Computer Hardware - Dell Computer poor customer service, inconsistent technical service

Complaints.com received the following e-message on September 10, 2001:

From:

RE: Disappointing Dell Computers

I have been unpleasantly surprised by Dell's poor customer service and its inconsistent technical service. My disappointment commenced with our purchase of a Dell Optiplex GX 150. A misunderstanding resulted in our purchasing one with a 250-MB Zip drive instead of a 3 1/2-inch floppy drive. Since we were setting up our office in Atlanta, Ga., from our base in Rome, Ga., the delivery of the unit at our new Atlanta office occurred without fanfare. Foolishly, I assumed the computer would be acceptable if not terrific.

But it was not until it had sat unopened in our new office for 47 days that I discovered that it didn't have a 3 1/2" floppy drive. Technical support and sales refused to allow us to exchange it for a computer with an even larger hard drive, a CR-R and DVD drive as well as, of course, the 250-MB ZIP and a 3 1/2" drive.

Dell was, quite simply, inflexible. I kept all the packing material and boxes in pristine shape. Nevertheless, this highly touted company refused to even allow us to pay a re-stocking fee or some sort of penalty. Clearly, had we purchased a larger number of Dell's we would have been treated differently. In answer to the begged question -- No, I have not written directly to Michael Dell. Frankly, I have expended too much energy in attempting to resolve the matter with diplomacy.

Dell's techs, when I finally got them on the phone, offered me inconsistent advice concerning the solution to the problem and demonstrated ignorance of setting up the OneTouch Visioneer 8100 Scanner we bought with the unit. The techs were similarly unable to offer suggestions to resolve the conflicts that had significantly slowed our 512 MB machine.

Making a long story even longer, one Dell tech insisted that I could use my 250 MB Zip drive as a boot drive, initially giving me written instructions via e-mail. When this failed, I repeatedly contacted the Dell tech at her e-mail address. She never responded.

Then, Iomega's techies told me it couldn't be done.