Dell Complaint

**** UPDATE ******

In all fairness to Dell, after we wrote and sent them this letter, they allowed us to return the laptop. They said it would take 30 days for the refund to go through, so we are still waiting for that. So, the moral of the story is, write to customer service- don't bother trying to talk to one of the customer service reps over the phone. I don't think they have the autonomy to issue refunds and are impossible to talk with.

**** UPDATE ******

Michael Dell
Dell Corporate Headquarters
Dell Computer Inc.
One Dell Way
Round Rock TX 78682

“It's through curiosity and looking at opportunities in new ways that we've always mapped our path at Dell. There's always an opportunity to make a difference.” –Michael Dell

Michael Dell/Customer Service:

As an IT professional, I have been a loyal Dell customer for over six years; my last four laptops have been Dell. I purchase a new laptop approximately every 2-3 years, and that system is usually close to the top-of-the-line available on the market. My husband is also an IT professional and has purchased numerous Dell products. In the past, we have been very happy with your product and your customer service.

We recently purchased a Dell XPS M1530 on 8/25/2008 which we received on 9/9/2008. We previously contacted Dell because we were unhappy with the glossy display, and they told us that they couldn’t help us. Today, 9/28/2008, we contacted Dell because the hard drive failed, and the computer will no longer boot properly. Overall, we are extremely dissatisfied with the system and would like to replace it with a different Dell system. However, we were informed that we could not return the system because the 21 days from invoice date (9/5/2008) had expired (by two days). It has been less than 21 days since the receipt of the laptop (9/9/2008 – 9/28/2008). We received an email confirming purchase of the system on 9/6/2008, but at no time did we receive a document that was entitled “Invoice.” Since the term invoice is ambiguous and the dating of the invoice is rather random, it only makes sense to honor the return based on when the system was signed for and received. Furthermore, Dell should handle this problem because a brand new laptop hard drive should not fail within the first month after it was built.

You are about to lose a loyal customer of six years over a dispute of two days. I am losing valuable data and software applications due to Dell’s poor product quality of this particular system. We have invested a lot of time and money getting this laptop up to working condition, and now all that is going to waste.

I am also unhappy with your level of customer service. Previously, when I dealt with Dell customer service, they were always able to help me resolve my problem. Now, all I keep hearing is no and why nothing can be done. Your representatives have difficulty understanding even basic issues that we want resolved because of language barriers, and we keep getting put on hold and passed around to the next representative because no one takes the accountability to do the right thing. That is unacceptable.

I would like to see the Dell I used to know come back and remedy this situation. I switched from IBM brand laptops to Dell because of an IBM customer service failure with a lemon of a laptop. I encouraged family, friends, and colleagues not to buy IBM ThinkPads (while they were still on the market) due to my experience. I don’t want this to happen with Dell because of my experience with the new XPS M1530. I am actually typing this letter on my old laptop, a Dell Latitude D610. If this issue is not resolved, I will be filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau and Consumer Affairs. And, I will no longer be a Dell customer. I would like to continue my relationship with Dell as a loyal customer, but I would like to see that Dell is still loyal to its customers as well.

“Our business is about technology, yes. But it's also about operations and customer relationships.” – Michael Dell

Sincerely,
Pamela Karr Wisniewski


**** UPDATE ******

In all fairness to Dell, after we wrote and sent them this letter, they allowed us to return the laptop. They said it would take 30 days for the refund to go through, so we are still waiting for that. So, the moral of the story is, write to customer service- don't bother trying to talk to one of the customer service reps over the phone. I don't think they have the autonomy to issue refunds and are impossible to talk with.

**** UPDATE ******

What you would do as president to lead this country out of the financial crisis?

McCain

• Well, the first thing we have to do is get spending under control in Washington.


• Examine every agency of government


• Eliminate ethanol subsidies


• Defense spending - do away with cost-plus contracts and have fixed-cost contracts


• Spending freeze on everything but defense, veteran affairs and entitlement programs


• Obama has $800 billion in new spending programs. I would suggest he start by canceling some of those new spending program that he has.
  

Obama

• We've got to grow the economy from the bottom up. What I've called for is a tax cut for 95 percent of working families, 95 percent.


• We have to have energy independence


• Invest in alternative energy, solar, wind, biodiesel


• Making sure that we're developing the fuel-efficient cars of the future right here in the United States


• Fix our health care system


• Make sure that we're competing in education


• Invest in science and technology


• College is affordable for every young person in America


• Rebuild our infrastructure


• Have a new electricity grid to get the alternative energy to population centers


• Investing in energy in order to free ourselves from the dependence on foreign oil


• Increase early childhood education


• We have to look at bringing that war to a close

What I don't get is how Obama is going to fund all of this amid a financial crisis - unless he is going to raise taxes or is making empty promises.

Quote of the Day

''These two entities -- Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- are not facing any kind of financial crisis,'' said Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts, the ranking Democrat on the Financial Services Committee. ''The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing.'' Representative Melvin L. Watt, Democrat of North Carolina, agreed. ''I don't see much other than a shell game going on here, moving something from one agency to another and in the process weakening the bargaining power of poorer families and their ability to get affordable housing,'' Mr. Watt said.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E06E3D6123BF932A2575AC0A9659C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=print

My Footprints

Tuesday, Hey!

9 AM: Woke up, ate breakfast, checked email
10 AM: Paid bills, decluttered office space, uploaded more wedding pictures
10:45 AM: Contacted Atlas ti support, emailed professors
11:10 AM: Added Arc Map design flaws based on yesterday's coding (which may have all been in vain)
11:45 AM: Updated wiki and Google Docs organization
1 PM: Stopped for lunch, sigh, we really need to go to the grocery store. Lunch meat and no bread. Not much else to eat for lunch. Loaded dishwasher, faxed UNC health center to transfer medical records. Yay! Got my early birthday present in the mail - a new laptop, on hold with Walgreens to transfer prescriptions, updated to do list
2:45 PM: Get ready to go to class
3:30 PM: Class
5 PM: Home, went shopping for baby shower supplies, ate dinner at Panera
7 PM: Home again, Mike's tummy is hurting him, we took a nap
8:30 PM: Woke up, watched some tv, did some set up stuff on my new laptop, checked email, planned some for tomorrow


Pam!

Not so Manic Monday

9:45 AM: Woke up, checked email, read headlines, drank diet Coke with Splenda
10 AM: Breakfast, made bed, showered
11 AM: Data analysis
1 PM: Ate lunch, back to analysis
8:30 PM: Ate dinner, back to analysis
10 PM: Stopped data analysis

(9.5 hours logged for school)

Pam!

Another Day

8:30 AM: Woke up, Mike feeling better (must have been a stomach bug instead of the flu proper)
8:45 AM: Ate PB&J and coffee for breakfast
9:15 AM: Showered
12:30 PM: Lunch at Bear Rock Cafe
Most of the Day - Not much
6:30 PM: Had Mom, Jackie, and Phillipa over for dinner

(0 hours logged for school, 10 hours logged for week not including weekends)


Pam!

Sick Honey Head

8:30 AM: Woke up, checked email
9 AM: Ate PB&J for breakfast with Diet Coke, filled out Dr. paperwork
10:30 AM: Dr. appt, had to get blood drawn :-(
11:30 AM: Home, Mike back from his Dr. appt. sick with the flu, I have a bad headache, both resting
1 PM: Emailed advisors that I am staying home today
3:30 PM: Ate some gyoza
4 PM: Did some laundry
7 PM: Couples' massage
8 PM: Ate Wendy's hamburger and fries
8:30 PM: Watched Republican Convention, posted bamboo place card holders on eBay
11:45 PM: Went to bed

(0 hours logged for school)

Pam!

Sucks to be Me

My sister Kim's first published book, buy it on Amazon.com!!

More Video Trascription Day

8:30 AM: Woke up, ate breakfast
8:45 AM: Checked email
9 AM: Showered, got ready
10 AM: Chiropractor appt
10:45 AM: Back from Chiropractor, scheduled monthly massage, scheduled car inspection for tomorrow morning
11 AM: Started watching geovis videos and transcribing
11:30 AM: Took a break and opened packages that came in the mail
11:45 AM: Back to video transcription
2:30 PM: Mike brought me Nutella on toast with milk for lunch, continued transcription
3:15 PM: Starting getting ready for my appt on campus
4 PM: On-campus appt
4:30 PM: Drove home, called Tausha
4:45 PM: Got home, created web poll for group
5 PM: Napped
7 PM: Ate dinner (Mike cooked duck)
7:20 PM: Back to video transcription
7:50 PM: Finished participant 6 video
8 PM: Added Tiffany as a friend on Facebook, played around on Facebook for a while
8:20 PM: Started transcribing participant 7
10:45 PM: Finished participant 7, uploaded Google docs, wiki, and this blog
10:50 PM: Went downstairs to spend time with Mike

(7 hours logged for school)

Pam!

Tuesday

9:30 AM: woke up (couldn't get to sleep last night), had coffee and cereal
10 AM: Checked email, packaged up eBay item that I sold, tried to upload photos to Snapfish to make a mug (their site seems not to be working)
11 AM: Started watching Geovis videos
2 PM: Ate PB&J for lunch (side of Nutella)
3 PM: Got ready for class, talked to Lisa on the phone
3:30 PM: Visual Analytics class
5 PM: Talked to Tony on phone, got home, took a nap with Mike
6:20 PM: Woke up, Mike made lamb chops and I made red potatoes - ate them
7:30 PM: Finished dinner, finally got Snapfish to work
8 PM: Went to the Ferguson's to check on the lights, went to Coldstone for ice cream
8:45 PM: Picked up prescriptions at Walgreens, talked to Mom on the phone
9 PM: Got sucked into House, procrastinating on watching video, checking tomorrow's schedule to see if I really need to watch the rest of it tonight
11 PM: Went to bed

(3 hours logged for school)


Pam!