Not really, though.  I am just a firm believer in if you are having a problem, you should be able to get it solved in a reasonable time and reasonable way.  With Dell, this has not been the case.

It all started back in August when I was getting the blue screen of death (as it is so lovingly called) and my computer would reboot itself.  After a few Dell chats, I had to reinstall Windows XP.  All was well until a couple months later (the beginning of October) when I began to hear my computer beeping whenever I would turn it on.

Then, the “problem ball” went rolling: the technician took 5-6 days to call to schedule an appointment, Outlook was being awkward, I needed a new keyboard/motherboard/palm rest/memory, etc.  At this point, I had gotten my mom involved because I thought part of the problem was due to the fact that my name is in no way connected to my laptop; it is in my stepdad’s name (along with the extended warranty).

Everything got fixed, as you may remember.  Unfortunately, my computer started having even more problems.  Instead of boring you with the stupid details, let me just summarize: Dell gave me the runaround about what to do with my computer.  The tech support reps were giving me several different answers, one of which was to ship my computer to the Dell depot to have it looked at and fixed.  Oh yeah, and my Inspiron 600m thinks it’s a Latitude D600 (it definitely isn’t).

Between yesterday (when my monitor started flickering) and today, I have spent over three hours on the phone with about 30 people in five different countries.  That is not an exaggeration.  Out of all those people, two were actually willing to help me.  Other than those people I got redirected and transferred so many times between customer service and technical support!  I also had to repeat my story about 5 million times (so often that I think there’s an email circulating within Dell to warn them, haha).

Finally, I got transfered to someone who sounded like they were in Central America.  He asked me all about what was going on and seemed to be taking note of everything (which the previous people were definitely not doing).  Next thing I know, I get on the phone with Carlos, a supervisor, and he informs me that they will be shipping me a new laptop this week.  He apologized up and down for having to deal with everything, gave me his name, rep ID and dispatch number for the new laptop.

The new laptop is going to be at least comparable to my Inspiron 600m and the extended warranty will be transfered.  I made sure to get as much information on this guy as possible because when I write to Dell, I want to be able them that one out of 30 people in their company are capable of actually helping a customer.

I won’t bite, but I will be sure to get heard.  Can you believe my stepdad still stands by Dell after all this?!

ETA: I’m putting this under my “Product Reviews” category because this post does a pretty good job of detailing my very unhappy experience with Dell, don’t you think?