I am writing this letter on behalf of my mother. She is 82 years old. She has never had a computer before and this experience with a Dell notebook, which cost her over $1,500 has been a TOTAL DISASTER!!! Our family will never buy any product by Dell again and we will be sure to tell everyone we know how unbelievably AWFUL Dell's service has been!
1. To start! Just the fact that I thought - "I'll bet those Dell people are sending Mom emails! Even though they have the computer! Sure enough...
2. We (myself, my Mom and another relative) began calling Dell early this month. Dorothy's computer would not work. I spoke with many, many technical support people and many customer service people. Yet here is an email to a customer without a computer, asking for her phone number! She, I and another person have given you that phone number SOoooooo many times already!
3. Speaking with one representative; I was told that, because the phone line was filled with static, she would call me back. She took my name and phone number and I asked her to repeat it, which she did. We waited for 15 minutes. She never called back.
4. Between the three of us calling Dell, we spoke with many people, as I have mentioned. None of these conversations were fruitful and they were all exasperating because you have people ON THE PHONES who do not speak English very well!!! We speak English! This is an English speaking country - why in the world would all, or most, of your phone reps speak a different first language! That is ridiculous and extremely inefficient!
5. Finally, finally, after LITERALLY 4 days of 2 hours each of the 4 days of calling and re-calling your service number and going through many, many tests with technicians and many phone transfers and holds which never made it - resulting in whoever was calling Dell to have to START ALL OVER on hold again - FINALLY a technician said we could send the computer back to Dell. She explained that I should call a certain toll free number, she gave me some type of confirmation number (may not be called that by Dell...) and I placed the call. I was told that someone would be bringing a box to my Mother's house within the next couple of days.
6. Four days later with no word from either Dell or any carrier, I called Dell's support number again. I was told to again call the toll free number of the carrier. The same number I had called when I was told someone would bring a box within 2 days. When I called that number, I was told that there was no record of my first call. I call the *confirmation* number and was told there was no record of that number. I asked if I could, once again, arrange for someone to bring the shipping box out and take the computer. I was finally told that their company did not service the remote area in which we live... And to call Dell back.
7. I called Dell's customer service line. After speaking to two different people who transferred me back to technical support, as if my problem was still that the computer wouldn't work. I continued to explain that we were past that point and that I had a *confirmation* number to show we had been approved for the computer to go back to Dell. The reason that I was twice transferred was that the customer service representatives COULD NOT AND DID NOT UNDERSTAND ENGLISH well enough to understand what I needed from them.
8. After asking several times, I was finally allowed to speak with a supervisor. Miraculously, this woman arranged for a pick-up within 3 days and a carrier did actually come out.
9. I live next door to my Mom. I did not, nor did she, see the carrier's truck. He went to her house and she asked if she could box up the computer right then - so that he wouldn't have to make another trip. We are 70 miles from Rapid City, SD. He was extremely short and abrupt with this elderly and frail woman. He was upset that he had had to come this far out. He told her to call Dell and to LIE and say that he had not picked up the computer (when he was taking it right then) so that he would get another "ticket" from Dell.By then my Mom was frazzled with his complaints and now wanting her to lie and she actually was having trouble understanding what this strange man in her home wanted from her. She called me (as I said, I am right next to her house) but the carrier said he did not want to stop to talk to me. He did agree to speak to me on the phone. He told me the same thing - that he had hated to drive out this far and for me to call Dell and say that he had left a box and then Dell would send him a "ticket" to pick the computer up. He told me outright that he would keep the computer at his? Whatever - his shop or place of business I assume... Until he received the extra "ticket" from Dell. This man did not ask us to lie - he TOLD us to. When he was explaining who I should call, I asked, "So you'll get paid for an extra trip that you're not making?" The carrier said, "Yes."
10. I called the number that this man had given me. I told the woman with a strong foreign accent what had happened. She did not understand at all! She told me she was going to transfer me to technical support. I said, "NO!" The computer has already been sent back! I tried a third time to explain our situation. She did not ever seem to understand but she took my (not my Mom's) phone number and said a supervisor would be calling me back within 48 hours. She also took MY email address [email protected] and repeated it back. She said SHE would email me another number about our conversation. Neither of those things happened.
11. The following week, my Mom received two phone calls from Dell. The first that the computer had been received and the second phone call, that it was 50% repaired. (??!!) She said both callers were very hard to understand. At the end of that week, she received another phone call saying that the computer was repaired and would be returned on Tuesday, Feb 15th. It wasn't.
12. My Mom called Dell herself two days after the computer was supposed to be delivered. After over TWO HOURS, mainly on hold of course, she was finally told that no one knew where her computer was. She was told that it may have been lost or stolen!
13. My Mother called again the following day. After almost 3 hours on the phone, she was given the number of someone who "had" the computer. Supposedly, it was still at Dell.By this point, my Mom had become weak and ill. She has been very, very upset over all of this very hard to believe experience! She was bed-ridden then for 3 days.
14. She still does not know where her computer, which is still under warranty, is. She does not know what to do about this or who to call. However, I am going to send a copy of this letter to every Dell email address that I can find. I am also going to send it to the Attorney General and all of the local media outlets.
Trisha
Enning, South Dakota
U.S.A.
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