My Epic if sad fight with Dell

I was asked why after buying Dell computers for so many years and recommending them for so long “How come I no longer use or recommend Dell” Quite honestly after purchasing with my money (I provide all of my own technology at my expense) over 20 Dell Laptops in the last 8 years my last run of Dell Inspiron 5100’s were so poor on design, so horrible on quality, and so badly supported I could no longer use Dell. My father in-law, my wife, and I all bought the same model of 5100 on the same week a few years ago. I made several calls and either the help desk did not respond, or they did not understand what I was talking about. The story follows.

My Original Complaint Email sent to Dell Service

My wife and I buy the same machines at the same time which is a substantial investment. In the past I’ve been quite happy having bought over 12 Dell Laptops in the past. My wife and I are professors (I work at Purdue Calumet; she works for Kaplan, DeVry and Purdue University) we teach and use computers extensively. I am the primary recommender of systems to be purchased by Purdue University Calumet department of CIT. This is a last stop effort to see if Dell will make things right. At this point my experience with Dell product line and Dell Service suggests my wife and I should never recommend Dell as a consumer product in the future.

I bought these machines on December 18, 2003 and immediately had some problems. I called tech support and was shuffled around for awhile, told to go to the web forums to get an answer, and finally shut out. The only thing I discovered was that Dell had unresolved heat issues in this model laptop line. I called tech support back and was told the hard drives were not warranted. The heat problem with the machines is so bad the decals have literally melted off or discolored to unreadable. No I don’t have the case number maybe you can look it up based on the Service Tags. I actually bought two of these machines on the same day and had them shipped. So far I’ve had the following problems.

Machine #1 Service Tag XXXXXX Inspiron 5100

Replaced original hard drive when the bearing failed at six month mark (Called warranty service when Machine 2 failed)

Replaced the screen when pixels failed at 9 month mark (Called warranty service and told not covered)

Replaced power cord when shielding became exposed (Twice)

Replaced the palm rest when the track pad failed at 13 month mark (Told out of warranty)

Replaced motherboard when peripherals starting dying (Ethernet and USB stopped working)

Replaced keyboard when keys quit working

Replaced second hard drive when bearing failed

Replaced DVD drive (with DVD R/W) when DVD drive no longer would read

Currently the BIOS no longer reports a service tag number likely because of motherboard change so security at that level can’t be set

Machine #2 Service Tag XXXXX Inspiron 5100

Replaced original hard drive within 1 week of machine #1 due to bearing failure

Replaced second hard drive when replacement started to make noise

Replaced power cord when shielding became exposed (Twice), one quit working entirely

PCMCIA slot not working correctly currently

Wireless card works intermittently

Response #1 From Dell.
Hello, My name is Jessica and I am with the Resolution Expert Center here at Dell. Thank you for contacting our e-mail support team regarding your unresolved issue. I have received your issue and will be taking ownership of it, please direct all future inquiries regarding this issue to me. I looked under the service tags XXXXX and XXXXX and I show no calls made into our support, there is also no service calls. All calls are logged and information recorded. Perhaps it is two other systems you are thinking of? If you could send me the service tags on the machines with the issues I’ll be happy to look into your case further.
I will also need you to verify the name, address and phone number on the account.

Do you have your customer number and order number?

My Response to Dell #2
The systems as listed are correct and there are at least three phone calls that were made to Dell support on them. There were no service calls as the phone support said they would not warranty the claims.
The name address and phone number:

DELETED IN THE NAME OF SANITY

Machine #1 Dell Inspiron 5100 service tag number XXXXXX Machine #2 Dell Inspiron 5100 service tag number XXXXXX

Did you get the entire message from the web as in your email it was cut off?

Response from Dell #2
Yes, I believe I received the entire e-mail. I have considered your case very carefully.

I believe you have had a bad experience with these particular systems and I am willing to offer you a replacement system for each of them. The replacement system would take on the current systems warranty, since there is no warranty there would be no warranty on the replacement system. You would be responsible for any service the machines may need in the future.

I will need you to verify the shipping address if you would like me to set the exchanges up.

My Response to Dell #3
What would the replacement systems be? Would the replacement systems be the same as what I have now, systems of similar specification but different models, or would they be something else? I would hate to be in a similar situation with new systems that have the same issues (and still no warranty). The only other question is how would the exchange occur both my wife and I are in the middle of teaching this semester and doing a swap entails some amount of time down. Unfortunately being without computers for any significant amount of time can’t happen.

Thank you for the kind consideration in this case.

Response from Dell #3
Yes, I understand your concern.

There is a small chance it would be a I5100. Most likely it will be a more recent model. I can’t really be sure of which one they will send, it depends on what we have in stock.

If you would rather just keep the ones you have let me know.

If your looking into purchasing another system, I would be willing to offer a concession of $100 towards the purchase price when purchased from Dell. You would need to purchase the system, let me know and I will go in and look then credit the concession back to your account. That way you will have the warranty on the system.

We are working hard to improve our technical support and hope that you will see your way to giving us another chance in the future.

Have a nice day.

Response from Dell #4
I wanted to follow-up and see if you had made a decision about exchanging the systems or if you would like the $100.00 off the purchase of another system. I can also set that up as a coupon which would take the $100.00 off the price when your paying for it on the website.

Let me know what you want to do.

My Response to Dell #4
After much consideration I’d rather just not do anything. As a primary recommender and purchaser of enterprise systems for my work environment, as a long time customer of Dell, and considering the massive number of problems, I’d rather not deal with Dell as a company than accept a deal this poor. The idea of getting “something” undefined, or even computers that have all of the same issues as the ones I already own is a poor choice. Then to offer a $100 coupon is simply not appropriate.

I spend 16 hours a week presenting to hundreds of people about technology and my laptop by example does more product placement than you could buy. Similarly I need to be careful in what I use or suggest as products as my reputation is on the line. Currently there is a bumper sticker on the lid of my Dell that says “Education is Everywhere” and I’m now going to switch that to “Don’t Buy Dell”.

I’m currently in the purchase cycle for all new servers (10+), disk arrays, and 100+ desktop systems. This would represent an entry into a marketplace Dell has not been before. Unfortunately I’m more than a little disappointed on how far Dell is willing to go for a consumer based on this situation. Since the machines in question have had so many problems and so many people have documented so much about issues with them (due to heat problems) I thought Dell would do the right thing. In warranty or out of warranty something should have been done. Unfortunately I think my support of Dell is now at an end. As in any business choices are made and as a representative of Dell you’ve made choices and now I get to make choices.

Response from Dell #5

Alright. I have closed your case.

Have a great day and a Happy Holiday.

Obviously Dell was willing to at least give me a quarter to half what one of these Laptops would garner on eBay. Since they couldn’t tell me what I was going to get in a swap I looked to see what refurbished computers were in the cycle and decided at that point to not go further. To loose something that I had already put massive amounts of time and money into to keep it running for something unknown and then be fully responsible again for the new machine didn’ make much sense. I’ve been fully responsible for the warranty on these boxes since Dell has refused through their help desk to even open a ticket on them at any point.