Hell from Dell; Painco from Costco

My experience buying a Dell laptop.

Thanks to our economic woes, Costco and Walmart are going great guns. I had to replace a tired four year old Latitude; I decided on an Inspiron from Costco.com with 2 a year warrranty.

The machine arrived in five daye. I went online at Dell Support; the warranty showed ZERO days. It took me 3 emails, 4 phone calls and 3 hours over 48 hours to get the warranty to appear. Without this, you cannot chat with Dell on line for free; it costs money.

2 days later, the 2 year warranty on site was included.

Costco wouldn’t help with the warranty issue,

Ten days later - Oct 5 – HOME key came off, tried to push it back in place, couldn’t. Costco.com said they couldn’t help. I had to go to Dell, as per their agreement with Dell. I was told that if I had bought an HP, gateway, etc, costco would have helped. But no help was available for Dell products from costco. Of course, they dont tell you that when you are shopping.

So I called Dell on line support – the agent said he would mail new keyboard, and I wd have to replace it myself. I was given a link for instructions.

http://supportapj.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/ins1525/en/SM/keyboard.htm#wp1180346

This is not a DIY job. So, I asked to speak to a supervisor. I spoke to SIMRAT agent #102175. She assured me that she would escalate the matter, and that someone would contact me shortly.

So I kept the HOME keytop safely tucked away, and waited.

Oct 9 – no keyboard, no call. The CHAT lines are not working, so I called, and spoke to an agent who was helpless. I asked for a supervisor. His supervisor JAMES came on line. I go thru’ the whole matter again, he informed me that the first agent had not placed an order for the keyboard, probably because I asked for the supervisor! Now, James promises everything SIMRAT promised!

Is this service, I ask. For one thing, the keyboard quality of the Inspiron I received is awful, no wonder one of the keys came off. Then, the support is even more abysmal. The irony is I was at Dell Bangalore last year, giving a presentation on customer service.

This is what we are getting from companies that were once iconic. Small surprise then that the Wall Street magicians have pocketed millions in bonuses, and gone on lavish binges after borrowing taxpayer money. We are now close to becoming the laughing stock of the world.

Come on Mr. Dell, get real.