I sent this letter to Dell on Wednesday May 18th to their corporate legal fax:
Service Tag HM2G*, Incident # 904974
I sent my laptop to Dell for Warranty work. The whole system crashed. It wouldn't connect to the internet, it wouldn't read the drives, and it wouldn't allow plug ins. The crash prevented me from backing up any information, notes, or programs. (It would not read the zip drive or connect to e-mail the work on the computer.) My passwords to Lexis Nexis and Westlaw were stored on my computer. All of my papers, the Microsoft office from the school, and numerous other items.
A few days before the system came back, we received a call. The call stated that the hard drive was completely intact and all information was on it. We believed the technical support person. Our mistake. (We were told to send the hard drive because "It would take too long to explain how to remove it.)
Yesterday the computer came back. It came back without a DVD-RW, without a power cord, and without the hard drive. Dell now has all my Law School work, including papers and free access to Lexis Nexis and Westlaw. My husband called them at 5P.M., speaking with a lady named Monesha. They gave him an option of sending a new hard drive or a new computer. He said he had to talk to me. Moneshal said they would call back. They were 30 minutes late calling back at 7:15.
When Monesha finally called back, she got her supervisor Sarvesh for the call. During the 7:15 call, Sarvesh talked with my husband and said he would call back in 1/2 hour (7:45). Mark, my husband, told him "Now don't tell me you are going to call back in 1/2 hour if you never plan to." Sarvesh promised to call by 7:45. He also informed us that there are no worries as the hard drive would never leave dell. Mark told him theat it should be very easy to send back to us then. He never called back.
I got on the live chat and the Kulwant said the depot's records said it was impossible to trace.
Well, at 8:30 we tried calling them back. As of 9:55 tonight, we have been transferred by a man named Simon and subsequently sat on hold. (Wesat on hold for 1 hour and 45 minutes.) I called the Dell orders desk and asked for the corporate number (1-512-338-4400) and told Joseph Nobles what was going on. He said someone would call back by 12P.M. Today. No call came. He reported this as incident # 904974
Offering me a new computer does not fix what has happened. We could not back up the programs or information because the thumb-drive and internet did not work (no way to send or save). We were told to send the hard drive with the computer, so we didn't keep it. When they called to say it was being sent back, they said everything was saved and the computer worked fine.
I now have:
An incomplete computer (no hard drive, no power cable, and no dvd-rw)
Loss of 9 months worth of law school paperwork (notes, bar exam review, memorandums and motion briefs) (I don't know how you put a vlue on this. 36000$ in tuition is what I paid and I don't know what you would think my time was worth.)
Loss of symantec corporate (I only get to have this once from the school and must now pay 100$ for it)
Loss of Microsoft Office Professional (I only get this once for the school and now must pay 499$)
Loss of 112 i-tunes downloads (these I know are worth 112$)
Loss of unlimited password access to Lexis-Nexis and Westlaw (These are very expensive programs that cost hundreds of thousands to law firms. I am attempting to see if I can get new ones and have these cancelled. I MUST have these for law school.)
Tell me what I can do. I need some help. We are hitting a brick wall. No one will give us the legal departments number. I bought the computer last June and have had nothing but problems and now this one fatal crash really did turn out to be fatal. I would understand if the hard drive had been damamged, but we were informed it wasn't. We were also informed the information was saved. Right now my husband is on the phone with customer care (Jomine) and they said they will send only a new hard drive with Norton. This is in no way acceptable.
I have detrimentally relied upon your promises to fix this computer. I realize that someone lost/stole the hard drive. So, I will offer you some relief in not having to find my hard drive. I am making this demand:
1-My computer replaced. Complete, intact, an exact mirror of my order from June. (With a 1 year warranty.)
2-Symantec Corporate and Microsoft Office Professional reinstalled on my computer.
3-A letter stating that you have "lost" my harddrive so that I may submit it to Lexis Nexis and Westlaw to hopefully obtain new passwords.
4-A $10000 credit towards Dell for the detrimental reliance on your promises, the failure to fulfill your obligations, the ineptitude of the numerous departments, and theft of my work product.
I will then release Dell from any misapproprate representation that their representatives have made. Please phone by no later then Friday, May 20, 5P.M. Central time. If no call is received, I will proceed with asking my legal counsel to file a claim for theft, detrimental reliance, among other issues. I am less then pleased with what has happened. As a law student, I will only promise to obtain the resources tto correct this travesty.
Signed XXXX
On May 19th, I sat on hold for 45 minutes, was told "off the record" by global security that I might want to hifre a lawyer and that filing a report of theft might be appropriate. So, I went ahead and filed a report of theft, left messages for attorney, spoke to my law school professors, and will not allow them the chance to respond by Friday evening. They have recanted that they will do anything for me.
My computer is apparently supposed to remain as is, no hard drive, no power, and no dvd-rw. I have a shell and a keyboard and 2700$ down the drain. We picked dell because of the "rave reviews" of their customer service. Boy were we wrong. I f they would just fix their problems, it would cost them a lot less then forcing people to drag them in to court.
Jamie
Bellevue, Nebraska
U.S.A.
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