Secret To Suing Dell: Focus On A Kiosk, Not Headquarters

from the legal-strategies dept

Fri, Dec 8th 2006 5:46pm — Mike Masnick

It's no secret that Dell has had some... problems with their customer service operations over the years, some of which have been well publicized. I recently heard from someone that Dell now constantly scours blogs for any complaints to try to respond to them quickly. However, they still run into some problems at times. When one man had the company lose his laptop, and he wasn't satisfied with their replacement offer (and long drawn out conversations), he sued the company in small claims court (sent in by reader Chester Kee). However, rather than send the lawsuit to Dell headquarters, or even a Dell office, he sent it to the local Dell sales kiosk at the mall near his home. Not surprisingly, no one from Dell showed up in court (they probably had no idea the case even existed), and the man won $3,000 -- and even got an order saying court workers could seize merchandise from the kiosk. Once Dell found out about this, they quickly settled the case (as they should have), but it still seems a bit odd that it was okay for the case to be served to a random sales kiosk -- and that the court allowed the reimbursement to come from that kiosk as well.

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rstr5105, 8 Dec 2006 @ 6:09pm

technically...
...If the kiosk was the one who sold him the merchandise he has every right to sue the kiosk, esp. if they are a franchised kiosk rather than a Dell owned dealership.

It's the franchisee's responsibilty to make sure that the customer gets the product that was ordered through that franchise.

(Assuming that the following example would fly at all, it's just the first thing I could think of)

It would be like filing a suite against a franchised DQ if they didn't give me part of my order. (I know, usually you just go up to the window and say, "Hey! Idiot! You F***ed up my order!" but, we'll pretend you can't do that.)

In any event, what happened was perfectly legal, and legit.

First, btw.
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charlie potatoes, 8 Dec 2006 @ 6:22pm

no longer first..
you are now next to last. touche
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LordZot, 8 Dec 2006 @ 6:55pm

The legality of the service of process and jurisdiction depends on who owned the Kiosk. If it is owned by Dell then the service is 100% righteous if the papers were left with anyone over the age of 18 that is identified as an employee.

And the consumer always has the right to sue in his own jurisdiction. But that does no good unless the defendant has something within that jurisdiction the court can enforce the judgment on.

I wish I would have thought of it.

I like this guy. Maybe Dell will wake up and smell the smoke that is left of their customer service reputation.
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Scarper, 8 Dec 2006 @ 8:09pm

If only it were always possible to sue in your own
Many products come with End User Licsense Agreements that state that the purchase shall be covered by the laws of the state the company is based in and that the purchaser shall be bound by mandatory arbitration. I wonder if Dell made such a claim and if it was superseded by the small claims court judge or if it was never brought up because the kiosk store ignored the service. Either way, it is only fair that he sued the place that he bought the computer from rather than some distant corporate headquarters. In most instances, only corporations have the money to sue across state lines.

BTW,
The man didn't serve a "kiosk" he served a very small Dell store that operated out of a kisok. The store is a real store staffed by real people, albeit a small one. The story made it seem like the man served a self service video kiosk.
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Avatar28, 8 Dec 2006 @ 8:10pm

kiosk f'd up
I work for Dell tech support and can tell you that, to the best of my knowledge, the Kiosks are all Dell owned. Therefore the suit SHOULD have been served to the Dell HQ in Round Rock. The staff manning the kiosk probably F'd up by not notifying the higher ups in the chain to have the legal dept notified when they were served though. And, honestly, IMHO, they should have refused it and directed them to the Dell legal dept in RR

Truthfully, had they gone to court they probably would have had a pretty good chance, they do have lots of expensive lawyers after all and he was likely representing himself. But they ARE expensive laywers and they would have had to fly at least one and probably a few out there.

I've dealt with this situation in the past (lost notebook escalations, not lawsuit). Sometimes they have been lost by the service depot (which is run by a company called Solectron, BTW) and more typically by DHL in shipping. Dell would have replaced the notebook anyways, after a short period (a couple of business days) with trying to have the depot/DHL locate it and any re

From my experience I'm going to guess that the whole problem was one of the following
A) loss of data, the customer sent the hard drive in with it even though they are supposed to be told to remove it except in very rare circumstances; doesn't mean the tech told them to do so though, course
B) wants to be compensated with an upgraded computer for their trouble, possibly due to reason A. I once had a customer INSIST we should give them our top of the line notebook as compensation, they had bought one of the cheapest one
C) wants a brand new system. Normal procedure is to replace a system with a new one if it is still being manufacturered or a refurb if it isn't. Replacement of parts with refurbished is pretty standard industry wide anyways, but most customers don't understand that (I'm talking the entire electronics industry, not just computer industry).
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The Swiss Cheese Monster, 8 Dec 2006 @ 9:42pm

"When one man had the company lose his laptop"

Is it just me, or does that read funny?

Sounds like the guy called up Dell one day and said "hey, would you lose my laptop?"
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Nilt, 8 Dec 2006 @ 9:52pm

EULA may not apply
First of all, this was not a quickie thing. It was 5 months and over a dozen phone calls! It shouldn't take more than 2 calls. The first is "You lost my laptop" The second is "Have you found my laptop? No? THne replace it." Obviously, a reasonable amount of time between the 2 calls is appropriate but 5 months is not.

Second, the EULA on the original purchase likely does not apply to a service arrangement, especially if he dropped it off at the kiosk. The original article isn't clear where the laptop was lost from.

Tha main point here, though, is that a company can and should be held responsible for loss of property if they are at fault. In most states anything under $5000 is a small claims court matter, not a major court case with lawyers filing motions and briefs and so on. It's a quickie in and out sort of thing, usually. If the defendant doesn't show up then the plaintiff gets a nice summary judgement. That's life!
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Ex-Dell Employee, 9 Dec 2006 @ 1:41am

I too worked for Dell and I can tell you the majority of ALL problems we had to deal with was the disrespect to the customer by the Dell Customer Service Dept. I agree with Nilt, 2 phone calls should be the end of this issue. But because Dell runs everyone around until they are ready to kill someone they just give up. I think Dell got what they have been giving to their customers for years. I applaud this man, he stuck it back to Dell after all the months they were sticking it to him.
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John Duncan Yoyo, 9 Dec 2006 @ 1:44am

Re: kiosk f'd up
Isn't the hurdle for serving a supenea is pretty small. Hand it to a breathing adult employee. It would be better to give it to the manager but the cleaning guy who doesn't speak english might be sufficient.
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Avatar28, 9 Dec 2006 @ 2:07am

laptop shipped by DHL
You can't take a system to a kiosk for service. If you have a depot service warranty (i.e. you were too cheap to upgrade to the onsite warranty for not much more), it has to be picked up by DHL. Basically, you call into tech support. After troubleshooting it's determined that your LCD or motherboard or another component that is not considered customer replaceable (e.g. hard/optical drives, memory, minipci card etc). At that point, the service call is set up and you are given a number at DHL to call. You call and give them the dispatch reference number. They send a driver out with a box. He waits for you to box it up, gives you a copy of the airbill then takes it with him. But you have to call and have them come to you. In fact, it's quite plausible that the kiosk wasn't even involved except for that's where the lawsuit was served. And something tells me he did it in the hopes that something like this would happen.

Now, I DO agree that 5 months is far too long but I'm not sure it really took that long.

I will confess this got my curiosity up and I looked up to see what I could find out about it in the system, but I'm not sure how much I can safely reveal. Don't want to jeopardize my job and all that.

I will say that the guy most definitely did NOT buy it from the kiosk (they didn't exist at the time it was purchased). They were only involved apparently because that's where he chose to serve the lawsuit. I could see several ways that I would have handled things differently but, of course, I wasn't involved.
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uhh..., 9 Dec 2006 @ 5:14am

Re: technically...
It's just, you forgot one little thing in the article. He didn't sue because he bought it without getting it, he sued because he sent it in for repairs and didn't get it back. Most repairs (to my knowledge) would be sent to a centeralized location probably near their headquarters in texas.
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LordZot, 9 Dec 2006 @ 7:57am

Re: If only it were always possible to sue in your
If Dell had honored their invitation to go to court that day, they may well have argued that the EULA agreement dictates the state and rules legal under which action may be pursued. Whether or not that argument would have prevailed depends on the how the local judge interprets the local, state and federal laws.

However, Dell failed to enter any kind of appearance at the appointed date and time handing our hero a default judgment and (from what the article says) and order for execution of that judgment.

That is what we call a "slam dunk!"

In reality, once an action is filed placing such a relatively tiny amount of money in play, for Dell it's cheaper to settle up then it is to release the legal hounds to defend the company.

My guess is Dell would have settled anyway. Someone at the Kiosk dropped the ball and Dell got their nose swatted with a rolled up summons and complaint.
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Anonymous Coward, 9 Dec 2006 @ 8:00am

avatar28, said like a true dell Tech support operative (who i might add couldnt support a kids party). You suck and so do your lies!!!!
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Exley, 9 Dec 2006 @ 8:30am

I build my own systems
This is why i whenever possible i build my own systems. I know it is not a viable option for some but for me it works, and when i want to talk to tech support i just look in a mirror.

on another note i know how this guy must feel. I had a horrible experience with Best Buy refusing to replace my laptop, i succeeded in the end but it was much more difficult than it should have been.
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Anonymous Coward, 9 Dec 2006 @ 8:47am

He is probably lucky he had a good case for reimbursement. I know of another case where someone filed a frivolous case and served a major computer company in a similar manor. He won initially because they did not show, but major computer company took him back to Court won the case plus legal fees.
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euclidjr, 9 Dec 2006 @ 9:24am

Well, the arbitration clause does Dell no good if they fail to appear and point it out to the Court. If the guy waited long enough (and he probably did), then the Court's power to vacate its default judgment expires. The arbitration clauses are just a way for Dell to prevent small claims from being filed - arbitration costs are just way too high.

I'm not surprised that the system got lost and they basically jerked him around. My company leased 85 pc's from Dell (and a bunch of other hardware) and even with"gold" service they basically don't give a rat's ass about us. We have exceeded a 100% failure rate - having replaced some motherboards two or even three times because of capacitor failures (all of our pc's were in the bad batch, google it) - and we have crappy, don't give a damn, send you the wrong motherboard turnaround from Dell.

Now the leases are up and we get a non-negotiable, ridiculously high buyout offer from some Dell rep in India who barely speaks intelligible english and I can't even get our Dell sales rep to return my email. They've lost our business, probably forever, and they don't even know it or appear to care. I can only imagine how many thousands of other small businesses and individuals are in the process of being run off.

Good for this guy.
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John Schmidt, 9 Dec 2006 @ 10:36am

Dell
I used to love Dell quite a few years back.Now, talking to a rep located in another country makes me want to throw it out the window rather than having to take a few hrs of my day correcting the problem. I would rather pay more and get the support we as consumers deserve. Have we as a country lost our way so badly that we think that this is a business model that we really need? I guess the saying is right, you get what you pay for.
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SimonTek (profile), 9 Dec 2006 @ 10:48am

Solectron is where most computers go from all different companies. I know Dell and IBM use them for stuff that no one can repair.
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dwreid, 9 Dec 2006 @ 2:16pm

Dell blows
I own 30 Dell servers and almost 50 Dell desktop computers in my business. Over the years I've purchased just under a $million worth of Dell equipment. I'll never buy another Dell computer. Period. We have Gold 4 hour response time on our servers. I've yet to get one fixed in under 5 days. I get the run around from India. I get the wrong parts. I get the wrong parts in the right box. The last straw was when the idiot bitch (in her barely understandable version of English) asked me "Why can't you just use the parts that work and be happy with that?" I'd say that pretty much sums up Dell's entire support philosophy.
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dude, 9 Dec 2006 @ 3:15pm

Re: Dell blows
I agree, my company has 9000 servers and 150,000 desktops. Over the years we have spent billions on Dells, and they never fix them in under a month. I even learned Indian to speak to tech support. Dell Blows.
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Irene, 9 Dec 2006 @ 3:51pm

Sending my Bills
I recently bought a Dell computer in September of this year(2006) and haven't even seen a bill till I received a call from their collection department.....what Dell can't seem to do is the one simple thing I have been calling for since I purchaced this computer, SEND ME A BILL SO I CAN PAY THEM...I either get someone that is nasty can't speak English or get transferred around to several other departments to no avail....So I guess I will have to wait for the next collection call to make another payment......With a penalty added I might say too.....what I can do is anybody's guess and if anyone has an Idea....Please let me know.....I'm pretty exasperated
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Anonymous Coward, 9 Dec 2006 @ 9:15pm

I see we've got some fancy and impressive-looking armchair lawyering going on here, completely laughable in its authors' lack of understanding of the court system when discussing what Dell might or might not have done, had they actually bothered to show up. In retrospect, I could have shortened this paragraph by simply typing LOL INTERNET.

Primary point: The gentleman filed suit in small claims court.

We have two kinds of courts in most USA jurisdictions: Courts of law and courts of equity. Courts of law are, hopefully, self-explanatory: Lawyers representing clients present evidence and argue the points of law before a judge (who is usually a former lawyer or has some form of legal education and background) and a decision is made that will more or less adhere to the letter of the law (or joy of joys, attempt to set a precedent based on interpretation of that law). Something that does not describe a court of law are the words "small claims."

Courts of equity are informal courts that can be presided over by someone with no formal legal education, or no legal background whatsoever, and provide the people with access to redress without the need for a lawyer. Another word for equitable is fair. The court isn't concerned with applying the law, but with reaching a fair resolution. Small claims is a court of equity.

Dell's representative would certainly be free to argue all sorts of things about jurisdictions and EULAs and whatever the hell else he might think is in the best interest of his client. It won't mean squat but it'll sure sound nice and official and maybe even intimidate the plaintiff a little. The judge is perfectly free to then ignore all of that and issue the same orders that resulted from the default judgement with the sole written decision of "because I said so, that's why."

Dell could appeal that to the lowest court of law, but except in cases of evident bias on behalf of the equity judge, this step is pretty useless.
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Father of four, 10 Dec 2006 @ 5:00am

Good as Dell
Dell has certainly gone downhill. It's pretty much suffering the same accountant syndrome as the rest of Corp. America. The idea that if people will hold for 20 minutes they'll hold for an hour, yea right. People are sheep and won't right back, that sort of thing.

With regards to Dell quality, the corp. I work for switched to Dell's 2 years ago. Since that time we have switched back to IBM, now Lenovo. Also, our tech support for all hardware comes from H.P. go figure.

To Avatar28, keep up the good work. It's your attitude, "you were too cheap to upgrade to the onsite warranty for not much more" that reminds everyone why we should stay away from Dell.
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LordZot, 10 Dec 2006 @ 8:28am

Re: Anonymous Coward - Lucky comment
Anonymous Coward wrote: "I know of another case where someone filed a frivolous case and served a major computer company in a similar manor."

Every state law that I know of requires courts take failure to appear on the defendant's part to result in a default judgment for the plaintiff. Once entered, it is very difficult persuade a judge set a default judgment aside.

There has to be a great deal more to Anonymous Coward's story. My guess is something along the lines of defective (the papers were not properly delivered by an uninvolved third party to a person allowed under the rules of service) or fraudulent service. Anything else would be highly unusual.

Courts rarely award court costs and legal fees for setting aside a judgment resulting from a defective service as long as there was a good faith effort to make legal service. There are very view 'loser pays' scenarios in United States laws. If defective service were a loser pays scenario, collection agencies all over the United States would be bankrupt.

The amount of distaste Judges show for defective service is nothing compared to the wrath the plaintiff will feel if the affidavit of service* is fraudulent. If the judge finds this to be the case the judgment will be set aside, the defendant receiving a judgment for legal fees and costs is almost certain and the plaintiff and the person affirming the affidavit stand an excellent chance of finding themselves in the county lock up.

If what Anonymous Coward said is true, it leads me to believe there were some shenanigans on the plaintiff's part. It would have been interesting to research the case, but Anonymous Coward didn't even hint at where to look.

*Affidavit of Service: A sworn statement by the process server stating he completed the service that is filed with the court clerk and filed with the rest of the court's documents in this case
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Darci, 10 Dec 2006 @ 8:35am

Re: Dell
They have the worst tech support in the WORLD! I was give n over six bogus extensions by the Banagalore reps. It took a friend and myself calling (at the same time) over six hours to get someone who would actually even listen to us which ended up being a erroneous call that ended up in the US. They literally replaced every part of my Laptop except for the CD and floppy drive. It took 2 years to get replacement feet for the bottom. Never ever again.
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Rob, 10 Dec 2006 @ 8:42am

DELL
I could never understand how Dell is successful. When something goes wrong you have to mail your computer back. If you buy a computer from Best Buy or Circuit City they will come to your house and get the computer and take care of it for you. Plus sometimes Geek Squad at BB fixes it right on the spot.
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LordZot, 10 Dec 2006 @ 10:22am

Re: Anonymous Coward - Arm chair lawyering
Anonymous Coward caused me to think this through a little farther. Now I must change my opinion and state the service on the Dell kiosk was gray area at best. I overlooked the fact that Dell is a corporation which brings about a change in the rules of service.

Must be the gray hair.

Here's the rules for serving a corporation in a New Jersey civil action:

New Jersey 4:4-4
6. Upon a corporation, by serving a copy of the summons and complaint in the manner prescribed by paragraph (a)(1) of this rule on any officer, director, trustee or managing or general agent, or any person authorized by appointment or by law to receive service of process on behalf of the corporation, or on a person at the registered office of the corporation in charge thereof, or, if service cannot be made on any of those persons, then on a person at the principal place of business of the corporation in this State in charge thereof, or if there is no place of business in this State, then on any employee of the corporation within this State acting in the discharge of his or her duties, provided, however, that a foreign corporation may be served only as herein prescribed subject to due process of law;

This is a gray area because a search for Dell of the New Jersey State Business Gateway web site shows only one possible listing: Dell Computer Marketing. It is doubtful this is 'The Dell Computers' because it is registered limited foreign partnership.

If the Dell corporation that our hero dealt with does not have a registered agent in New Jersey, then the employees in the kiosk are fair game. But the trick is to find out if Dell has a registered agent in New Jersey.
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Lurker2006, 10 Dec 2006 @ 7:04pm

Re: I build my own systems
Great - you build your own systems. So do thousands of other tech-types. This was a laptop. Can you build a reliable laptop that gives the same performance of one from the likes of Dell, Apple, HP or some other major player?
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Avatar28, 10 Dec 2006 @ 7:11pm

Re: Good as Dell
Father of four,

I will bend over backwards to help someone who needs it. If someone is respectful to me and will work with me, I will do everything in my power to help them and will push things as far as they can go to do so, even going well beyond what I typically am supposed to or really even should. But you also have to see it from the other perspective.

The cost to upgrade from a mail-in service to onsite service is about $70. Now, in this instance, that didn't apply anyways. But believe me when I say you wouldn't believe the number of people I do and have dealt with who bitch and moan because they chose to get the mail-in or shorter length warranty and then have to mail the system in or pay to get support or to get the thing fixed. I know good and well the sales rep offered it to them, but they chose NOT to purchase it.

Just like with insurance, it's a form of gambling. On the one hand you can save money up front by not paying for the onsite or extended warranty, but in doing so you are taking the risk that if something DOES happen it may cost you more on the back end. That comment was directed at the people who knowingly choose to take this gamble, then throw a fit and DEMAND that we should either A) give them onsite service when they chose to get mail-in service or B) that we support/repair their computer at no charge when it is well out of warranty. They inevitably argue that it was only x length of time old and shouldn't have failed. This is the type of behavior the comment I made was directed at. I truly would feel the same way no matter who I worked for. I would feel the same way if someone were to purchase, say, a set of tires and declined the road hazard warranty on them and then run over a nail and ruins the tire and then they have to buy a new one. That has always been a pet peeve of mine. Probably ties into my distate for frivilous lawsuits in general (not that I'm saying that this necessarily was one).

Case in point, shortly before I posted that, my coworker who sits behind me got a call from someone who had purchased I believe it was a 1 yr warranty on their system. The system was nearly 2 years old and had a bad motherboard. The person was having a fit and arguing that we should fix it anyways because it shouldn't have broken. I guess that was still fresh in my mind at the time I posted that plus I was grumpy and was working on about 12 hours sleep total over a period of 3 days. The comment was inappropriate in this instance (though I still stand by my assertion that in some cases it is warranted) and reflects poorly on both the company and on myself. I do, however, apologize to anyone who may have been offended by it.

Now, I don't have a problem that the guy took the Dell to court over the issue, although I do feel from having read the notes that he was being somewhat unreasonable as well. Ultimately the blame lies on both parties as it is almost never one sided in a case like this. One party typically wants something the other considers excessive and refuses to budge or compromise from their demands which naturally encourages the other side to do likewise (this from my experience taking escalations here as well as all the various court shows).

I wish I knew what the final settlement was, but of course there is no way to really find out. If I had to guess, they probably gave him a check for the original price he paid for the computer and sent him on his way.
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Cindy, 11 Dec 2006 @ 9:33am

Dell Warranty - Mediate not sue?
When I look at Dell's purchase warranty - it says that by purchasing their product, you agree that any disputes will be settled through mediation, not litigation. I'm delighted to see this guy get a victory in small claims court - if Dell had decided to go thru with an appeal - could they not have referred to this clause and voided the award and gone to mediation instead?

I called Dell's sales/service folks to ask more about their warranty/service level agreement - they get very "testy" and of course claim they are wonderful and so you don't need to worry that their warranty is written in a way that benefits Dell not the consumer.
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Andy B, 14 Dec 2006 @ 7:53am

Re: Dell blows
Bull $hit. No Dell Power Edge server Gold Support customer in North America speaks to anyone outside of North America. Think of a better lie next time.
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Random Anonymous User, 6 Jan 2007 @ 4:44pm

The untold story...
If he had his system sent to Selectron, then he probably had complete care. Standard Dell rule... If it needs more than 3 parts, it goes to Selectron when validating a complete care warranty. Selectron loses systems all the time. Sometimes the system is too damaged to repair and they just let it sit until someone can give the official “go” to replace the system. It doesn't surprise me that he had to wait 5 months. I would have sued for loss of revenue that could have been generated if he would have had the system that he paid for, not only that, but that is 5 months of lost warranty.

What gets me is when the end user will purchase just the standard warranty and then complain about the support. The standard warranty is parts only and reloads of OS. That is all you get with the standard warranty. If you don't purchase anything more, you don't get anything more.

Dell has it stated in the contracts that any system can be replaced with like or better. People get hung up on the Next Business Day support as well, but if the contract was read one would see that the NBD applies to when the servicing tech gets the parts. If a part is on Back order, you won't get service until the part is available...if DHL loses a shipment, you won't get service until the part can get to the tech. All of which is outlined in the contract. The sad truth is that the sales team doesn't go into these details unless ask. They want off the phone and to the next call. Sales work off of commission and not pay by the hour... perhaps another error of Dell's.

Here's the problem, the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing. It is quite possible for a sales person to sell you the wrong part. For example RAID. Careful you don't get sold the DataSafe. DataSafe is not RAID. If you lose the master hard drive, you have lost all data. That is not RAID, but it is sold as such over and over again. Dell is lacking in idiot-proof department. Think of it like this...if the Sales person knew that much about computers, why wouldn't they be a tech? Techs have better stability and pay than what Sales gets. If Dell would build a system that would be more idiot proof, less errors would occur, but that is not the case... If the sales person was asked for a RAID system, then the DataSafe systems should not be a part of that list. Dell has just recently facilitated a backup audit system... Real people listen into the call, but still not every call. It use to be that Dell did random call recordings which would only catch a bone-head agent 2% of the time... that leaves a lot of room for errors. So being as sharp as possible, Dell instituted a record all of your calls policy, and then you are responsible to upload them for audits. Happily everyone does this... only knowing that the tool is unreliable, which gives the agent the room to pre-audit his own calls and upload the ones that won't hurt his performance. This means that the agent could still be free to act without reprisal most of the time. Give it up for Dell, it is now 2007 and they have been going at it since the early 90's so it took them nearly 15 years to understand you can't just put people on the phone with no accountability or with accountability that they can control. Overall, they might just get it right, but at what cost? Look what it has done to their customers who can be told a truth or a lie and no one at Dell is any wiser.

Did I mention your support phone number has changed? This happens too frequently across the electronic industry. Why do they need to change the number? Well because it cost Dell more to keep the same phone number. They get the number leased to them, then once the lease runs out, it is cheaper to change the number than to buy the inflated lease renewal. Most companies do this.

As for New or Used? Well, I know that I would be better off with a used part in some cases, and a new part in others. Anyone ever dealt with a bad CPU? I am using one right now. It’s an AMD 2800 Anthlon, and I can take the chip out right now and you can see not a brown mark, but a black mark across the bottom of the processor. The computer still works. I get blue screens if I try and run a video game, but in normal applications I have no problems…but, I wouldn’t sell this processor to anyone, nor would I put it into a system that I wanted reliability from. I can run test after test on this unit and the processor will pass every time…but I know it is bad. CPU’s have redundancies that keep them alive, but if a test can’t identify the failed redundancies then what good is it? You can blame this on the CPU manufacture, but it’s the OEM that pays for that flaw. There just isn’t a test that can find that type of error. So what happens is you get a replacement part from a unit that was scrapped and then you start getting BSOD. You are not happy and you blame the OEM, but they all will send out a used part if the system is anywhere close to 30 days old, and once again… this is stated in the support contract.

I commend this guy on the Kiosk, but knowing the general public, I bet it happened by mistake. He probably had been to that Kiosk several times to complain and someone there set him off, so he retaliated by putting their name down as point of contact for the summons. Who knows, but it is a rather funny story just the same.
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David S., 16 Aug 2007 @ 10:47am

Dell nightmare
I am going through a nightmare with Dell right now. I bought an Inspiron 1505 laptop at the beginning of June. A month and a half later it stopped recognizing the AC adapter and wouldn't charge the battery. Initially tech support was helpful, told me the motherboard was probably defective, the repairs would be covered under warranty, and I should send it in.

I sent the computer DHL on Aug. 9. A couple days ago I got a phone message telling me the "motherboard and LCD" needed to be replaced, this wouldn't be covered under warranty, and I had until Aug. 20th to call them or it would be sent back un-repaired. When I called I was told the problem was a result of spill damage (coffee or coke). They then said the motherboard, keyboard, and palm rest would have to be replaced at my expense. I spilled nothing on this computer and don't even drink coffee or coke. They are lying or incompetent. The keyboard wasn't even broken when I sent it in to them, I had been using it the day I shipped it out! The only problem was with motherboard (the laptop didn't recognize the ac adapter). After an argument I was told they would re-check the system, send me photos of the damage, and get back to me the next day.

The next day I get an identical voice message and no photos sent to me. I call them back and am told they reviewed the system and still claim the problem is from spill damage so it won't be covered. I ask them to send me photos again and the tech support person does this time. I tell him that although I spilled nothing on the computer, I will review the photos and call back the next day. He then tells me that is not a possibility, I either have to authorize payment for repairs or they will immediately return the computer un-repaired. He then claims that they have had my computer since July 31st and they will hold it no longer. I explain to him that no, they haven't had it that long, I mailed it on Aug. 9th, have a phone message confirming they received it on Aug. 10th, and 2 phones messages (on 8/14 and 8/15) saying they will hold it until Aug. 20th. The Dell rep. then starts yelling at me telling me he has the DHL info right in front of him confirming I sent it on the 30th and they received it on the 31st, and he will have it shipped back to me if I don't authorize payment for repairs. He was so rude! Finally he just gets his supervisor.

I then go through the whole ordeal with his supervisor. Who is initially nice, but then becomes rude and condescending as well! We argue over the shipping date until he finally says something like, "ok, I'll pretend to believe you about the shipping date, that doesn't change the fact that there is spill damage." We get in an argument about this and he agrees to hold my computer for a few days until I have the chance to review the photos.
The photos I received show me absolutely nothing. They are very low quality images of the motherboard, and it is impossible for me to tell what they are trying to show me. I'm calling them back today when I get out of work to plead my case again!

This is by far the worst experience I have ever had with a company. I honestly don't believe a word they are saying to me anymore. I don't even think they have the right computer! The whole shipping date thing just proves they have no idea what is going on! There is no way I am giving Dell more money unless they own up to this problem. If they ship the computer back un-repaired I'm taking it to small claims, for sure. To spend over $1000 on a laptop, have it stop working a month and a half later, and then refuse to repair it is completely unacceptable. And to top it off, their reps accuse me of causing the problem AND lying about the shipping date. The spill damage issue is just my word against theirs I guess, but I can easily prove they are wrong about the shipping date. We'll see what happens.
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Will Slater, 15 Jan 2008 @ 2:11pm

@#$@#%# Dell
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Will Slater, 15 Jan 2008 @ 2:21pm

@#$@#%# Dell
I too have fallen into the Dell Hell and have struggled with an all new level of incompetency (Dell) over the past 2.5 years. I refuse to try and converse any further with those intellectual computer experts and financial whizzzz kids in india. I have decided that the only way to resolve this situation is to take Dell to small claims court and let a judge decide the issue and maybe I will be able to get my credit and financial situation back on track.

My question is who do you name in the law suit? If anybody has any input on this I would greatly apprectiate your help
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Adam L, 18 Mar 2008 @ 11:20am

Courts of Equity
Congrats on finishing your first semester of law school. The equity/law distinction has been abolished in most jurisdictions. Small claims courts are absolutely courts of law. A court MAY NOT enforce equity where there is an agreement at law. Wow, way off, but nice try.
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Frustrated in NJ, 22 Sep 2008 @ 3:52pm

lawsuit
Dell sales reps were all with an Indian accent. Are they outsourcing to India? They were rude and hung up. I called many times speaking to 6 reps and 6 supervisors. I returned an item because it was the wrong fix. They did not credit me. They did not send it back. I paid my Dell Credit card so they would not charge me interest. They said that the seal on the box it came in was opened. The Postal Service opened one of the boxes and put it in the other one to save money on shipping. I am suing Dell. They are dishonest. Now they are saying that they don't know that I actually returned that second item. First they said the seal was broken, then they don't know if I really sent it back. I have my USPS receipt. Don't buy from Dell.
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Charles R Douglas, 18 Oct 2008 @ 7:42pm

Lease cancelation
I have called Dell end of lease dept if you can call it that!!! Only to end up in India speaking to a customer service rep NOT !!!!!. I wanted to end my lease and send back my Dell 800 series laptop. The CSR AKA. PAUL SMITH??? and CSR Supervisor AKA. Andrew Scott?? told me to contact end of lease dept which I did and got a very rude women who would not give her name. The csr aka Paul Smith Ha!Ha! tried to exstort a payment from my telling her that she should pay this !! My wife has nothing to do with my business or equipment. So why do the people do this?? I am very angry that harassed my wife and did not address this with me but I guess they have no spine so went after my wife.I no longer want anything to do with Dell or it's sub company's.I have notified them if my lease is not cancelled that I will sue for exstortionary practice to my wife and family. I anyone has any information as to a local Dell location in Indianapolis,IN please let me know. Sincerly, Charles R Douglas(Founder/Owner of Flollow-Thru Plumbing Service LLC.
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Anonymous Coward, 22 Jul 2009 @ 6:47pm

Re: Courts of Equity
YOUR AN IDIOT I SUED THEM IN SMALL CLAIMS AND WON..DELL NEEDS TO BE SUED MORE IF U ASK ME
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A Kovva, 8 Oct 2009 @ 7:58am

Tired of the nightmare with my laptop
Hi,

I am sick and tired of talking to some of the unprofessional Dell customer service representatives in India for my laptop issues. I have gone through the worst nightmare with my new Dell laptop. My sincere advice to all u folks is NEVER buy a Dell laptop. I never in my life ever thought that I will go through this nightmare. Every time I called Dell Customer Service I was forced to deal with an Indian customer technician who tells you to run the diagnostics test over and over again. I had requested them several times to transfer me to a customer service representative here in the U.S. but it never happened. I would like to sue Dell for the nightmare I went through. The last Indian supervisor I spoke to today was so arrogant and rude in her behavior that I had to tell her to give me the Legal department # of Dell. It has been the most frustrating experience in my life. I am fed up and would like to talk to a human being from Dell Computers Legal Department. Please guide me in this matter. My computer has crashed several times. Thanks
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DQ Ninh, 10 Dec 2009 @ 7:11pm

Dell XPS M1330
I bought a Dell XPS laptop 10 months ago from Bestbuy, and now the lcd went dead. I call Dell support and the guy told me that I have to pay 528 dollars for replacement the box.

I want to take Dell to small claim court. I can fill the paper, but do not know what DELL office shall I send the copy of the court order to. Can someone help me?
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Anonymous Coward, 11 Feb 2010 @ 5:24pm

Well today I demanded my money back for a Dell Studio XPS 13 that I've been having hell with for a year exactly this month. Constant replacement parts that did not work, refurb motherboard, not bringing the wireless card when the came to repair claiming somebody forgot to ship it etc etc. Not to count the countless hours in the past year with a Laptop that only froze, wireless card constantly plugging/unplugging no matter if you even uninstall it, stucked DVD-ROM Drive, etc.

They lie, mislead, con, trick, thief, and act like a bunch of shameless spineless jellyfish and when you ask for a detail on the refund they hide it until you send the computer back unless you force it out of them. It's a long two months wait with a check going out each month and a restocking fee.

With all the hell I mean Dell crap, I still got some use out of the Laptoop and still plan on suing them for a loooooong list of crap they put me thru.

Don't even think of using BBB because Dell pay them to stay in good standing. You see that's the way the two evils come together. The guy at BBB ignored my emails when I filed a list of complaints because he did not want to tell me when the case will be solved but since my warranty was running out I went straight to Dell for my money. Obviously BBB wasn't doing anything trying to take advantage of me.

Again I still plan on suing after I get my money back minus restocking fee for a crappy laptop that I paid $955 for.

Folks don't be concerned, they will all pay the ultimate price. In this world, it is easy to get over on some folks but with God, the ultimate price will be paid.
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Anonymous Coward, 6 Apr 2010 @ 9:18am

dell has put a very bad flavor in my mouth where customer service and support is concerned. i purchased a laptop for edcational purposes for my college classes and experienced problems with it and it was shipped in to be fixed and now that they have finally (2weeks later) decided to admitt they had my laptop are refusing to fix the issue with the computer and it is still under warranty. i have missed out being able to use my laptop for school use for 3 weeks now and they are telling me if i want it back and want it fixed i need to contact the legal dept. in which i am going to do so but i will never reccommend dell to anyone due to lack of service and the lack of ability that they have to deal with consumers!! i dont blame this man for the measures he took!!
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mike easterling, 21 Nov 2013 @ 7:57am

laptop caught on fire
A friend of mine fell asleep and her laptop got so hot it caused 3rd degree burns on her legs and burnt the power source out inside the laptop which is an inspiron m5030 and I have gotten nothing but a run around from dell all she wanted was a new computer or to replace the computer but now I guess a small claims suit has to to be filed then a separate civil suit for the personal injury. Good luck dealing with dell people.
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Maaz, 14 May 2014 @ 9:21pm

Worst Peoples i have ever seen, Liers, Cheaters
Dear Sir,

I have bought a Dell Laptop (Express Service tag 33023384893) 18/03/2014, and this product's warranty is expiring on 17/04/2014, i have bought it in 67,000/-, after expiring 1 year warranty company is providing additional warranty for 2 years at 11,999/- (after this price there is 15-20% discount)

1. i have called the company on 18/04/2014, regarding extending the warranty, they said they will send email to me with quotation, then i have to pay for it, then warranty will be extended

2. they never called, then i call them again on 22/04/2014, same things happen again, no return call or email

3. then on 28/04/2014 i called again, then they said same thing and send me email with quotation, but without discount price, i replied them to send me discounted price, nothing came in return no phone call or email,

4. then on 05/05/2014 i call them again, and asked them about same thing they said that NOW PRICES ARE DIFFERENT THEN MY LAST 2 CALLS, they give no reason, they denying everything with last 2 person said to my, they have removed other 2 options from warranty, before there were 4 options for my laptop, now when i confronted them they saying there are only 2 options left if you want to buy then buy or leave, you can go ahead and launch complaint, we also have legal persons who will take care of things

1st email

· Two year Complete Cover (Accidental Protection Plan) + Premium Phone Support : Rs 12,999/- only (Inclusive of Taxes)

these prices are without discount, all 3 peoples from the same company have accepted that there is a discount, but they can not send it in written, but they are denying it now

i have chosen 1st option from that list
now they are saying you can not buy this, because we will not give you this

(i confirm again, when i called first time, they check my system it was out of warranty, then they given me options, and price)
when i confirming them or confronting them, they denying, they changed options, they changes price, they changed rules

RESOLUTION

i want to buy this

Two year Complete Cover (Accidental Protection Plan) + Premium Phone Support : Rs 12,999/- only (Inclusive of Taxes)

on discount price, which will be 10-15%

so please take any action, if you find it true,

i am attaching my email, and phone conversation recordings,

if you think i am right then support me

link for attached documents

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/21542505/Dell%20complaint%20documents.zip

Costumer care number : 18004250088
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J B, 15 Mar 2018 @ 7:10pm

DELL SCAMMER
I had purchased DELL Premium Support contract for a year from DELL on Dec 10, 2017. I sent my computer to DELL CTS Laptop Repair, 7909 Northcourt Road, STE 500, Houston, Texas 77040" for repair as my All-in-one touch screen monitor was not functioning. I received my computer but the monitor came without screws to mount on the stand. I called up Dell and explained that they did not provide screws with which I could mount my computer on the stand, they said they would send me but till today they did not provide me anything. After I received I started downloading all my private files into my desktop & Downloading my private information, at that time I did not know my computer screen was not functioning properly. Two days later DELL computer technician Jino Jose called me 5 times on Feb-10, then I called him back at 9:45 pm EST, He sent me an email and told to click on the DELLconnect link so that he could connect remotely and take access to my computer. He went on moving my files here and there by taking remote connection. He carried on for 2hrs 21min , and I repeatedly told him that it was past midnight EST (early morning around 12:15 am EST Feb-11) but he did not want me to close my computer. He said he need to do some windows upgrades and I need to keep my computer on and that the upgrades would finish when I woke up in morning. I told him to show me the steps so that when I get up in morning I will try to do it myself but he was so persistent and wanted me to keep my computer so that windows upgrades could be installed. So I kept my computer on and went to sleep at 12:30 am EST Feb-11. In the morning when I got up I did not check if my system was working properly. I shut down my computer. I do not get time to computer everyday since I come home late evening after work. After a week on Feb-18 when I tried to check my private files I find my file which had my secret private keys missing and moved, I realized my computer was compromised. The files which had my details of my fund worth $2300 was gone. I immediately called up Dell. They transferred me to Advance Resolution group, The supervisor spoke to me bitter hard saying he is supervisor of supervisors and he would not be able to help me, I asked him without coming to a resolution how could he say that he would not be able to do anything. He wanted to shut down the phone call but I then started speaking loudly that he should hear me and find out. He said he would look and call me next day. Rohan Mehta calls next day and he says it would take time for DELL to investigate. I told I need the session id and voice recording of the things happened on my computer. I also mention that he deleted so much files and moved files here and there on my desktop and download so why I do not see in my recycle bin, where did all deleted files go, that was unanswerable to him and he kept on shouting that it would take time. I called up two days later and sent an email and a message pops from Dell that he was out of office. On repeated calls he called me on March-6 that DELL could not find any information about the details. I asked an explanation that I would need voice recording and session details of my remote connection. But he was unanswerable to my problem. I need help, its lot of money kept for my medical expenses. I am seeking to get my money back. DELL computers keep scammers inside their company as employees who steals information and breaking trust of customers.
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