Been waiting for the iPhone OS 3.0 update for the past months, weeks, days, hours...and now that it's sat there downloaded on my Mac I can't install it 'cos Apple can't provide enough bandwidth for the users to activate there iPhones...bugger...
Been trying for the past hour, getting more and more pissed off now. Apple was (and hopefully still is) about the experience - well, not a great experience this time I must admit...
Wednesday 17 June 2009
Monday 22 December 2008
Good guys 1, bad guys 0...
Suprise, suprise - I do have some good news...
Last monday I've send a letter to one of the top Execs here in UK
which you can read here - got a callback from someone dealing with high level (exec) complaints the following Thursday.
Looks like they've acknowledged the fact that it COULD be a manufacturing fault rather than CID (customer induced damage)
and decided to send an Engineer to replace the screen.
The guy arrived last Friday, put a brand new Samsung screen in but also in the process damaged a couple of clips on the top cover.
Promptly reported the problem to Dell HQ, ordered new top cover and left...
I received a follow up call later that evening and got advised that the new cover will be replaced the next Monday (which is today)
Suprise, suprise - another Eng turned up today, with a brand new top cover, tried to replace it and skillfully broken lower logic and palmrest...
Turned out that the screws used to hold the screen in place (hinge screws) were put in place rather tight and had the thread
stripped...(assembly assembly...)
So again he had to order the parts - and this time the whole lot (lower logic, upper logic, LCD bezel, palm rest and a bucketfull of screws...)
The good news is that the laptop is in process of being repaired, the bad ones - it's taking at least another day...
Just think for a second, how much money have they wasted already though...that's 2 Eng visits, 2 hours each (as they had to drive
from Sheffield during rush hour) and there is another visit scheduled for tomorrow...
If they only had acknowledged that it COULD be a fault and repaired it in the repair centre they would have saved £££££'s
...
How ineficient and...well, I'll just leave it as it is...
Last monday I've send a letter to one of the top Execs here in UK
which you can read here - got a callback from someone dealing with high level (exec) complaints the following Thursday.
Looks like they've acknowledged the fact that it COULD be a manufacturing fault rather than CID (customer induced damage)
and decided to send an Engineer to replace the screen.
The guy arrived last Friday, put a brand new Samsung screen in but also in the process damaged a couple of clips on the top cover.
Promptly reported the problem to Dell HQ, ordered new top cover and left...
I received a follow up call later that evening and got advised that the new cover will be replaced the next Monday (which is today)
Suprise, suprise - another Eng turned up today, with a brand new top cover, tried to replace it and skillfully broken lower logic and palmrest...
Turned out that the screws used to hold the screen in place (hinge screws) were put in place rather tight and had the thread
stripped...(assembly assembly...)
So again he had to order the parts - and this time the whole lot (lower logic, upper logic, LCD bezel, palm rest and a bucketfull of screws...)
The good news is that the laptop is in process of being repaired, the bad ones - it's taking at least another day...
Just think for a second, how much money have they wasted already though...that's 2 Eng visits, 2 hours each (as they had to drive
from Sheffield during rush hour) and there is another visit scheduled for tomorrow...
If they only had acknowledged that it COULD be a fault and repaired it in the repair centre they would have saved £££££'s
...
How ineficient and...well, I'll just leave it as it is...
Monday 15 December 2008
This means war... part2
Last Friday someone from Dell called me again and left a msg that sounded like this:
"grylpg mryghph call dell hrympf grumph" - couldn't make much sense out of it...
In the meantime I've composed a very polite letter to one of the Dell's Executives - Josh Claman - who according to Dell's own site is now holding a position of Vice President / General Manager EMEI UK/Ireland.
Posting the contents of the letter below for future reference - any comments will be appreciated...
So here it goes:
Friday, 12 December 2008
Case number xxxxxxxxx
Dear Mr Claman,
I am writing to you as a last resort of what I think was the worst Customer Services experience in my 10+
years in the IT industry…
I have purchased a Dell Inspirion 1525 laptop for the personal use on April this year, laptop that I used for one purpose and one purpose only – to remotely test websites using IE (I design websites on a different platform and just wanted something to test them on).
Laptop arrived, and I have set it up and placed behind my main computer on the desk and it’s been comfortably sitting there ever since.
To connect to the laptop I used RDC (remote desktop connection) and VNC, so I rarely had to open it - mainly just to install some components and then it would go back to the usual space behind the IMac.
I never moved the laptop, put anything on the lid or dropped it, so imagine my absolute amazement when I opened it last time and discovered that the screen has cracked inside.
I have to point out that I have been working as a Team Manager for the laptop repair centre here in UK for 2 years (servicing HP/IBM/Lenovo/Motion laptops/tablets) and now for as an IT consultant for the NHS so I do have (in my humble opinion) enough experience to diagnose the fault / design flaw when I see one.
I have however, never seen a case when the screen would just crack on it’s own, but a quick search on the internet reveals that it is more than common these days ( http://tinyurl.com/6fmy9q - just shortened the link to the official Dell’s forum where that exact problem has been discussed)
Well – “how bad can it be” – I thought – I still have the warranty and if the part breaks on it’s own it’s definitely going to be covered by the warranty – it turned out that it was a very foolish though as reporting a problem to the Tech Support and getting it repaired now seems like an impossible task…well at least the latter part does.
Reporting it as a fault went pretty smooth (although I had to explain the problem four or five times) it got logged and the laptop was picked up the next day (very impressive I have to admit), few days later I have received a call from a Tech Support “specialist” who (very arrogantly) informed me that because I have caused the problem there would have to be a charge of ~£150 +VAT for the new screen.
At first I thought that he was joking as I have clearly explained to the first Tech Person, that it all happened when I opened the lid of the laptop – a task that should not cause it to break in half unless there was something wrong with the screen itself or the way it was installed inside, but then again I thought – maybe he could not see the notes in the system so I proceeded to explain once again…
…and that’s the worst part of the story…
The arrogance/ignorance of that technician was way beyond my belief – he would not even listen to me – looked like he has made up his mind already and no matter what I said to prove my point – he would not budge…and I have to say – I’ve never been treated like this in my life – something that I cannot just forget let alone get away with. He (the Tech who called me) stated that “ Dell’s manufacturing process is 100% fault free” and that screens don’t just break on it’s own – I have to admit – if I haven’t experienced it first hand I would have problems believing it too, but given enough evidence (many confirmed cases of that happening – Dell’s official forum being one of the sources) I would at least consider that my diagnosis might be wrong – he wouldn’t.
Instead he just informed me that he has the last word – and if I’d like to complain to contact Customer Relations Dept…which I did.
And there again – no sympathy at all, like I became a number one enemy of the company, just by politely asking to have the fault repaired…I’m not asking for miracles here, just to rectify the problem that should have never occurred in the first place, especially given the way that laptop was used.
“NO!!!” - I have heard again this time coming from Customer Relations Dept – “NO!!! – you’re not entitled to the free repair, because it’s the customer induced damage (CID as we used to call it back in the days) and it’s therefore not covered by the warranty…”
How on earth (I asked myself) a Customer Relations agent would know let alone distinguish a fault caused by the customer and the one caused by the strain put on the display by the lid itself (forces applied to the back of the screen when the hinge is mounted too tight) – so I asked him – and now I know that he is too a world’s class specialist on hardware and that he knows better…
So I just want to know – what are the chances, to talk to someone competent enough to listen to a customer (who might have a little bit more experience than an average Joe) – and maybe admit that for once the customer might be right.
Laptop has been returned to me 2 days ago – and of course – it hasn’t been repaired.
I do strongly feel that this should be something that given the nature of the fault – should be taken care by Dell (I do understand that these days you get what you pay for, and don’t expect miracles, but a replacement of a faulty part is the least I should expect)
I’m not a “screaming type” and I also don’t like to use epithets when talking to people.
Certainly hoping that a calm and civil approach can be used to resolve this issue without taking the matter to a Small Claims Court.
(I have omitted certain word’s and sentences that were used in the conversation between myself and Dell’s representatives that were to say the least “disturbing” – as I do understand that not everyone has to have a “great day” every day, but please, please have a look a the case number xxxxxxx and see for yourself)
I look forward to hearing from you.
Yours sincerely,
xxxxxxxxx
"grylpg mryghph call dell hrympf grumph" - couldn't make much sense out of it...
In the meantime I've composed a very polite letter to one of the Dell's Executives - Josh Claman - who according to Dell's own site is now holding a position of Vice President / General Manager EMEI UK/Ireland.
Posting the contents of the letter below for future reference - any comments will be appreciated...
So here it goes:
Friday, 12 December 2008
Case number xxxxxxxxx
Dear Mr Claman,
I am writing to you as a last resort of what I think was the worst Customer Services experience in my 10+
years in the IT industry…
I have purchased a Dell Inspirion 1525 laptop for the personal use on April this year, laptop that I used for one purpose and one purpose only – to remotely test websites using IE (I design websites on a different platform and just wanted something to test them on).
Laptop arrived, and I have set it up and placed behind my main computer on the desk and it’s been comfortably sitting there ever since.
To connect to the laptop I used RDC (remote desktop connection) and VNC, so I rarely had to open it - mainly just to install some components and then it would go back to the usual space behind the IMac.
I never moved the laptop, put anything on the lid or dropped it, so imagine my absolute amazement when I opened it last time and discovered that the screen has cracked inside.
I have to point out that I have been working as a Team Manager for the laptop repair centre here in UK for 2 years (servicing HP/IBM/Lenovo/Motion laptops/tablets) and now for as an IT consultant for the NHS so I do have (in my humble opinion) enough experience to diagnose the fault / design flaw when I see one.
I have however, never seen a case when the screen would just crack on it’s own, but a quick search on the internet reveals that it is more than common these days ( http://tinyurl.com/6fmy9q - just shortened the link to the official Dell’s forum where that exact problem has been discussed)
Well – “how bad can it be” – I thought – I still have the warranty and if the part breaks on it’s own it’s definitely going to be covered by the warranty – it turned out that it was a very foolish though as reporting a problem to the Tech Support and getting it repaired now seems like an impossible task…well at least the latter part does.
Reporting it as a fault went pretty smooth (although I had to explain the problem four or five times) it got logged and the laptop was picked up the next day (very impressive I have to admit), few days later I have received a call from a Tech Support “specialist” who (very arrogantly) informed me that because I have caused the problem there would have to be a charge of ~£150 +VAT for the new screen.
At first I thought that he was joking as I have clearly explained to the first Tech Person, that it all happened when I opened the lid of the laptop – a task that should not cause it to break in half unless there was something wrong with the screen itself or the way it was installed inside, but then again I thought – maybe he could not see the notes in the system so I proceeded to explain once again…
…and that’s the worst part of the story…
The arrogance/ignorance of that technician was way beyond my belief – he would not even listen to me – looked like he has made up his mind already and no matter what I said to prove my point – he would not budge…and I have to say – I’ve never been treated like this in my life – something that I cannot just forget let alone get away with. He (the Tech who called me) stated that “ Dell’s manufacturing process is 100% fault free” and that screens don’t just break on it’s own – I have to admit – if I haven’t experienced it first hand I would have problems believing it too, but given enough evidence (many confirmed cases of that happening – Dell’s official forum being one of the sources) I would at least consider that my diagnosis might be wrong – he wouldn’t.
Instead he just informed me that he has the last word – and if I’d like to complain to contact Customer Relations Dept…which I did.
And there again – no sympathy at all, like I became a number one enemy of the company, just by politely asking to have the fault repaired…I’m not asking for miracles here, just to rectify the problem that should have never occurred in the first place, especially given the way that laptop was used.
“NO!!!” - I have heard again this time coming from Customer Relations Dept – “NO!!! – you’re not entitled to the free repair, because it’s the customer induced damage (CID as we used to call it back in the days) and it’s therefore not covered by the warranty…”
How on earth (I asked myself) a Customer Relations agent would know let alone distinguish a fault caused by the customer and the one caused by the strain put on the display by the lid itself (forces applied to the back of the screen when the hinge is mounted too tight) – so I asked him – and now I know that he is too a world’s class specialist on hardware and that he knows better…
So I just want to know – what are the chances, to talk to someone competent enough to listen to a customer (who might have a little bit more experience than an average Joe) – and maybe admit that for once the customer might be right.
Laptop has been returned to me 2 days ago – and of course – it hasn’t been repaired.
I do strongly feel that this should be something that given the nature of the fault – should be taken care by Dell (I do understand that these days you get what you pay for, and don’t expect miracles, but a replacement of a faulty part is the least I should expect)
I’m not a “screaming type” and I also don’t like to use epithets when talking to people.
Certainly hoping that a calm and civil approach can be used to resolve this issue without taking the matter to a Small Claims Court.
(I have omitted certain word’s and sentences that were used in the conversation between myself and Dell’s representatives that were to say the least “disturbing” – as I do understand that not everyone has to have a “great day” every day, but please, please have a look a the case number xxxxxxx and see for yourself)
I look forward to hearing from you.
Yours sincerely,
xxxxxxxxx
Thursday 11 December 2008
This means war...
Still trying to get my laptop's screen repaired.
Some more horror stories:
Randy Cassingham's This is True: Dell Hell
Just finished talking to someone in India who first assured me that the laptop has been repaired/shipped back just to change his mind and inform me that yes - it has been shipped back, but no - it's not fixed...
Oh for crying-out-loud - which one is it then?
Awaiting another call from Customer Relations
I've found that I'm not alone and the cracking screen in 1525 is actually quite a common issue.
Thanks to Martin3030 from "consumeractiongroup" I'm now in possesion of a "proper" address where you can send the complain letters to:
Head office
Dell Corporation Ltd
The Boulevard
Cain Road
RG12 1LF Bracknell, Berkshire
United Kingdom
I know that my next letter will definitely go there...as emailing Customer Services/Relations is pointless to say the least (looks like I'm unworthy their reply)
Just started drafting a complaint to watchdog@pcpro.co.uk, will send it tomorrow and post an outcome if any...
Some more horror stories:
Randy Cassingham's This is True: Dell Hell
Friday 5 December 2008
Dell does it again...
Many many months ago I read a post/blog about random problems with Dell (technical issues) - I remember that back then I thought - "that cannot be right...I worked with their support many times and they're just brilliant" - If I only knew back then what I know now...
Seems to me, that Dell's corporate and residential support are two completely separate entities with separate politics and obviously different criteria when it comes to recruitment...
The corporate side is professional, well spoken and seems to care about the customer whereas residential support barely speaks English, and no matter what you say to them they just don't give a f*ck nor will they acknowledge that you might be right sometimes...EVER...
Now that I've bought myself a Dell Inspirion 1525 (for testing purposes - mainly used with the lid closed via RDC) and experienced some technical issues with it (cracked screen) I can testify on how horrible and in fact depressing Dell's technical support is...
But let me start from the beginning...
Last April I've purchased a Dell Inspirion 1525 - needed a PC, but due to the lack of space decided to get a laptop...
Well...the machine arrived few days later than promised (not a biggie as I wasn't that desperate but still a fact), I've configured it to do what I wanted it to do (website testing via RDC) closed the lid and placed in nicely on my desk behind the IMac (to save the space on the desk). Didn't really have to open the lid that often as most tasks were performed on another monitor (in RDC window)
One day I had to check something, opened the screen just to find that it cracked inside (there was a diagonal crack running through the screen as well as some clearly visible smaller cracks in the bottom left corner of the screen [about an inch to the right from the bottom left corner])
[Similar to http://tech.yahoo.com/qa/20081116184320AAVDY1V
...if not the same...]
- "WHAT THE HELL!!!" - I remember saying it out loud - as I was completely surprised by the finding (nothing was ever kept on the lid, nor the laptop was ever moved)
But fact is the fact - I did have a perfectly good laptop and now I have a perfectly good laptop with the cracked screen... (which I rarely used, but you know, everything changes when the stuff breaks)
- "what the hell" - I said, but this time just to myself...I still have warranty, and it's not like I've broken it or anything - "it should not be hard to get it fixed" - OH, how wrong I was assuming that it would be just "snap" that easy...
Called Dell Technical Support on 27.11.2008 got through to some lad who (after I've explained what happened) automatically assumed that it was MY fault and initially refused to send for the laptop - took me few minutes to [again] explain that the crack just appeared and it needs fixing as it is clearly a design flaw...well, they did send for it, picked it up the next day (very impressive actually) and that's where the real problem started...
I got a call yesterday from someone in tech dept who explained that the crack could not just appear, and that it is my fault and they have to charge me +£150 to replace the screen!!!
I've paid £329 for the laptop, and they want almost a half if it just to replace a screen?!
Well, I thought - maybe they haven't read the notes that the lad in the call centre put on my account - so I started explaining that it "just" happened, and that it was not a CID (customer induced damage - as they call it in repair centres) - that's when I realised that there's no one listening to what I'm saying - what's more I've been called a liar (indirectly) and the guy stopped me there saying that "it is my fault and their (Dells) manufacturing process is flawless"
Can you imagine a flawless computer manufacturing process? - I can't - there is no such thing...
I know, as I've been testing repairing laptops for a living for quite some time in the past (HP, Dell, IBM (when it was still called that)
But you know what - there is no reasoning with them guys - not a chance, no matter what you say to them - they know better...this made me realise, that unless you're a corporate customer - you're nobody...piece of garbage that they think they can just fob off - with no rights at all...
That's sad, not to mention infuriating - it is, believe me, when you call for help and someone treats you like an idiot...
That's when I decided that I won't give up no matter what - I won't pay for that screen replacement, not because I can't afford it, but mainly and simply because my rights as a customer have been violated - I've been violated, treated like the worst kind, and I do deserve better...
Second call to the Customer Relations made things even worse - I've been politely advised that no matter what I say or try to prove, they have the last word and it's not (ever) the one favouring the customer...
I always thought (how foolish) that Customer Relations dept is and should be the one sympathising with the customer - instead - all i got was another set of (indirect) abuse, people using scripts and not willing to listen should not work in a Customer Relations EVER...
After 2 calls/conversations with Tech Support Team Manager (who sounded like he did a PhD in fobbing people off - very professional, very ignorant) and 2 with the Customer Relations Agent I'm now convinced that unless you go above them and contact someone really high up in the food chain there is no hope...
And that's exactly what I'm planning to do next - thanks to The Consumerist http://consumerist.com
I am now aware of the email addresses for the 19 Dell Execs and planning to put the information from http://consumerist.com/consumer/complaint-letters/how-to-launch-an-executive-email-carpet-bomb-259713.php#viewcomments
to good use.
Will update as soon as I get a response (if any)
Did some research and this problem (cracking screen) is not uncommon, please find the links below:
Thanks to "Mark of The Beast"
for posting valuable info on his blog.
Monday 17 March 2008
kids...
Average day...Monday, well, more than average 'cos it's Monday, but still...
Bishop was on his way to work when he heard something that could not even remotely be called "music"...who gives those kids permission to play their mobile phones on the bus...there should be a new tax for that..."annoyance tax"...
Last thing that he wanted is to be served a portion of brain ripping sound, that well...should not be permitted anywhere outside the battlefield...
Bishop was on his way to work when he heard something that could not even remotely be called "music"...who gives those kids permission to play their mobile phones on the bus...there should be a new tax for that..."annoyance tax"...
Last thing that he wanted is to be served a portion of brain ripping sound, that well...should not be permitted anywhere outside the battlefield...
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