(EDITS: I think I edited everything that the moderator deemed against TOS. If not please feel free to edit anything out. Or give me specific issues if this has to be removed again. )

I don't know what else to do, I tried E-mailing Dell Directly, I tried calling, I tried begging, I tried faxing. So I resorted to coming here. Hopefully someone will see this that can help me. Using Google I searched, Dell Customer Service HELP. and found an E-mail address and name of a guy named Jimmy. He instructed people to write to (customer_advocate ) And to Subject line the e-mail (ATTN:Dell-Jimmy_P). And that he would personally try and resolve any ongoing issues with Dell Customer Support. This was dated 2008 but I figured it was worth a try. Well I get an Auto-response from Dell telling me the mailbox is no longer watched. All the suggestions the Auto response had I have already tried. So, I cut and pasted the letter I wrote to (Jimmy) that was not delivered and hopefully someone here can help me.



I am hoping you can help me out. I have been having nothing but trouble with Dell Customer service since 2/27/10. I can start form the begining, I bought a Dell XPS laptop Service Tag (Edited out #). When purchased I got the Next day in home repair warranty. I had no trouble with the laptop the first year I had it. So Dell extended my warranty a second year to 6/27/10 for the Mail in repair type warranty. Excellent Right?! Regardless in 2/2010 I started having trouble with the screen flickering, the screen going black, and then finally no image at all no matter what.. I called Dell tech Support and was told that the LCD went bad and I didn't have a warranty. That I was responsible for fixing it myself. He directed me to a site that showed step by step directions on how to replace the LCD and left me on my own.

I didn't know at that time I had the second year warranty. I was never informed by Dell before this point that they had given me this extension warranty. So, I ordered a $280.00 LCD panel and installed it myself as per the instructions on the website. Guess what? It didn't fix anything. So I call Dell back, this time tech support tells me I have a warranty and should have never had to buy anything. For the inconvenience they would overnight me a box to put my laptop in and get the issue straightened out immediately. (Good Support). So the box comes I send in the Laptop with a letter stating what I've been through and that I had already installed a brand new LCD and that I didn't want the LCD replaced. But if for any reason it had to be I wanted it back so I could ship it back to the manufacturer under a DOA warranty and get my $$$ back. I was willing to keep the LCD because it was a Higher Resolution then the OEM one that came with the machine. I also left my E-mail, Phone # and Fax # on the letter and asked that I receive a call once they figured out what was wrong with it.

I received my laptop back on 3/15/10, No call, no nothing. In the box I find a checklist of things that were replaced. My LCD, MoBo, Ribbon Cable, were replaced and the HDD was formatted to factory condition. The MoBo and LCD were replaced with Refurbished parts. MY LCD was not in the package with the laptop as I requested. Upon inspection of the laptop I found several screws missing from the bottom, a couple of screws were in cross threaded. Bezels were damaged, and the palm rest was bent up, (Looked like plier marks). I called Dell IMMEDIATELY. This is where it starts getting bad. I state my concerns to the first person and they put me on hold, 45 minutes later I get transferred to another person. I explain everything to them and they put me on hold. They come back a while later and tell me they are going to transfer me to another dept. this goes on for 4-5 hours. FINALLY I get someone on the phone that says they are going to have to investigate everything, Talk to the tech that worked on my laptop and get back to me in 3-5 business days. (FINE).

I get a call back about a week later and it's the same guy and he explains that the tech threw away my LCD panel. That Dell was ready to give me a Portable HDD for the inconvenience. He then goes on to tell me the HDD they're going to send me and after a quick search on Dell's Website I realize that he's trying to send me a $39.00 item to replace a $280.00 item. I explained this to him and finally we came to an agreement that he'd send me a different HDD. I asked what we were going to do about the Bezels, Screws, and what not and he said he was still investigating this and that he'd have to get back to me. I trusted this at the time because he had already gotten back to me once. And the Laptop seemed to be working regardless of these issues.

I Never did get a call back. I called again in Mid April and got no where because for some reason their were no notes on my account. So I submitted another complaint, and was told someone would get back to me. Again, No call back.

Fast forward. July 2010, I think the 11th. The computer is turned on at work and goes into sleep mode. A weird message comes up on my screen saying that the driver is no good, or I need a new video card capable of handling 3D. I have no idea what this means so I call Dell. I am informed that my laptop is not under warranty and theirs nothing that can be done. I'm like, What are you talking about you guys just replaced this MoBo / Vid card combo in 2/2010. The case was never closed because we still haven't resolved what we were doing about the damage to the bezels and what not, and the issues with the screws. After 8 1/2 hours on the phone with different reps, I get a manager on the phone that tells me he is going to put a technician on the phone that is going to help me fix this issue. First the tech remote accesses my laptop and tries to uninstall and re-install drivers, then the same for the whole Video card. Rebooting and safe mode and a bunch of stuff. None of which works. Then he says he thinks the O/S is the culprit and that we should restore the laptop to the factory conditions. I explain that I was concerned that if we did that Windows would not be able to find the Video card and the Laptop would no longer work. He assures me that was impossible and walks me through the format process. WELL, was he ever wrong. Turns out the Refurbished MoBo that was put in the Laptop in 2/2010 failed. Now the laptop won't reboot into windows, It hangs at boot up screen. It also seems that since my warranty expired in 6/27/2010, and my 90 day on the refurbished MoBo expired 11 days prior to my calling that I was out of luck... I explained to him that I was fine using the Laptop with no Screen saver. It WORKED WELL ENOUGH for him to remote access it, and do all these driver installs and uninstalls, and reboots and what not. NOW it wasn't working at all. So he tells me I have a point and that he was going to transfer me to someone that would be able to handle that issue. The Dept. that he was going to transfer me to had already closed so we were not able to follow through. He explained he was going to put notes on my account and to call back the next day.

At this point it's after 11 PM EST, I started this call at 2 PM EST. The next day I call back and talk to a support rep that transfers me to Warranty support. That tells me I am out of warranty and transfers me to Out of warranty support, They tell me I am covered because a Dell rep made my issue worse by instructing me to format the system and transfers me back to Warranty Support. They tell me again that I'm not covered and Out of warranty support is wrong and transfers me to customer care. This went on for 6 1/2 hours. Finally i get a manager on from Warranty Support who informs me that my warranty actually expired in 2009, that my warranty until 6/2010 was a freebie and a gift from Dell. That I was LUCKY to have had Dell work on the laptop in 2/2010 and that I should be happy it worked for so long. (At this point I got a little aggitated). The woman cut me off to tell me that she was closing my case and not to call her dept back... Then she hung up on me.

Since that point I have talked to 7 managers and countless other reps, (Over 20 hours in phone usage, Proven by my Verizon Wireless Bill) regarding this issue. Now it seems the only thing anyone will say to me is to contact the Dell Legal Dept. then they proceed to rattle off a Fax # and hang up. It doesn't matter if I call Mad, or Happy, or Pleading.

Now some personal background about myself. I am an AVID Member of numerous Custom Gaming Computer websites. (Linked at the bottom of this e-mail). I personally own over 10 Dell products, 4 23" widescreen Dell flat panel monitors in an Eyefinity set-up on my personal gaming PC. 1 Dell Dimension 8200 Desktop, 1 Dell Inspiron 8200 Laptop, 1 Dell XPS Gaming PC Desktop, Not including I use Dell Server platforms for my place of business as their outsourced Tech advisor. I could build their servers from scratch and save them some cash but Dell always made it easier. NOW, I am pretty sure I don't want to ever purchase another Dell component in my life. And quite frankly everyone I come in contact with who mentions Dell gets an ear full from this ordeal and I doubt any of them will purchase Dell equipment. One last thing to mention, as a CUSTOM GAMING COMPUTER BUILDER, I won't be pushing any of my clients to go with the Dell flat panels, Whether their the best on the market at this time or not. It's just not worth it to spend money with a company that can not stand behind their product. ESPECIALLY a particular product that has had known MoBo / Vid card issues for over 16 months. Documented by Nvidia. (Yes, I called them too).

Please, if their is anything you can do to help me with this issue I would greatly appreciate it. It may even restore my faith that Dell has people that work for them that can resolve issues, and stand behind their product. It may even cause me to take a second look at the dell platforms in the future. At this point the only viable solutions I see are, 1. This laptop get rebuilt to LIKE NEW condition, with a 1 year warranty on all the refurbished parts. 2. This laptop be replaced with a laptop of Equal or Greater Capabilities. I say capabilities and not value because quite frankly Laptops today are cheaper then they were 2 years ago.

Thank you,
Mike Fisher
(edited out Phone and Address & E-mail)

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PS: Google "Mavrick813" That's all me. Hopefully this can get resolved soon.