Re: NY judge: Dell deceived customers with false advertising

I read it here:

We have been reading about the lousy DELL support.

This is pretty bad. Check it out:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/pcworld/2008...oI5USjFGpk24cA

It's obviously the same article.

This is REALLY BAD--DISGUSTING, IN FACT!!!

It also, sadly, echos many of the complaints we have read about in our
newsgroup.

Fortunately for me so far, my experiences with Dell support have been good.

Hopefully, this will force them to make major changes (?)


Mel

"RnR" <> wrote in message
news:...
> On Tue, 27 May 2008 16:04:58 -0500, journey <> wrote:
>
>>"A New York judge says Dell Inc. falsely advertised its promotional
>>credit financing and warranty terms to customers."
>>
>>Full article here:
>>http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/st...ml?jst=b_ln_hl
>>
>>Or here:
>>http://tinyurl.com/3ptlwa
>
>
> I read this article....
> http://www.pcworld.com/businesscente..._of_fraud.html
> and it doesn't sound good. Dell hasn't had any comment yet on the
> ruling and my guess is they will appeal it but on what basis will be
> interesting. I guess we'll have to stay tuned......

Me, too, but I am lots more experienced (by decades) than the average
run-of-the-mill Banktec or other tech. And I'd rather have the part show up via
DHL than wait and wait and wait for the tech to show up.

But with on-site support in the warranty and less expertise, I can see where
having the tech do the job makes sense... Ben Myers

On Wed, 28 May 2008 15:09:32 -0400, "Christoper Muto" <>
wrote:

>"journey" <> wrote in message
>news:.. .
>> On Wed, 28 May 2008 11:42:36 -0400, "MZB" <>
>> wrote:
>>
>>>I read it here:
>>>
>>>We have been reading about the lousy DELL support.
>>>
>>>This is pretty bad. Check it out:
>>>
>>>http://news.yahoo.com/s/pcworld/2008...oI5USjFGpk24cA
>>>
>>>It's obviously the same article.
>>>
>>>This is REALLY BAD--DISGUSTING, IN FACT!!!
>>>
>>>It also, sadly, echos many of the complaints we have read about in our
>>>newsgroup.
>>>
>>>Fortunately for me so far, my experiences with Dell support have been
>>>good.
>>>
>>>Hopefully, this will force them to make major changes (?)
>>>
>>>Mel
>>
>> When my XPS 410's power supply needed to be replaced, the Dell tech
>> support person tried to get me to agree to receive the part and do it
>> myself. I had on-site warranty service, so I insisted on having a
>> tech. person come out and do it. If it were something like replacing
>> memory then I would have been comfortable with it.
>>
>> It turns out that the tech. had the wrong part when he came. I don't
>> know if that was Dell's fault, but he needed Dell to send him
>> something else. (a small plus was that I asked if Dell could send me
>> a "blank" front cover where the card reader was and Dell did do that).
>>
>> There might be a fine line between Dell trying to save costs by
>> _suggesting_ that a customer do the on-site install guided by a tech
>> vs. _automatically_ sending a tech. out to do it. In my case I am
>> glad that I insisted that an on-site tech. person come out.
>>
>> I still have more confidence in Dell support than from almost any
>> other vendor. Perhaps it's because I haven't had other brands, but I
>> don't know if HP/Compaq, Toshiba, Sony, Lenovo would provide any
>> better support.
>
>i prefer that they send just the part and not the tech. the skill level of
>local techs can vary wildly making me uneasy with some of them. also the
>need to cordinate a time for a tech to do the repair make is not atractive.
>they didn't use to offer the option of sending just the part unless it was a
>easy user install, but now they offer to send the part even if it is a part
>that requires some skill to install (ie a repalcement lcd panel for a
>laptop). of course if it makes you uncomfortable to install it yourself
>then by all means get them to send the tech, just like you did.
>
>dell certainly is not perfect, but that pcworld article dosen't tell both
>side of the story. the tech support issues don't strike me as having much
>merit. i wonder what was wrong with the computer that took over a year to
>get repaired and what role the owner played in that delay. it just dosen't
>make sense. the dfs business practices certanily sound sleezy, but the
>lending industry is littered with dubious business practices and a barrower
>has to keep up their guard (ie, the current mortage crisis). it is
>suprising that dell allowed dfs to get this out of control and earn the
>reputation that it has.
>

journey wrote:
> On Wed, 28 May 2008 11:42:36 -0400, "MZB" <>
> wrote:
>
>> I read it here:
>>
>> We have been reading about the lousy DELL support.
>>
>> This is pretty bad. Check it out:
>>
>> http://news.yahoo.com/s/pcworld/2008...oI5USjFGpk24cA
>>
>> It's obviously the same article.
>>
>> This is REALLY BAD--DISGUSTING, IN FACT!!!
>>
>> It also, sadly, echos many of the complaints we have read about in our
>> newsgroup.
>>
>> Fortunately for me so far, my experiences with Dell support have been good.
>>
>> Hopefully, this will force them to make major changes (?)
>>
>> Mel
>
> When my XPS 410's power supply needed to be replaced, the Dell tech
> support person tried to get me to agree to receive the part and do it
> myself. I had on-site warranty service, so I insisted on having a
> tech. person come out and do it. If it were something like replacing
> memory then I would have been comfortable with it.
>
> It turns out that the tech. had the wrong part when he came. I don't
> know if that was Dell's fault, but he needed Dell to send him
> something else. (a small plus was that I asked if Dell could send me
> a "blank" front cover where the card reader was and Dell did do that).
>
> There might be a fine line between Dell trying to save costs by
> _suggesting_ that a customer do the on-site install guided by a tech
> vs. _automatically_ sending a tech. out to do it. In my case I am
> glad that I insisted that an on-site tech. person come out.
>
> I still have more confidence in Dell support than from almost any
> other vendor. Perhaps it's because I haven't had other brands, but I
> don't know if HP/Compaq, Toshiba, Sony, Lenovo would provide any
> better support.

FWIW, I'm surprised (and sad) to see the conviction, but I'm sure the
court insisted on evidence. <g> It's certainly contrary to my experience
with Dell, however. I have a Dell Preferred Account and didn't qualify
for their best rate at the time (several years ago now), but I think
Dell charged me 17% instead of 15% (certainly nothing in the 30% range -
that used to be considered usury and was illegal). Lately my CR score
has improved so I qualify for everyone's best rate.

As far as service calls are concerned, I had to replace the mobo in my
XPS720 twice in the past month (Ethernet adapter failed and the new
board had no audio). The 2nd time I really had to argue with the tech to
send the replacement to me so I could do the swap myself (just like
before). The tech agreed but urged me to call Tech Support when I was
doing the swap; otherwise, if I made a mistake & fried the board, Dell
wouldn't replace it gratis. I went ahead and didn't bother calling Dell
(didn't want to verify my phone no. and email address 6 times, nor did I
want to hear the tech apologize over & over <g>).

'Hope Dell gets their act together and cuts out the fraudulent practices.

RnR wrote:
> On Wed, 28 May 2008 17:16:37 -0400, Ben Myers
> <> wrote:
>
>> Me, too, but I am lots more experienced (by decades) than the average
>> run-of-the-mill Banktec or other tech. And I'd rather have the part show up via
>> DHL than wait and wait and wait for the tech to show up.
>>
>> But with on-site support in the warranty and less expertise, I can see where
>> having the tech do the job makes sense... Ben Myers
>>
> I can't argue with your conclusion but for me nowadays when it comes
> to my pc's or laptops, if I can't fix it either I live with it or toss
> it. I won't trust some stranger even under warrantee.

Re: having a tech repair my computer - never done it, never will! (with
apologies to 7Up)