Why Dell Sucks and Blows! Don't Buy A Dell! (aka Dell Hell)

[This document was sent on our company letterhead via UPS Red. This version has certain phone numbers and order numbers removed for privacy reasons. They are, of course, in the original. It is unedited otherwise.]

Wednesday, August 31, 2005

Dell Inc.
Michael Dell and Michael George
Business Systems Division
One Dell Way
Round Rock, TX 78768


Dear Sirs:

I want to tell you quite clearly why this Dell machine is our last. I have never been treated so poorly and so indifferently by a group of people. Your “customer care” department doesn’t care about anything much less their customers. The courtesy of a written reply is requested.

My company distributes construction supplies and hurricane related supplies – check our website to see how hurricane oriented we are. Before and after a storm we are at our very busiest because the products we sell enable people to protect their homes and businesses from the storms and to repair their homes and business after the storm. Without computers our business is brought almost to a halt, as everything needs to be done manually. Plus orders that are e-mailed don’t arrive at all. We’re based in Florida where we get more than our fair share of hurricanes.

Thursday evening the 25th of August, Hurricane Katrina pounded us rather badly, with the eye wall of the storm passing directly over us. We tried to open Friday the 26th but due to lack of water, electricity, and passable roads we unable to and gave up. Saturday morning we came in and emergency power was in place. Our Dell Dimension 4600 came up and running just fine but within five minutes there was a loud “pop” and it died. The timing could not have been worse. I am not unreasonable I do not fault Dell for an act of Mother Nature.

I immediately called tech support. The man I spoke to (an Indian) was very helpful and after 15 minutes was relatively confident the power supply was the problem. I explained how critical this machine was along with the data on it. I said I didn’t care what it cost, but I needed someone to fix it immediately. He said he couldn’t help with that but that the parts department could. I need to point out I deal with foreign call centers all the time, and unlike most Americans they don’t bother me if they’re well run.

Around 8:50am I was connected to the parts department. The parts department (another Indian) said they could send me the special, proprietary power supply. I said that with no other alternative, that would have to do, but I repeated five times that it must be sent UPS RED EARLY AM delivery: that means by 830am. I specifically asked him if he understood what I needed. I explained how important it was. He took my credit card information and said it would be done. The order number was XXXXX.

I spent all day Saturday calling every single computer store in town that was open, asking if they had a power supply for this unit. They all said “No because Dell uses non-standard parts so you have to deal with them.” Why is such a common part proprietary?

Monday morning, at 9:04am I called parts and asked where my supply was. The nice lady (another Indian) informed me it was in Ohio and that it didn’t ship until Sunday. She suggested that perhaps I call DHL and see what they could do. She didn’t quite seem to get why I was upset and she had this idea it was going to be delivered “later in the day” even though it was still in Ohio. She said I could speak to Technical Support who could help me. After 1 hour and 18 minutes on hold, I got someone who said he couldn’t do anything. I repeated again that it wasn’t the cost, and that I wasn’t asking for anything free, just for someone to come in and fix the computer. He said only Parts could authorize that. After more time on hold, I was finally connected with Parts who said only Tech Support could authorize that.

I asked for the phone number to your corporate office and was refused that information. I called my stockbroker and asked him to look it up. You’re a public company after all. I called your corporate offices and asked to speak to an officer of the company. I was transferred to “Escalation” where I got a “this mailbox is full – please try later” message and got disconnected. I called back immediately and again asked for a human to speak to and was transferred before I even finish my sentence to another voice mailbox which, guess what, was also full.

By noon, I was pretty furious as you can imagine. I called again, and this time got a Customer Care agent in Ireland. She was very friendly but not much more helpful, though she at least pretended to be sympathetic. She transferred me back to Parts and promised to stay on the line, but she didn’t. As always, I was asked for a phone number ‘in case we get disconnected’ but (of course) when I was, nobody called back. It’s nice to have a perfect record but not in this case.

I called your corporate office again and got your “Dell Switchboard” again, which I finally figured out is bogus because you can’t get anybody with authority or anyone who even cares. Finally, I get some lady who tries valiantly to help and stay on the line with me, but said “the hold time is too long” and she’d have to leave me to my own devices. She gives me a third case number (XXXXX, XXXXX, and XXXXX are my three case numbers for the same issue.)

I want to point out that every single person I spoke to was clearly explained to that this was your error and that I didn’t even care about the money, but I just wanted it fixed. Nobody wanted to authorize a technician to come out to our place of business and fix our machine.

I was, sometime around 1pm, after being on the phone with Dell for four hours, transferred to a Tech Support line in Panama. I got a technician named Enrique. You should put him in charge of your company. He listened to me, read the case information, and agreed I had been screwed over. He sat with me on the line for nearly 40 minutes waiting for somebody to come to the line – and they blew him off too. He then took the initiative and scheduled a repair order for an on-site person in an effort to help me (062000311) and I wish to report that I was never called in order to make the appointment. Finally around 3pm, I called the 800 number and they said they’d call me in a day or two to see what they could do. Nobody at your company has any sense of urgency. Do you not understand the severity of this situation?

Tuesday I spent more time on the phone as my system was still down. Your dispatch department couldn’t dispatch anyone because they claimed I didn’t have the part. I told them it was in my hands having finally arrived just before lunchtime, but they argued that their computer reflected otherwise. I asked for a supervisor and spoke to Allison. She took my credit card number and promised someone would be here by 2pm. She never called back and no technician showed up. I left messages for her that were not returned. I called late that evening to cancel the service call as I had made other arrangements. I was told they couldn’t cancel it and I had to call tech support. There is not a chance in hell of me doing that. At least I was nice enough to try to cancel it. If you charge my card I will protest it.

Today is Wednesday and the damned thing is fixed via another vendor who has been promised all future hardware business for helping me with Dell hardware when Dell wouldn’t. Even your competitors can understand a critically important situation. They came to my aid and that speaks volumes about both them and you.

I had sent a draft of this via email before I added the latest travesties and received a call from someone in your Executive Support department. He was very nice and apologetic but I wish to point out that really doesn’t help.

For the record, every single customer who called us and asked why we didn’t answer their emails and why their order wasn’t shipped was told about our Dell saga. I am making this entire letter available to any of our over 15,000 clients who ask, and when we write a letter of apology to all the affected customers they will be told exactly what we think of Dell. Further, a copy is being posted on our website. If Dell cares to write a letter of apology to my customers, I will gladly send it out along with my apology and a copy this letter. (Please make sure you clearly indicate I have permission to do so)

I care that you caused my customers extreme difficulties when they could least afford it. We care about out customers and you clearly don’t. Forget your words, actions speak loudly. We’ve been in business almost fifty years and I can assure you this type of behavior guarantees you won’t be. You should be ashamed. Your activities, while legal, are immoral. You shouldn’t hide from your customers and you do as evidenced by my inability to get anyone in authority on the telephone.

In the meantime, I expect a full refund of shipping charges on the spare part. You probably should do better than that, but I won’t be holding my breath. I can tell you that you have earned the bad press your customer service has been receiving.



Sincerely,

Eric A. Seiden

[9-7-05 Commentary Update: I have yet to hear from Dell. I appreciate the many e-mails and phone calls of support I've received on this matter. I am sad to report, my experience is obviously not unique. Apparently even people with special on-site guaranteed response-time warranties are treated no better.]

[10-11-05 Commentary Update: I have yet to hear from Dell. I have never heard back from anyone at Dell. Not one single person. This URL was provided by Ernie's Blog and is quite apropos: Dell Comic Panel]

[8-29-07 Commentary Update: It's been two years, and I have yet to hear from Dell. Read my new blog post about it.]

[5-30-08 Commentary Update: It's been 2-1/2years, and I have yet to hear from Dell. But now, there is a chance for you to FIGHT BACK if Dell has wronged you. There's a chance for you to get restitution. In the news a few days ago, the State of New York found Dell guilty of FRAUD. I've been contacted (again) by an attorney who is willing to help you, but only personal cases to persons residing in the USA. See my new blog post about it, here.]

(Hurricane) Katrina Blows Eric and then New Orleans

OK, I hate Hurricanes. I hated Andrew. I also forgot how much I hated them. I have been reminded.

As late as Tuesday evening there was no real inkling there was any sort of problem. Wednesday we learned we were probably getting a tropical storm. Thursday they said it might be a hurricane just as it hit shore. They were confident it would hit in North Broward county and that the worse damage would be on the north side.

As it got later and later they moved the impact zone south. As soon as one hour before it hit, they were confident it would hit north of I-595 in Broward and most rain would be north of the storm. Judging by the radar pictures, I found this dubious. However, at 4pm we closed work early and sent people home (people north of 595 were sent home earlier in the day because that was where the storm was supposed to hit).

Because effects of the storm in Miami were supposed to be relatively minimal at best, we made no real preparations. I did not put up my shutters. In fact, except for a few items outside which I brought in, I made no notice of the storm at all. That was, in hindsight, a error. I should know better.

Katrina came ashore in Hollywood (on the Dade/Broward line) many miles south of where it was projected. However even while it was hitting they insisted it would continue almost straight west which would mean no major issues for us.

All hell began breaking loose in my neighborhood before 7. By 621pm there was no electric. Winds began increasing. Driving rain (to the extent it was moving parallel to the ground) blasted around. It was dark and, just like Andrew, scary. But, at least in this one, I was never worried of my incipient death.

Trees began being stripped of leaves and branches, streets began with rising water, and then, after what we thought was the worst of it, calm. Many of us went outside to help neighbours who needed assistance (there were several). We still didn’t know it but more was to come.

It began getting that sickly colour in the sky that signals “Very Bad Weather” and we all headed indoors. And then it came from the other direction. None of us realized the storm had turned Southwest and was headed at us. Sustained winds were recorded at the airport (a few miles away) in excess of 87MPH. More trees were uprooted, the ongoing symphony of car alarms abated (assumedly as the cars were crushed), and then came the deluge. It rained, and rained, and rained.

State Road 836 is still closed because the overpass at 97th avenue collapsed and fell. (It shouldn’t have but some contractor will go to jail over that). You still have to wonder how four TEN TON beams of steel and concrete were blown over.

This morning I woke up at 6am and took a walk outside in the wind and rain (nothing terrible). I ran into the Mayor /and/ Chief of police and their entourage. He told me (and the news later confirmed) that the eye of the storm passed DIRECTLY over Doral and we sustained more wind damage than anywhere else in South Florida (there was much worse rain damage further south of here).

We got hit by the front of the eye wall, the back of the eye wall, and it continued South towards the Keys via the NOAA Hurricane Center (ironic they would get hit after assuring us it wasn’t coming this way).

I am lucky. There is little new damage to my property except to foliage. My four existing roof leaks are still leaking to no surprise, though one of them has turned into a eighteen foot by twenty foot monstrosity. Most ancillary damage (mailbox, etc, etc) I have already fixed.

Helicopters still fly over every few minutes: news crews, damage surveys, police and rescue trying to get into some inaccessible areas. Four dead. Five missing so far.

I finally went to work (after talking my way by the police and the mayor) to check it out, and work fared well. The sign is gone and there’s no trace of it. The carport at work under which I park is missing. But the building is fine except for a tiny roof leak at a corner seam.

It could have been worse, but I am reminded why if a storm MIGHT come you should put up your shutters.

Pictures? (EMAIL ME AND ASK FOR URL. To preserve site bandwidth which is nearing its limit, I have removed the URL from the public posting.)

8-28-05 Add-on
I would like to offer my advance condolences to those who live in the city formerly known is New Orleans. As a survivor of another Category Five monstrosity (Hurricane Andrew) I know firsthand what they are about to undergo. I hope the evacuated and offer my hopes they survive. This will only be the fourth Category Five hurricane to make landfall (Labor Day 1935, Camile, and Andrew) and I still hope it slows down before it hits. You may not thing there's much difference between 140 and 160 but there is. Hurricanes are terrifying and people say Tornadoes are bad, but they're quick. Imagine a tornado that lasts 14 hours. Katrina was relatively minor and even so 14 hours of up to 86mph winds frays the nerves and tears things down. Andrew was 8 or so hours but the winds were over double those of Katrina. Good luck. I also am not putting money on survivors at the Superdome. Most stadiums are built to withstand maximum sustained winds of 125mph.

8-31-05 Add-on
Happily, Katrina missed New Orleans and instead decided to remove all traces of Biloxi from the map. Such things are never good and I am not making light. But as bad and terrible as things are in New Orleans, but being grazed by a Category 4 is much better than being hit by a Category 5. Had Katrina hit dead on as a 5, you'd have had tens of thousands dead and damages upward of $100 billion dollars. None of the 12,000 people in the SuperDome would have been alive when the sun came out. We in Florida were lucky, and indeed, our woes have been totally forgotten and ignored as attention moves towards the New Orleans and Biloxi areas. That is understandable, but we had almost 2 million people without power after the storm, and there are still 100,000 people without -- we have gas shortages, ice shortages, and so on. And still we are lucky. We all know it too.

At work we are taking collections from employees for relief efforts and matching donated money $2 for every $1 donated and in addition adding $1,000 on top of that. I am making my own personal contribution which (as is my custom) remains an undisclosed amount.

9-2-05 Add-on
I have to reinforce one fact: this did not have to happen. Florida is now prepared for hurricanes. We have proper building codes (the process is full of graft and corruption but the codes are sound), our government is prepared and cognizant. The people and government in New Orleans simply did not accept the reality and gravity of the situation and now they're paying the horrible price. Half of what is destroyed, maybe more, would have been standing. The flooding couldn't have been averted but the complete destruction of homes could have. IF YOU LIVE IN AN AREA SUBJECT TO HURRICANES GET HURRICANE SHUTTERS THAT MEET MIAMI-DADE PRODUCT CONTROL APPROVAL.

Masturbation

(DISCLAIMER: This post has absolutely nothing to do with Masturbation)

So, I go to my friend Rob's blog as I do every few days and I run across this post entitled masturbation-mania! Well, it's got nothing to do with masturbation at all. However, he observes that by simply using it in a previous post, his traffic has doubled. He ponders what this says about the Internet.

I must say that one wonders if you used words such as sex, intercourse, anal, and oral in the same post if it would also have the same effect. It also begs the question what type of person it would bring. Or would you get deviants looking for paedophilia, bestiality, or worse?

I mean, take my Led Zeppelin Sucks topic*. I don't even say that they suck. I was merely expressing an opinion that they were overrated, but I literally got thousands of hits, and a number of comments. I've had to delete a lot of the comments due to rather profane remarks, but there are over fifty intelligent and opposing opinions which remain.

I am interested in finding out exactly what keywords drive people to a site? I could be like Rob and just put the word "Penis" or "Vagina" in every post and see what comes in**. Or I could experiment with other words. The whole thing is mightily intriguing.

"Oral Stimulation Teens Masturbation Penis Vagina Bestiality Tits" <-- just to make it exciting. I am making no judgements on any visitor's proclivities. I am monitoring traffic. Let's see what happens. Intelligent replies greatfully accepted. * Replies to THIS topic involving Led Zeppelin will be deleted. If you must comment on the Rockers, please use the original link above to reply.

** Pun intended.

For the record, no discernible change in traffic was reported as a result of this post (9-5-05 addendum)

Le Pauvre Chat, Scooter; Je suis triste.

Poor Scooter. She's been very sick. I have been hesitant to post about it here.

I returned from London last Saturday evening some four hours late. The cat sitter was not schedule to visit Saturday as I was supposed to be home at a reasonable hour, meaning that her last visit was Friday evening. So, I ended up home somewhere near 10pm Saturday night.

The first thing I noticed is Scooter didn't greet me at the door, which is something she almost always does. But, I figured maybe she was asleep. I also noticed her water bowl was full, and her food bowl was full. I, at first, thought the pet sitter had come Saturday. She finally made an appearance, looking none-to-chipper, but since she's not very active when she first wakes up, I didn't think anything of it. She was happy to see me and spent the whole night sleeping by my side.

Sunday morning, I was out of bed around 630am; gotta love get lag. I gave her some wet food as a treat -- normally she's a dry-food cat. She scarffed it up. I went to Publix to get some groceries. I returned home, and she had yakked up her entire can of food (on the carpet of course -- no self respecting cat would barf on the tile).

She didn't eat anything all day. No tuna, no milk, and no other people food (stuff she loves but isn't allowed to have). She slept all day. Scooter sleeps a lot anyway, as she is, after all, a cat. So a 16 to 18 hour sleep schedule isn't aberrant, but she was getting a good 22+ hours of sleep in. I couldn't get her to eat at all, nor could I get her to drink much. I also noticed she was no longer grooming herself. I was very concerned.

Monday morning, I took Scooter to the vet. I dropped her off. He was unable to find much of anything wrong, but sent her home. I picked her up around 5:30pm just as the vet was closing. The vet gave her some sort of IV to get her in shape. I took her home, but the same pattern continued. I was able to get her to eat or drink almost nothing.

Wednesday, after a sleepless night, and finding some blood in her urine that morning, I went to work after leaving word at the Vet's office. The vet called me around 10am when he came in and told me to immediately bring Scooter in and not to wait until after work, so I left work and got Scooter. She didn't even put up a fight when I put her in the Kat Karrier(R). The vet asked me to leave her off because he needed to run lots of tests, around $600 worth as it turned out. He found a urinary tract infection (she has antibiotics for that) and is looking for other issues. She finally started drinking water. She wouldn't eat her regular food, but she nibbled at some wet food. She also ate some Pounce.

Thursday evening, I cooked her some chicken. She didn't seem interested and I was crushed. However, the next morning, it was all gone, so she finally ate it. She also nibbled at some of her food. She was drinking more, which was a good sign.

Friday the vet asked how she was doing, and about her eating. I told him that if she didn't start eating more I was bringing her back Saturday morning. But that night, she ate almost a 1/2 can of her food. It might not sound like a lot, but it was way more than previously. She also drank a 1/4 bowl of water and had some milk too. She's also returned to spending some time sleeping in my bed, and other times walking around. She even moved her Bizzy-Balls around for a bit but that went away. That was a hopeful sign, but she's stopped. She's not quite up to playing with her Bizzy-Balls yet, or the laser pointer, or the shoestring.

Saturday morning I went to Petsmart and spent $1 million on cat food. I bought one of every single brand of cat food trying to find one she'd actually eat. I've finally found one she'll nibble at throughout the day. She's not eating a lot by her standards, but she is eating and drinking. She hasn't resumed grooming yet, which is troublesome.

However her fiesty demeanor has returned. Her first two doses of antibiotic (tablet) were easy to force down her throat, which is unusual. Today she's put up a hell of a fight and tried to shred my flesh from my bones. That's a good sign. I am thinking of letting a lizard loose in the house. She loves lizards, generally eating at least 1/2 of them before leaving the other half for me. I'd feel bad for the lizard, but it might be good for Scooter mentally.

She's still sleeping too much, but she does wander about a bit more. I haven't seen her, but I see where she moves stuff around so I know she's been up and about. I've been very careful about where I position her food bowls and toys so I can know if she's been mobile and eating while I've been out doing errands.

I really need sleep. I am so tired.

[8-17-05 Update]
Scooter is feeling a bit better, thanks for asking. She was at the vet today and she's been feisty all day which is a good thing. The U/T infection is getting better which is good because giving a cat a pill becomes harder and harder. Hell, even catching her has proven to be difficult.

All tests so far are normal and she underwent the last tests today. So far I've spent well over $1,000 on my kitty since I've returned but she's worth it. Hopefully the last batch of tests will find whatever it is/was. Frankly, I'll even be happy if she's miraculously cured.

[8-18-05 Update]
So far she seems to feel a bit better, but that may be solely because of the IV she got with nutrients, etc. It did make her eat a lot yesterday. Today however she's not drinking or eating much again. I did notice she'll eat more if I'm around than when I'm not. I will continue to test this observation. I am sure it's significant. I expect the vet's last batch of test results will be in tomorrow.

London Rocked

I had a great time in London. I rode the tube and I survived. I was a little nervous the first time. I was a certainly a bit apprehensive on the Piccadilly line the first day it was open, especially as I exited at Russell Square. However all-in-all, it was a great trip. Just so you know. I faced my fears and so should you.

Piss on terrorists.