Matthew, an Air Force veteran, saw a great deal on Dell laptops on the website of the Army & Air Force Exchange Service, a network of stores just for servicemembers. 25% off in a Mother’s Day special, an impressive deal. He ordered three, because who doesn’t want new, discounted laptops for their whole family? Only Dell canceled Matthew’s order and those of some other customers, with no explanation. [More]
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Dell Will Sell You A 5-Year Warranty, Not Actually Honor It
By 4.30.12
M. bought a five-year Complete Care Warranty from Dell, and this somehow led him to believe that he would receive five years of warranty coverage. Crazy, right? Consumers can be so foolish. But just because the site will sell you a warranty, and documentation on the Dell site says that you have almost a year left on that warranty, that doesn’t mean that you actually have that warranty, because the Complete Care warranty that includes things like accidental damage is only an add-on to the regular warranty that has already run out. [More]
Audit Finds That Foxconn Workers Are Laboring Under Crappy Conditions
By 3.30.12
While it turned out that monologuist Mike Daisey made up a bunch of stuff about working conditions at Foxconn, that doesn’t mean that things there are all sunshine and roses. A recent labor audit found the giant Chinese manufacturer has working conditions that need a whole heck of a lot of improvement. [More]
Dell Thinks That Second Hard Drive Bay Is Just A Big Hole
By 3.22.12
Spencer’s Dell laptop has two hard drive bays. That’s pretty cool, and he decided to take advantage of this by using it to install a hard drive. But no one at Dell has ever heard of such a crazy thing, and you can’t order any of the parts needed to actually hold or connect the drive from Dell’s site. Because that would be simple and easy. [More]
Dell Sends Technician To Your Office To Break Your Laptop
By 3.2.12
Experienced customer service wranglers will tell you that if you’re going to buy products from Dell, buy them as a small business owner, since they get better customer support. I’d hate to see what kind of support reader Benjamin would be getting for his Vostro notebook computer if he weren’t a small business owner, then. [More]
Need Comically Oversized Boxes? Don't Worry, The Stupid Shipping Gang Is Here
By 1.19.12
It wastes resources, money, and shipping companies’ resources. It generates extra trash and annoys customers. What is it? Companies’ insistence on employing members of the Stupid Shipping Gang to send packages!
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Dell Outlet Sent Me A Barf-Covered, Gum-Filled Refurb Laptop
By 1.6.12
Frank ordered a refurbished laptop from Dell Outlet last week, and got a great deal. He hadn’t anticipated that the machine would come with extras: some gum in the CD drive and an unidentified substance that we can only hope is soup, but looks more like vomit.
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Why Do I Have To Hand Over My Personal Information Just To Get A Price Quote From Dell?
By 1.4.12
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]
How Long Should You Expect To Wait For Refunds From Online Retailers?
By 12.28.11
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 12.22.11
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 12.16.11
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 12.8.11
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 11.4.11
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 9.22.11
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 9.2.11
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 8.18.11
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 8.5.11
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 7.18.11
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]
