Dude, You Still Don't Want a Dell
Early last year, my brother experienced one of the scams that Dell Computer pulls in order to garner a few more PC purchases. It was a classic bait-and-switch in which they originally told him that he qualified for an interest-free payment plan, but after a few months he received a letter in the mail telling him that after further review—almost like instant replay in a football game—he suddenly didn’t qualify for the interest-free promotion anymore. As such, he had the choice of either paying in installments with an absurd interest rate or he could pay it off at once. He dipped into his checking account and freed himself of Dell’s chains. He also vowed to never purchase anything with the name “Dell” on it again.
...Sadly, now my parents have fallen prey to the incompetence of Dell’s billing department and have received multiple harassing phone calls regarding a bill that was sent after the due date (the check for the bill was sent the day after the bill arrived). They know that it was sent late because of the postmark on the envelope: the postmark is March 12; the due date is March 1. Unfortunately, now two more people have found themselves the victims of a company which—after doing some research on it—looks as if it might have one of the worst customer service records in the field.
...As far back as 2005, BusinessWeek reported that from 2003 to 2004, complaints to the Better Business Bureau (BBB) rose 23 percent for Dell. From 2004 to 2005, complaints rose another five percent.
...I couldn’t count all of them, but Consumeraffairs.com has what looks like over 100 complaints listed, most of which appear to be related to Dell’s customer service. Perhaps Consumeraffairs.com worded it best when they offered:
...Sadly, now my parents have fallen prey to the incompetence of Dell’s billing department and have received multiple harassing phone calls regarding a bill that was sent after the due date (the check for the bill was sent the day after the bill arrived). They know that it was sent late because of the postmark on the envelope: the postmark is March 12; the due date is March 1. Unfortunately, now two more people have found themselves the victims of a company which—after doing some research on it—looks as if it might have one of the worst customer service records in the field.
...As far back as 2005, BusinessWeek reported that from 2003 to 2004, complaints to the Better Business Bureau (BBB) rose 23 percent for Dell. From 2004 to 2005, complaints rose another five percent.
...I couldn’t count all of them, but Consumeraffairs.com has what looks like over 100 complaints listed, most of which appear to be related to Dell’s customer service. Perhaps Consumeraffairs.com worded it best when they offered:
We’d say Dell offers good equipment at a great price but if you never want to open the lid of your computer and have no patience with troubleshooting by phone, then you should probably by a machine from a local geek-owned computer store. Then, when trouble strikes, you’ll have a place to go where, as they say, when you go there, they’ll have to take you in.
References
▪ BusinessWeek
▪ Consumeraffairs.com (complaints)
▪ Consumeraffairs.com (evaluation of Dell)
▪ Whatsnextblog.com
▪ BusinessWeek
▪ Consumeraffairs.com (complaints)
▪ Consumeraffairs.com (evaluation of Dell)
▪ Whatsnextblog.com
