Recourse For Poor Customer Service? 593
eleventypie writes "I am in the Army and currently stationed in Afghanistan. Recently I found myself without a laptop so I decided to build a studio 17 from Dell. I designed/customized my laptop on 2008-09-17 and placed my order, which totaled approximately $1,700. The laptop was built and apparently shipped on 2008-09-28. Given my APO address, I know mail can sometimes take a little while to get here, though 7-10 days is normal. Dell said to give my laptop 6-8 business days and occasionally, it might take as much as 4-6 weeks. So on 2008-11-12 I sent another email to Dell informing them I still had not received my laptop. One person said to give it more time, while another person responded to my message telling me to send my address again and they would send me a replacement. So I sent my address immediately and never got a response. It is now the 30th of November and I still have no laptop and Dell seems to have quit responding to my emails. This is very frustrating being out $1,700 and not having a laptop to talk to my friends and family and do school work. Phone calls aren't easy so calling them is pretty much out of the question. Any advice on what I can or should do at this point to get the computer I ordered or get my money back?"
It's obvious... (Score:5, Funny)
How to get your laptop... (Score:4, Funny)
Get your problem posted to the front page of slashdot?
Re:See your local JAG attorney (Score:5, Funny)
Yeah, well my son flies Apaches. Not as impressive as being a fancy pants Army attorney, but he too says helping servicemen with problems such as this gives him much satisfaction.
Homeland Security (Score:5, Funny)
Recourse For Poor Customer Service?
Homeland Security. I've had the impression long before 9/11 that Al-Qaeda has infiltrated Dell customer service.
He can't submit the story... (Score:5, Funny)
He doesn't have the laptop so he can't submit the story. Dell knows this so they aren't worried.
Re:He can't submit the story... (Score:2, Funny)
Right. But I have to wonder how he submitted a story to Slashdot...
Re:Thank you for your service.. and sorry. (Score:5, Funny)
he has every right to ask for help from people he trusts. That apparently is us.
And this is how he ended up in the military.
Re:Call your credit card company.... (Score:1, Funny)
Re:Call your credit card company.... (Score:5, Funny)
Aw... Don't pick on the poor drone. The only thing they can do once they get to the end of their script is to start it all over again. It's quite a sad existence. For only $1 a day you can help these mindless drones gain a sense of conciousness and individuality. Dontate now to the Mindless Drone Enlightenment Association.
Re:Call your credit card company.... (Score:2, Funny)
Face it. You're just a fuckstick asshole.
Re:See your local JAG attorney (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Contact your credit card company (Score:3, Funny)
Dude! You're military! (Score:3, Funny)
Call in an air strike on Dell!
Do it!
Please?
Re:It's obvious... (Score:4, Funny)
Seeing the tag "Airstrike" got me thinking...
Re:Call your credit card company.... (Score:1, Funny)
Good luck fighting the evil corporate overlords!
He's in the army. He's fighting -for- them.
Re:Call your credit card company.... (Score:1, Funny)
Whatever you do when dealing with Dell tech support you're going to have to jump through all the hoops on their checklist.
And they do have the craziest hoops.
I once received a server with a loose motherboard. I mean floating. It was held in by setting it down over four hook-shaped prongs in the case and pushing it a quarter inch toward the front to latch it in. There was a single screw that went through an hole to keep the MB from sliding back off the hooks.
I called for support and was told they couldn't do anything for me until I had run their diagnostics disk. I told them there was no way in hell I was going to apply 120VAC to any goddamned device with floating electronics inside it. The dumbass said he couldn't do anything for me until I had done the diagnostics. I told him to wait a few minutes until his supervisor dropped by to tell him what he could or could not do.
I then turned over the mess to my network lead who had direct access to the supervisor. Minutes later, my lead came by to tell me that a Dell rep would be by the following day with a complete replacement server and would pick up the defective one to be reviewed at his own shop.
Re:Call your credit card company.... (Score:3, Funny)
Doesn't the Army provide you with help in this department? I cannot imagine they do not have anyone on Dells side of the ocean that can help you deal with issues like this.
He said he's in Iraq...he's already on Dell's side of the ocean.
Re:Call your credit card company.... (Score:4, Funny)
Shhh. We're not supposed to know there's a difference.