Joe wanted to find a new battery for his daughter’s Dell Mini Inspiron 9 laptop computer, as the original couldn’t hold a charge, so he checked out the company’s website for a replacement. He didn’t have any luck, so he began chatting with a customer service rep online, which turned into one of those roundabout ordeals no one likes dealing with. [More]
Why Do I Have To Hand Over My Personal Information Just To Get A Price Quote From Dell?
By January 4, 2012
How Long Should You Expect To Wait For Refunds From Online Retailers?
By December 28, 2011
We are now three days into the official Holiday Returns & Exchanges Season, and while those shoppers who paid a little more — and put on pants — to go shopping at bricks-and-mortar stores, it’s usually just a matter of waiting in line to get your refund. But for gift-givers who did their buying online this year, that wait for a refund could be anywhere from a few days to several weeks. [More]
Canceling Orders Over A Pricing Error Is Not The Same As Bait-And-Switch
By December 22, 2011
Several times a year, the Consumerist inbox is flooded with e-mails from people who are livid because they purchased something online at a huge discount only to have the retailer cancel the order, claiming it was a pricing error and the item should never have been listed at that price. Some people are quick to call this “bait-and-switch,” and state very confidently that the retailer is somehow legally obligated to honor the original price. These people are mistaken. [More]
Dell Ditches Its Netbook Computers As Tablets Continue To Captivate Consumers
By December 16, 2011
Hear that? It’s the dying gasp of the Netbook computer, as tablets continue to rule as the device of choice for small, portable computing needs. So clutch your Dell Mini close and tell it you love it, as the company says it isn’t selling any more of the 10-inch laptops. [More]
EECB Gets Dell's Attention, Better Computer Shipped Overnight
By December 8, 2011
The Dell Inspiron 2305 is a slick-looking all-in-one touchscreen desktop computer. The one Mike received wasn’t as fun to live with as it was to look at, though. He had his computer replaced once, but the replacement had video card problems that led it to freeze. Frustrated, he lobbed an executive e-mail carpet bomb at Dell higher-ups, and it was effective. Very effective. Soon, Dell overnighted a similar but more expensive computer to Mike’s house. [More]
Michael Dell Replaces High-End Laptop Previously "Fixed" With Black Marker, Crumbs
By November 4, 2011
Jeremy’s 3D Alienware gaming laptop from Dell didn’t work right from its first bootup. It had blue screens of death and the video card needed swapping out. When he sent it in for repair, he got it back with crumbs in the keys, and a crack on the side someone tried to hide with black marker. When we posted his story on Consumerist, we gave him CEO Michael Dell’s email address to go tell his story. Now Jeremy writes that after he emailed Mr. Dell, the CEO intervened and made sure Jeremy got a brand-new laptop, along with a free memory and CPU upgrade. [More]
Consumerist Techniques Pay Off, Even With Dell
By September 22, 2011
When the cooling block of Jeremy’s Alienware computer began to leak, the answer was obvious: call Dell to see whether they would fix what was an obvious and pretty terrible flaw. Dell’s answer was obvious in turn: tell him that the machine was out of warranty and he should go away. But Jeremy thought that a $2,500 computer shouldn’t destroy itself within two years. [More]
Alienware Laptop "Fixed" With Black Marker, Food Crumbs
By September 2, 2011
Jeremy’s 3D Alienware gaming laptop from Dell hasn’t worked right from its first bootup. It had blue screens of death and the video card needed swapping out. Then when he sent it in for repairs, he got it back with food crumbs between the keys. The side panel was also cracked, and someone had tried to hide the crack by coloring it in with black marker. [More]
Get Your Free Xbox 360 From Dell For Only $100
By August 18, 2011
It was probably a glitch and not a nefarious plot on Dell’s part, but Chris found it odd when he tried to take advantage of Microsoft’s back-to-school promo where a free Xbox comes with certain Windows laptops. Dell’s site kept showing that adding on the free Xbox promo made his total $100 higher than with just the computer. Huh? [More]
Beware Of The Vanishing 12-Month Financing Dell Deal
By August 5, 2011
Catastrophegirl bought a computer from Dell during a promotion for 12 months of interest-free financing. Like a good little consumer, she had every intention of paying off the balance long before twelve months were up. Which is good, because when she checked her statement, she happened to notice that the deal suddenly became six months of no-interest financing. What happened to catastrophegirl’s deal, for which she still had the original receipt? Dell basically shrugged and extended the deal to 12 months. Even if this is an error, will it trap other consumers? [More]
Alienware Sells Marine $6,000 Paperweight, Shrugs
By July 18, 2011
The Alienware Aurora ALX is a pricey, awesome gaming computer that sort of looks like a blue Cylon. Except in Drew’s home, it looks more like a giant $6,000 paperweight. No matter how many extra parts Alienware/Dell try to sell him to fix the problem, the glorious beast still won’t work. Drew is a Marine, and he, his family, and his computer are now stationed in Okinawa, Japan. That means transferring the warranty to Dell Japan if he wants to keep trying to get the damn thing to work. What’s Japanese for “lemon law”? [More]
Dell MIght As Well Have Not Sold Me An Extended Warranty For This TV
By June 10, 2011
Tom normally doesn’t bother to buy extended warranties. Now he knows why. He did happen to purchase one for the Vizio TV that he bought from Dell last year, but the third-party warranty provider seems determined to ignore him at all costs. [More]
Dell Makes Good For Man Whose Life They Wasted 400 Minutes Of
By June 1, 2011
After Bill’s story of spending 400 minutes in Dell Hell to get his dead laptop replaced went up on Consumerist, Dell gave him a call [More]
Man's 400 Minutes In Dell Hell Could Cost Them Millions
By June 1, 2011
By pissing off this one customer, Dell may have lost millions of dollars. Bill is a corporate account holder and a consultant who makes recommendations to Fortune 500 companies on how to spend their IT money. Usually he recommends Dell, but after his trip to Dell Hell, that will no longer be the case. [More]
Man Skips Around Dell Hell And Gets Free Repair
By May 17, 2011
One of our reader’s Dell laptop had a defective NVIDIA chip and wouldn’t you know it, it was out of warranty and he had missed the window for getting it replaced as provided by a class action lawsuit by a month. It was dying for exactly the same reasons as defined in the lawsuit, but he just barely didn’t make the deadline. He didn’t let that stop him. [More]
Worst Company In America Round One: Sony Vs. Dell
By March 17, 2011
Here’s an interesting bout featuring not one, but two crippled combatants. One hobbled by shoddy electronics and the other shackled by leaden copyright protection software. [More]
Get $150 In Dell Inspiron "Deceptively Designed" Class Action
By March 3, 2011
A class action lawsuit claims Dell “deceptively designed” its Inspiron laptop series to have “1) inadequate cooling systems, (2) a power supply system that prematurely fails when used as intended, and (3) motherboards that prematurely fail when used as intended.” If you had one of these laptops and paid Dell for a repair, you could be eligible for a $150 payout. [More]
Dell Promises Fix For Defective Alienware Laptop, Now Won't Help Me
By February 23, 2011
David’s Alienware laptop has a defective hinge design, and he’s already had the problematic part fixed twice. While Dell has promised a fix for the defect in the near future, David’s warranty has expired and his computer is close to breaking again. He needs help from Dell that no one is interested in providing. [More]
