The trackpad on Jim’s Dell laptop hasn’t worked since September despite a new motherboard, new hard drive, and four replacement trackpads. One Dell technician managed to dent the laptop’s speaker grill. Another, dispatched to replace the hard drive, brought a drive that was slower than the model in Jim’s laptop. Dell promised to send the speedier drive, but instead they sent a box labeled “hard drive” containing only a screwdriver.

Jim sent us his letter to Dell’s CEO:

Dear Mr. Michael Dell,

I bought one of your Dell XPS M1530 Laptops on September 02, 2008 and received it around September 19th, 2008. From the day I opened it, I had an intermittent problem where the mouse button click would not register when pressed and I would have to go back and press it again, sometimes 3 times, before it would register. I put up with it for a couple weeks because the computer was brand new and I needed it for school starting at the end of September. But, after a couple of weeks, I couldn’t take it anymore. I called into your technical support line for the first of many calls.

Since I bought this system, I have had the touchpad replaced 4 times. I even sent it down to the repair facility in Texas at one point and was without it for 10 days. All they did was to replace the touchpad again. I had also requested that the speaker cover be replaced while the computer was down in Texas, as it had been damaged by the technician who replaced the first touchpad.

It only took 5 minutes of tinkering with the computer to find that the mouse click problem still existed on my unit, and to notice that the speaker cover had still not been replaced. I called XPS technical support again, and they decided that, after replacing 3 touchpads, perhaps a change of the motherboard, hard drive, and another touchpad was in order. The “next day” delivery of parts was delayed, so it took 5 days to get a technician out to my house to replace these parts. This technician came to replace parts on New Years Eve, December 31st, 2008.

There was one problem when the technician came, however. Dell had sent the wrong hard drive. I purchased a Seagate 7200rpm, 320gb hard drive, but Dell sent a 5400rpm, 320gb Toshiba hard drive. I instructed the technician not to install the incorrect hard drive and promptly called XPS support. After 90 minutes on the phone, I finally spoke to a supervisor who promised to send me the correct hard drive overnight so that I could have the computer up and running before i started school again, which is why I purchased the computer to begin with.

I recieved the package today, January 2nd, 2009, from FedEx at 3:00pm. However, the only thing in the “hard drive” box was a screwdriver. I thought this was some kind of joke, and was completely infuriated that a mistake had been made again. I called tecnical support again. I am still on the phone with technical support, an hour later, and I cannot find anyone who is willing to do anything more than “try to send me the correct hard drive again.”

This situation is absolutely unacceptable. It has taken Dell 3 months of troubleshooting, and my computer is still not fixed. Furthermore, I am through with all the issues. I would like my computer replaced, ASAP, so that it can be used for school as it was intended. If this cannot be done, then I would like my money refunded and I will send this computer back to Dell so that I can go buy an HP.

This is the first Dell product I have ever purchased, and it has been a horrible experience. No one in Technical Support, or Customer Care seems to be authorized to replace my computer since it is currently outside the 31 day replacement period. However, it is not my fault that it has taken Dell 3 months to resolve an issue; one that is still ongoing. The problem exhibited itself inside the 31 day period, and since Dell has been unable to resolve it to this day, I think that a new computer or a return of my money is warranted. I am completely flabbergasted that a major computer manufacturer could let issues such as these get out of hand for so long. At this point, I definitely will never be buying a Dell product again, and in this internet age, many more people have and will hear my complaints birthed out of experience.

Since there seems to be no one else who can help me get my problem reserved, I am hoping that you can. I obtained your email address from Consumerist.com. Thank you for your time.

Please Dell, fix Jim’s trackpad already!

(Photo: yoshiffles)

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