak english very well. I spent almost a hour making sure that all fees that would be encured would be included in the payoff amount to include all interest, etc. After being told an amount and paying it, I soon recieved a bill in the mail from them with a check by phone fee. Since the account was in the name of my husband, I was refused service of any kind when I called to inquire about the fee. Today (3/10/05), I came home to a frustrated husband trying to reason with yet another customer service rep. from guess where (India), and who could barely speak english. I attempted to talk to him and when he asked (in his severely broken english with a heavy accent) how I was, before I could answer he said "Oh, that is good". I told him to hold on a second before he read any more of his manual to me and told him that I wanted all charges on the account dismissed, and the account closed. He proceeded to explain to me that it could not be done, I then asked for his supervisor. When I did that, he explained to me that he could do nothing also. I then proceeded to explain to him that his supervisor could, and that I wanted to talk to him this instant. The supervisor then preceded to tell met that he would start to research it and if it was discovered that I was told the wrong information, then all charges would be cancelled and my account closed. I told him to proceed, but in the meantime, I am going to contact the Dell headquarters and speak to someone who can make those decisions!! I am sick of speaking to people who cannot speak english, or provide customer service!

help this dell 8300 will not burn a downloaded movie
i can burn music.

I have joined the "elite group" who have bought a Dell (Dimension 8300), used it for 1 year, and the hard drive crashes!!! Thank goodness for an extended service plan. The jury is still out on whether or not the new hard drive will get installed or work (keeping my fingers crossed)! Here's my story:

I was using MovieMaker to create a CD from my Christmas pictures. The machine froze, tried CNT, ALT, Delete to restart my machine but it never came back on. I searched for the receipt from Dell, called the 1-800 number and that's when the nightmare began.

We must be special(XP professional OS) because I got someone in Iowa or Idaho (Ü)...not sure what she said. She heard my problem, connected me with someone in Mississippi. That young lady walked me through some steps (told me to press F8 to start the computer in safe mode, nothing happens); nothing else worked so she told me to get my disks that came with the computer, gave me a second case number, and a call back number to get tech support quickly when I locate the disk. (Yeah, right!!) I asked her if someone would be able to come to my house to fix the computer...she said absolutely NOT! That's when the tears started to flow! I was hysterical!!

My husband calls Dell when he gets home...received little more help from another tech. With her help, they decide the hard drive was fried. The Dell tech told my husband that someone would be calling from a computer service from our area who would bring out a new hard drive; if they didn't call, here was the 1-800 number to call and set up the appointment (along with a NEW case number(#3) and a dispatch number). No one calls by the next morning, so I decided to check with them to see when they would come out...called the number the tech gave my husband. The recording said it had been changed and the new number is: yada, yada, yada. I called the new number and guess what number that is?? A sex line!!! Some sexy sounding recording wanted to know what she could do for this "big guy". Oh, I was really PO'd by then.

I called Dell back and yelled a lot; they apologized for the number and gave me a new number to call. That call was placed this morning and I waited 1 hour to get in.

Some very nice Texan came on the line and helped me...a lot!!! The hard drive is to be put in tomorrow but we have to call the number back to get help loading all the software back on the computer.... another hour wait! Hopefully they will come tomorrow at the allotted time schedule.

This guy told me that I was lucky that my Dell lasted one year.... sometimes they are delivered not working at all! Thank goodness for this old IBM, Windows 98 machine! It won't burn a CD but I can still get on-line to complain....Ü

Dell harrassment. About 3 months after buying my dell I moved out of my parents house and to an apartment. I filled out the proper address change with them over the phone so they could bill me at my new apartment. Well time went by and I new my Dell Bill should have come by now so I called Dell to ask if they had sent my Bill. They did, to my parents house, I told them I had changed my address over the phone with them. They said they had no changes recorded and they would send my bill to my new address and well as make the address changes they were supposed to do the first time I called. About 5 days later I had still not recieved my bill, but I had recieved a phone call from them saying that my bill was late and they asked if I wanted to pay over the phone. I told them no I would pay when my bill arrived. They told me they sent me 2 bills, when I asked to what address IT WAS MY PARENTS HOUSE AGAIN! I told them this is the 3rd time I have had to change my address because they haven't done it the 1st two times. My parents had forwarded my bill in the mail so I finally recieved it a couple of days later. But during that time Dell would call about every 2 hours asking if I would pay over the phone and why I haven't paid. Every time I explained, it didn't matter, they still called. So finally we got it all set and they recieved my bill and charged me a late charge. I didn't care because I didn't want them to bother me any more than they had so I paid it. About 2 months later I recieved a phone call from them again telling me that my bill was past due again. They called on a Sunday, my bill wasn't due til Wednesday and I had sent my bill that Thursday. They agreed that it was due Wednesday but they haven't recieved it because of the holiday. There was no holiday that week or the week after for that matter. They all sound like they are from India and have no clue about american culture because I had to explain to him that they don't deliever mail on Sundays. DON'T EVER BUY FROM DELL! THEY WILL BOTHER YOU LIKE CRAZY AND HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT AND WILL NOT HELP YOU OUT AT ALL!!!

I purchased an Inspirion 1100 in June of 2003. The case began to fall apart shortly after the purchase. The AC adapter cable was replaced x2 before the 1 year warranty ended. After the warranty ended, my relationship with Dell ended. It was impossible to find information on BIOS upgrades or the required AC adapter cable replacements every 4 months. The machine came with a built-in connector for a cable modem. I had to replace that with a PCMIA card because the connector wore out and I could not get it repaired.

Now it appears that the battery died. Which means the computer is dead and my data is inaccessible. It could be the motherboard but it is going to take considerable effort and $$$ on my part to determine the exact problem.

Apparently Dell does not need repeat business. I would not buy another computer or component made by dell.

I wanted to share that the power supply in my Dell 4600 failed 1 year and 4 months after purchase.

Just a quick note to anyone who is considering purchasing a Dell computer. The idiots who bitch about the overseas Dell support purchased the cheapest computer they could find from Dell's consumer division. 80% of consumer support for Dell is handled overseas. The overall consumer sales for Dell accounts for 11% of overall Dell sales. Which obviously means that 89% of Dell's sales are to businesses.

Dell relishes its business accounts because they are repeat buyers, so 85% of Dell business support is handled by techs in the U.S. If you call U.S. Dell support between 5am and 8pm Monday through Friday you have a "one" percent chance of getting a technician overseas. They only get calls routed to them when the queue gets too full or your hold time goes over a certain limit (I don't remember what that limit is). If you call Dell support outside of those hours then you have a 50/50 chance of getting someone overseas as most Dell tech support facilities in the U.S. are not open 24/7. I think only Austin is.

If you really care about who answers the other end of the phone when you have a problem, it's simple. When you order your computer just order it as a business. Just tell them you run an eBay business at home under your own name and they'll sell you the system "on the business side" and you're account won't be marked as consumer.

Also, in MANY cases, you can actually save a few bucks if you buy from the business side instead of the consumer side. An Inspiron 8100 on the consumer side is $750. It's $699 on the business side.

I have nothing but good things to say about Dell. I purchased my Dimension 8250 in Feb./03. It in fact, arrived earlier than the estimated shipping/arrival date....because my room wasn't cleaned and organized yet so I could fit my new computer desk into it.

Anyways...I admit, that I had trouble connecting to the internet the first day, but I figured it out, with tech support, and I'll say, that yes, I was annoyed. But, I was over excited to get my new computer up and running.

It is now March/05 and up until a week ago, I had not had ANY problems....NONE AT ALL!

Well, with my shaw internet, I decided to get rid of Norton Antivirus and replace it with the F-secure FREE antivirus, etc. Well, since I did that, I had NOTHING but problems. Viruses after viruses....and system crashes...etc.

So, I called Dell....they were VERY VERY polite and walked me through a complete system debug and reformatting my computer. Somehow, I got disconnected from the gentleman I was speaking to, and 5 minutes later, the phone rang and it was a woman from Dell, only TOO apologetic that I was disconnected and eager to help. She walked me through the rest of the reformatting.....and told me...or asked, if I could possibly call dell back when the reformatting was 100% complete, so that Dell could assist me with installing my drivers.

When I called back, it happened to be the first gentleman that got my call, and he seemed thrilled to take over my case again. His exact words..." Oh good, I can take control of this case again!" And he apolgized for disconnecting me....

Anyway, my computer was all working, and I installed my Shaw FREE virus software, and low and behold...VIRUSES!!!!

SO, I called dell, and they tried a few things, and decided to reformat again. Very helpful, and helped install drivers again (This time I wrote it all down again.)

Well, after I installed this Shaw stuff again, my computer started doing some funky things....so, once again, I called Dell, ( I now have their canadian tech support number memorized 1-800-847-4096)

So, he did a system debug and then I reformatted my computer again, and he told me he thought I was capable of doing the drivers on my own. So, I double checked with him that I was going to do it in the proper order and stuff...and so...while my computer was reformatting, I went to Staples and bought McAfee Internet Security Suite and McAfee Antispyware...and installed it, and I have had NO problems since.

Also, on another note....I had a Packard Bell, Win98 which also had the "Magic" reformat disk. Only thing was, that...you reformat and you get all that "FREE CRAP (AOL, KiddoNet, etc.)" on your computer.

With Dell!!!

All that crap is on different disks, so if you WANT it, you can INSTALL it...if you DON'T WANT it, NEVER look at the disks again!!

Anyways...My computer is perfect again, brand spanking new!!!

Thank you DELL!!

P.S. I must say, that I am NOT impressed with the support I received from my internet provider (SHAW CABLE)....that BAG on the phone was RUDE!!! HARSH!! Treated me like I knew NOTHING about computers!! I could describe what I imagine her to look like, but I might offend all the leather wearing, blue eyelinered dried out died blonde hair with greying dark roots....and pasty makeup people out there!

I just purchased a desktop and laptop, printer, and numerous other items from dell. One of the things...a wireless card was defective so I called customer service..they said they scheduled a pick-up for UPS to pick up the defective card...but no one showed. I called the following day, and again they said they'll schedule a pick-up again...no pick-up. Now...everytime I call I am speaking to a person with a VERY HEAVY accent. I'm asking them why is this not getting picked up and all their responding id "YES MAM"..."YES MAM"...I will schedule another pick-up...but not answering my question. I was SO INFURIATED...talking to a moron who responded with "YES MAM" to every question. I then asked for a supervisor, and she just left me on hold.
I called back and spoke to another customer service person with a heavy accent but he finally got my defective wireless card picked up.

Then I had another incident with customer service. When I bought the two dell computers they came with 6 months of free AOL...WHEN I contacted AOL they said it is for new accounts only, so I contacted Dell online with the live chat on the computer thinking maybe there I can get a reasonalbly informative rep. I asked her where on the computer selling page does it say anything about the 6 months free of AOL with a new account only. She TOTALLY evaded the question, and told me to cancel my current account and start a new one. Again I asked her where does it say that 6 months of fre AOL with new acounts because I didn't see that, and again she tells me to cancel my present account...NEVER answering my questions. My expiriences with Dell customer care have been aggravating and infuriating.

I might also add on my old Dell computer I phoned Tech support with a problem, and they made it worse...iT TOOK DAYS FOR IT TO WORK PROPERLY...no thanks to dell.

I wish I had a local number to call NOT to get through to India...I cannot understand their heavy accents, and they are of NO HELP!!!!

I just bought a Dell Color Laser Printer 3000cn. It installed as slick as anything I've ever installed before, and as a network printer too. All I had to do was connect it to the network with a CAT-5 cable and load the support from a CD. It printed beautifully, and I was as pleased as could be about the purchase.

After about 30 pages of mostly black and white printing, and only three 3"X5" color pictures , it ran out of cyan toner. I had been warned that the toner cartridges shipped with the printer would not last long, and I intended to get full-sized cartridges before long, but not after 30 pages. When I looked into the replacement cartridges I learned that the printer is made by Lexmark, that cartridges can only be bought from Dell, and that there is a big anti-trust suit now over the attempt to monopolize the market through the use of chips in the cartridges that have the effect of buying the cartridges only from the manufacturer.

Anyone want to buy a Dell Printer for a good price? I don't want to have to deal with Dell for the life of the printer. I can get Minolta, and HP toner at any office supply. I'd like to bale out of this situation as quickly and as gracefully as I can.

Shut up all the damn complaining about dell.. Must people who say "oh it broke down or stopped working", did something to it. Computer idiots.... Stop whinning, learn how to use the damn thing before you speak. I have 3 dells and have dells at work and never have a problem with them.PERIOD!!

I purchased a Dell Inspiron 500 from dell in late 2003ish with the Dell Preferred Account. On November 10,2004. I went to Citi Financial to get a loan with a lower APR to PAY OFF my account. I called dell from CF and asked what my payoff amount was. The representative told me $1504.45. I get the check issued to DPA for $1504.45 (it was a CF check). I mailed the check a few days later. I also included in the envelope my new address. I called dell in early December to see if it had been processed because I havent received any receipt back. The representative that I spoke too said that he saw that it was there but it takes 21 days to "post" to the account. I also updated my address with him. Around the end of December I called to see what the status was again, and they had sent me to the collections department. I have spoke to atleast 30-40 people from being transferred back and forth. I have spoke to reps that have given me false extensions for call backs, false names, and all they can do is transfer me back and forth. I have spent roughly 10-20 hours on the phone with Dell Financial Services. Noone will give me any direct number. About 98% of the representatives I have spoken too that are from other countries with an very strong accent, and speak horrible english with names like brad, josh, joshua, michael....so on and so forth, and when you ask for a last name they stutter and finally give you the "americanized" last name. I then was told that I owed over $1600.00. When I spoke to a "manager" in early January I explained my issue to her. I also explained that this is affecting my credit score. I then asked her what I should do and she apologized and stated that she would have the remainder of the $1504.45 deducted from my account. I then contacted CF and had them stop payment on that check and CF issued Dell a new one for $1504.45. I mailed the payment, which posted to my account on the 31 of January 2005. I also updated my address with her that still was not on file as well as my #. I finally received the statement in the mail that says I still owe $255.68 from late fees. These were not taken off of my account. Mind you that I had confirmation that this is a Dell mistake. So I have spent the whole month of Februray on the phone and all I get is hung up on and transferred back to a regular representative. It seems as though when I ask a manager/supervisor to speak to their boss because of the cooperation that I do not receive that that is the highest person I can speak too and once again get disconnected.

I was pressured to buy more than I wanted to get free shipping.The total was over $900.00.I just wanted a simple $499.00 one like on the T.V. comercial.The one on the add isn't what it seems.You have to purchase all the drives,monitor,speakers and software ect. seperate.Then they tacked on a three year service-way more than enough to cover the $500.00 shipping,witch is crazy.I should have hung up as soon as they told me that.The first day my camera wouldn't work with it.They told me I have to talk to the camera people.It still doesen't work properly.Its just a cheap uncomplicated little camera that worked fine on my old COMPAQ.I wish I had bought one from wal-mart for under$500.00.God forbid this one breaks down after reading all the horror stories.

Three years ago, I purchased a computer from your company over the internet, from my work. I was specific in my needs, and the original order was to have been shipped that week. I also ordered separately a PDA. I was then notified later, that key components I requested were in fact not available, and this pushed my order back to 30 days. I again spoke to a representative to change the order so I could have the computer earlier, as it was a necessity for me. Once again, the order was delayed. As a way of apologizing they wanted to give me a digital camera, something I didn’t want or need.

When my order finally did come, I found that the expensive surround sound speaker system that I purchased did not work. When I notified Dell, they said they would send out the correct sound card. The card came, was installed, and AGAIN did not work. I told the representative on the phone that I was at the end of my patience and would be shipping the entire system back, INCLUDING the PDA I purchased separately.

I was then told they would not charge me for the surround sound system if I would keep the PC, and the person gave me a price of paying off my account to the tune of $1480.00 give or take a few dollars. I said that would be acceptable, and immediately mailed a payment for the full amount, rather than make payments through the credit that was extended to me. I wanted this entire unpleasant ordeal and experience behind me.

I then found out later the payment had been applied, but was only “applied” and the conversation I had with the representative was not documented correctly, OR the person taking the balance just applied it to the original price.

When I recieved a bill, I immediately wrote Dell through the customer service email contact, and had several communications with them, where the second communication clearly stated that they considered the matter closed, and would take care of my outstanding erroneous balance. The person mentioned that might see a bill or two that was not caught and to ignore them. Again, I felt the matter was cleared.

Just this year, my PC’s hard drive crashed, and I called their support in India to assist me. The gentleman on the phone was very nice, and within a week, they had a contractor out to my home to put in the new hard drive. I lost all my past correspondence, all my electronic records, all my contacts and emails I deal with on a daily and weekly basis.

The reason I am pointing out the issue with the contractor, is because I felt with the contract I had with Dell, the appointees would come out and reinstall my system. Instead, I was left to my own devices, and everything that came on the PC when they originally shipped it to me, had to be manually re-installed by ME, as their contractor put in the first disk, and basically told me to click “next” until it was finished. I was then told to repeat that process with all the disks I had been given by Dell, and was forewarned on some to “not install before” and others to “install only if…” which left my head spinning with questions and he rushed out the door.

Four hours later and two crashes later, I was beginning to see the product I originally purchased, except for my surround sound speakers of course, which still would not work.

Last November of 2004, I was sent to collections for a bill that I thought was resolved two years ago. I disputed it, and immediately contacted Dell via registered letter at their corporate offices. It is 2/24/05, and they still haven't replied. What they "have" done though, is send me to ANOTHER collection agency, as the previous one sent it back to them as disputed. I have since filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission AND the Office of the Consumer Credit Commissioner in Texas.

just purchased a dell computer,it's not even a week old. and it doesn"t work so i tried to calL Dell tech. support after being on hold for 5 hrs. i felt that i had given dell pleanty of time to answer the phone,and i never talked to anyone, maybe i should have been on hold for a week. dell does not need my business or even anyone"s business either. all they want is your money and the hell with you afterwords.
I run a business and everyone that i come in contact i will inform them not to buy a dell product.
It"s a shame that these company"s can get away with this, that"s why i"m informing everyone that i know DUE NOT BUY A DELL COMPUTER.

My company has two separate accounts with Dell Financial Services. Any other company would have found a way to tie these together, Not Dell. I guess they got to their present size by reinventing practices and ignoring errors.
On Dec 21, 2004 I sent a payment of $400. and included the top portion of the invoice. On dec 30 my account showed an "ACH" transaction for the $400. So far so good. On Dec 31, 2004 DFS again withdrew $400. from my account. On Jam 3rd 2005 I contacted DFS which is not an easy thing to do. I finally got a supervisor and she told me that they would refund the extra $400. in 30 to 60 days.
I assume they have pictures of Bonnie & Clyde, Jesse James and John Dillinger in their board room.

To paraphrase what DFS said, We accidentally stole $400. from you but within 60 days we are going to give it back.

This is definitly a new way to raise the bottom lin. I guess we now know where the thieves from Enron are working.

My bank was able to assist me in reversing the second cashing by Dell of the check. I called Dell and told DFS that the problem had been resolved through no help from them,

During the 2nd week of Feb this year I recieved a refund check from Dell for $400. I deposited the check and purchased a cashiers check for $200. and sent it to DFS. (let's see them deposit that twice)

Since the refund I have received two calls a day from Dell telling me in broken English the my account is $400. in arrears.
Finally I talked to a Supervisor who assured me he woult take care of the problem.

This morning I received a call from DFS-India to tell me that I was $400. in arrears and it would have to be taken care of immediately.

I hung up aand went to the WWW and found a local number for Dell.
I refused to play in their pushbutton world and I was transferred to a live American who transferrred to an executive assistant. She took the information and said that she would look in to it. (She seemed like a very caring person - I wonder why she is working for Dell?
Today I received a letter from DFS saying that they had made an error and to contact my bank to have the error corrected. If there are any other problems we could contact their customer disservice people. The then apologized but no one signed the letter,

Remember when Michael promised to bring the business tech support back to America, it's still offshore. Dow here we call that a lie. And now Michel's people have found a way to steal and replace it at their convenience. Dow hear we call that theft.

So Michael if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck...

Michael by your own actions you have proven yourself a liar and a thief, Why aren't you in Washington?

PS: Any one know a good class action lawyer?

Personally I have had no problems with my computer. The problems come with the tech support. It seems to me that Dell must contract out their tech line to another company located in the mideast. I say this because each time I have called to get any assistance the accent of the person on the other line is so bad I can't even understand what they are saying. And I work on as phone support. Out of the five calls I have made I think I have only talked to one person that spoke clear English. Though the one time I needed to have a tech come out to fix a drive on the computer I had no trouble. They showed and fixed the problem right away and offered to help with some application problems I was having. So in all I would have to say that my experiences with Dell has been fine.

I BOUGHT A DELL INSPIRON 5160 AND BEGAN HAVING PROBLEMS WITH IT 2 OR 3 DAYS AFTER TAKING IT OUT OF THE BOX. I CONTACTED TECH SUPPORT WHO TALKED ME THROUGH ONE PROBLEM AFTER ANOTHER FOR ABOUT THREE WEEKS. FINALLY, I DECIDED I NO LONGER WANTED TO SPEND MY TIME FIXING THEIR COMPUTER AND DECIDED TO RETURN IT. DELL WAS HAPPY TO TAKE THEIR JUNK BACK HOWEVER I WAS REQUIRED TO PAY 10% OF THE PURCHASE PRICE BECAUSE I HAD KEPT IT MORE THAN 21 DAYS WHILE TRYING TO RESOLVE THE NUMEROUS PROBLEMS WITH THEIR TECH SUPPORT PEOPLE. THE PROBLEMS NEVER WERE FIXED AND I CAN ONLY ASSUME THE PURPOSE OF THEIR TECH SUPPORT IS TO ENSURE YOU DON'T RETURN THEIR JUNK UNTIL AFTER THE 21 DAYS HAS ELAPSED AND THEY CAN KEEP 10% OF YOUR MONEY.

IF YOU BUY ANYTHING FROM DELL AND HAVE ANY PROBLEMS, DO NOT TRY TO RESOLVE THEM WITH TECH SUPPORT. RETURN IT IMMEDIATELY SO YOU CAN GET ALL YOU MONEY BACK.

I am on my 4th computer from Dell. This probably says something to you right away. However, you should know that I had 2 other computers in between purchasing another Dell. My first Dell computer, which I purchased just after I graduated from Grad School, was a serious disappointment. I had multiple problems with the unit and spent way too much time trying to get Dell to respond in a reasonable manner. In response to Marc Wensell from Triangle, VA, I was a newbie to the world of computers and I did do some "stupid" things. But Marc, your ugly comments are uncalled for and very unhelpful. Neither Dell nor any other computer manufacturer demands that their customers by experts to purchase their equipment. Dell markets heavily to college and post-college age buyers. Their products range from entry level low cost machines all the way up to servers and very high tech. very expensive units. Dell needs to supply reasonable assistance to any buyer of any degree of knowledge. Overal intelligence has nothing to do with the ability to operate a computer in a competent manner! Knowledge yes, intelligence, beyond the ability to learn, is not a measure of what one knows, rather it is the ability to apply what one knows in a reasonable fashion.

So, after having grown totally fed up with Dell I wrote a letter to the company that resulted in a return letter that said much and meant nothing. My second and third computer systems were from another manufacturer. What I learned was that my experience with Dell, at that time, was pretty much normal for the industry. I also learned much more about both hardware and software and when it came time to purchase 2 new units for my office I returned to Dell. Why? Because despite my previous experiences I had read and heard that they had improved their customer service. And, of-course, the price on the systems we needed was very good. I have been, overall, very pleased with Dell's level of support for these systems. We have had some problems with the hardware and when I have called for help I have received the type assistance that I needed in a prompt and kind way. Sometimes the problem is due to something that we did or did not do and sometimes the problem has related to hardware that simply failed for one reason or another. I will say that it is a good idea to learn as much as you can about the difference between hardware and software issues. There are many things that we, the user, can do to keep our systems free of major problems. And, yes, Marc, there are things that people do with their computers that create more problems.

My 4th Dell is a new Inspiron laptop. My biggest shock in terms of customer service came earlier this year. I was on the road (I am a writer/photographer)in a remote area far removed from any large town. One morning my laptop refused to boot. Nothing I did would make the systme come alive. I called Dell in a panic and the person of the phone was great. She walked me through some diagnostics and we finally concluded that something was very wrong inside the motherboard. Since I was so far away from "civilization" Dell could not send a repair person out, so I drove the computer to the nearest town of any size and called Dell back. By that time they had arranged a repair person in another town about 250 miles away and had arranged for FedEx to pick up my computer and deliver it to the repair person. Meanwhile they had found out that the small local library had a computer I could use to file my copy for that period. Anyhow, 36 hours later my laptop arrived back at my motel, fully functional. I really felt that Dell had gone above and beyond the call of duty on this one and I wrote a letter to the company praising them for their help and thanking the person who made it possible for me to keep working.

It's true that everyone's experience with Dell is different. I have had some pretty bad experiences, but I have also had some great ones, such as the one above. If you are having trouble with a company, such as Dell, try to get to the top of the heap - write (don't call!) the highest level person you can. Send the letter via express mail, if you can, and keep up the pressure until you get a reasonable response. Be polite, but be firm.

The first computer I bought with my own money was the laptop that I am writing this note with right now. It is a Dell Inspiron 8500. My new Dell Dimension 3000 is on its way in the mail as I type.

I have given almost $3,000 to Dell in my life. I am in college, and I take online classes sometimes and do all of my schoolwork so it's really important that it works.

A year ago, about a week after my one-year warranty expired i popped a key off my keyboard from a book cover that got bumped. Dell had no obligations to fix my keyboard. I was gladly willing to pay for the replacement.

After 10 minutes on hold I got a representative. I explained the whole situation. He told me I would have to replace the whole keyboard because of the way laptop keyboards are designed. He said one would be mailed out with a do it yourself installation kit and instructions. The replacement would be free as long as I returned the broken one.

This seemed like a great deal to me. And 10 minutes isn't very long to wait on the phone for a customer service rep, it's one of the shortest wait times for computer repair I've ever experienced. The two people I spoke to spoke pretty good English, I could understand them at least.

My battery died a few months later, but laptop batteries go quickly when you use them all the time so I am not going to blame Dell for that. It lasted for almost a year and a half, which is comparable to other brands.

I just love Dell. I can get exactly what I need, without buying a bunch of extra stuff. To get a good processor I don't have to spend thousands of dollars on a beefed up computer, I can just order a fast processor.

The deals you get on Dell are amazing. I got free shipping, a free flat panel monitor upgrade from the original CRT, and a $50 rebate for my desktop that I just ordered. That's about $400 I just saved. I'm getting a great computer, at a great price, from the convenience of my own home.

Be patient with your customer service reps. I work in a call center office. Most of you can't imagine what it feels like to have an outraged caller, it can ruin your whole day. These people didn't make your computer or cause your parts to fail so be human and treat them with some respect. If you have a true problem yelling isn't going to get you anywhere, the people in the call center can be angels if you treat them right. Besides, yelling at people in English if they don't understand English well doesn't really get you any further, it just sets you behind.

So if you want your problems handled quickly and adequately you know what to do! Take your frustrations out on sites like this, don't recommend the company again, spend your money somewhere else, spread the bad word as much as you like. Just be patient and kind and you'll get more than you ever imagined!

Since purchasing the Dell I have spent more time on their absolutely useless `online` help than I have using the computer. To attempt to get personal help is impossible. Having sold their junk they just don`t want to know. The same applies to programmes installed by Dell eg Samsung Sonic Recorders and the useless all `in one printer`---what a load of junk!
I have an old Gateway 2000 with Windows 95. Apart from the microprosessor speed this is far superior to the Dell, as is the old HP printer. I will never purchase, or advise anyone to purchase, a Dell.

I had a horrible experience with Dell when the hard drive on my Inspiron 8100 began grinding and crashing my system. This was a while back, but I'm still angry about the slipshod service I received. Not only did it take them a long time to accept that my hard drive was defective, when they sent a replacement, it was a rebuilt one, not new. Of course, that's what the contract called for, but not something I noticed. My fault for not reading "fine print."

My sister recently bought a Dell for her daughter and her experience getting it repaired was worse than mine. They have since stopped using it entirely and bought an Apple.

They have appealing prices on their commercials, but I will not make the same mistake again.

I freely admit that my problem with Dell was of my own making, but when I offered what I felt was a reasonable compromise, they refused.
I purchased 2 computers online from Dell. I had seen an ad in the paper that day, showing the Dimension 3000 desktop at an excellent price. It also showed a Christmas bonus of a CD burner.
I saw the Value Code at the bottom, but when I looked through the ad, it seemed to me that the code was only to find the item more easily on the website. It didn't occur to me that I needed to enter that code to get that particular deal.
I found the Dimension 3000 with no problem, and I also saw that there was free shipping until a certain date.
It never occurred to me that it was an either/or situation, and I wasn't getting the flyer advertised deal.
When I was looking for the Inspiron 1000 notebook, I used the value code to find it, and I got the bonus printer that was advertised. I didn't get free shipping on it. I just assumed that the free shipping wasn't offered on this item.
The computers arrived in November, but were not opened until Christmas Day. That was over the 30-day initial satisfaction period.
I realized that day that the CD burner was not installed on the desktop unit. I contacted Dell and had it explained to me.
I then contacted them again, explaining that I realized it was my screwup, but I would gladly pay for the shipping now, if they would ship the CD burner at no charge, as that was what originally drew me to the purchase. They refused.
I still feel that it was a reasonable compromise.
I told them that they need to make their advertising much clearer. Their description of the Value Codes needs to say that it has to be entered in order to get the advertised special. It doesn't. All it says is that it can be used to more easily find the items on the website. They should also state more clearly on their website that advertised deals are not in effect on the site unless these codes are entered. It does say in small print on one page of the site that special offers cannot be combined.
I recognize my part in this, but Dell should also realize that their advertising needs to be more clear.

I ordered a computer from Dell and returned it. They have not refunded the money into my account even though they have their computer back. It took dell an hour to take money from my checking account and im still waiting on the return which was said to be taken care of. Their customer service is a joke. Stay away from dell. they are very willing to hurry and take your money but forget your refund.

See the following site to send a complaint to Dell

http://www.planetfeedback.com/homepage/0,2585,,00.html


TO:
Michael Dell, CEO
Dell Computer Corporation
1 Dell Way
Round Rock, TX 78682-0001

Steve Forbes said "if you have a company with unhappy customers, you have failed!!"



Michael Dell

NOW!!!

Urgh!! That seems like a good way to begin. I went on Dell financial's website about 5 months ago and changed my phone #. I did not put two and two together, but ever since then I have not rcvd a bill stmt from them. I have paid each month as I knew my pymt was due. On Feb. 7th I rcvd a letter from Dell, dated Feb 3rd, stating that since I changed my address (phone # is part of the address field on their website) that I may not have rcvd a bill due to a technical problem on their part. Blah, blah, blah, and since this was their technical problem that for each month that I did not receive a bill from them that no payment was due and all late fees, etc would be waived, etc. I called Dell on Feb 8th to inquire about Feb payment as since I did not receive a bill from them I had forgotten to pay until I received their ltr. I explained to the CSR that I have not rcvd a bill stmt in about 5 months and explained about the letter and my changing my phone #, etc. He presumptously stated that i was 5 months delinquent. I then told him, no I was not, that I have been paying my acct each month. I could not get him off the 5 months delinquent. I then asked him to check my acct and he states "I only show you owing 1 month". I told him that is what I have been saying. He said "no. You stated you had not paid for 5 months". I stated 'No, I said I had not rcvd a bill for 5 months." Ok, now we are so far off track of why I called. I asked to speak to a supervisor. I spoke to someone named Liz, whom I cannot believe is a supervisor. I again explained the letter and she denied that a letter was sent. Ok, I'm holding the letter in my hands!! I (imagine a customer having to help them with customer service issues) asked and offered to fax her the letter. She gave me her fax # but would not give me her last name (said for security purposes) nor would she give me her extension. Not only these, but she would not call me back to discuss the letter after I faxed it. Some customer service!! I did tell them I don't know why they called themselves customer service! I was about ready to take my Dell computer and drop it off at their office --- good thing they are in another state!

Today, Feb 9th, I receive a call from Dell Financial at my work (which by the way is not on the address field on their website)asking for a payment by phone! I hung up on him and told him about the letter in a short summary and advised him he is not to call me again.

I called Dell again (yes, I must be a glutton for punishment) to complain about the guy calling me for a pymt by phone. Again, I attempted to explain the letter. To no avail. At this point I am tying to find options to file a complaint against Dell. To me they are a untrustworthy company... they do not abide by what they submitted by mail. Oh, I failed to mention in my last call to them they stated that they mailed me the letter accidentally. Imagine Dell making a mistake!!! I say they should abide by the mistake (if it was one or they are trying to be right at any cost). I would not purchase and will not purchase another Dell computer based upon their customer service. My computer system has been fine. I've only had to have one 'tune up' -- more memory in 4 yrs. I would much rather have great customer service and people 'own up' to their mistakes and make amends for their errors.

I recently made an online purchase of a Dell Laptop Computer. I had been looking at them online for months. In June of 2004 I applied for a Dell Prefered Account and was accepted in seconds. For months I watched online and waited for the best time to purchase. In December while looking online I saw NO INTEREST FOR ONE YEAR on Dell Prefered Accounts. I decided to make the purchase December 9, 2004. I received my laptop on December 12. On December 16, I was online looking at digital cameras and saw Dell had a 5 mp Kodak that I was interested in. I called the online sales number to inquire if I could add the camera to the Dell Prefered Account and was told I could. I ordered and was told the camera would be here in 3 to 5 business days. Camera had not arrived by December 22, so I called to inquire.
During our conversation I made the comment about this being a great deal having no interest for one year. The sales rep then told me I only had 90 days no interest. I almost exploded. I told her no way would I take the camera and I wanted to return the laptop. She asked me to reconsider and I told her how I assumed I had no interest for one year. She apologized and said she needed to transfer me to the return department. After speaking to the return department I asked them to transfer me to the Dell Financial Department. They could not transfer, but gave me the number. I called and asked to speak to a supervisor. I was on hold for over 20 minutes and hung up. I called again on December 23 and again, after being on hold, I began to repeat my issues and was interupted and told by the rep she saw my previous days call and a change had been made to my account. I now had ONE YEAR NO INTEREST. I was told I would see on my first statement that payment in full must be made by January, ’06. I was happy again. All was right in the world.
I then received my first statement from Dell Preferred Accounts on January 20, 2005 and guess what. You got it, 90 days to pay with no interest. Now the fun begins. I called DPA and spoke with a rep after a 10 minute wait . I asked to speak with a supervisor. Another 10 minute wait. Really quick today. I asked her if she had my information on the screen. She replied yes and said she saw calls on December 22 and 23. She read me almost word for word about my call on December 22. Asked what it said about the call on the 23rd. She replied nothing. The only thing she saw was that there was a phone call. I explained to her my situation and she said I’m sorry, but there was nothing she could do. I told her we shouldn’t even be having this call. I would have to be the stupidest person in the world to order a camera and add it on to a program to pay for in 90 days when I was ready to return the laptop for that same reason. Again she apoligized. I told her apologies would not make a payment. I asked her if there was anyone above her I could speak to. She said yes, but they will tell you the same thing. I asked her if they all used the same script. I asked her about returning the laptop and camera. Here we go again. She couldn’t help me but she would transfer me. After a 20 minute wait, I spoke with a customer (don’t) care rep. I explained my situation. I also emphasized how I had planned to return the laptop and camera previously (within the allowable timeframe) and now the window of opportunity had expired. He had to put me on hold. When he returned he said he would be glad to get me a RA number. Then he lowered the boom. Since I was outside the 21 day return, I would need to pay a 10% penalty. Atomic bomb goes off. I asked to speak to a supervisor and he asks me why. I explain to him there must be someone there who can approve this return due to this comedy of obvious errors. No two areas of Dell work in concert. From Sales to Technical Support to Customer Service to the most obvious of all. Dell Preferred Account. No one department can tie all these together. After I have gone through all these situations, I’m looking on Dell’s website for someone to call when I see a Community Forum section. I went through the section and see a section for Customer Care. There’s that oxymoron again. Inside this area there is forum for Dell Preferred Accounts. I sure wish I had seen this section before going through all these problems. Someone from Dell has to be aware of these issues to CIT Bank to be on Dell’s website, use their name and serve as a creditor. I hope to bulldog this issue the same way Dell is “going after” the free money of the citizens of North Carolina and especially Forsyth County.

Good to know Dell reads these poor reviews Mike, I mean Marc Wensell.
On the "Apprentice" the other night, Steve Forbes said to the winning group "if you have a company with unhappy customers, you have failed!!"

Guess what? Michael Dell

HEAR ME NOW!!!!

It would seem the people on here that have had problems with the computer they ended up getting have several problem. 1) They shouldn't have bought something they didn't understand. 2) The computer they bought had nothing wrong with it till the screwed it up. 3) The IQ level of the person operating the computer was too low.

Lets face it folks, if you don't know how to drive a car do you run out and buy a $200,000 car and jump right it? Get EDUCATED first THEN complain about things if they are not right. DON'T blame Dell because YOU were an uneducated consumer!

We purchased a dell and twice they have charged us a $29.00 late fee. The check has gotten there on time. We look over our bill and took notice of this. We called and they told us that they would waive the fee. What gives with Dell? Does anyone know if someone is a day late in getting payment to hit if they have a grace period? My aunt who is interested in purchasing a computer from them wants to know. Also many of their folks can't speak English at all.

I recently spent almost $1900.00 on a Dell Dimension 4600. What an incredible disappointment. This computer is so loud that we have to turn the Television way up if my wife or I are using the computer. I thought for the money I spent I would have enough power and "brains" to run my games, they run but like everything else they take forever to load.

3 year tech service included.......Yeah right! After being "on hold" for almost two hours, I could not understand the person on the other end. Their accent was so thick it was terrible. Who makes the decision that the people they hire are capable of communicating in English? Another person that speaks exactly like they do? In addition, this thing freezes up regularly. I have done every check I can think of, virus scans, defragment and it still takes forever for things to load.

I would like to run into Mr. Dell so I could tell him just how bad a direction his executives have taken Dell.Poor product combined with terrible service, what more could anyone want?

I have severe bipolar disorder and three other mental problems that have me on a restricted retirement income. I made the mistake of buying a Dell 4600 in March of 2004 after reading a report in a magazine that stated that Dell computers required the least maintenance of some ten listed, including IBM and Compaq. After about two months the harddrive failed. I ended up talking to so many Philipinos that I could not unstand and to I had to repeat the problem over each time that it was ridicuous, raised my blood pressure, caused need for more medication to control bipolar problem and resulted in cussing out idiots obviously reading manuals and interpreting them differently. The lines were disconnected many many times.In all I spent 30 plus hours on the phone with them over some ten days after my son, who works on his on 5 sysyems told me it was the harddrive. Finally the Philipino "so called" superb tech support agreed to put in a harddrive even though they did not agree it was the drive. It was installed a few days later by a "so called" techician who put in the drive, left off the wiring harness, closed the pentium panel and poof was gone without testing it. It should be plain to you all it did not work. My son talked to Dell for some three hours wanting them to fix the problem but they told us to either fix it ourselves or hire someone to do so My son finally pulled the panel in fear of voiding their "so called" rock hard warranted, found the left off wiring harness and put it on all in some five minutes and the computer ran but I had lost all of my important saved files. This mon the DVD Drive failed. The computer kept telling me to insert disks in the drive and I tried several to no avail. I ran diagnostics, and checked wiring. It was plain the drive was no good. I called Dell at their Austin, Texas No. 512-338-4400 and told them what I had done and the result was defective DVD Drive.It took three hours talking to two idiots, one who disconnected, before they agreed to install a DVD Drive. This now works. However, when windows loads to the internet up pops a stated application can not be applied. Hit ok to delete application or cancel to debug application. The computer takes muliple times at start to enter the screen to get on the internet and when logging off takes multiply tries to log off and is lake a backward moving snail in doing so. I have emailed Dell so many times that I could not keep track of them and made so many frustating calls to multiple incompetent morons that it has raised my blood pressure, caused me to have to add medication and caused fights with my family. I am willing and ready to assist in bringing Dell to its knees in a class action lawsuit or any other means available. I am contacting the BBB, and both the Texas and Federal Attorney General this week. I want my money back as I am on a limited income and want justice for the damage caused to my mental health (bipolar) and increased blood Pressure at a time my doctor has advised me and placed me on medication for the wort good cholestoral he says he has ever seen that puts me at great risk of a heatattack or stroke without such stress as placed on me by Dell "so called" customer cxare. All the components are made by cheap labor in China. For about three hundred dollars more I could have got in house repair and diagnostics by a person who built my son's customer computer that has much better capability than mine could have if it fucntioned as Dell states. SO LET US ALL JOIN IN A LAWSUIT TO BRING DELL TO ITS KNEES TO DRIVE IT OUT OF ITS INCOMPETENT, FRAUDULANT AND LYING BUSINESS. cALL ME AT 210-661-7335 OR EMAIL AT AXMAN1224@YAHOO.COM. lET'S DO IT AND COMPLAIN NO MORE . MAKE THEM EAT THE DIRT THEY PUT OUT. MY OLD COMPUTER LASTED SEVEN YEARS WORRY FREE.

All of you Dell haters are so nieve. You bash Dell for being the worst company in the world, when in sure it's you own faults these things happen. One writer explains their her daughter had a school laptop. Did she maintain it properly? Afterall, its a delicate piece of machinary. And those who shame Dell for having an Indian call center. No it's not boiler room anything, and it's not a shame for Dell to have them work. They need a job too, and the facilities are actually very nice out there for this line of work. I spoke to dell today, actually, to resolve 2 issues, and both were resolved within the 10 minute conversation I had with an Indian living in India. When you have no patience with the customer service, customer service won't have patience with you.

I have a Inspiron 5150:Refurbished, and a New Inspiron 5160. Both have been great. I sold the 5150 to my brother who loves it. So far the only problem I have had was with the battery from the 5150. Batteries die, thats life. Warranty corrects that, and batteries are sent next day airborne express. Can I complain? Not once bit. My mother bought a Dell Dimension 8400 and I bought a Dimension XPS. All great computers. Everyone I know who has bought a Dell have been pleased with their work. I recommend Dell to anyone and everyone, just look for pricing deals. That's all.

All of you who say "don't use dell, dell is the devil", well stop being so grown up about it and calm down. Those who are calm and patient get their refunds, warrenties, and overall satisfaction by the customer service and tech support. Once you go Dell, you never want to sell. Dell's are great computers, and 1 bad experience, by the 2nd time you try to contact Dell you're pissed off. Well thats rediculous. They are there to help you, so help them while they're at it!

If tech support, or customer service do not call in a couple days, oops, sorry, whoop T freakin do, call them back with your reference number and see if they have a resolution for you without being an ass. Mistakes with big corporations don't come in pairs unless you fluster the one your talking to. I don't know if you're aware of this, but if you're in a bad mood, you'll put the person you're talking to in a bad mood. I would know, I used to work customer service for the U.S. Post Office. All of you are asses to these people while they are trying to help you.

Cool rant, huh? ;]

I purchased a Dell in June of 2004 and had no problem with it until two months later (August, 2004), when I discovered my CD-ROM didn't work; up until that point, I really had no use for it. I contacted Dell and after going back and forth, finally got them to replace it in January of 2005. Today, a half a month later, the new CD-ROM doesn't work. I did all the basic checks and contacted them and after going back and forth, have been told that they would replace it only with the same model. I told them I wanted it replaced with a similar CD-ROM, but by another manufacturer. I was told that they cannot do this because my computer is under a year old and they are not allowed to use another brand than the one initially installed. I explained to them that when they "fixed" my CD-ROM a couple weeks ago, that they also replaced my working CD-RW (I don't know why they replaced it) with another one by another manufacturer. The guy that did the work said I might as well take it since it was new. But like I said, now they are telling me that they never replace items with another brand. I have been told I must take a Samsung CD-ROM (I've already had two that are bad; neither of the CD-RWs were Samsung), and if I don't like that, I can just buy something else.

I let them know that I am not impressed with their customer service and would be contacting the BBB. I can't believe that even when your item is under warranty, they don't want to take care of it. Not only that, I am beginning to wonder why I spent all the money extending my warranties to four years. If they won't take care of things now, I can only imagine how bad things will get in the future. I don't mind refurbished, but I would like it to be both refurbished and working.

I really don't see myself giving any future business to Dell.

Edgar Wayne

We purchases a dell home computer (just 1 of the many computers we have), and from day 1 everything went wrong. The a drive went out, the mouse port went out, the dvd drive went out.....I called Dell immediately about this, and they gave me "tech support", who led me through tons of things, all of which did not work. Then they said "we will have an advance tech call you back". Ho Hum, still waiting for that call. So a day after the "warrentee" expired I called them again wanting to know why no one called me back, and what they were going to do, since I called in LONG before the warrantee expired the 1st time. Then they had the nerve to tell me "well your out of warrentee, you could send it back, and we could repair it,but you would have to pay for it". WHAT?!?! I will NEVER buy another Dell! On top of all that, they can't seem to ever credit my payments to MY account, they credit it to my husbands, then have the nerve to call me at 7:00 am, to tell me I am past due. I prove different with a copy of the check, and I get "oh sorry, we will fix this", and what do they do....TAKE ME OFF THE CALL LIST. They do not credit their 30.00 late fee, or credit the payment I made....NO just take me off the list so I don't get called for late payments. Lets just say I am discussed with Dell!!

I purchased a Dell Inspirion 1100 for my daughter in Dec. 2003. In 8 months it broke down 3 times and after a 100 hours on hold or talking to these idiots it was sent back twice for repair. The third break down I called and demanded an exchange. The REFURB I recieved had a bad screen. After another 3 hours on the phone I demanded a refund. I was told to put both units in the box and use the label they provided. I shipped both units back on Dec. 6th. I received confirmation on Dec. 18 by a phone call from shipping that units were received. I have spent over a month now on phone with these people and have yet to receive my refund. I get lies (I will resolve and call you back), apologies (I am sorry you are having problems) and downright incompetence (Can I have tracking number again for the 10th time). Dell owes me $1,000 and I do not think I will get the refund. I filed a complaint with BBB so we will see what comes of it. I can no longer call them since it raises my blood pressure up so high there is a risk of stroke.

If anyone reads this who is computer shopping, I am begging you not to buy Dell. Pay $50 more and get something that will last more than a few months. Dell is the worst company I have ever dealt with. The incompetance is one thing but the lies I have hears are much more disturbing. They don't care about you.

I keep getting calls from Dell Financial (800-443-1638) looking for my son. I have told them he is away at college but they continue to call. I have filed a complaint with the F.T.C since my phone number is in my name and on the National Do Not Call list, which I have also informed the callers from Dell Financial. The callers have used the name Lisa Smith and Paul Smith but Paul did admit to living in New Delhi, India. When they call, I return the call asking for a supervisor but obviously it's just a boiler room operation. Shame on Dell!!!!

If you are on the Do Not Call Registry file a complaint with the F.T.C. and lets make them pay for this nonsense. Michael Dell
CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW!!!

I purchased a Dell Laptop Inspiron 1500. After a year a half the ethernet port died for no reason. Spent two hours on the phone with representative in India who knew less about computers than I did. Was told would have a technician call and schedule an appointment to install a new ethernet port. After three days with no call, I called technical support again and was told I would need a whole new motherboard and it would be a week before a technician would be calling me. After I explained this was unexceptable for a year and half old computer that cost $2000, I demanded to speak to a supervisor. The supervisor was of no help. A day later I received a call from a technician, who had no availability. I am still waiting to get my computer fixed and it has been almost a week.

I will never buy another Dell simply because of the lack of customer service.

My puchase of a Dell 2400 went well, but support via India is useless. All they do is read from the manual. I purchase memory from a third party and it gave me an error on the lights on the back. I called Dell support to see if they could tell me any more detail than the manual and I had to help them find the information in the manual.

Next, my friends bought a Dell 4600. One week after the year's maintenance was up, the computer went down (bad luck). Everyone in the family and all their friends suggested it was the power supply, but the Indian (Roger) on the line from Dell said it was the motherboard. They bought the motherboard and the next Indian (Bob) on the line could not even describe over the phone how to remove the CPU. That's when my friend called me. They worked on it on the phone for two hours and I got it out in two minutes. Then, of course, I discovered it was the power supply like everyone else had suggested. The motherboard is going back. Oh, and they forgot to include any heat sink grease for moving the CPU.

Dell really needs to get control of their support and their quality or it will not matter how cheap their systems are, people like me will stop recommending them because we don't want to support all of our freinds pcs.

Thanks for listening.

HORRIBLE "customer service"!!! I bought a Dell laptop three months ago on a no payment/no interest promotion. I recieved no bills until this week, when I got a 90 day late notice from DFS for $35.00. The bottom of the notice said that they report all activity to the three major credit bureaus, so I called the 800 number on the letter. Well, that's when the fun began...no one spoke English. I was hung up on (more than once) or they just repeatedly asked me for my checking account number and my routing number on my checks. Yeah, like I'm going to give that info out to someone I can't understand or can't understand me. I kept asking if my account had been reported to the credit bureaus, but of course no one understood me; they just kept parroting back the same questions and phrases. A "90 day late" stays on your credit for up to 7 years and can basically ruin your credit; no credit cards, home loans, nothing...And all for a $35.00 bill. I did find out the phone number of someone at Dell (Dell Executive Rep.) whose answering machine speaks English. I have called her 6..6...6...6.!! times now and left messages, but to no avail. Maybe you can have better luck. Her name is Mary Gordoa and her direct number is 1-800-289-3355 ext. 4-0531. So, Dell may have ruined by credit for 7 years over $35.00?... Don't support companies that outsource customer service because if anything ever goes wrong, you're screwed.

Wow, sorry I didn't read these posts about 13 months ago... I just got off the phone with my father in law whose Dell 80-something-hundred just quit. His phone call experience much the same as others have written here, and if you're reading this you most likely already know his (our, read more about my experience in just a sec) pain. Long story short, the Dell tech said the mother board went bad and needed to be replaced. His machine is about 15 months old, and guarenteed hasn't been upgraded or overclocked or anything like that, that would over burden the system. Oddly enough, or through some extreme skill in engineering, uuhhhm,mmmm, my Dell 4600 motherboard died too, it being the young age of 13 months. I called Dell tech support too, and it was just painful, simply painful amount of time to get to that conclusion. They refused to stand by their part(s), saying the warantee had expired.

Anyway, much the same experiences as others I have read. It does seem their systems aren't the same quality as they used to be. I summarize weeks of time in the following regarding Dell Machines:
1. Inexpensive, and may arrive as ordered, and ought to work about a year, but beyond that Good Luck !
2. All parts are proprietary and any replacements are likely to be of same poor quality, and you have to buy it from Dell anyway. (or the computer technician you took it to will have to order it from Dell).
3. Tech support is a weekend long phone call, as in no sleep, no eat, and sit on the hardwood floors next to your machine the entire time, weekend. (btw, if you can read the manual, and do a little on your own, you probably can save your self the time and discover the answers.)

In sum, it seems Dell has taken a number of shortcorts, and is coming around to bite them. And rightly so too! I will not buy another Dell. Btw, I will not buy another Dell, perhaps you might want to do the same....

I purchased a 4700 Dell computer on 1/6/05. It was delivered on 1/11/05. I also ordered their printer, the 942. The printer came without a power supply cord. I called them on 1/12/05 regarding this and the WordPerfect software that was not loaded onto my computer that was supposed to have been part of the original package on the computer to start with. A lady named John gave me a call back person named Carlo and said that he would call me back the next day with an answer. This is 1/23/04 and I am yet to hear from Carlo. During the same phone call I asked about the missing power cord and she said that she would have me one shipped out. Before hanging up she repeated to me that my USB cord was on its way. I thought about what she said and called back to verify that we were talking about the same cord. Of course I spoke to a different person. I was transferred to about 5 different people and holding for 10 - 20 minutes at a time, who said the next person could help me. I was transferred to Ricky who finally told me that he would have me a cord shipped out and gave me a ship date of 1/21/04 with a case number. On 1/19/04 I checked the status of my order and it said that the order had been cancelled. I called again and spoke to Chase Mathews, the only English speaking person I had talked to. He said that he could not find why the order had been cancelled. He then "transferred" me to Customer Care who and after holding for 45 minutes only to have their little automated person hang up on me. I called the phone number that Chase had given me and same thing again. After having an anger stroke I called them back and spoke to Eligio and told him all I wanted from Dell was an address that I could ship the computer back to them. He kept saying that he would have me one shipped out.

On 1/20/04 I e-mailed the technical support people and I am yet to get a response from them.

On 1/23/04 I tried once more to reconcile the cord problem. I spoke to Martin. All I wanted was to know why they will not send me the needed power cord. He first said that he would have me one shipped and then told me that he would transfer me to technical support. And, you guessed it, their little automated person hung up on me again!

I can't even get anyone to just answer my question on why they won't send me a cord. That is not a hard question.

I am going to ship the whole mess back to them this week. I can only imagine the added nightmare to a nightmare when I have to fight a battle with them on it being returned to them and coming off my Dell account.

NEVER BUY A DELL!NEVER BUY A DELL!NEVER BUY A DELL!NEVER BUY A DELL!

**This is an add-on to my comments below, as I forgot to mention the following**

With regards to their customer service-- yes, I, too, spent probably between 6 and 7 hours with them while I was trying to get the machine built, and then another 2 or so trying to get my rebate (which they also said had passed the expiration date-- because they kept putting me off!) and deal with other post-build issues.

I bought this machine partly with cash and partly on their credit system (Dell Financial Services-- what a mistake!!!). I still owe them some money on it. This is what gets me: they're extremely hard to reach if you need help, but oh-my-god if you're 3 days late with a payment, suddenly they're CALLING YOU DAY AND NIGHT. I mean, we're talking 7am on a Sunday morning, 11pm on a Tuesday night, shit like that. Now I am not a deadbeat. I pay my bills, but because I work 60-70 hours a week, sometimes I'm a little late. Most things I have on autopay anyway, with a direct debit from my checking account. BUT I WOULD NEVER GIVE DELL THAT PRIVILEDGE-- they've turned into such money-grubbing don't-care-about-their-customers company, that I'd never trust them with my bank info. (I mean, they break the law now with their bad contracts, calling at all hours-- how could I ever hope to be recouped for identity theft by some minimum wage employee in India??) So instead I've been late twice with my payments (which, by the way, are ALWAYS for more than the amount due-- I always round up to the next $10 increment), and have dealt with a BARRAGE of calls from their '1-866' number each time. On one day I got home from work, and my caller ID said they'd called NINE TIMES. So when they want their money, they're right up your ass immediately, but if you need a tech, you can wait an hour or two weeks, they care NOT.

Okay, think I've covered everything-- seems like a lot, but it's not even everything. Just do yourself a favor-- find another company from which to buy your next computer. It can't be any worse than Dell is now. DO NOT BUY DELL-- YOU'LL BE SORRY!!!

The first computer I custom-built online was from Dell in 2000. That went fine-- I still have that old workhorse. HOWEVER, I HAD A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT EXPERIENCE when I bought another machine from them last year (2004). Here's the list.

1. They never gave me the $250 rebate touted on their site. I have given up trying, as each foreign rep with whom I speak acts like they don't know what I'm talking about and I have to begin my explanation from scratch.

2. They delayed my order by a month because they didn't have the parts I wanted, which their online site was actively selling (specifically a 19-inch flat panel monitor and a 3.0 GHz processor), so they tried to upsell me and charge me more money.

3. I had to begin building the order from scratch 3 times over a two-week period because they kept not having the parts in and didn't seem interested in satisfying their customer with an equivalent substitute ("oh no, we can't do that ma'am, I'm sorry").

4. They GOT THE ORDER WRONG ANYWAY when the machine was shipped. I had ordered the Audigy 2 'ZS' Soundblaster sound card (which has front-side quarter-inch jacks for music plug-ins), and they installed the Audigy 2 normal soundblaster card (which has eighth-inch jacks in the back of the tower). This was really important for my music studio.

5. Not only did they get the order wrong, giving me a worse sound card than I ordered, they CHARGED ME FOR THE BETTER ONE and even put on the specs sheet that they had installed the better one. Hmm. The only proof I had was the machine itself, which had been so arduous just to get actually shipped to me, that I was reluctant to give it up. I ended up making a trade with another computer builder for that sound card that resulted in my going and BUYING the original one I wanted and INSTALLING IT MYSELF.

6. There are two firewire ports-- one in front, one in back. The one in front does not work. Period. I haven't had a chance to get into it. When I told them about it, they wanted me to ship the thing back to them at my expense (around $100-- it's a giant tower with a 240GB RAID-0 drive, & 2 burning drives (one Cd & one DVD). Yeah, right.

So, seems like a plot to sell their "extra" warranties of 2, 3, or 4 years, with "at-home service" and "tech support." Sell a bunch of bad machines, then sell people the "insurance" they need to fix the bad machines.

Didn't warranties that the thing you bought would actually work COME STANDARD WITH PURCHASE??? As in, implied? Of course you should expect it to work, right? Not these days. Gotta watch that "insurance" racket: Here, let us sell you a $3,000 piece of equipment, but if you want to make SURE it works and have the tech support surrounding that, it'll cost you another couple of hundred bucks. I mean, what the fuck IS THAT?

Nope, not gonna ever buy another Dell. I'd go Apple before I'd buy another PC from Dell. They have lost their ability to do good business and CANNOT BE TRUSTED.

Do Not Buy Dell! Please…

I am a buyer and IT specialist for a major company (28,000 plus employees in the US) and my corporation has purchased over 10,000 Dell Laptops and Desktop in the past 3 years. This month I am to upgrade over half of these units and they will not be Dell’s. In the past 2 years we have had nothing but issues with getting someone out to repair the units or even talk with someone that can understand English, luckily we have in-house translators that speak a half dozen languages, including most India, Spanish and Portages dialects (This must be Dell’s new world order of customer relations). I fell that Dell is no longer a supporter of the American way of doing business. This opinion is sheared by most our employees, after reviewing the numerous emails I have received in the last year concerning computer issues and their computer support from Dell. Do Not Buy Dell!…!!!…!!!
Thank you,

I purchased a Dell Inspiron 8000 notebook with all the bells and whistles in 2001. I've had to purchase replacement parts from them since that time and have had nothing but problems. I've spent the last four weeks trying to get some parts ordered and have run into techs that can't speak English and several that provided the wrong information to me and/or contradicted the information from other techs. Never in my life have I dealt with such a screwed up operaton. I will never, ever purchase another Dell computer.

NEVER BUY A DELL!!!! I bought a Dell Generation 4 computer (supposed to be top of the line). I was so excited to get it in the mail, I immediately hooked it up. But...nothing...it did not work at all...would not even boot up. I was upset, but knew mistakes sometimes happen. It was not until I spend FIVE hours of being transferred, hung up on, or on hold before I finally reached a technician. I could barely understand what he was saying, but he had me open my computer and start taking out the memory chips, video card, etc. When nothing worked, he said that he would send a technician out.

Several days later, I got a phone call from a guy who said he had an order to fix my computer. Come to find out, it was a defective mother board and memory. He replaced them and then I asked him to stay to make sure the problem was fixed. He said that he didn't work for Dell, and he did everything he was told he had to do and then left. When I went to turn on my computer, it still did not work. I was now pissed off. It was defective and I wanted nothing to do with it. I was on hold for another three hours trying to talk to somebody as to how to return this computer. They said that either I had to pay for the shipping ($75) or I could wait for a technician to come again and fix (yeah right) the problem. Forget it...I paid the shipping fees and still have not been credited.

Thinking that this was a freak incident, I then ordered another computer from them...not a Generation 4, but a 8400. I just got it today. Guess what???? This computer came WITHOUT A VIDEO PORT!!!! There was no place to plug in the monitor and the several hundred dollar video card I paid for was obvisously not there as well.

Two times in one month...I was extremely upset. Call DEll again...this time two hours on hold...and only transferred three times. Of course, I could not understand the man and had to repeat my comuter number about eight times before he could recite it correctly. Anyhow, he said that he would have a technician call me in the next couple days. I did not want to go through this all over again, so I asked to speak with a supervisor. He stated that his supervisor was in a meeting. I asked when the meeting would end, and he didn't know. He took down my phone number and said that he would have his supervisor call me as soon as he was done with his meeting. I told the guy that I would be waiting next to my phone.

Three hours later, I called again and by some grace of I don't know what, I was actually transferred to a supervisor. However, that did not help. He told me the same thing as the other guy told me...a technician would call me in a few days.

He also told me that this was the fourth recent incident of calls with computers without video ports and that it was an embarrassment. I said that I would much rather be embarrassed than to have to go through what I'm going through now.

My advice...Do not buy a Dell. If you are one of the lucky ones to get a computer that works, great! But, if you are like so many others and get a defective one...you are in for a very rough road.

Dell and Dell Financial Services have NO CUSTOMER SERVICE. They have outsourced all such activities to India, where ocereducated peons work for $2,000 per year, as opposed to competent USA-based people who earn $30,000 per year. Their Hindu bullshit costs them customers galore. The babbling idiots in India cannot probounce names, cities, they voilate all Federal laws regarding contact by phone. Screw Dell. I have formally boycotted their crap for life.

*BEWARE GIFT CARDS HOLDERS*

I am a graduate student and my university has a contract with Dell that provides a flat discount of up to 12% above any ongoing promotions.

I received a prepaid $750 Dell gift card as a christmas present. I contacted my university sales rep who was kind enough to email me a coupon for an additional $160 off any system purchase. I configured a Dimension 8400 with the rep, plugged in all my discounts, and was very happy with the price.

When I tried to buy the system, "uh oh," said the rep. Turns out gift cards are only good through the Home and Home Sales division, not educational sales.

This is a *PREPAID* gift card. It is *MONEY* that Dell is holding for me yet they have placed restrictions on how and where I can spend it. It isn't a promotion, incentive, discount, etc. It's effectively a check, MADE OUT TO ME, that Dell will only release if I spend it a certain way. This is simply wrong! It's indicative of the downward spiral of Dell Computer Corporation's commitment to customer service, which, sadly, has resulted in year after year of increasing profit.

HORRIBLE!!!!!!!!! I was supposed to receive a digital camera pack from Dell by December 21, 2004. It was ordered on December 9, 2004. My camera did not come until after Christmas, and it was a gift for a family member. A Dell rep. admitted that my order was mistakenly cancelled. I asked for overnight shipment and the rep. gave me the "run around". When I asked to speak with a customer service manager, I was hung up on, placed on hold for an extensive amount of time, or transferred to a person with limited English that could not understand what I was saying. On top of this, I now have to pay shipping on the THREE packages that arrived at my house because Dell will not honor the free shipping promotion we origionally ordered under. I have written a complaint to the Better Business Bureau and encourage others to do so.

We purchased a laptop for Dell- the dates of delivery that were promised changed several times. I still do not have my printer, Dell is saying that it will take until the end of Feburary to get my printer. I have called customer service many times and it's a totally frustrating experience. I was on hold 1 hour and then disconnected. I have tried to e-mail headquarters and funny how they can't be reached by phone or e-mail. I would not purchase from Dell ever again. If anyone from Dell headquarters checks into these e-mails you need to take them seriously. I fully will let my friends know the problems. You need to get your customer service to act like the name. You need to hold to your promises of delivery schedules and we need to be able to reach you.

I would also reccomend not buying from Dell, I have a L series computer purchased in December or 2001. The computer has crashed several times, I have had to use system restore, had to open up the back and reset the DIMMS. I only wanted to purchase a home computer that would last, this was not worth the money. I am not a computer expert but my mohter purchased a no name computer that was cheapier and out lasted this one. This is a buyer beware situation. And the customer service is cheesy, lets hope u get someone who speaks english

Both Dell SalesReps said the order would be here in 1 to 3 days. On day 3 their manager gets on the phone and says it was a misunderstanding. Actually, I understood perfectly - the salesreps e-mail agrees. The Monday they agree to throw in a free monitor. No confirming e-mail - and then, oh, that was a "misunderstanding" too. The F#$&*(^$%CKERS will say anything you want to hear just to get your credit card number.

Wow. I wish I had found this website before buying my computer from Dell in December 2004. Would have saved me a lot of time and a few gray hairs.
I won't bore you all with the fine details, but my experiences are almost identical to the last couple of people who posted comments. Some helpful advice if you're stuck in the endless circuit of calls between Dell Ireland and the mis-named "Customer Care" in Asia:

If you're missing a Dell product that has mysteriously vanished in transit, don't bother calling sales or Customer Care. They'll tell you they need "24 hours to research your claim" and it will be long after that when/if anyone calls you back. Try calling Interlink Transport instead. Their Limerick office handles all the Dell stuff and they were very helpful. It was only after calling there that I "found"my computer...and they delivered it then straightaway. Interlink's phone number in Limerick..061-480-990.

I couldn't get elevated to a Dell manager once I started having problems no matter how much I stated my case. I ended up talking to over 10 different people..I'd suggest taking a short-cut if you're just starting a dispute with them. The following numbers are all to sales, but will forward you to the Asian office most of the time:
1850-333200
01-204-4000
01-286-0500
But...if you reach the Asian office's sales reception, just tell them that you were speaking to someone in Irish sales and they will reconnect you to Bray. (I feel bad actually for the Asian Sales/Customer Care team, as they seem to have no information on contacts here or any kind of connection to files/complaints/pertinent information of orders placed in Ireland. At any rate, don't waste your time there.)
I did end up getting my initial problem resolved, after dealing with one very nasty management person who single-handedly made my situation and aggravation 200x worse. However, my problem was really so small, I cringe at the thought of any technical issues that may crop up. I would never, ever buy from Dell again. Please keep the reviews below in mind if you are planning on purchasing their products here in Ireland. They all sound too much the same for us all to be a bunch of whingers.

Well I thought I was buying the top of the line Inspiron 8500 Ha Ha aHa Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Oh excuse me I meant to say Ug Ug Ug Ug Ug Ug Ug Ug.
But the rant/ vent page is helpful. It behoves us all to send the reviews to any and all to aleart the world to the continuing disinformation.
We now can under stand where the G.Bush got the playbook.
Do we hope in fantisy land That when dell gets it we all will get a personel appology from M.Dell.
Ya right----right after G.Dubya tells us how he's sorry for all those mistakes.
Go with a local quality builder that uses quality parts and pay up a little and get alot.

Its Christmas Eve, suppose to have dinner with the family but there won't be one because I was on the phone with Dell's cust. serv. and tech. serv. from 1pm - 5pm: 4 hours of hangs up, long waits, and 'give me a minute' in Indian accents.

I purchased a Dell Dimension 2400 PC in May 2004 for $790. I should have realized and hung up on the person who was handling my order because that's when the problem started. I told him my specifications: high speed internet, music, and microsoft word. We agreed whatever the cost was extra of added features was fine by me.

The product arrived on time (keep in mind I was satisfied with my first dell which lasted me a decade and a half, this would be my second) and I hooked it up. It worked fine until I noticed that there was no ethernet card for high speed internet, no microsoft word, and when I played my Cds in the CD-Rom, it would freeze my computer. I dealt with it until my printer crashed, I called tech team and they sent me a new one without any problems.

I called again to complain that my computer was acting up and the lady on the phone say 'oh no its spy-something on your pc' and hung up, I was dazed. Then the moment of truth, a representative called me on 11/15/04 to ask how my pc was, I told him everything thinking that he would help me, he simply said 'mam, I am only taking survey\' to which I cut him off and yelled in black in white the problems the PC had to which he said 'I will call you back' did he? NO.

Well I lost my patience when I realized that my A drive crashed, the printer status when printing my documents claimed there was black ink but in reality there wasn\'t, and my AOL would re-dial every 2-3 minutes. Due to working around the clock, I called on Christmas eve and my sister, my mother, and I all took turns to complain to David, Aey, Shirley, Daniel, Jay and Doug (he's the L3 supervisor). The first 5 cust. care/tech. team told me lies upon lies such as a false extension numbers to call back, reference numbers, claimed that there was no call log (so I had to sit there and repeat everything), said that they were sorry or apologized for the inconvience, please hold, hang up, and to top it off these L1, L2, L3 supervisors (no such levels). With Daniel however, I thought I had hope when he arranged an L3 supervisor to talk with me by having L3 call back plus that the L3 can grant me a full refund, new tower, or pay the difference with another tower. I waited 30 minutes and called back to which Jay answered and barely understanding him, I yelled at him to give me a supervisor to speak to because I was fed up. These people couldn\'t tell me in black and white that my problem couldn't be fixed that I wanted my money back (without the 40 percent giveback) or that I wanted a new tower (not a refurbished one) because I was under warranty. That's when I heard an American voice by the name of Doug Taylor (badge # 301210) from the EOD Team. Basically, he was a supervisor (did I mention L3? No because there is no such thing) and when I mentioned about the three options, he had no idea what I was talking bout and told me that whoever told you was lying. What blew my top off, was when he blamed his staff for being unprofessional and me! how I use AOL and allow pop-ups and spam to cause the problem. That\'s when I shut him up by saying that I had spyhunter and use it regularly since June!!! So, I told him the following to honor your customers when they have a problem such as having your PC turn out to be a lemon, act professional, and admit that ok maybe its not the spam afterall. I doubt that the conversation we had got 'recorded' but I told him that I would call Dell headquarters (another trip) as well as consumer affairs, BBB, and report it to Shame on You.

I am emotionally and physically drained on Christmas Eve, I was suppose to put dinner on the table. Its one of the holidays I had off, to only see that Dell's staff does not care about their customers, no matter how many times you call or put up a fight---they have my money and certainly wasted my time. I will never see my $790. Well, Mike Dell while you\'re laughing off with my money in your mansion, that money was a graduation gift and that\'s what hurts the most because I could of paid off my loans. YOU\'RE A SCROOGE AND TO SAVE YOU THE TROUBLE I WILL HAPPILY SAY BA HUMBUG TO YOU! I am not going to buy another DELL computer ever again and if friends recommend what kind of computer to buy, I will not say dell like I use to. Mike Dell, its karma whatever goes around comes around.

Simply: don’t buy a Dell computer.

Here's part of my nagging letter to Dell Ireland:

I wish to outline and explicate my severe disappointment and frustration with ordering a Dell computer. I’ve found my recent online ordering experience with Dell to have been the worst of my entire life. As you will see from my detailing below, I’ve found the quality of service provided to be appalling and incompetent.

On the 8th of November I placed an order online for a standard Inspiron notebook. I explicitly chose for Dell due to recommendations which seemed to be backed up by the brand research I had done. The promise of delivery within ten days as indicated by the Dell website suited my personal schedule perfectly. However, after nine days of waiting I grew concerned and contacted Dell customer service hoping to receive an update on delivery time. Not until the next day (the 19th of November) was I informed that delivery wouldn’t take place until the week after (well in excess of ten days, that is). Since I was moving into new premises then, I had to change the delivery address on the order. This process involved multiple telephone calls and emails (details of which emails I can provide if needed, though I suggest you check your own order logs) — most of which were at my instigation since the customer service representatives consistently failed to provide me with detailed or accurate information about the status of my order, whether the change of address had even been received by the carrier, etc. Often these representatives did not call back as promised. Several reasons were offered with regard to the lack of information, relating either to Dell procedure or poor communications with the Dell logistics department and/or the carrier company. Another week passed without clarification despite numerous emails to ‘resolution experts’ in India.

In desperation I called the carrier company (InterLink) myself but they couldn’t assist me without a dispatch number, which further communications with Dell customer service couldn’t elicit either. The carrier mentioned this was a frequent problem and complaint regarding your branded company. The ongoing process of desired clarification and resultant obfuscation finally resulted in a representative calling (another week later) to inform me the carrier had “lost” the order and would therefore have to be re-ordered and assembled from scratch at the plant etc. This representative understood my frustration and offered a 10% discount to continue with the order — though I did not receive written confirmation of this discount. In addition to hinting the reason for the delay was purely my change of address (and hence my fault), no accurate delivery time was indicated — though in a perverse parallel, my mobile number seems to have crossed with another Dell customer waiting on an order, so that I started receiving calls related to that order but none regarding my own.

The week after placing this second order (all the while receiving no order updates as promised), another representative called to inform me the renewed order had been processed with my old address details, not the new address which I had twice already provided at my own prompting. The representative said the updated address details had been forwarded to the carrier company again, but couldn’t give any indication of the expected fulfillment. I was now expecting a repeat of the delay procedure mentioned above.

By this time my frustration and utter disappointment with a ‘ten day’ order had become overwhelming. Another representative called to say that prioritized delivery had been arranged for Monday the 13th. Needless to say, the order didn’t arrive then either, despite my taking time off to receive it. And neither a phone call from Dell or the carrier company to clarify why. Again, I had to instigate communications telephonically — and though I expressed the urgent desire to cancel the order with an eye to a complete and direct refund, the representative promised to clarify the situation with the carrier by calling back within several hours. Which, when he did, was only to tell me he had no further details to add. Since no further update was forthcoming, I rang again on Tuesday the 14th to cancel the order. It appeared, from discussion with the CS representative, that my computer had again gone to the old address. Despite everything I had done to provide the correct address.And in closing, it seems the carrier attempted to deliver it about 7-8 times in total, just to the wrong address every time. Dell have apologised in full for the debacle, but didn’t offer any incentive for ordering with them again. Watch out, people.

Dell knows how to ruin a good xmas. Ordered a PC for my grandson. God a person in India who could not speak English.

Ordered a PC 2400 series Intel Celeron 2.40GHz advertised for $389 with $40 instant rebate, total $349. Also ordered an upgrade to the free printer promised, $45.00, total order $458.72 per the person named Benjamin. This happened on 12-6-04. To get order number and estimated ship date within 24 to 48 hours. Did not happen.

Called again, got a person named Emerson Munar. Told him the problem. He said there was no order from me and that if I replaced the order, computer would be shiped in January 05. Told him to cancel the order, did not want computer.

Got computer at my grandson's address and price increased from $349 to $509.

What a mess. I join others in asking people not to use internet ordering, at least from Dell, because they do not know what they will get nor at what price they will pay.

I am going straight to VISA and the Georgia Secretary of State to get this resolved.

My preffered account was missing in their system, I called coustomer care to find my account. Dell said give me your address, name, SSN and mothers maiden name for verification and maybe we call find the account. Next thing I know she has created another account without asking (ILLEGAL!!!!!!). I let her know that what she had done was against the law and wanted to speak to her suppervisor.....10min.............10min............10min....... go by until I hang up and call back and back and back and back again with the same results. "sir, we don't have suppervisors or mangers", or "all our managers are on vacation" or "we don't handle complaints in this department". TOTAL BULLSHIT!!. Screw DELL!!! also SCREW Sales Represenetives, Sheila, Brenda, Chris and Shawn. all whom by the way need to learn how to speak english. DELL'S CUSTOMER SERVICE SUCKS! I CANT BELIEVE THE BALLS THESE PEOPLE HAVE, AND HOW THEY ARE DECEIVING THE PUBLIC.

Well, they are not going to get away because running credit without appoval is a federal crime and falls under the FCRA guidlines as fraud and punnishable under federal statutes.

Good Luck to anyone else who is dumb enough to trust Dell.

Michael Dell is a shmuck!.


LGS (Anaheim, CA.)

Those thieves at Dell Financial Services STOLE my payment check and refuse to return it. The used my check for an electronic transfer. Totally illegal. I'm filing complaints with every regulatory agency hoping that they will get numerous audits. I hope that the audits and complaints will encourage stiff sanctions against DFS.

pure junk,"award winning customer service?"my ass...its terrible!
a pure garbage product,overpriced,too many problems...did i mention POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE??????i will never buy again from dell...beware of this/all products from dell-they will not help you if the product has problems,will just let you sit on hold for hours,give you some india-sounding dude(who talks to you like your a dick who doesn't know shit about computers)and then says,"thank you for calling dell!"

still waiting for a case to be repaired(crappy plastic tabs)..been like 6 months now...got my money now,what do they care?!

FUCK YOU DELL.....NEVER AGAIN WILL I BUY YOUR PRODUCT!!!!!

Do not buy from Dell! Their service, if you want to call it that, is horrible. I cannot find someone to talk to here in the US. I sent my laptop in for repair (still under warranty) and it was returned in the exact same condition it was sent in with saying it was repaired. However, the tech wrote a note saying "Unable to boot to your operating system. Please reinstall. Unit boots to test operating system. Thank you." Listen techie, if you are unable to boot to the operating system what makes you think I can. That's why I sent it to you! Dell was called again, and this time a hard drive is being sent in the mail to me. What do you want me to do with that? Don't you think the repair center checked the hard drive?

I tried to purchase a Dell "Media Center Deal of the Week" and "Power Pack" based on their advertisement. When I called a Dell salesperson named "Stephen". I was told that the equipment in the package had been upgraded and was no longer available. He told me he would have to get approval from his "Help Desk" to give me the advertised price since the items had been upgraded. I asked if this would be a problem, he said "No" I will call you back Friday morning....that was a week and a half ago I have since left three messages, and have spoken to 3 different reps from the Dell. None of them have returned my call or will honor the advertised price.
I would call this FALSE ADVERTISING! I plan on registering a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission and the Better Business Bureau!!

I purchased a Dell in dec of 2003. I've had this computer for almost a year now. I have only had one problem with my pc, and it was entirley my fault. My virus protection ran out and I did not renew. I got a virus. I called Dell, and they had me reformat my computer. I liked the service. Great Purchase. Highly Recommended.

SOMEBODY PLEASE HELP ME!!! I MADE THE MISTAKE OF TRYING TO PURCHASE A COMPUTER WITH DELL (AND DELL LATIN AMERICAN TO MAKE MATTERS WORSE). THEIR CUSTOMER SERVICE IS A COMPLETE JOKE AND NIGHTMARE. WE WAITED 1.5 MONTHS AND THE COMPUTER NEVER ARRIVED. IT IS NOW BEEN OVER A MONTH SINCE I CANCELLED THE ORDER AND THEY HAVE NOT GIVEN ME BACK MY $500 DEPOSIT. EVERYTIME I CALL I GET TANSFERRED AROUND FOR 1/2 AN HOUR AND NO SEEMS TO KNOW WHERE MY MONEY IS OR WHY I HAVE NOT RECEIVED IT YET?
HAS ANYONE WITH COMPLAINTS ON THIS WEBSITE EVER TRIED SUING DELL? PLEASE LET ME KNOW-I NEED A GOOD ATTORNEY.
DO NOT BUY DELL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dells support is not. I got India gave my history to everyone I talked to, over and over and over. Finally a nice lady with a firm that was one of there install sub contractors hacked into there system and was at least going on with my system. They got big by taking care of people. Now there to big and confused and really don't give a damn about one customer. This computer I purchased was my third Dell system and my last.

Dell has the worst customer service imaginable. Your time on hold to spaek to someone will be at least 40 minutes. I have waited over an hour to get someone on the phone. The email service is worse. You never get the same person responding to questions, and most responses indicate that the person writing you back didn'y understand your question. For example, I write a detailed message about my wireless card functioning, and the reply is about setting up a dial-up connection. I have had technicians offer to call me back at specific times and not call back. I am left completely helpless with no idea how to actually get someone to help me. I STRONGLY advise against buying from Dell for their customer service (as I did in May of this year). It is terrible.

Dell has the worst customer service imaginable. Your time on hold to spaek to someone will be at least 40 minutes. I have waited over an hour to get someone on the phone. The email service is worse. You never get the same person responding to questions, and most responses indicate that the person writing you back didn'y understand your question. For example, I write a detailed message about my wireless card functioning, and the reply is about setting up a dial-up connection. I have had technicians offer to call me back at specific times and not call back. I am left completely helpless with no idea how to actually get someone to help me. I STRONGLY advise against buying from Dell for their customer service (as I did in May of this year). It is terrible.

Dell has the worst customer service imaginable. Your time on hold to spaek to someone will be at least 40 minutes. I have waited over an hour to get someone on the phone. The email service is worse. You never get the same person responding to questions, and most responses indicate that the person writing you back didn'y understand your question. For example, I write a detailed message about my wireless card functioning, and the reply is about setting up a dial-up connection. I have had technicians offer to call me back at specific times and not call back. I am left completely helpless with no idea how to actually get someone to help me. I STRONGLY advise against buying from Dell for their customer service (as I did in May of this year). It is terrible.

Le from Osburn, ID

Wow! I didn't know this forum existed. Imagine a place where people can vent on a totally screwed up company like Dell. I'm really glad to read other people's horror stories. I almost made a huge mistake and bought another Dell notebook from Dell.

Back in about 2000 I bought a new Inspiron 5000 and have had no serious problem with it. Also, anytime I needed the first couple of years I could call and they were there to walk me through any software or other problem I had. They came out and replaced a cracked lid on it when I had owned it about one year. No problem what-so-ever. However, that was then. Something awful has happened at Dell.

A few months ago, on two different occasions, I ran up against a couple of problems so I called Technical Support. Of course I was outsourced to India. Sometimes, if I really, really concentrated I could understand the guy on the other end who didn't know what he was talking about, and had to of course, put me on hold and get some answers. This was my first clue that all was not well there.

Okay so last week, since I had kind of been out of the loop with Dell for 2 yrs. until those two calls a few months ago, and since I now needed to replace a tired 5000, I called Dell to ask a simple question. I wanted to know if they still sold new "three spindle notebooks". For about an hour and a half I was routed and rerouted all over Texas or wherever. Nobody had a clue. Finally I was so mad I jumped a Tech. support guy about their so called phone system. He tried to assure me that they were working to fix the problem with the phones. To hell with the phone system. Someone should "can" the stupid CEO at the top of that sorry outfit as well as all of his/her idiot cronies who only think about selling products and $$$ and could care less about customer care and support. Here is the deal, when I originally bought my notebook I could get all kinds of help, day or night over the phone. Yes there was sometimes a wait for someone to get free. But I always got help from someone who knew what they were talking about and who I could understand. Don't try that today. You pretty much are on your own. I finally got someone who, after several more minutes on hold, assured me that nowhere in Dell did they sell "three spindle machines" anymore. So I asked another question, "When did you last make them and what model numbers?" Of course I was put on hold because this guy in Tech. Support had no clue and had to get help to find out. About five minutes later he came back on and gave me an answer - actually he once again routed me to the new sales dept. and said they might know if there were any used machines still in their inventory. What? I had already been there several times that day and was in no mood to endure more of their gross stupidity. Somewhere in all this mess I asked for the phone number for delloutlet.com, their refurbished department. Again, after a wait on the phone, the guy came back and told me they cannot be called. The only way to contact them would be over the internet. Really? Well, by now I was coming to the conclusion of ditto for the who operation. Indeed, I wasn’t able to contact them no matter what number I tried. I think they are unreachable!

I thought the icing on the cake was when I called back and asked someone what the Corp. Headquarters address and phone number was because I wanted to file a complaint. Get this. He put me on hold because he didn't have a clue. Five minutes later he came back on to tell me that he had contacted Customer Care and that the lady on the other end was working on it and had put him on hold! So now there were three people on hold here. I wanted to reach through the phone by now and do some serious damage to everyone in that sick outfit. Finally, after a few more minutes he came back on and gave me the number. Well that wasn't the icing on the cake after all.

That night I was shopping on ebay for notebooks and also looking at some other sites when I stumbled upon a site called Dell Finical Services. After searching around there a little bit I discovered that Dell does have off lease computers for sale, about 1200 - 2000 Latitudes and a few Inspirons. Some of these are of the D Latitude and the 4000 to 8200 Inspiron vintage (three spindle machines)! So, I spent about 2 hours on the phone to learn the following:

1. They don't know what they are talking about
2. They don’t even know that they don’t know
3. Their phone system is a shambles
3. They don't care about pee-ons like me if I dare go outside the bounds of buying a new computer
4. You cannot communicate with them

Does anyone have any clue at Dell?

About outsourcing or whatever this scam is called, Dell needs to outsource themselves out of business. That would be a blessing. They need to get real. Who will keep buying from a company with whom you cannot communicate and with whom you cannot do business?

Simply forget using the 800-915-3355 number and extension whatever because you won't have any answers by the time you are done. Its simply a huge joke.

I am really sorry about the mess the rest of you have endured via Dell and by the thousands of $,$$$.$$ you have poured down the drain. But, know this. You saved my ass, well mostly. Thank you so much for telling the truth about that totally dishonest company. If a company is so utterly incompetent on the phone could they be any less in real life? I think not. You have confirmed it - totally. Your warnings have not gone unheaded by me. I just wish I had read your stuff earlier because before I totally got wise I bought a used Dell from someone on ebay. Fortunately, the guy has not had much trouble with the unit. I'm not holding my breath though. It still has a few months of so called warranty. Based on what the vast majority of you say I can trash can that business though because the company is a nightmare to communicate with and it sounds like from you it is worse to deal with. What I am trying to figure out is how did they go from a trusted Inc. to the scam they are today? I blows my mind!

Do not shop at Dell. You will regret it for a very long time. Do your homework, find a reputable company and then sing for joy when you get real help and answers to your needs!

It sounds like we should and could start our own computer business and do a thousand times better at it than the mess called Dell.

Never again for me! No way!

Le from Osburn

Le from Osburn, ID

Wow! I didn't know this forum existed. Imagine a place where people can vent on a totally screwed up company like Dell. I'm really glad to read other people's horror stories. I almost made a huge mistake and bought another Dell notebook from Dell.

Back in about 2000 I bought a new Inspiron 5000 and have had no serious problem with it. Also, anytime I needed the first couple of years I could call and they were there to walk me through any software or other problem I had. They came out and replaced a cracked lid on it when I had owned it about one year. No problem what-so-ever. However, that was then. Something awful has happened at Dell.

A few months ago, on two different occasions, I ran up against a couple of problems so I called Technical Support. Of course I was outsourced to India. Sometimes, if I really, really concentrated I could understand the guy on the other end who didn't know what he was talking about, and had to of course, put me on hold and get some answers. This was my first clue that all was not well there.

Okay so last week, since I had kind of been out of the loop with Dell for 2 yrs. until those two calls a few months ago, and since I now needed to replace a tired 5000, I called Dell to ask a simple question. I wanted to know if they still sold new "three spindle notebooks". For about an hour and a half I was routed and rerouted all over Texas or wherever. Nobody had a clue. Finally I was so mad I jumped a Tech. support guy about their so called phone system. He tried to assure me that they were working to fix the problem with the phones. To hell with the phone system. Someone should "can" the stupid CEO at the top of that sorry outfit as well as all of his/her idiot cronies who only think about selling products and $$$ and could care less about customer care and support. Here is the deal, when I originally bought my notebook I could get all kinds of help, day or night over the phone. Yes there was sometimes a wait for someone to get free. But I always got help from someone who knew what they were talking about and who I could understand. Don't try that today. You pretty much are on your own. I finally got someone who, after several more minutes on hold, assured me that nowhere in Dell did they sell "three spindle machines" anymore. So I asked another question, "When did you last make them and what model numbers?" Of course I was put on hold because this guy in Tech. Support had no clue and had to get help to find out. About five minutes later he came back on and gave me an answer - actually he once again routed me to the new sales dept. and said they might know if there were any used machines still in their inventory. What? I had already been there several times that day and was in no mood to endure more of their gross stupidity. Somewhere in all this mess I asked for the phone number for delloutlet.com, their refurbished department. Again, after a wait on the phone, the guy came back and told me they cannot be called. The only way to contact them would be over the internet. Really? Well, by now I was coming to the conclusion of ditto for the who operation. Indeed, I wasn’t able to contact them no matter what number I tried. I think they are unreachable!

I thought the icing on the cake was when I called back and asked someone what the Corp. Headquarters address and phone number was because I wanted to file a complaint. Get this. He put me on hold because he didn't have a clue. Five minutes later he came back on to tell me that he had contacted Customer Care and that the lady on the other end was working on it and had put him on hold! So now there were three people on hold here. I wanted to reach through the phone by now and do some serious damage to everyone in that sick outfit. Finally, after a few more minutes he came back on and gave me the number. Well that wasn't the icing on the cake after all.

That night I was shopping on ebay for notebooks and also looking at some other sites when I stumbled upon a site called Dell Finical Services. After searching around there a little bit I discovered that Dell does have off lease computers for sale, about 1200 - 2000 Latitudes and a few Inspirons. Some of these are of the D Latitude and the 4000 to 8200 Inspiron vintage (three spindle machines)! So, I spent about 2 hours on the phone to learn the following:

1. They don't know what they are talking about
2. They don’t even know that they don’t know
3. Their phone system is a shambles
3. They don't care about pee-ons like me if I dare go outside the bounds of buying a new computer
4. You cannot communicate with them

Does anyone have any clue at Dell?

About outsourcing or whatever this scam is called, Dell needs to outsource themselves out of business. That would be a blessing. They need to get real. Who will keep buying from a company with whom you cannot communicate and with whom you cannot do business?

Simply forget using the 800-915-3355 number and extension whatever because you won't have any answers by the time you are done. Its simply a huge joke.

I am really sorry about the mess the rest of you have endured via Dell and by the thousands of $,$$$.$$ you have poured down the drain. But, know this. You saved my ass, well mostly. Thank you so much for telling the truth about that totally dishonest company. If a company is so utterly incompetent on the phone could they be any less in real life? I think not. You have confirmed it - totally. Your warnings have not gone unheaded by me. I just wish I had read your stuff earlier because before I totally got wise I bought a used Dell from someone on ebay. Fortunately, the guy has not had much trouble with the unit. I'm not holding my breath though. It still has a few months of so called warranty. Based on what the vast majority of you say I can trash can that business though because the company is a nightmare to communicate with and it sounds like from you it is worse to deal with. What I am trying to figure out is how did they go from a trusted Inc. to the scam they are today? I blows my mind!

Do not shop at Dell. You will regret it for a very long time. Do your homework, find a reputable company and then sing for joy when you get real help and answers to your needs!

It sounds like we should and could start our own computer business and do a thousand times better at it than the mess called Dell.

Never again for me! No way!

Le from Osburn

Horrible. I am unable to speak with someone who cares as shown in their ads. Most of the time I have to wait over an hour on the phone to speak to a recording and get sent back to myt starting point. I sent Emails to them which go unanswered. I would like to know if they even have people working for them or some guy controlling a recorded message center.

Do not use Dell Financial Services!!!!! Their 90 days same as cash is a complete joke. Even if you pay your bill on time for the third billing cycle, you may have to pay the accrued interest. They purposely make the 90 days expire before the due date of the bill and charge the accrued interest, even if the bill is paid on time. They do state this on the bill, but it is so uncommon to see something like this, it might just sneak up on the consumer. I know it creeped up on me when I received my next statement saying that I owed them interest.

This is not even mentioning the poor quality of my brand new laptop. Their part replacement plan is also a complete and utter joke. The hard drive on my new lap top failed after 2 weeks. They sent me a refurbished, unformatted hard drive to replace my brand new one. I spent at least 20 hours installing all of the programs again. Some of the CDs were even mislabeled and did not contain the correct programs. It took roughly a dozen phone calls, about 6 to 8 hours on hold, about 1 and a half months, and 3 shipments to finally get the correct software.

On second thought, DO NOT BUY A DELL!!!!!!! PURE CRAP!!!!!!

Do not use Dell Financial Services!!!!! Their 90 days same as cash is a complete joke. Even if you pay your bill on time for the third billing cycle, you may have to pay the accrued interest. They purposely make the 90 days expire before the due date of the bill and charge the accrued interest, even if the bill is paid on time. They do state this on the bill, but it is so uncommon to see something like this, it might just sneak up on the consumer. I know it creeped up on me when I received my next statement saying that I owed them interest.

This is not even mentioning the poor quality of my brand new laptop. Their part replacement plan is also a complete and utter joke. The hard drive on my new lap top failed after 2 weeks. They sent me a refurbished, unformatted hard drive to replace my brand new one. I spent at least 20 hours installing all of the programs again. Some of the CDs were even mislabeled and did not contain the correct programs. It took roughly a dozen phone calls, about 6 to 8 hours on hold, about 1 and a half months, and 3 shipments to finally get the correct software.

On second thought, DO NOT BUY A DELL!!!!!!! PURE CRAP!!!!!!

Do not use Dell Financial Services!!!!! Their 90 days same as cash is a complete joke. Even if you pay your bill on time for the third billing cycle, you may have to pay the accrued interest. They purposely make the 90 days expire before the due date of the bill and charge the accrued interest, even if the bill is paid on time. They do state this on the bill, but it is so uncommon to see something like this, it might just sneak up on the consumer. I know it creeped up on me when I received my next statement saying that I owed them interest.

This is not even mentioning the poor quality of my brand new laptop. Their part replacement plan is also a complete and utter joke. The hard drive on my new lap top failed after 2 weeks. They sent me a refurbished, unformatted hard drive to replace my brand new one. I spent at least 20 hours installing all of the programs again. Some of the CDs were even mislabeled and did not contain the correct programs. It took roughly a dozen phone calls, about 6 to 8 hours on hold, about 1 and a half months, and 3 shipments to finally get the correct software.

On second thought, DO NOT BUY A DELL!!!!!!! PURE CRAP!!!!!!

Do not use Dell Financial Services!!!!! Their 90 days same as cash is a complete joke. Even if you pay your bill on time for the third billing cycle, you may have to pay the accrued interest. They purposely make the 90 days expire before the due date of the bill and charge the accrued interest, even if the bill is paid on time. They do state this on the bill, but it is so uncommon to see something like this, it might just sneak up on the consumer. I know it creeped up on me when I received my next statement saying that I owed them interest.

This is not even mentioning the poor quality of my brand new laptop. Their part replacement plan is also a complete and utter joke. The hard drive on my new lap top failed after 2 weeks. They sent me a refurbished, unformatted hard drive to replace my brand new one. I spent at least 20 hours installing all of the programs again. Some of the CDs were even mislabeled and did not contain the correct programs. It took roughly a dozen phone calls, about 6 to 8 hours on hold, about 1 and a half months, and 3 shipments to finally get the correct software.

On second thought, DO NOT BUY A DELL!!!!!!! PURE CRAP!!!!!!

What an unmitigated disaster of a company! The general public is probably not aware of the full extent of Dell's outsourcing including bill processing and debt collection. Of the former,their inefficiencies and slow turn over time due to outsourcing are likely to make YOU late in payment when in fact THEY are late in processing. Then they expect you to pay a 29.00 vig for their cost-cutting incompetency.They will push an auto-pay program to access your checking account as a solution to their already untrustworthy incompetence.
To compound the problem,if you run a day late in your otherwise current account,it is not enough to pay this 29.00 late vig with your payment. Expect to be hounded annonymously from India or Argentina.
Apparently,they are making mass dialings without leaving a message and it is highly unlikely when they call that someone will be on the other end of the line--you will be disconnected. Apparently,they think you will know it is them calling--but who expects a creditor to call on an ostensibly current account? You assume someone is mistaking your number for that of a deadbeat.You call the police and your cell-phone company and consider a trace for the harassment.
You *69 and come up with 866-260-8125 and call to an indecipherable message that disconnects you. You suspect it is a scam. You then inadvertantly find out Dell is the source and you know it is a scam.
You are called ten times a day,but much like the notorious MCI,you can't resolve a bill with them if you wanted to. I suspect with enough letters to the FTC ,better business bureau and attorney general of texas, we can hold this rogue company accountable.
It goes much deeper than the outsourcing of jobs,which I would be ambivilent about. It speaks to circumventing all the fair business practices American companies would be held to by creating an intentionally convoluted loop. How is it possible that the most inefficient company becomes the most aggressive with non-meritorious collection activity that imperils the consumer. Look,when Dell is finally put out of business,your credit is imperiled on account of their willful,expedient neglect. I urge everyone to get the word out about Dell's activities. The FTC needs a pattern of abuse brought to their attention,not divergent isolated complaints--but enough of writing to the right places will bring this company in line before they do more damage. I would like to see Lou Dobbs do a follow up on the further implications of reckless outsourcing.

What an unmitigated disaster of a company! The general public is probably not aware of the full extent of Dell's outsourcing including bill processing and debt collection. Of the former,their inefficiencies and slow turn over time due to outsourcing are likely to make YOU late in payment when in fact THEY are late in processing. Then they expect you to pay a 29.00 vig for their cost-cutting incompetency.They will push an auto-pay program to access your checking account as a solution to their already untrustworthy incompetence.
To compound the problem,if you run a day late in your otherwise current account,it is not enough to pay this 29.00 late vig with your payment. Expect to be hounded annonymously from India or Argentina.
Apparently,they are making mass dialings without leaving a message and it is highly unlikely when they call that someone will be on the other end of the line--you will be disconnected. Apparently,they think you will know it is them calling--but who expects a creditor to call on an ostensibly current account? You assume someone is mistaking your number for that of a deadbeat.You call the police and your cell-phone company and consider a trace for the harassment.
You *69 and come up with 866-260-8125 and call to an indecipherable message that disconnects you. You suspect it is a scam. You then inadvertantly find out Dell is the source and you know it is a scam.
You are called ten times a day,but much like the notorious MCI,you can't resolve a bill with them if you wanted to. I suspect with enough letters to the FTC ,better business bureau and attorney general of texas, we can hold this rogue company accountable.
It goes much deeper than the outsourcing of jobs,which I would be ambivilent about. It speaks to circumventing all the fair business practices American companies would be held to by creating an intentionally convoluted loop. How is it possible that the most inefficient company becomes the most aggressive with non-meritorious collection activity that imperils the consumer. Look,when Dell is finally put out of business,your credit is imperiled on account of their willful,expedient neglect. I urge everyone to get the word out about Dell's activities. The FTC needs a pattern of abuse brought to their attention,not divergent isolated complaints--but enough of writing to the right places will bring this company in line before they do more damage. I would like to see Lou Dobbs do a follow up on the further implications of reckless outsourcing.

What an unmitigated disaster of a company! The general public is probably not aware of the full extent of Dell's outsourcing including bill processing and debt collection. Of the former,their inefficiencies and slow turn over time due to outsourcing are likely to make YOU late in payment when in fact THEY are late in processing. Then they expect you to pay a 29.00 vig for their cost-cutting incompetency.They will push an auto-pay program to access your checking account as a solution to their already untrustworthy incompetence.
To compound the problem,if you run a day late in your otherwise current account,it is not enough to pay this 29.00 late vig with your payment. Expect to be hounded annonymously from India or Argentina.
Apparently,they are making mass dialings without leaving a message and it is highly unlikely when they call that someone will be on the other end of the line--you will be disconnected. Apparently,they think you will know it is them calling--but who expects a creditor to call on an ostensibly current account? You assume someone is mistaking your number for that of a deadbeat.You call the police and your cell-phone company and consider a trace for the harassment.
You *69 and come up with 866-260-8125 and call to an indecipherable message that disconnects you. You suspect it is a scam. You then inadvertantly find out Dell is the source and you know it is a scam.
You are called ten times a day,but much like the notorious MCI,you can't resolve a bill with them if you wanted to. I suspect with enough letters to the FTC ,better business bureau and attorney general of texas, we can hold this rogue company accountable.
It goes much deeper than the outsourcing of jobs,which I would be ambivilent about. It speaks to circumventing all the fair business practices American companies would be held to by creating an intentionally convoluted loop. How is it possible that the most inefficient company becomes the most aggressive with non-meritorious collection activity that imperils the consumer. Look,when Dell is finally put out of business,your credit is imperiled on account of their willful,expedient neglect. I urge everyone to get the word out about Dell's activities. The FTC needs a pattern of abuse brought to their attention,not divergent isolated complaints--but enough of writing to the right places will bring this company in line before they do more damage. I would like to see Lou Dobbs do a follow up on the further implications of reckless outsourcing.

What an unmitigated disaster of a company! The general public is probably not aware of the full extent of Dell's outsourcing including bill processing and debt collection. Of the former,their inefficiencies and slow turn over time due to outsourcing are likely to make YOU late in payment when in fact THEY are late in processing. Then they expect you to pay a 29.00 vig for their cost-cutting incompetency.They will push an auto-pay program to access your checking account as a solution to their already untrustworthy incompetence.
To compound the problem,if you run a day late in your otherwise current account,it is not enough to pay this 29.00 late vig with your payment. Expect to be hounded annonymously from India or Argentina.
Apparently,they are making mass dialings without leaving a message and it is highly unlikely when they call that someone will be on the other end of the line--you will be disconnected. Apparently,they think you will know it is them calling--but who expects a creditor to call on an ostensibly current account? You assume someone is mistaking your number for that of a deadbeat.You call the police and your cell-phone company and consider a trace for the harassment.
You *69 and come up with 866-260-8125 and call to an indecipherable message that disconnects you. You suspect it is a scam. You then inadvertantly find out Dell is the source and you know it is a scam.
You are called ten times a day,but much like the notorious MCI,you can't resolve a bill with them if you wanted to. I suspect with enough letters to the FTC ,better business bureau and attorney general of texas, we can hold this rogue company accountable.
It goes much deeper than the outsourcing of jobs,which I would be ambivilent about. It speaks to circumventing all the fair business practices American companies would be held to by creating an intentionally convoluted loop. How is it possible that the most inefficient company becomes the most aggressive with non-meritorious collection activity that imperils the consumer. Look,when Dell is finally put out of business,your credit is imperiled on account of their willful,expedient neglect. I urge everyone to get the word out about Dell's activities. The FTC needs a pattern of abuse brought to their attention,not divergent isolated complaints--but enough of writing to the right places will bring this company in line before they do more damage. I would like to see Lou Dobbs do a follow up on the further implications of reckless outsourcing.

What an unmitigated disaster of a company! The general public is probably not aware of the full extent of Dell's outsourcing including bill processing and debt collection. Of the former,their inefficiencies and slow turn over time due to outsourcing are likely to make YOU late in payment when in fact THEY are late in processing. Then they expect you to pay a 29.00 vig for their cost-cutting incompetency.They will push an auto-pay program to access your checking account as a solution to their already untrustworthy incompetence.
To compound the problem,if you run a day late in your otherwise current account,it is not enough to pay this 29.00 late vig with your payment. Expect to be hounded annonymously from India or Argentina.
Apparently,they are making mass dialings without leaving a message and it is highly unlikely when they call that someone will be on the other end of the line--you will be disconnected. Apparently,they think you will know it is them calling--but who expects a creditor to call on an ostensibly current account? You assume someone is mistaking your number for that of a deadbeat.You call the police and your cell-phone company and consider a trace for the harassment.
You *69 and come up with 866-260-8125 and call to an indecipherable message that disconnects you. You suspect it is a scam. You then inadvertantly find out Dell is the source and you know it is a scam.
You are called ten times a day,but much like the notorious MCI,you can't resolve a bill with them if you wanted to. I suspect with enough letters to the FTC ,better business bureau and attorney general of texas, we can hold this rogue company accountable.
It goes much deeper than the outsourcing of jobs,which I would be ambivilent about. It speaks to circumventing all the fair business practices American companies would be held to by creating an intentionally convoluted loop. How is it possible that the most inefficient company becomes the most aggressive with non-meritorious collection activity that imperils the consumer. Look,when Dell is finally put out of business,your credit is imperiled on account of their willful,expedient neglect. I urge everyone to get the word out about Dell's activities. The FTC needs a pattern of abuse brought to their attention,not divergent isolated complaints--but enough of writing to the right places will bring this company in line before they do more damage. I would like to see Lou Dobbs do a follow up on the further implications of reckless outsourcing.

purchased a computer for my daughter for college-used the 90 day no interest payment-sent in full payment before due date-Dell sent out a bill 30 days later stating that we need to pay over 90 dollars in finance charges-they claim they did not receive our payment until 15 days later. I never had the US postal service take 15 days to get a payment delivered- the mail traveled from Virginia to Illinois-
You can call and get just India- who are so rude and disconnect you- hours later you are no where. You can email Dell Financial ten times - Dell Customer Care Service- no response- emails are never answered. Never Ever use Dell Financial Service- they will not communicate with you in any form and you are charge unwarranted finance charges.

The other night i was watching t.v. and i saw a dell comercial that not only made me laugh quite hard, but also made me very angery. It was their newest comercial on their rock solid customer service! It was a man who rolled over in his bed at three in the morning and called dell just to see if there "rock solid" cusomer service would be there to help him. What got me was the fact that the people sitting behind the desk at the dell office were all americans and the man taking his call could speak english quite well! Where the hell were these people when i called and spent 4 and half hours on my cell trying to get my computer up and running right when i had a very important spreadsheat due at work the next morning! Dell has straight up lied and mislead the american people by false advertising! The comercial should have shown some highly stressed man calling at 3 a.m. to have to wait on hold for a half hour and then to be conected to some indian who is reading straight from a script and can't even say his pretend name right! Then to be transfered back forth 15 times and still not know what is wrong with his pc. Dude dell sucks! It seems that making some extra cash by selling american work to poor indians means more to them then their customers and pride in there product. I will never get another dell and hope by reading this you do the same.

The other night i was watching t.v. and i saw a dell comercial that not only made me laugh quite hard, but also made me very angery. It was their newest comercial on their rock solid customer service! It was a man who rolled over in his bed at three in the morning and called dell just to see if there "rock solid" cusomer service would be there to help him. What got me was the fact that the people sitting behind the desk at the dell office were all americans and the man taking his call could speak english quite well! Where the hell were these people when i called and spent 4 and half hours on my cell trying to get my computer up and running right when i had a very important spreadsheat due at work the next morning! Dell has straight up lied and mislead the american people by false advertising! The comercial should have shown some highly stressed man calling at 3 a.m. to have to wait on hold for a half hour and then to be conected to some indian who is reading straight from a script and can't even say his pretend name right! Then to be transfered back forth 15 times and still not know what is wrong with his pc. Dude dell sucks! It seems that making some extra cash by selling american work to poor indians means more to them then their customers and pride in there product. I will never get another dell and hope by reading this you do the same.

I have a Dell 4500 desktop that's about 18 mo. old. The hard drive died. After suffering the well known Dell support, I had a technician come to my house. She did indeed look at her watch as she popped in the new hard drive. She didn't help me with the system & didn't wait to see if it worked. Of course it doesn't. I've had to email the tech support people numerous times from work. I get service call numbers assigned, but they are worthless. I can't check any status from home on a computer that doesn't work. My time at work is restricted, so I can't play with these people all day. They did manage to wake me up with a phone call at 11:45 pm to tell me they got some of my emails. Hey, thanks. When I need a wake-up call I'll just contact the Dell support gang. Oh, wait, I can't do that with a computer that doesn't work! They say they're going to call me. I'm sure they will call my home # while I'm at work. They've already used up 30 min of cell phone time & made me recharge the battery twice.
Dude, DON'T buy a Dell!

DO NOT BUY DELL. They have been a nightmare. I got a damaged memory module which took me many agonizing hours to replace, despite the fact that it was damaged right from the start, and their own system said so.

Dell is in the business of selling junk without any recourse. They have tech "support" which does not have the faintest idea what it is doing ... when you finally get them (and believe me, it is DELIBERATELY not easy to reach a human) you get the run-around before you get the "disconnection."

Even tho I bought my computer specifically to plays dvds, it cannot do so. I cannot even put a dvd program onto the computer. Forget about the "support" helping you.

Dell is a trashy company. It gives you garbage and makes it impossible to talk to them when you get it.

I want to buy desktop from Dell, so I went online ordered computer (08/30/04) and opened Dell Preferred Account. My computer price was $1,800.00.After few days I have order confirmation and email with order delay. I was waiting few more days and went online to check my order. I notice on 09/09/04 that my a/c balance is $4,990.0 .I called Dell with question why my balance is so high. They give an answer "you bought two laptops"(two of them with price $3,088.00). I was scared at that time. Dell costumer service people gave me an order # for that purchase and connected me to the fraud dept. And there everything began. When I opened the ?? Order I saw that this computers were send to Jacksonville Beach FL (I live in OH) and the delivery day is 09/09/04.I try to tell fraud dept people to stop the delivery but they explain me their plan. I need to sign the affidavit which they going to send me by mail and they have 30 days to investigate. I asked them can you fax me tat paper the answer was no. Now I know this affidavit I could get online but fraud dept people do not know this. After this effective conversation I knew that nothing is going to happen. They not going to do anything in this case. I contacted Police Department in Jacksonville Beach and my local Police. They opened the investigation. They went to the place where laptops were delivered there was this man who got the computer. Why he has it? His friend is working for Dell and he send him this computers .Of course the second computer went back to the sender (Dell employee) he kept this for himself. This second person was arrested in Lake City Fl.Police recovered both computers, so I contacted again Dell fraud dept with request to close my account (at this time I did not take the desktop I ordered for myself). I heard again we have your affidavit and we have 30 days to investigate. It was like talking to the wall. I contacted the police, they called Dell and after few hours I gat call from Dell that my a/c will be closed in 5 to 10 days. It is closed now but I got letter from Dell that unknown person used my a/c. I understand that was the conclusion from their investigation. Someone who was arrested and worked for Dell is unknown person. No one ever apologizes to me no one said thank you. I will never ever have business with that company again.

I want to buy desktop from Dell, so I went online ordered computer (08/30/04) and opened Dell Preferred Account. My computer price was $1,800.00.After few days I have order confirmation and email with order delay. I was waiting few more days and went online to check my order. I notice on 09/09/04 that my a/c balance is $4,990.0 .I called Dell with question why my balance is so high. They give an answer "you bought two laptops"(two of them with price $3,088.00). I was scared at that time. Dell costumer service people gave me an order # for that purchase and connected me to the fraud dept. And there everything began. When I opened the ?? Order I saw that this computers were send to Jacksonville Beach FL (I live in OH) and the delivery day is 09/09/04.I try to tell fraud dept people to stop the delivery but they explain me their plan. I need to sign the affidavit which they going to send me by mail and they have 30 days to investigate. I asked them can you fax me tat paper the answer was no. Now I know this affidavit I could get online but fraud dept people do not know this. After this effective conversation I knew that nothing is going to happen. They not going to do anything in this case. I contacted Police Department in Jacksonville Beach and my local Police. They opened the investigation. They went to the place where laptops were delivered there was this man who got the computer. Why he has it? His friend is working for Dell and he send him this computers .Of course the second computer went back to the sender (Dell employee) he kept this for himself. This second person was arrested in Lake City Fl.Police recovered both computers, so I contacted again Dell fraud dept with request to close my account (at this time I did not take the desktop I ordered for myself). I heard again we have your affidavit and we have 30 days to investigate. It was like talking to the wall. I contacted the police, they called Dell and after few hours I gat call from Dell that my a/c will be closed in 5 to 10 days. It is closed now but I got letter from Dell that unknown person used my a/c. I understand that was the conclusion from their investigation. Someone who was arrested and worked for Dell is unknown person. No one ever apologizes to me no one said thank you. I will never ever have business with that company again.

This company is rediculous. They don't know how customer relations works at all. I'm tired of talking to the Korean immigrant about how to repair my computer. The only thing we had in common was understanding each other... or the lack therof.

technical support, my butt! sell it and forget it!

I have read lots and lots of people whining about Dell. I just can't agree with them at all. I bought an Inspiron 8100 (notebook) from them almost 3 years ago. About 2o days later, the touchpad became inoperative. They mailed me a new one and had a tech fix it. All of this occured within 3 days of initial call...I lived in Barrow, Alaska!! For those of you who are geographically challenged, find a map of Alaska, look at the top of it. A 737 lands in Barrow twice a day unless the weather sucks real hard.

Just recently, this machine has had problems again..2 probs in 3 years, traveling in some of the smallest airplanes into some of the most remote locations on earth...not bad!!! Well, their 3rd party vendor (SmartTech) has been very incommunicado (I'm no where near an airport where a jet can land) and Dell is resolving this issue by sending me a NEW UNIT!!!! Not just a motherboard, a new laptop. And since the 8100 is no longer offered in their line-up, I'm getting a new Dell, dude.

I'd say if you have trouble with this company it is due to your own inadequacies. I know that it likely hurts your ego to have this pointed out by some "lowly" customer service rep and so you lash out in some blog. I suggest you increase your level of education and/or training before you make your next purchase...and then go buy yourself a new Dell.

"A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects."
-Lazarus Long

Dell has the worst customer services in the whole world. My computer broke days after the warranty expired and they refused to honor it. ITs like they know that they are good for one year and 2 days and therefore warranty it for one year. Their business practice need substantial re-examination.

I bought a fully loaded Dell 8300 in March 2004. The computer never worked properly. I tried desperately to get software to download from the disk drive. I'm not an idiot but I just couldn't figure how to get things to work. I'm a busy rural family doctor so I don't have a lot of free time to mess with a computer. After a few weeks I decided to call for assistance. I had been hesitant to do so since I knew I was going to have to wait on the line for perhaps over an hour and would be talking to someone in India who probably didn't understand English. I was right and apparently they don't understand much about computers either. I believe they used voice translation software. After many phone calls which usually ended with an accidental disconnection I decided to use their e-mail assistance. I have saved all my correspondence with them and looking back I still can't understand what went wrong. After months of technical suggestions that didn't work and 4 visits from the service technician (replaced most parts except the hard drive) the computer still didn't work. Finally Dell concluded that I needed a new computer. They used the exact wording "New" and "factory new" in their e-mail. I have a copy! Now they've sent me a refurbished unit and I'm refusing it. I've literally spent 40+ hours on this "project" and I'm rewarded with a refurbished unit! What an insult. I payed for a new computer and I want a new computer!!!

p.s. during all this our practice purchased 10 more computers from Dell. We won't EVER make that mistake again

After buying six computers from Dell and wasting more money on useless "Next Business Day On-Site Support" and wasting hours and hours on the phone trying to get a human and folloeing all sorts of silly instructions, I have bought an Apple. I still have years of useless Dell support paid for on now useless machines that have both hardware and other problems.

HARD TO FIND AND THE A DIVE IS NOT WORKING

Bought a Dell "refurbished" Dimension 2350 online around May 28 of 2003. My last... proficiency with computers was with a TRaSh80 from Radioshack in the mid '80's.

Less than a week after using this machine, due to my ignorance of modern computers, it was necessary to endure the gibberish from the Dell customer service moron reading a list to tell me how to reinstall my operating system. I do not play well with others at times and this experience was especially frustrating due to the language problems. The person did do their job even though I was not happy with the accent.

Endured the language to reinstall again. Wasn't so bad this time, I knew a little bit more of the OS.

By going to dell.support.com, I downloaded and printed the reinstall guide, in case I needed to do it again.

This Dell computer has not failed me yet. I don't claim to know a lot about the machine, WindowsXP, etc., but I have learned that whatever may be going on with the system is due to my instructions.

I have reinstalled the system at least 11 times. After enough adding and removing of programs, it is just easier to start clean with the original setup from Dell.

Overall, YOU CANNOT BEAT A DELL SYSTEM for price + quality. First timers will have to suffer some when talking to Hadji, but having seen other peoples' experiences with HP/Compaq, Macintosh, etc., I WILL NEVER BUY A COMPUTER SYSTEM FROM ANY OTHER MANUFACTURER!

Found this site trying to Google for instructions to add Linux to space I partitioned last install.

I actually love my computer but the problems I have had are with the collections department. I will admit my bills are late, the last three months, due to a bad illness which makes it difficult for me to keep up with things. Prior to this my bills were always on time. I get calls from the Indian people all the time. They are rude, they talk while you are talking and absolutely do not allow for any explanations nor want to hear that the check has been sent out. It is absolutely the worse collections I have ever run into. When you state the date and the check was sent out, they question you and act as if you are lying. Then they try to et you to post a check over the phone. No way would I do that with people that cannot even communicate fairly with me!!! If they cannot treat me decently why in the heck would I allow them my bank information. I am sad that we are allowing companies to have places like this in other countries and taking away american jobs. I do not think I will buy dell again simply based on how nasty their collections is.

I bought several Dell Dimension 2400 computers in their outlet area and used Dell Financial Services to finance the purchase. My first payment with them I paid the entire balance of just over $1000. For the second payment, I was on vacation when the bill arrived and I missed the minimum payment. That's when I started to receive harrassing calls from someone in India, even on the weekends. Once I realized I had missed the payment in July, I sent a check for about 3/4 of the balance. I still received the harrassing phone calls every day after that even though I told this Indian gentleman that I had sent a check.

The person calling from DFS in India wanted me to give them a checking account routing number so they could deduct the needed amount from my checking account since my account was now "delinquent". When I called DFS directly, they indicated no such "delinquent" status and said if I sent the minimun in by the next statement date it would be fine. So my concern here is - who is this person calling me from India and is it even legit? It seems Dell is giving their Inida office some kind of incentives to collect on "delinquent" or late DFS payments. We are talking a minimum payment of $29 that I missed by 10 days.

Needless to say, I will be closing my DFS account due to the harrassment over this minor issue. After reading the other accounts here about Dell, I am considering not buying any more Dell computers either. I have been reselling them to clients - and have provided a good channel for Dell that way since I recommended them to all my clients. Now I am not sure that was a good idea. It's only good if you don't have to talk to their Indian support offices.

I am very upset at the harrassment I have received over this. I am talking 10 phone calls a day. It is easy to ignore the phone calls coming from "unknown" on my caller id..but I find it *VERY* annoying and harrassing and it makes me feel like some kind of deadbeat.

Screw you Dell.... I'm done dealing with you.

My pentium 4 is 9 months old. Nothing but problems with calls to technical support. Misdiagnosed problem as hard drive twice. Finally had new hard drive installed by tech. New hard drive makes noise as though it is straining at all times. Technical and customer care support is terrible. Long waits on phone, difficult to understand technicians due to accents and company apparently operates this way and is unwilling to resolve problems. Calls get disconnected and promises are made to return calls which they never do. I call that out right lying.. I would never purchased a new Dell nor would I recommend one.

July 2002, I purchased a Dell, demension 4500. The computer has been out of use since February 2004. I have been told by two different computer technicians(independent of Dell)that the XP recovery CD is faulty. I then called Dell technical service many times and could not understand anything that was said. Finally in May a real Dell tech showed up at my door, looked at his watch and popped in a new hard drive. The second Dell tech showed up at my door looked at his watch and popped in a new mother board - it did not fit. The third Dell tech came in looked at her watch and replaced the mother board. I spent almost two hours with a computer tech supervisor who helped me reinstall windows. I have recently returned the XP recovery disc to Dell and asked for another. We will see. Today I have all new equipment in the computer and it still does not work. I will never buy another Dell, because of the poor service for the PC home user.

In June, I finally went out and purchased a new Nobilis and it is great. The person who sold it to me is the same person who will fix it when broken.

In September I will begin a computer diagnostics class and hope to fix my own problems.

Unfortunately my husband got lulled into buying a Dell laptop several years ago. I've always made the payments on time, even though the monitor went out several months ago and their tech people can't seem to do anything about it. Do not let your payment be even one day late! Otherwise you will be harrassed constantly by some Indian person with the worst business manners you could ever imagine. My latest payment was a couple of days late due to the July 4th holiday. I got three phone calls a day at all sorts of times from an Indian person telling me my account was in collections and I had to do a check over the phone. I've told them No, No, No and No; that I mailed the check. My next investment is Caller ID. Do NOT do business with Dell -- it's a nightmare. In fact, if I find out a company outsources work to India, I'm not doing business with them.

In October 2002, I purchased a Dell Dimension 8200 for my son, who's 18. It's two years later and my son has been wanting to reformat (not restore) his hard drive. He can't. He can't because doesn't have XP to reinstall. He never got Windows XP as part of the software package that was supposed to come with his Dell. I emailed Dell twice and each time, got idiotic emails from India. The people responding to the emails couldn't understand my emails, even though I was carefull to shorten the emails and use simple words. The least Dell could do is find people who can speak and write English. So, I gave up trying to get a disc with XP on it. My son is going to get XP another way.

Then, the day I got my last email, my son told me he has doubts he got the computer he ordered. He said his RAM is RD RAM (rambus) which he didn't want. (He said he's aware it's too late to do anything about it) He also said when looking inside the tower, he found that his CPU didn't have a fan, so he went to Best Buy and bought one and put it in the tower. He later noticed when using his PC that the fan near the top of the tower had died and so he went back to Best Buy and bought another new fan and put that in as well. In addition to all this, the computer's CD/DVD drive stopped working last year and my son had to rig it to get it to run. Today it runs intermittently.

My son is disgusted with his Dell PC. He can't wait to get rid of it. The sad thing is, he is paying for the damned thing which was purchased on my Dell Preferred Credit Card. My son's next computer will be built by him. He already has the parts chosen and will stop using his Dell even if he is paying for it.

This experience has taught me not to trust Dell. I was going to get a
Dell laptop for my husband for his job; he works with Windows all day long. But, we like our Apple computer at home. He'll probably get an iBook and Virtual PC software.

I wish there were some way I could be part of a class action suit so I could get some money back on this system and pay down or pay off my Dell credit card.

I WORKED WITH A DELL COMPUTER FOR ABOUT 7 YEARS NOW AND I KNOW ALOT OF DELL COMPUTER AND I WNAT TO PURCHASE ONE FOR MY SON SO HE COULD LEARN AND HAVE EXPIRINCE ON THE COMPUTERS

I recently purchasd a Dell Dimension 8300. I had done some research regarding what I wanted, etc. etc.

I got my PC delivered to my house in early April. I was pretty happy that from order to door it was there in about 1 1/2 weeks! Unfortunately, the monitor was not so quick to come. I also orderd a printer that was also "in processing". I called, e-mailed, called again. finally, someone at Dell said they would get it shipped TODAY! I checked the web site later that evening and lo and behold, it was shipped. After a few days, I was excited to see the UPS gu sho up at my door. Unfortunately, he only had one box. It was not the monitor, but the printer. Now I had a very sleek looking printer and PC, but no monitor. I called again and the person said they would look into it for me. I said I would hold while she did that and was promptly hung up on. Another flurry of e-mails and about 2 days later, theyt said they did not know why my monitor did not ship out. I said, well, just ship me a monitor, I don't care if it has the right numbers on the back, I just want the model I ordered. 3 days later, after another flurry of e-mails, I finally got them to ship my monitor.

When the monitor came, it had RMA info in the box. I e-mailed Dell to ensure that they dis not expect me to ship a monitor back to them. Of course, they did. I asked them what monitor they expected me to ship back. They said the one they never shipped to me! I said I never got that monitor, which to their credit, they never refuted. However, that did not dissuade them from asking for it back, several times. I finally as able to get that resolved (I think) after another flurry of e-mails.

Well, now I hae my complete PC, monitor, and printer. The first thing I noticed is that they did not finish installing the computer. No, not the license part and the intiial setup, it booted to a screen that asked me if I wanted to restore the system for shipment to the customer or someting to that effect. I finally got it to boot to Windows and I encountered my first error. Failed to start service. I poked around a bit and noticed that many hardware devices were not installed. Also, only 20 GB of my 120 GB hard drive was formatted. I wiped the system clean and reloaded the entire computer.

It ran fine for about a day, long enough for me to get the computer set up and ready to use, and then it blue screened on me. Reboot, run for 20 minutes, blue screen. I began rolling drivers back, one by one. No help there. Still blue screening away, I decided to try out my DVD burner before I wiped my system again, hoping to back it up to a DVD. It will not take a blank disk. I tried another, still ejects the disk and says "Insert Blank Media". I tried a CD-RW, same result. I tried 6 differnet disks, all differnet brands, no luck.

Thus began my entry into tech support hell. I began with a simple e-mail, detailing the errors I was getting through the Dell diagnostics and the issue I had with the burner. I was sent back and automated response that had reference on how to use the crappy recording program they sent back to me. I replied to the e-mail and said that did not help. they replied back and basically told me that I was using the wrong media. I told them all of the differnet types and speeds of the media I tried and said that I still had a bad memory module that needed to be replaced. I was told to run Dell Diagnostics on my PC (This was suggested at least 5 times). I replied with how do you think I got the cryptic error messages I sent you in my first e-mail. It was then that I realized the limitation of Indian computers to only scroll down as far as the second line of any given e-mail. I am now on my 12th e-mail. I have been told that this was a software issue, told to delete a registry key that made my burner fail all-together, sent a memory module that was the wrong size, given the same suggested steps to resolve my iussue 2 times. Not just the same suggestions, but word for word the same e-mail. Only the names and badge #s were different.
I beleive I have finally gotten them to send me a tech to replace my DVD-RW, but I will believe it when he is knocking on my door. As far as the memory module, they told me I will need to open up another case and begin this process all over agian.

First, last, and only time I will ever buy a Dell. I completely understand both the issues with the DVD and the memory not being caught at testing a they are transient issues. But the shipping issues, the partially installed system, the 12 e-mails to get a simple hardware failure resolved, unacceptable.

From now on, I will stick with my IBM, Sony, and my home built systems. All run fine, and offer excellent support for the product.

DELL SUPPORT SUCKS! There is no other way to put it! I just bought the computer two months ago and the modem is bad.

It took me 4 days to get through to them on their Dell Support Line. Then the technician tried to get me to remove the tower casing to fix it myself. I told him NO WAY, then I'd be blamed for the problem!

Well, we're going on 5 days and still my modem is not working. The technician that comes to your house will only come between 9-5pm (when you are working). I had my 15 year old son home with my neighbor next door and the techncian refused to come into the house.

I had a Gateway computer for 7 years and no problems. Support was great also. I'm stuck with this Dell!

Look at all of the complaints listed on this site. Enter "Dell Compliant" in a search engine and read the complaints. The number of complaints is astounding. The nature of many of the complaints is deplorable.

At what point do we, the consumer stand up and say "Enough" and take action against Dell Computer Corporation? I have done my homework on small claims court because of the fraud that Dell has perpetrated against me. My loss is much less than most of the complaints that I have read-but I am preparing my case if the deadline for Dell to act passes.

If we drag Dell into the courts across this nation they will either become a reputable business or they will discontinue business; either way the consumer will be all the better.

I have the information that is require to file a suit against Dell Computer Corporation; registered agent and address for legal service of papers. I am learning the small claims court process as I go and I can tell you that it is quite easy.

If you want this information and you intend to take action against Dell my email address is skeenm@bellsouth.net. If you do not intend to take action against Dell then please do not email your story-I will read it here.

INCIDENT 1: When I paid my bill by phone, the Dell representative did not tell me I would be receive a $10.00 service charge on my next statement. (I eventually got the charge removed by wasting $20 worth of my time explaining why I should not have to pay for an unauthorized charge.)


INCIDENT 2: When I bought my last machine, the Dell salesperson said "90 days, no payment, no interest". So I have been simply filing away my monthly Dell statements, after each advised me that nothing was due. My latest statement read "Due Date: 05-26-2004" and amount due "$0.00".

As nice as the salesperson was, I was lulled into a false sense of security, and assumed that his courtesy was representative of the whole company, and I would eventually get a straight-forward statement which would forewarn me that Dell would start hitting me with 20% interest charges, unless I paid off the account by 2004-06-03.

But instead, Dell sent a statement saying that the amount due was "$0.00".

What is worse, at the end of the 90-day "no interest" period, if you have not paid off the account (i.e. you followed the "amount due $0.00" statement), Dell also charges 20% interest for the "no interest" period.

Even thought Dell claims that this trick is explained in the fine print, they know that few people have the time to read the fine print, and they also know that this amounts to nothing more than another form of consumer fraud.

Somebody had open an account in my wife's name with Dell Financial Services and place an order which was shipped to address
diferent than our house !
If somebody has a similar experience please contact us

I had what I believe to be a minor problem with my Dell of about 4 years. On contacting the Dell support system I was exposed to extremely long waiting times, people that I couldn't understand (I am a tolerant and patient person), and referrals to call another number.

Ultimately the support people at Dell led me to erase my Internet Explorer System. The system was not available on the Windows 98 system, so I was advised to go to Windows XP. The system did not install properly (Ill spare you a lot of my experience) for whatever reason, so that my backup system would not function on XP, nor would any of the upgrades for the backup that are designed for Windows XP.

All of the above took about 6 weeks including one day of 10 hours on the support line with Bombay. I am leaving out details to spare the innocent and not make this too long.

Eventually I decided to buy a new computer, because I couldn't back up my system and the computer was running erratically on Windows XP. If I called Dell it was an excercise in futility (again I will spare you the details).

I came to the conclusion that since my time is more valuable than the computer, it was time to buy a new computer and get of this treadmill.
So I tried to order a new computer from Dell. Went to the site and listed the upgrades that I wanted. (In the past I had ordered computers and other items form Dell with no problems.)

I wanted a particular software application that was advertised on their site. When I couldn't find it I was told to go through the entire order system and after specifying the computer I could select the software item. I did that and found that my computer had been erased. I called their help people and they said to reorder. Did that and called back to make sure that the computer was not ordered twice. They assured me. Ten days later two computers arrived.

The new computer could not be connected to the internet. The instructions said for a non-network connection and a modem user the connection should be through the lower connection ports.

After two days of calls to my ISP and Dell (Dell waits of up to an hour) I discovered tht the Dell instructions were wrong.

Then another series of calls to try to connect. Each Dell Representative said The Dell System, including the Network Interface Cards was working correctly. Finally one Tek said that the card was not functioning properly, and that the mother board had to be replaced.

Since I have no confidence that they have identified the problem, I am unwilling to have a Dell-authorized repairman come in. The most likely response form him would be that the system is Ok and to call Verizon. If I had enough confidence in Dell I would try the mother board replacement. But I have no confidence whatever in their assesment.

Two hours of phone calls later including two 45 minute hold times and two accidental disconnections I received authorization to return the computer and get my money back.

Of course all my new data and software has been insatlled on the new computer, etc., etc.

My advice: Stay clear of Dell at this time. I have worked at a high level in a mafor corporation and am familiar with how to navigate a beauracracy that is not functioning. But Dell has defeated me.

I would also offer some investment advice. Short Dell. These problems will come home to roost in the stock price, but there may be a delay.

We have bought all our computers, software, printers, and other peripherals from Dell in the past. almost all without any hitch. But never again. I don't know where to go, HP or whatever. But Dell is now out of the question.

Call Consumer Service -- never get a response -- non person voice says leave tag No. and the person you spoke to last and the person will get in touch with you in one half hour to an hour and there is never a response -- each day consecutively I have called and never get a response.
The dell printer I bought does not function -- color cartridge never performed and they sent me another cartridge which does not function for whatever reason. Technicians go through everything imaginable and one tek told me to return it. It was after warranty period but prior to that I never used it -- I only used the computer for word processing -- finally after warranty I experimened with E mail and realized on printing something from that which had color, that part that was in color never showed up. After loads of wasted time I wrote to the executive office and was sent another printer -- I was so happy -- the color did come out, but then I tried to scan and it locked, froze and didn't print any more so I put my old printer back and sent this defective -- very defective printer back.
Since then I can not get any response -- E mail responses are inaccurate, duplicative, tek evidently don't read problem properly and am driven crazy. I would never buy a Dell again.
The frustration and waste of time is more than I can stand. And it is very insulting. Also when I do get a tek, the sound is sometimes inaudible -- doesn't come through clearly and technicians have, most of the time, accents very difficult to understand.

Fuck me how bad can it get?
The bastard thing will not power up, but when you finally get answered by an Indian robot, all you get is "Please insert your Dell diagnostic CD."
I would love to be able to do so, but the computer will not switch on, therefore the cd tray will not open.
"Yes. Please insert your Dell diagnostic CD. I cannot progress this call unless you insert your Dell diagnostic CD."
This shit is not confined to 3rd world countries either. Morons are paid crap money to answer a phone and read a script. No technical experience is necessary. I was formerly employed in field support by Time, so I know how totally shit call centres are.
All I want is a poxy psu. I'll change it myself. If it was a standard machine I would go and buy one. But no. Dell have to make everything so you have to have their components which you can only buy from Dell.
We were quoted on an out of warranty repair. For one faulty component the cost is £500 plus VAT. Two or more components is £800 +VAT
Fuck off! I will buy a new PC.

WARNING: IF YOU LIKE BEING SCREWED, YOU'LL LOVE DELL.

I prepaid for two Dell computers by mailing a bank Official Check to Dell in Round Rock, TX. Just to be sure, I enclosed a copy of the order generated at the Dell kiosk in Countryside Mall, Clearwater, FL. I Fed-Ex'd the check and the order, plus an additional amount for over night delivery.

They received the order on 4/5/2004 and cashed the check on 4/8/2004. On the afternoon of 4/8/2004, I went back to the Dell kiosk in Countryside Mall to ask a fairly simple question, "When will my computer be delivered?".

The response was puzzling. The order was on hold in Order Processing in a "pending" status. "Pending what?", I asked. Wrong question. No answer.

I was given the 800 number for the laughingly mis-named "Customer Care". For those of you who have never had the joy of speaking to an Indian speaking a horrible and difficult to understand English, avoid the pain and don't buy a Dell computer.

These people obviously do not give a damn and also very obviously are not measured on how well they help customers. Their job seems to be to get you off the phone as quickly as possible, and pass you on to another Indian at a different 800 number.

Of course, nothing is entered onto the computer in your record, so each and every time you begin from the beginning. You are then usually told that this is the wrong place and the NEXT 800 number you get transferred to will help you. Eventually, you either get totally frustrated and hang up, or someone tells you that something will happen that never does.

I went back to the kiosk at Countryside Mall and demanded an answer. The folks there had the same 800 numbers that I had, and got blown off the exact same way. I asked if they had live chat or instant messaging to contact someone that might be able to do some good. No chance, this is Dell. E-mail and cell phones is as good as it gets. The Manager On Duty was e-mailed and e-mailed back that he had issued a trouble ticket and that they should check back Saturday afternoon.

I went back to the kiosk Saturday afternoon to find exactly nothing different. The MOD was e-mailed and he curtly wrote back to have them tell me that I'd be contacted in due time. I was infuriated and told the clerk to e-mail back and tell the almighty MOD that HIS time was up and that he and Dell could kiss my a** because I was cancelling the order and going down the street to CompUSA.

I received an 800 number to cancel my order. I called and was politely informed by the token Indian that, as usual, I called the wrong 800 number, but that she could connect me. The next Indian assured me that the order was cancelled and that I would receive my money back in 7 - 14 days.

Those of you who have made the mistake of doing business with Dell already know the result. On day 15, I called looking for my money. I called the 2nd 800 number in the order cancellation boogie and was informed that I needed to speak to someone else. Once again, I repeated the story and was assured that THIS time, the money would be sent in 24 - 48 hours. I was even given a tracking number. The Indians are really getting creative now. Nothing appears to be integrated in the Dell systems, so what good would you think a tracking number would be?

The answer is that it's worthless. Three days later I called and, of course, nobody knew anything and really could care less. Dell had over $3,000 of my money for two computers they never made or shipped and against a cancelled order.

We called again last Friday and were told that we needed to fax the front and back of the check to "Prepaid" at Dell. A very concerned gentleman assured my partner that the check would be immediately forthcoming once this was received.

In fact, since the fax wasn't received that day, he e-mailed her and said:
"I am writing this to know whether you were able to fax the copy of cashed check to the prepaids ? Again please accept my sincere apology on behalf of dell.We are working on the issue to get it resolved as soon as possible.I really appreciate your cooperation with us in resolving the issue.

I will keep a track of the process & ensure this problem is solved.Awaiting for your reply.

Should you require any assistance, please contact me.We appreciate your business.

Thank You,
Yours Sincerely,

Mohammed Abdullah (Adam)
Dell Home Sales Customer Care
Dell Inc.
Mohammed_Abdullah@dell.com"

That was then, this is now. She called this very day saying that the fax was sent Saturday and wanted to know the staus. Nobody knew the status, or if the fax of the check had been received. We were assured, however, that the reimbursement check would arrive in 24 to 48 hours. That seems to be the standard Dell lie when it comes to getting your own money returned.

We have e-mailed Mohammed Abdullah to see if he can tell us where our money is, but I'd guess he's a fired employee if Dell ever finds out that he actually tried to help resolve a problem.

What I think is really laughable is the success seminars featuring Michael Dell. What a way to run a business. Hire cheap Indians to waste your customers time. Solve no problems and then steal their money. Imagine how much interest they make holding on to customer refunds for months on end.

In summary, take some good advice, DON'T BUY A DELL COMPUTER!! Ask yourself why you should wait a week for delivery and then have a customer service nightmare, when you can go to any CompUSA, drive home with a computer and get excellent support right in the store.

If I ever get my money back from the thieves at Dell, I'll be sure to post here. In the meantime, I'm planning on seeing if the Texas Attorney General's Office has avoided becoming a wholly owned Dell subsidiary and filing a fraud complaint against this company.

I recently got billed for a computer from DELL. I was just wondering, how can I be billed for something I didn't even order? Apparently some bastard opened a Dell preferred account under my name and I am being billed for some ghost computer for $1565.87 . I called Dell to complain that I didn't even order a computer. They sent me through five different departments over the span of 40 min only to discover that the Dell FRAUD department was closed for the weekend. In the mean time, my credit is getting screwed.

When I finally got a hold of the Dell Fraud Department, all they do is tell you to sign an affidavit stating that there is fraud in your preferred account. I asked the representative to close my account-which-I-did-not-open. I asked a series of questions such as "How do I close a fraudulent preferred account?" "When will I know my account is closed?" "What will happen to my credit?" "Can I close my account on the phone right now to prevent furthur fraudulent activity?" "What part of the world are you in right now". To all my questions, the representative told me to "SIGN AN AFFIDAVIT THAT WILL GET TO YOUR HOUSE IN 6-8 WORKING DAYS". Its as if the answer to every question is a damn affidavit. When I asked "What's on the affidavit?" she told me to just sign it. Why the hell would I sign something even the person who is sending me the affidavit doesn't know what's on it? She must have kept her speech on a tape recorder because the whole time all she could say was "A signed affidavit will close your account and prevent furthur fraud".

Dell has pledged to shield shoppers from fraud. They have an online security shopping guarantee. Dell should also pledge to shield the nonshopper from identity theft. Obviously it is easier to open a preferred account on someone else's name than it is to vote for a "CAWlifonya" govana.

Brilliant could watch my order take place and had computer in 5 days well done dell

I thought I should right the wrong! Subsequent to my review in 2001, I've since bought a few more Dells. They've been reliable, high quality, excellent machines. At present Dell are the best suppliers of PC's / Hardware I know of. Cannot reccommend them more at present!

_____________________________________________________________
SUMMARY of 21 FAILURES/REPAIRS in 24 months ( purchased DELL notebook for $4208 ):
[] Replaced 2 times: Notebook Service Tags: for i7500:2H0440B(18-Oct-2000), for i8100:93DH811(05/30/2002), for i8600:GHTMS31(11/15/2003);
[] Replaced 6 times: Motherboard: 05/20/2002,06/06/2002,12/16/2002;02/16/2004;02/17/2004;03/25/2004;
[] Replaced 3 times: CD/DVD drive: 03/22/2002,03/25/2002,05/21/2002;
[] Replaced 2 times: Hard Disk Drive: 03/21/2002,05/22/2002;
[] Replaced 2 times: Keyboard: 05/22/2002,05/24/2002;
[] Replaced 4 times: Video Card: 1/10/2003,5/9/2003,2/17/2004;3/25/2004;
[] Replaced 1 time: Lid latch: 05/22/2002;
[] Replaced 1 time: Intel CPU:03/25/2004;
[] Missing: 2nd battery missing with 2nd notebook replacement despite 2 batteries purchased and returned with 1st notebook;
[] Incompatible Battery: when notebook was replaced a 2nd time, the 2nd battery purchased was not compatible with the replacement notebook;
[] Malfunction: repeated unresolved video problems and system lock-ups for 17 months;
[] Failure: LCD developed red-tint at start-up (16-Oct-2003), LCD back-light failed (22-Oct-2003);
[] Failure: Error: IDE Hard Disk Write Test: Fail (28-Oct-2003); Status: Fail Status Code: DOS DDG-D DISK 030 068, Disk: Msg: Block 7022454: Uncorrectable data error;
[] Failure: Network Interface Card-PCI 3Com NIC Interrupt Test: Fail (28-Oct-2003), Status: Fail Status Code: DOS DDG-D MINI3COM 030 026;
[] Failure: DELL i8600: motherboard and/or video-card problem (02/07/2004); despite next-business-day-on-site-warranty, motherboard not replaced until 8 days later (2/16/2004); problem still persisted; motherboard repalced again (2/17/2004); problem persisted; video-card replaced (2/17/2004); system was repeatedly crashing with video-driver errors; had to disable ATI POWERPLAY(tm) power-saving which eliminated black LCD error, but infinite loop error in video driver persists for four months until the motherboard, video-card, and CPU were replaced on 3/25/2004 (and seems to be functioning OK at the moment...but for how long?).
_______________________

My credit card keeps getting biiled by Dell for a computer that was never delivered. They keep billing me 1370.83 for a machine that I dont have. This has been going on for nearly 5 months the computer was retuned to them on 1-14-04 after we rufused delivery. It was signed for by Dell a employee and I have documentation to prove it. But somebody at Dell says they have proof it was delivered to me which is just plain not true. It was shipped by mistake and none of this should have ever happened. After 13 phone calls to India averaging 1 hour apiece no one can tell me why this has not been resolved but they all asure me that they will take care of it. This has to be the most frustrating experiance I have ever been through. To me it is nothing theivery. And how about the phony names Jenifer,Louis,Patrick,Sean,George They are deceitful right from the start. My credit card co. is investigating it also. I own 2 Dells now but I will never have another one and will tell any one I can to stay away from Dell. Does anybody have any ideas what I can do to get these assholes off of my back.

Horrible experience that is fraud for which I plan on suing Dell (I am a lawyer). Please contact me if you have had a similar problem, whether or not you wish to sue Dell. Numerous cooperative employees at Dell Computer and Dell Computer Corporation have told me that my problem is fairly common, so I anticipate a class action suit that will probably not require much effort on the part of the individual victims.

The problem is that I negotiated a purchase for equipment outright on a "60 days same as cash" basis, and they transformed that agreement into a lease without my knowledge, agreement, or consent. The terms of the lease would require me to make payments more than 40% greater than the price I negotiated, plus would require me to pay an additional 10% of the purchase price to buy the equipment at the end of the lease. Dell refuses to restructure the agreement to allow me to pay what I had originally agreed or to rescind the agreement. I have been the victim of harrassing phone calls from their Indian call center, and letters to either company's legal departments have been shuffled off to minions in other departments who have no authority to rectify the problem.

The chances of a successful law suit and interesting an experienced lawyer increase if I can gather up a number of individuals who have been victimized in a similar way. Would you be interested in pursuing this suit with me? Whether or not you are interested, would you share further details of your experience with me? Do you know of any others who have had a similar problem?

Lloyd Handler, Esq. (310) 692-5281 oedhand@aol.com
Los Angeles, CA

It's as "easy as hell".... and I can attest that hell is very difficult indeed. Dell opened an unauthorized account in my son's name using my SS#. They couldn't fix the problem, so had Airborne Express pick up the computer for return.... Airborne lost the monitor....Dell keeps charging us for it.... Dell won't listen... Dell is incapable of really listening.... they are like the FBI and CIA were before 9/11...only worse.... much worse... This fiasco has been going on since November of 2003, and STILL they are billing us for their own mistakes. They have ruined my son's credit, turned it over to a collection agency, continually called and harassed us for money....IT'S MADDENING!!!!!! They have done EVERYTHING they assured us that they would NOT do. Empty promises....lies....a different rep. for almost each and every communication, so that the next rep. knows NOTHING of your problem, and has to start from scratch. These bozo's even replaced the returned computer, and sent me a generic piece of junk monitor instead of the good one I ordered, and had to have THAT returned as well!!! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, DON'T BUY A DELL....IF YOU GET INVOLVED WITH THESE CORPORATE IDIOTS, YOU WILL LIVE TO REGRET IT..... They have made my life MISERABLE with their inept business practices. ......and DON"T say nobody warned you.

I PURCHASED A DELL LAPTOP WITH A SERVICE PLAN. IT WORKED FINE FOR ALMOST A YEAR. ONE OF THE USB PORTS HAD THE PLASTIC GUIDE COME OUT OF IT. I CALLED TO GET IT REPAIRED. THEY SENT ME A BOX TO SHIP IT IN AND ARRANGED THE PICKUP. THE COMPUTER WAS PICKED UP AT MY WIFE'S OFFICE AND WE WENT ON VACATION. WHEN I RETURNED FROM VACATION, I USED THE TRACKING NUMBER DELL HAD SUPPLIED JUST TO SEE WHEN MY COMPUTER WOULD BE RETURNED. AFTER SPENDING OVER AN HOUR ONLINE AND ON THE PHONE WITH AN EAST INDIAN WOMAN THAT I COULD HARDLY UNDERSTAND, I STILL KNEW NOTHING.
I WAITED UNTIL THE NEXT DAY AND CALLED THEIR TOLL-FREE # AGAIN. I GOT SOMEONE WHO ACTUALLY SPOKE ENGLISH-THEY HAD A TEXAS ACCENT, BUT IT WORKED. THIS GUY TELLS ME MY COMPUTER WAS SENT TO THE WRONG LOCATION. AND THEY WERE WAITING FOR IT TO BE SHIPPED TO THE PROPER SERVICE CENTER. THIS COULD TAKE AS LONG AS TWO WEEKS.
AFTER TWO WEEKS OF LIES AND SOME RESEARCH OF MY OWN, I FOUND WHERE MY COMPUTER WAS SENT TOO. THE "DELL TECH-SUPPORT GEEK" WHO SETUP THE SERVICE SHIPPING SENT IT TO A COMPANY THEY BUY PARTS FROM! ONE OF THEIR CUSTOMER SERVICE PEOPLE FLAT OUT TOLD ME,"FACE-IT MR. SCOGGINS,YOU COMPUTER IS LOST AND CANNOT BE RECOVERED."
IT IS AMAZING THAT THEY COULD NOT LOCATE MY COMPUTER IN A MONTH. ONCE I HAD THE TIME TO MAKE A FEW CALLS, I FOUND IT IN TWO DAYS.
EVEN MORE IRONIC IS THE FACT THAT ALTHOUGH I FOUND MY COMPUTER IN A DELL WAREHOUSE-I EVEN HAVE AN e-mail FROM A GENTLEMAN WHO WENT OUT IN A WAREHOUSE AND FOUND THE BOX. THE LAST I HEARD FROM HIM, IT WAS STILL SITTING ON HIS DESK. TO THIS DAY I CANNOT GET THEM TO SHIP MY COMPUTER TO ME.
NEXT I HEARD FROM TWO GENTLEMEN IN DELL'S "RESOLUTION" DEPT. I HAD WRITTEN A COMPLAINT LETTER DIRECTLY TO MICHAEL DELL. THEY WOULD GET ME A COMPUTER TO USE UNTIL THE DISPOSITION OF OUR UNIT WAS SOLVED.
TWO AND A HALF MOS. LATER THEY SEND US A REFURBISHED COMPUTER AND NOW AMAZINGLY I CAN NO LONGER GET ANYONE AT DELL TO EVEN TALK TO ME.
I HAVE A LAPTOP THAT IS SUBSTANDARD TO THE ONE WE ORIGINALLLY PURCHASED, AND I AM STILL NO CLOSER TO GETTING OUR COMPUTER BACK.
DELL GROSSLY EXAGGERATES THEIR CUSTOMER SERVICE CLAIMS. IT INFURIATES ME THAT THEY GET AWAY WITH TREATING CUSTOMERS THE WAY THEY DO.

I can not find even one good word about dell. I bought new dell 4600 .2.7 Ghz and 512 mb ram and I can not istall games from CD.(the system cpu speed does not meet reQ) I installed and used that software on my old HP 633 Mhz and 64 Mb ram with no problem. The dell sugestion is to add RAM >>>>>>>> They have been trying to fix the problem for 1 month and they don't know how,of course ,if you want to return product you will be charged for shipping and handling and for open software you used to fix pc..so, NEVER BUY DELL.

I have had experiences with many different original equipment manufactures including dell I have had hardware/software compatibilty issues with all factory built computers I have used or serviced.
Part of the thing that makes Factory built computers crap is they come
preloaded with alot of software (most of which you will not use).
All this extra software uses up valuable resources and sometimes causes the incompatibilities. I have reformatted every factory system I own and put my operating system on from an operating system disk. (Not from the crappy restore disk this gives you programs you dont need, in some cases even ad and spyware). This has done away with many of my problems. Another problem with factory built is many times they come with propriatary hardware which is ok if your computer never goes down or you'll never need to upgrade.
If you need a laptop your stuck with factory crap. If you need a desktop or tower I suggest building it yourself and only loading the software you need. If all your doing is surfing the web, checking email, and word processing your probably not ready to build one so any cheap computer should do you may even opt to buy a used one as your not using many resources with the web and ms works. If you are a gamer (not spider solitaire) I mean the real intense games definately build your own.

i love computers i want one of my own.

i wish any body can help me to find the driver for labtop dell latitude ppl

On Feb. 22, 04 I purchased a Dell 8300 (3ghz/120hd/1024ram) Had it
by Feb 27, 04. When I log on system32 window appears and I get an
error message from McAfee, "active shield is missing components or
it was installed incorrectly". Can't close the window or there is
no VirusScan. System Restore does not work!! Yahoo Windows lock
up and I need to reboot. Of course, i called for customer support.
And EVERYONE IS RIGHT, CUSTOMER SUPPORT (IE. TECH SUPPORT) SUCKS!!!
I've had the same song and dance as everyone else. They don't want
to help, they want you to figure out the problems yourself. Don't
even try to get a technican out to your house, it won't happen

Dell needs to close its doors and then re-open them when they are ready to behave like an honest business. I am doing my best to send a very concerned warning to my colleagues at Microsoft and my deep network of friends and family. I have had several experiences with the company and my latest one convinced me that Dell has policies designed by persons that are simply dishonest or functionally incompetent. Either way, consumers pay the price and I will be happy to join any grass roots consumer movement designed to remove Dell from its dominant position in the market place. I will not add details of my own individual experiences. I will simply pass on that my dollars will no longer reward dishonesty, incompetence, and a general lack of concern to a public that would very willingly hand there hard-earned dollars in exchange for nothing more than fair treatment. I also want to pass on that you can contact the Attorney General and the Better Business Bureau to lodge complaints. It isn't exciting and it does cost you a little time, but I think we owe it to the public to give Dell a little information about why their sales are going to decline. Also, the attorney general follows up with Dell on every complaint. Good day my fellow victims of Dell! ~Norm E.

First off, DELL SUPPORT SUCKS! They never answer your questions. With my 8200 I asked five different tech support questions and I got the same response every single time. DELL SUPPORT = INDIANS with SCRIPTS

I thought maybe it was just a fluke and so I ordered a NEW Dimension XPS. The system cost me $3,500! But when I got it the DAMN thing wouldn't even turn on. $3,500 and they don't even test these things. It turned out to be a BAD motherboard but I returned it. But it took me 3 weeks of fighting just to return the damn thing! If that was DELL "Quality" then I can imagine what other kinds of problems I would have down the road.

I found a local custom system builder here in Los Angeles and so far they've been great. What they gave me was a really nice, high quality, custom built system. I love it! If you’re in the L.A. area then give these guys a try: http://www.zone-5.net

At least they actually test their systems before they even ship them. Plus support is great since they’re local. I do a lot of gaming and so far I have had ZERO problems with the system.

So if you're in the market for a new system then give your local custom system builder a try. They're probably better than what you will find stores.

Not good...they are selling refurbished laptops on eBay that have a factory sticker saying they have been tested out.Well, I bought a Latitude CPX that had both the CD and the 3.5" drives "broken"! And then once I got Dell to finally replace those...installed Windows...and found that there was NO software available for the install of the MODEM! Dell has NO idea where I can get it and REFUSES to send me another! So, I ask, just what the heck WAS tested in this, so-called, "refurbished" laptop!!??? They also try to hide behind some "30 day warrnty" that supposedly comes with the refurbished item. It took WEEKS to convince them to replace the broken drives so that I could find out there IS no software available for the modem! Is there anyone out there with this software? GRRRRR!!!

Well,

Now I realised what a huge mistake I had made recently by buying another Dell laptop for my wife

I had had one already and was satisfied with it until the LCD inverter got burned. Guess what, they don't sell inverters ($30), they sell LCDs ($500), as someone said if one bought a car and alternator got burned per Dell cutomer policy I need to buy a new engine that has alternator.

Now, I'm worried about my new laptop, what I should expect in one year when my warranty goes out.

I will never buy another one from Dell and will recommend my friends to avoid Dell products.

Too bad I didn't read this forum that time. :(

P.S. Now I know why Dell's representative contacted me telling me that something might (ha, they know it will) with my screen to make me buy extended warranty. Looks like Dell's policy. They are doing dirty business on this.

A Dell Dimension 8200 bought in October 2001 was a bad purchase.
Slow and unreliable.....too much aggravation.

If it wasn't for the 'restore back' tool this machine would have been junked months after I bought it. This week I spent hours on it before I got it to restore back. Now I will spend more hours reinstalling recent upgrades and installations I have lost.

Service is a joke. Hours on the phone and I usually solve the problem myself. Their solution is usually that I should reinstall all the software. Estimate 3-4 hours.

This weekend we are replacing this Dell machine and I will not look at Dell. I do not have all this time to waste keeping a machine running.

I am disgusted with this purchase. We have a 10-12 year old IBM machine ($1000) running windows 98 that outperforms this new machine everytime. Thank heavens for the 'old' computer or homework would never get done on time.

After reading all these rants I feel compelled to add mine.

Let me begin with- NEVER EVER AGAIN WILL I BUY A DELL COMPUTER. And beyond that I will do everything in my power to stop people I know from buying them. I would LOVE to start a class action against these corporate devils.

The Inspiron 8200 is the first computer I ever bought, it was 1500 dollars. I do know a bit about computers, asked around, and did some research (So the Dell Guy can bite me). Obviously, not enough research. It worked ok at first but I began to have repeated issues with the video drivers that kept me from watching DVD's or playing games. After a few attempts to work it out on my own, I called Dell. Several calls later my computer still did not work. Finally figured it out on my own.

While studying abroad in Croatia this fall my computer goes nuts. It won't boot up right many of the programs won't work, etc. I had it limping along in safe mode until I returned to the states. I called Dell. I tried to get through to customer service to just return the computer for service (I bought the warranty) and kept getting DISCONNECTED. I finally gave up and called tech. They told me I needed to reinstall all my software. I asked why but they refused any explanation. Out of desperation I started this process with a very nice man who was very helpful. Let it be known he is the ONE AND ONLY FRIENDLY AND HELPFUL SERVICE REP I HAVE TALKED TO. He said he would call me back but apparently was not able to. The Installation did not go as planned and I had to call again. I got someone very rude who was extremely hard to understand and ended up hanging up on me. Not to mention reinstalling my software brought back in full force all the old issues that the Dell had. About to tear my hair out at this point, I called back and demanded (politely) that I be able to return the computer finally the guy told me they would send me a box.
That was three weeks ago.
Called again tonight, and asked where was my box? The woman told me that there was another number I needed to call and a dispatch code. Apparently, ther Jerk I talked to three weeks ago felt I didn't need this VITAL piece of information.
Called the number given. It was an OUT OF SERVICE NUMBER.
Called Dell again and was furious. I asked to speak to a supervisor in the states. The gentleman told me I would have to call back and be rerouted to the states. I asked how does that work? How does he know I will get through to the states? He said, "Ummm... well... I'm NOT sure. I sighed and asked him for a correct number and finally got it. I should have my box tomorrow. Let's say I'm not holding my breath about the thing being fixed to any great extent.

Let me re-emphasize: RUN SCREAMING IF ANYONE EVER TELLS YOU YOU SHOULD BY A DELL.

I was so glad to hear so many people hate Dell. I will never recommend their products to any one and will tell everyone I can to never purchase a Dell computer. They made my life miserable by having no solutions to problems with the computer I purchased in Dec. 2001. We used it for 7 months and suddenly it stopped connecting to the internet. After 2 visits from 2 different techs and each one not being able to figure out the problem, countless hours on the phone uninstalling, reinstalling. etc.,countless e-mails(no one cares),I bought another computer and threw the Dell into the attic. There goes $2500.00 down the drain plus the cost of the new computer, Sony which has worked perfectly for the last year and cost considerably less. If I knew the address I would love to mail the misery in my attic to them. NEVER BUY A DELL!!!

Tell the Dell Guy from TX to go Fuck Himself. Dell advertises a good computer for any price it doesn't matter, what it costs it should still be a good product. HE is a customer service person and his job is to help people not to be a prick I would like to get his number and address so I can kick his ass. I have owned a Dell computer and they are the worst customer service and Tech suport in the business, as you can tell by Dell Bonehead's attitude. I own a gateway now, and their tech support and customer service has been excellent. They immediately help with any problems you may have and don't give you the run around Like Dell. They even helped me install extra memory and a ethernet card over the phone with no problems. So DELL can kiss my ass, and So can This backwards Texas hick who doesn't know shit DELL boy why don't you just shoot yourself and make the world a better place. My dog is smarter than you are.

Rather than simply say DELL sucks, I'll stick to the facts.
Consider the following experience with my first and last DELL I'll ever buy . . .
__________________________________________
SUMMARY of 16+ FAILURES/REPAIRS in 22 months ( purchased for $4208 ):
Replaced 2 times: notebook (Service Tags: for i7500:2H0440B(18-Oct-2000),
for i8100:93DH811(05/30/2002); for i8600:GHTMS31(11/15/2003)
Replaced 4 times: motherboard: 05/20/2002,06/06/2002,12/16/2002;02/??/2004
Replaced 3 times: CD/DVD drive: 03/22/2002,03/25/2002,05/21/2002;
Replaced 2 times: hard disk drive: 03/21/2002,05/22/2002;
Replaced 2 times: keyboard: 05/22/2002,05/24/2002;
Replaced 1 time: lid latch: 05/22/2002;
Replaced 2 times: video card: 1/10/2003,5/9/2003 ,
Missing: 2nd battery missing with 2nd notebook replacement
despite two batteries were purchased and returned
with 1st notebook;
Malfunction: repeated video problems and system lock-ups
since received May-2002 ; DELL replaced the
NVIDIA GeForce2Go-16mb with a ATI Radeon-7500-M7-64MB
video card/driver: 5/9/2003; LCD back-light failed
later (22-Oct-2003)
Failure: LCD developed red-tint at start-up (16-Oct-2003)
LCD back-light failed (22-Oct-2003) 4 days
after 3-year-complete-care-warranty
expired (18-Oct-2003)
Failure: Error: IDE Disk 0 - Write Test : Fail (28-Oct-2003)
Status: Fail Status Code: DOS DDG-D DISK 030 068
Device: IDE_Disk_0 Test: Write_Test,
Disk: Msg: Block 7022454: Uncorrectable data error.
Failure: Mini PCI 3Com NIC - NIC Interrupt Test : Fail (28-Oct-2003)
Status: Fail Status Code: DOS DDG-D MINI3COM 030 026
Device: Mini_PCI_3Com_NIC Test: NIC_Interrupt_Test,
Mini3Com: Msg: Failed Internal loopback Test
Failure: DELL i8600: motherboard failed; system won't power up;
removed memory, drives, modem, wireless, & battery, and
when power switch is pressed; LCD and Power LED flicker
briefly, and shut-off; nothing happens during attempted
power-up when AC power is disconnected (i.e. battery only)
________________________SIG-LINE______________________________________
DELL Inspiron 8600, 1.4GHz P4 Mobile, L2 1024KB Cache, Model:PP02X, Service TAG:GHTMS31 ;
BIOS: DELL-INSPIRON 8600 ROM BIOS Version A00 , 07/01/2003) ;
MEMORY: 512MB DDR 333MHz (two 256MB DIMMs) ;
VIDEO: ATI Mobility Radeon 9000 32MB DDR 4X AGP M9 3D Video, PN:8X960/X1913 ;
LCD: 15.4" WXGA 1280x800 60Hz, Samsung Part# Y0316 ;
HARD-DISK: 60GB IBM-MRGA, PN:0T673/X1629 ;
CD/DVD: CD-R/W & DVD combo SN:CN-0K0033-68861-3A9-01HT REV A00, QSI DMOD, PN:K0033/C3414 ;
ETHERNET and MODEM: Broadcom 440X 10/100, V.92 56Kbps, PN:D2465/00009 ;
WIRELESS: DELL True Mobile 1400 Dual band WLAN Wireless Broadcom , PN:3X548/6X216 ;
SOUND: Sigmatel-9750 Audio Controller ;
BATTERY: 72 Watt Primary Battery, 9 Cell Smart Lithium-Ion, Rating: 11.1v ; 6486 mAHr, for Inspiron 8600/8500 , Type 8N544 , DELL Item # 312-0101, Sanyo Manufacturer Part # 2P700 , DELL PN: 9X472 A00 ;
USB: USB Controller: Intel USB Universal Host Controller ;
IDE: ATA/ATAPI Controller: Intel Bus Master IDE Pri/Sec IDE Channel, external(floppy) drive ;
OS: Windows XP Professional 2002, Windows XP Professional SP1
________________________SIG-LINE______________________________________

after 2 years 992 monitor went out, pwoer supply likely,

had waranty, they sent new monitor.

hooked it up and it just has wavy colors, scan/blanking bad and cant be used.

had to spend 20 minutes each time running thru their stupid TS.

Oh, I am an EE that builds monitors for military, their techs are clueless!

lucky my old CTX cheapo still works or my work be nowhere!

This computer system absolutely sucks. I've been having a lot of techincal difficulty and to get someone on the phone to help is impossible. As a matter of fact I am hold now going on 35 minutes and this is after being disconnected 3 times. Make that 4 because after 34 minutes of being on hold I got another dial tone. I am very frustrated and I will never by a Dell Computer system again.

I worked briefly for a third-party company contracted with Dell to provide customer service. We transferred a lot of calls to India and a lot of calls got transferred to us from the Indian Dell techs who just gave up on the customer and now I have an angry customer dumped in my lap - I can't help him/her any better than they were already assisted.

I think a lot of Dell customer don't realize that half the time when you are calling Dell you are not speaking with an actual Dell employee but someone who is "outsourced". I quit the job after only 2 months because I was tired of every single call I took being basically a complaint. Dell was also slow in giving us updated information we needed to pass on to customers who would call in. I would have stayed if 1) the pay and working conditions were a little better (we were penalized for staying on the phone too long with a customer no matter if the issue was resolved or not; and pressured to upsell customers on the warranties) and 2) Dell was more honest as a company to its customer base and to its employees.

I am a Mac user and will always be but had great respect for Dell and their products - before I took that job as a telephone rep. Dell does seem to misrepresent themselves to potential customers and does not take into account that a lot of their customers are not computer literate, they are just average Americans trying to stay current in the Information Age.

If you are thinking about buying a Dell system, remember:

- They are a business and their sole purpose is to make a buck. They are not required to do half of the customer service they DO offer. But the last time I checked that was called "service after the sale". ALL of corporate America seems to be forgetting about that of late.

- If you are a novice computer user you may want to take some classes or learn from a friend or family member on how to use Windows etc. before you even make a purchase. Learn as much as possible so you can know what to say to a technician when you call.

- If you have an issue with Windows, call Microsoft, or go on their website first. I know Microsoft says to go to the computer manufacturer first if Windows came preloaded, but disregard that advice at first and at least try to get some help from the website. ALWAYS go on the Internet for help with your issue first before calling the tech support numbers, even if you have to go on someone else's computer. Tech support agents have to enforce the rules of their companies or get in trouble with their supervisors - even if those rules are stupid and do not help the consumer.

- Expect to pay for tech support, even from the manufacturer and even if you have to wait hours to speak to someone once you have paid for support. Refer to the first statement about companies in it to make a buck. They will cut costs whenever possible to help drive up the stock price. That is considered good management (yeah right). I do not have warranty coverage on my Mac because it's a three year old system I bought second hand from ebay. Apple will not even sell support for my model because it is now out of warranty (they only sell extended warranties for systems that are within the original warranty). If it breaks I have to take it to a dealer and pay full price for the repair, buy the part and install it on the system myself, or just buy another system on ebay.

- Really, really know what the manufacturer's warranty is, how long it lasts, and what or what is not covered. Read all the fine print. If you want any kind of help from the company, you are bound by it when you buy the system.

- If you need to be led by the hand with your computer in terms of setup and installation, it may be better not to buy from a large retailer but from a smaller neighborhood shop, or have a friend or family member actually build the system for you.

After reading about fifty or so sad Dell stories from unhappy customers I feel it necessary to add my own frustrations.

I purchased a Dell Inspiron 7000 laptop,in November, 1998, with basically all the goodies and large storage capacity, etc. I Paid over $3,000 for it at that time, and regardless what the idiotic "Dell Guy" says, I expected it to be a machine that would last for awhile.

I had two non Dell desktops at the time and actually continued to use them more then the Dell. I immediately noticed that the Dell had a dead pixel on its screen and called Dell. They told me it was not a problem and if I rubbed over it the bright spot might dissapear eventually. Well I didn't bother to send it back or keep calling them as everything else seemed to work. After about two years the computer wouldn't boot up until I switched it on and off a couple of times. This got progressively worse but as I no longer used it that much I forgot about it until I started to use it again last year. I noticed that at times I have to switch it on and off about twenty times before it would boot up. I was going to give it to my daughter to use in her business but didn't want to give her something that wasn't functional. I took it to a local computer place and they told me they didn't work on Dell's and I would be better off to send it to Dell.

Well I called Dell knowing my warranty was expired but explained that this was a problem when the warranty was in force. I didn't expect them to actually honor the warranty after it had lapsed, however with all the advertising hype and bragging this company does I felt they might give me some sort of compassionate break if they really felt they had a good product and stood behind it. I have owned eleven computers since 1985, even one Gateway, a Micron and several other's built from scratch. The Dell is by far the worst and also the most expensive. The only thing the fellow that took my call could tell me was that it was either the video card or motherboard. He said I should send in the laptop and they would repair it. If it needed a new video card it would cost me around $250 and if it was the motherboard that would run around $600.

I then went to a used computer store and discovered they had a heap of Dell's that were similar to mine. There were about fifty for sale at $10-$25 and not guarteed to work and sold as is.

I then did some research on Dell and discovered that they have been recalling some recent computers because they had the same problem as mine.

The bottom line is that I got on ebay and bought a video card for $12 but it didn't fix the problem, so it must be the motherboard. I now must face the fact that I bought a piece of junk from a junky company that should have been investigated long ago. I am glad I didn't buy stock in Dell and if I did I sure wouldn't hold onto it after reading all this good stuff.

My neice lives in Alaska and is down here visiting. I noticed she has a Dell as well and I told her about my experience. She said that she had the same problem with her laptop three months after buying it. She said it took several conversations with tech support before they would agree to approve her sending it in for repair under warranty. She finally was able to and they repaired it and she now has it working fine.

My daughter also bought a Dell just before Christmas. It is supposed to have a dvd player but she can't get it to play the dvds'.

I am against frivolous law suits but if there was ever a company that deserved to have the book thrown at them it is Dell.

We bought a server from dell and asked to ship with UPS for which we were billed and we paid. The UPS did not ship with the server. Called Dell and they said it's on a back order and should get it in a week. Waited for 2 weeks and no UPS. Called for support, I spent 6 hours on the phone in all and the problem was not resolved. I asked them to cancel the UPS since this was a server and I needed it ASAP. I went out to local store and bought one. All I wanted was Dell to issue me a credit. I spoke to the following people:

Rebeca - Badge#436101
Katank - Badge#37001
Tamara - Badge#422083
Andrew - Badge#423763
Syed - Badge#371154
Mary - Badge#37018

God only knows if these are real names. I am an Indian, but I know how frustrating it is when these people in India talk to you and they have no idea what customer services is. It's a shame the Dell is not doing anything about it. My problem of getting credit is still unknown. We bought the server in August of 2003 and I am still waiting for some one to talk to me who can understand the problem.

I refuse to buy Dell any more. I hope dell get's to read this.This is not a cheap computer it's a power edge server I have bought.

I purchased a Dell computer that was advertised on TV. I then went onto the internet to Dell's website to get more information and saw that they also had a promotion that was for a limited time. Through 01/14/04, Dell offered a free CD-Burner upgrade in the 2nd bay, if purchased before the 14th, which I ordered with my computer. When I received my computer it did not have the CD upgrade, but only one CD bay. I called Dell to resolve this issue and they informed me that they did not have that promotion when I ordered it. I informed them that I had a printout of their webpage that showed they did in fact have that promotion. They still insisted that they did not. I asked to speak to a supervisor and was refused, basically being told that I had to accept what they were telling me. I also emailed Dell to complain about this, and they sent me a reply that belonged to someone else (was addressed to a different person). I re-sent my complaint, and received no response. I called Dell again, and asked for a manager (this is after being sent back to the voice menu several times and explaining the issue several times to several different customer service people). I never did get to speak to a manager. I finally called a different number listed which asked for an extension so I started randomly trying numbers. I finally got a person who connected me with a manager. I told the manager of the problem. He said he would look into it and call me back. He didn't. I went online again to request a return voucher as I decided to send back my computer. I got a response that they were inundated with emails and that it would be a few days before they could get back to mine. I have a 10 day window now in which to return the computer. I again went online and did a search on consumer complaints and found that my situation was not unique at all. Dell often does not acknowledge or honor their advertised offers, then puts the consumer through a quagmire of customer service hell in order to get them to give up. It sounds like most customers do just that. Some people were told that with the online ads, you have to agree that Dell has the right to change their offers at any time, so they don't have a leg to stand on. They have also commented that Dell is not afraid of any legal action because they are a big company with big lawyers. In speaking to personal friends, many have had this same experience with Dell. It is my contention that Dell is involved with misrepresentation in advertising with the intention to commit fraud. Even though they do have the disclaimer that they can change the promotion at any time, the intention of Dell is to "Bait and Switch" which is to my understanding, illegal. I wouldn't write to you except that in my research, Dell does this as a regular business practice.

PLEASE READ ***** PLEASE READ ******** PLEASE READ ****** PLEASE READ
*******!!!!!!!!!!!I implore all of you that have had the experience of Dell not following through with their advertised promotions, or refusing to send rebates, write to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), your local District Attorney, the Attorney General of your state, the Department of Consumer Affairs of your state, and all these commissions in Texas as well. The address of Dell Corporation is "One Dell Way, Round Rock, Tx 78682." It is my mission to get enough people complaining about the illegal business practices of Dell to bring them down. As far as the customer service, it sucks, but as far as I can tell, isn't illegal. We need to hit them where it hurts the most, in their fat-cat pocketbooks. If you just complain without taking action, it is like pissing in the wind, folks!

Federal Trade Commission website: https://rn.ftc.gov/pls/dod/wsolcq$.startup?Z_ORG_CODE=PU01

BIG MISTAKE! Spent $7,000 purchasing 4 new Dells and software. However, their GENIUS order desk in India sent us the software UPGRADES not the software itself. We have been fanagling with Dell going on 4 weeks now with no success. They only give customers 30 days to return product, regardless of whether their staff screwed up on the order in the first place.

We are trying to return the upgrades but the dollar amount exceeds return ability of the order desk clerks. We were informed that a supervisor would call us within 48 working hours of our call, which was exactly one week ago. Still haven't heard from them.

Everytime I've tried calling them to follow-up with their supervisor on this return I get transferred 4 or 5 times, or worse, disconnected after I've gotten to say 'hello' to the supervisor.

Each call I make to their customer DIS-service department ranges between 39 minutes to over an hour. And then the customer DIS-service reps raise their voice and speak over me trying to 'explain' that there's not a darned thing they can do for me -- except transfer me to yet another department where I'll probably get disconnected.

Buying a Dell will be the sorriest business decision you'll ever make. Buying four Dells has made my office a living hell!

Thanks, Dell, for absolutely NOTHING!!!

Sincerely,

Betsy Mellinger

All I wanted was a decent home computer. I made an online purchase with Dell for what I thought was a 4600. What I got was a 4600C -- No floppy drive, half the memory. When I called their customer service I was delivered non-answers, non-solutions and useless platitudes. (By the way, for those of you who don't know it, Dell's Customer Care Center is located in Delhi, India. This is why I believe I could get no problem solving help) When I was finally able to speak with a representative in the returns department, she was snotty and condescending. The only options they gave me were to purchase additional Peripherals and memory chips for me to install myself, or to return the computer, wait for it to be credited to my account and then reorder. I had credit available, just not enough. (The difference was only $40.00.) No effort was made to work with me to get me the computer I wanted. (Even though I can come up with several ways -- increasing my credit the $40.00, reducing the price of the new computer, authorizing shipment upon receipt of the return verification, asking me to pay the $40.00 up front, etc.) As of today, Dell has had the computer for 6 days, they have not credited my account, they refuse to work with me to solve my problem, they refuse to allow me to talk to ANYONE that can make a decision. After repeated phone calls, emails, and online chats, I still have no computer at home, and no promise of delivery in the near future. In the meantime, Dell is charging me interest on product I no longer possess and I just got a statement in the mail, so I guess I'm expected to pay for something I don't have until their bureaucratic accounting system catches up. I can't access my email, accounts or bill payment centers unless I stay late after work. I don't know why they even offer customer service, it might as well be a recording for all the help you get.

I was leaning toward buying a Dell, but after reading Dell Guy's profane ranting below, I'll go with a Gateway.

Dell is going downhill......unless their customer support improves. I have worked with and on many dell products. I don't know why they even bohter having anybody answer the phones.

Listen guys this is how it is. If you buy a fucking 500 dollar computer don't bitch. You get what you pay for. Dell tech support sucks and so does customer care, I know this because i work there. I talk to fucking morons all day wanting to buy the least expensive piece if shit they can get their hands on. Then when it doesnt work right they complain and say Dell computers suck. They dont suck but if you are doing a lot of stuff on your system build it yourself. If you want a good manufactured computer Get a Dell. If you dont buy the warranty don't bother calling back your screwed... If you buy a piece of shit dont call back. If you dont know anything about computers don't call at all we don't want to babysit you. Just because you buy a computer from Dell dont mean shit and they dont owe you anything. If you dont do a little research before you buy a computer your are a fucking idiot and dont call and if you expect to get a good computer for less than 800 dollars shoot yourself and do us all a favor.

If your gonna buy a dell (they do make some of the best factory-built machines on the market), my advice is to buy a slightly used corporate machine (such as latitude rather than inspiron) on ebay. The corporate machines have sturdier casings (although they might not look as "cool") and may have better components. You'll save lots of dough and you can find them with at least a year of warranty. Best of all, if you don't like it you can sell it back on ebay and lose very little money. As far as dell support goes, they SUCK!!! I can't believe that many magazines rate them among the best for support. First of all, you have to wait for as long as an hour to talk to somebody. Then you'll probably be unlucky and get to talk to a computer-moron who is so obviously reading a script from their computer that you'll have a hard time keeping your laughter (or maybe tears...or even rage) contained as they mispronounce words such as "lcd display" or "hard drive". Incidentally, I believe that the support info that you can get online is virtually the same as what their "techs" will give you. In other words, if you have a major problem you are SOL. If you must use their support, my advice is to immediately ask for a supervisor and have them connect you to someone who really knows whats up.

I bought a DImesnion 4500 from Dell about 2 years ago becasse they were at the time the cheapest of the major assemblers. Not long ago, a ribon cable that connects the power switch to the motherboard broke. I shortly found out that this ribbon cable was non-standard and the only way I could get a new one was to contact dell tech support and order a new one from them since they are the only ones who make this non-standard cable. As anyone who has asked around knows, tell tech support is crap. To make a long story short, so that dell could make a few extra bucks by forcing me to by their non0-standard propritary cable it took two months to repair something as simple as a broken cable. TWO MONTHS TO GET A SIMPLE 2 FOOT RIBBON CABLE!!!! DO NOT BUY DELL UNLESS YOU LIKE SPENDING DAYS ON THE PHONE AND MONTHS WAITING TRYING TO TRACK DOWN SIMPLE PARTS!!!!

Dell has a bunch of morons working for them, people that can not speak english, a voice mail system that is a piece of shit, and a bunch of low class rebate crap that is for losers, in shor DELL SUCKS!!!!!!! Steven L Stickney

we origonaly bought a Dell in 1998. It was our first Personal Computer and we looked around for along time. We finaly decided that Dell was the best choice as 5 major magazines, included, which magazine voted them the to be at least in the top 3 best PC's. Origonaly they messed up our order and it was going to come late by a week. For this mess up they kindly gave us a free printer, scanner and a bundle of free games which was rather nice of them.
About a year into using the computer we got our first problem. we called dell and even though its was out of warranty they kindly offered to fix it free of charge and also offered to pay for postage and packaging. oh and that was the only problem we ever had with the PC. infact its still going.
i myself then bought a dell in dec2002. Its probably the best thing i ever could have bought. i checked first with which magazine who voted them number one for customer support. i got a reall good deal to. i got a free digital camera (3mega pixels) and apparantly one of the team who where making my pc fucked up so it was 2weeks late but they also gave me a free printer and scanner and even upgraded my grfx card and cd writer to an ati 9700 pro from a 64mb nvidia and the cd-wr became a dvd-wr!!! my brother has also bought a dell and quite frankly i wouldnt by anything else unless i was making it myself. They have the best customer support, great value for money, and there systems are sound as granite.
There online support has been great help and after 9months they even called to check if anything was wrong with my pc so they cud fix it b4 warranty ends!!

BUY A DELL. HELL BUY 3 WE DID AND WE@LL NEVER REGRET IT.

Well I can definitely say that Dell has the worst computer customer service I've ever dealt with and no you can't get any service from them. I bought my one and last Dell computer. Why don't they have online customer support like gateway. I own a Gateway also and my customer support experience with them was pure amazing. I guess by me writing you can figure where my next computer will be bought from. I had a gateway representative on the chat support line for over 2 hours helping with a 4 year old computer and once he couldn't help me in referred me to a supervisor who helped me restore my system step for step. I was really shocked at the customer support. So if you think customer support is more important my suggestion is buy a gateway.

I have owned my SmartStep Laptop for just over a year now (the computer just came off warranty).

A component of my motherboard blew a few days ago which means my computer overheats when it tries to do anything more than internet or word processing. As a result, my computer is essentially junk unless I want to spend $600-700 on a new motherboard.

I called Dell Customer Care and they kindly informed me that as my computer was off warranty - they would not repair it for free (however they offered to send me a box with tissue paper for $20 so I could send the computer to their service depot - what a joke!)

I have owned four computers in my lifetime. This is my first and last purchase from Dell! I paid $2500 for a computer that lasted me a year.

I also resent waiting an hour everytime I want "technical support" (in quotations because most of the time the Indian support reps either can't hear me b/c it's a terrible connection or can't understand English).

DO NOT BUY A DELL!!!

i purchased an inspiro 3000 through ebay and have LOVED IT!! I just won an inspiron 1100 Does anyone know where I can locate a removable floppy disc drive for my 3000 Thanks

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