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Posted: 01.15.2002
Dude, you're getting a Mac!
Oooooh, I'm so mad I'm seeing red. Dell Customer Service just had the nerve to write me and ask me what I thought of their "assistance" last week. They gave a link in the e-mail to reply, so I did (and there's a little surprise in the middle of my rant)!


To Whom It May Concern,

Please ignore my last request for "help". It was sent in error as I was not aware this was the last screen before actual form submission.

I will no longer require Dell's help with this horrible excuse for a laptop. Why you might ask?


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To: tobyn@connect-dots.com
From: confirmation@apple.com
Reply-To: confirmation@apple.com
Subject: Your Apple Store Order
Date: Mon, 14 Jan 2002 12:18:28 -0800 (PST)

Dear Apple customer,

Thank you for ordering from the Apple Store! We're happy that you visited and shopped at our online store, where you can find a great selection of Apple products.

Enclosed are the details of your order and an estimate of your final total.

SHIPPING INFORMATION
Robyn Pollman

PURCHASE INFORMATION

ORDER

Part Number: M7701LL/A
Product Name: iBook 600MHz/14.1XGA/256SD/20GB/Combo/E/OS X
Quantity: 1
Estimated time to ship: 1-3 days

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You see, after my Dell Inspiron 3800 battery died for the fourth time in 18 months, my husband jumped on Dell's tech support website and learned from one of your moderators that the batteries had been recalled. He called you to learn about this recall and was all but hung-up on by the first technician he talked to, so rather than call the same number back that came with our laptop purchase instructions, he called the number that was listed on the forum. This time he worked his way up to a supervisor before being told "thanks but no thanks" and don't let the door hit you on the way out.

Why was Dell not interested in replacing a RECALLED battery you might ask? Well because I had the AUDACITY to request for a repair of this now-known faulty item under warranty -- where each time Dell promptly sent refurbished batteries. Fine, but if you have the NERVE to expect your machine to be serviced under warranty -- certainly don't expect Dell to step up to the plate and honor any recall agreements once a problem is admitted to later on down the line.

So then three days later, the power supply on this laptop starts to go on the fritz as well, meaning its days are numbered. Only about 1 time out of 20 when you hit the power button, will you actually receive power to the machine. After being told "$600 here...$200 there...and call back later tomorrow between 9 and 5 and talk to so-and-so because basically I don't want to help you right now...", the oh-so-wise technician suggested we just purchase a new Dell system instead. NOT!

In fact, we were so completely disgusted and infuriated with the support (or rather lack thereof) that we have received on this machine both in and out of warranty -- we immediately turned around and did a complete-180 and purchased an Apple. (For much more money than we spent on this Inspiron, I might add.)

I will never, EVER own a Dell laptop (or computer) again -- and after you having the GALL to write me and ask for a rating of your customer service, I will now make it my one and only mission in life to make sure EVERYONE inside and outside of Dell knows just exactly how I feel about this so-called "service".

Robyn L. Pollman
tobyn@connect-dots.com

P.S. Let me make myself clear just in case you missed it: Yes, you lost out on the sale of another brand new system this week over the cost of a battery! It is quite obvious you only honor your end of the bargain when you legally HAVE to, and not just because you "should" and it's the right thing to do once a warranty has expired and a recall has been made.


So there you have it! I'm turning traitor and going over to Apple's side of the Internet playground (14.1" iBook with DVD and CD/RW drive)! It hasn't shipped yet...but hopefully by this weekend my new toy will be in my lap. And let this be a lesson to you -- don't ask for my opinion of your service unless you really want to hear how I feel! *evil grin*



Hey boy take a look at me...let me dirty up your mind...



Chris Pirillo is also having probs with Dell. After reading yours and his reports -- Great! I have a brand new Dell Dimension... about a month old. God forbid it has any problems. <knock wood>

Why the move to Apple instead of another PC laptop? Just naturally nosy. I'd love to have an iBook as a second computer.

¤ ¤ credit: Meryl | 01.15.02 at 09:27 PM | link--this ¤ ¤

I had actually recommended Dell until recently b/c they were always so fast under warranty to try and fix things (even though I always noted the number of problems we'd had). But the way they have treated us out of warranty made us instant enemies for life.

I've always wanted to own another Apple (it's what I used during college even though they're nowhere near the same OS now). I sold mine at graduation and when I married Todd, he was already set up with a PC so that's just where I remained. But the new iBooks are just so pretty and shiny -- and finally in my price range. I just couldn't resist once we got the math all worked out! With Todd having a PC and me having a Mac, I'm kind of hoping for the best of both worlds. Especially until Adobe gets their arses in gear and gets Photoshop ready for OS-X! He's really excited about it, too, since a lot of his friends at work use Macs. :-)

¤ ¤ credit: robyn | 01.15.02 at 09:35 PM | link--this ¤ ¤

Oh I should mention...my friends had the new and shiny Macs back in college that I did the majority of my work on... My own computer? An Apple IIE and darn proud of it, baby! My senior thesis, no kidding, took a mere 9 hours to print on my dot-matrix printer -- LOL!

¤ ¤ credit: robyn | 01.15.02 at 09:39 PM | link--this ¤ ¤

classic, robyn. and well said. i hope it's a message that goes even half way up the support stairs. what a bunch of idiots.

¤ ¤ credit: susannah | 01.15.02 at 09:45 PM | link--this ¤ ¤

EXCELLENT! Let 'em choke on it! You've got to post any replys they send. That was an excellent letter. You should have cc:'d to everyone you knew (*cc:d* so they could see how many people you were telling) and included a line at the beginning to everyone else to pass the email along...

¤ ¤ credit: jennifer | 01.15.02 at 09:54 PM | link--this ¤ ¤

You go! I have a Dell and haven't had any major problems... but I know I'll be watching for "anything" going wrong from now on!! Enjoy the Apple! :)

¤ ¤ credit: Christi | 01.15.02 at 10:34 PM | link--this ¤ ¤

Way to go Robyn!

¤ ¤ credit: Stephanie | 01.15.02 at 11:52 PM | link--this ¤ ¤

http://radio.weblogs.com/0100241/2002/01/15.html#a34

Bah. We are NOT alone.

¤ ¤ credit: Chris Pirillo | 01.16.02 at 03:35 AM | link--this ¤ ¤

Jason and I have been talking about maybe buying a Apple in the future. He used to work with them all the time when he was doing graphic arts. He loves them! So maybe we will be joining the club soon too (-:

¤ ¤ credit: Holly | 01.16.02 at 08:47 AM | link--this ¤ ¤

you go girl!!!

¤ ¤ credit: erika | 01.16.02 at 09:11 AM | link--this ¤ ¤

LOL I love it that you totally burned their asses by buying a Mac. Although I will go out on a limb and say that I think EVERY type of computer customer service sucks.

Brian sent his TiBook back for something or other last week, and since the part was on backorder indefinitely, they're upgrading him to the new, faster Titanium book free of charge. He's ecstatic.

(But they aren't always so fabulous! None of them are, I bet...)

¤ ¤ credit: Candi | 01.17.02 at 12:49 PM | link--this ¤ ¤

Bwahaha! Another person reclaimed from the Dark Side!

¤ ¤ credit: Keith | 01.18.02 at 07:17 AM | link--this ¤ ¤

Wow, I didn't realize Dell was like that. I've always heard it was Gateway that one should be wary of. At least you're getting an ibook though (I'm turning green!). I've always wanted one of those.

Hey, if you don't want your disfunctional Dell laptop, send it my way. I'd use almost anything to get away from this desktop of mine. ;-)

¤ ¤ credit: Brooke | 01.18.02 at 09:41 PM | link--this ¤ ¤

Once upon a time I understood that Dell was just like this when it came to consumer systems, that they were wonderful with business systems. Ha! Tried to replace several dead Lattitude batteries and get a new hard drive. "Sorry, that model is discontinued." We've only had them (3) two years. "Yeah, oops." How do I get a new hard drive? Transfer transfer transfer runaround transfer transfer. Didn't I talk to you an hour ago? Transfer runaround stall transfer aroundrun. FINALLY -- two hours on phone -- get the right number and am gratiously allowed to spend excessive amounts of $$$ to replace HDD. Batteries are a loss cause.

Lovely company. Almost as bad as Compaq.

Still, an Apple....

¤ ¤ credit: bob | 02.15.02 at 07:03 PM | link--this ¤ ¤

yet another dell tale of woe.

i once had an inspiron laptop. about 7 hours after the warranty ran out, my lcd screen saw fit to die a horrible death. and do you think dell would help me? seeing as it was literally hours after the warranty expired? um, no. and i guess legally they can't be faulted for that. but i do fault them for cutting corners and making shoddy computers. and my mother knows more about customer service and computers than dell's pathetic tech support.

so i've spent the past 3 years with a laptop that was transformed into a desktop thanks to the fact that i had to use an external monitor to see anything.

i'm now the proud owner of a toshiba satellite. it basically rocks.

¤ ¤ credit: portia | 03.07.02 at 01:56 PM | link--this ¤ ¤

saw this link from the monday mission...knowing all the *hell* my dell gave me, I thought I'd give it a read...needless to say, I've have the same *fun* with the *hell dell* corp as you did, and with an inspirion 3800 too. On mine I still owed two payments on it, and they had the nerve to tell me that they didn't contact you like HP does to renew your warranty, they expect you to call and do so. I told them it would be a cold day in hell before I would spend the $300 to send it to them so they could diagnose something that took me 10 seconds to figure out and that I could live with it till I can afford an ibook too...which will be after I buy a new car. All this one month and one day after the warranty went out...needless to say, about 1000 Goodyear employees that work with my dad were warned the following week. What was even funnier was that the dell computer the tech support guy was using crashed for the 3rd time that day while he was helping me.

at least I know I'm not the only one anymore that hates Dell :)


¤ ¤ credit: christina | 04.08.02 at 08:34 PM | link--this ¤ ¤




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