Terrorblade123
1. The dept that I have dealt with is called the Advanced Resolution Group (ARG). No one from basic customer care or tech support or out-of-warranty-repairs has heard of them. So far, I know of only one person in ARG, Prawin K. He first told me that he had no manager. When I spoke to a supervisor from tech support, she told me that she will speak to Prawin's manager. When I pointed this out, and told him that he had lied, he said "You are assuming too many things. I did not lie because my manager does not take calls and I AM the HIGHEST point of contact". Since I had complained to BBB, he told me that no matter who I complained to, it will all circle back and I will end up dealing with him each time. Repeated to pleas to get my case tranferred have fallen on deaf ears.
2. The tech support initially (read, October) ran diagnostics on my laptop using remote access. They said that it seemed to be a software issue. After the laptop reached the depot, I was told that it is possible that someone spilled something on my laptop when I was not around, and so the damage is customer induced. I was asked to pay 450$ for the repairs (motherboard, keyboard, mousepad). I could not pay such money upfront (I paid only 800$ for the laptop) since I felt that it was a lot for repairing a 1 year old laptop. They sent me my laptop unrepaired.
3. After reasoning with them I was asked to pay $350 for the repairs. The out-of-warranty dept was frank enough to tell me that the replacement parts will be refurbished ones, but the seal will be broken by the techician in the depot.
4. After paying for the repairs, I was told that I will receive the shipping box within 1-2 business days (email proof). It took them 11 days. First due to delays because of the weekend, and then for some reason they wanted to verify my address to mail me an empty box.
5. After getting the laptop back, it still has the existing issues in addition to the old one (screen becomes white along the edges). The only way to get rid of it is it keep tilting the laptop. The way I look at it there are three possilbilties : the replacement parts are faulty, the laptop itself has issues that they are unwilling to accept, the technician screwed up and did not check my system before shipping it back, all of are Dell's mistakes.
6. I finally got fed up and asked for a refund. I gave them 4 options: Refund 1200$ so that I can take my business elsewhere Refund the out of warranty repair charge so that I can recover at least some money and rest peacefully Give me a replacement system of equivalent cost (i undestand the problem of depreciation of cost) Give me an extension on warranty on the replaced parts (it only has 90 day warranty). Since the parts failed in less than 2 hours, I find it impossible to believe that the next set will last as long. I do not want to end up going through this cycle after 3 months, again.
7. I have been told that this beyond the ability of the onsite engineer and the only way is to send the laptop to their depot again.
I could think of nothing else. Reasoning with and threatening customer care (or customer harassment?) failed.
But I desperately needed this laptop working since I had two computational projects that were up for review.
What Dell does not understand is that for each trip my laptop takes to the depot, I am left without a laptop (these 2 months, for example). They said that this was not their problem, and compensating me for these hassles is not their headache.
This is in reference to the Better Business Bureau correspondence that reached our corporate office. We appreciate you taking the time to bring this issue to our attention. Thank you for taking time and discussing the issue with me today, I apologize for the delay in getting the system issue resolved, we will make sure this time the depot engineers work on the system technical issue, test the system functionality before shipping the system to you. We regret to inform you that we are unable to accommodate your request towards providing a new system replacement, a complete refund for the original system or only the out of warranty charge or extend hardware warranty for six months. Kindly understand that the option provide to you by us is the best option we can provide you. Request you to reply to my email if you are find with the option we have offered.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the issue discussed today, please do reply to this email or call me and I would be glad to assist you further.