Inside "Dell Hell"

For what it's worth here's one more Dell problem. They shipped me a Dell Inspiron 6000 which either has an intermittent hardware error, or a bad driver. I carelessly let the 21 days pass. Their support people are in mostly incompetent, when you ask for a supervisor they lie and dump you back in the phone queue. Emailing Michael Dell used to be effective, but apparently not any more.

Maybe I should recover my money by selling short on Dell stock. There are at least 8 people who have Dells because of me. There will likely be many more now who don't because I will start spreading the word.

I had a similar problem with Dell's support. A mouse-problem was not resolved after a month of phone calls and speaking with as many as 7 different techs and supervisors. I just gave up and bought myself a new mouse. I’m a computer science mayor, Dell used to be my first choice for friends that were not computer savvy, with this type of tech-support, I’ll be turning my people some where else.

I agree with you,,, Rob hof

When my son's Dell laptop began unexpectedly "powering down", I called Dell tech support for help. I quickly realized I was speaking to Dell's infamous overseas call center in India. The rep was barely understandable, and what I could decipher from her was to do something to the laptop, then call back another day. When I called back, I could not understand that Indian rep, and with many requests to be transferred to someone I could understand, I was cut off. I decided enough was enough...I had paid for a service contract, and Dell's refusal to provide me with an understandable point-of-contact for support was, to me, tantamount to breach of contract. So I filed online complaint forms with both my state attorney general's consumer complaint division and the Texas Better Business Bureau. In a few short days, I received a call from Dell, clearly an American voice, fervently asking what Dell could do for me to get my problem fixed. It became clear to me that while Dell is corporately giving the American consumer a "take it or leave it" middle-finger, the one outcome they do not want is to have to respond to a governmental agency complaint. I think Dell is a predatory company interested only in aggrandizing Dell executives with great wealth, and they care not one wit for the country which enabled them to become wealthy.

My experience with Dell has been hell too. I was impressed with the fast delivery of my new laptop.....at least until I tried to get it to work. Three days of hell getting cut off, switching from one tech type to another, going around in circles, etc. Finally tried the supervisor request only to be told they are all on vacation, but they wouldn't help me anyhow. Customer service said it was a software problem, & I'd have to pay to get it fixed, that Dell doesn't warrant the software; if they send me a new computer with software faults,, it's my problem, not their's. I could either pay over $100 for software fix, or return it. If I returned it, I would have to pay shipping charges, restocking fee & depreciation charges. When I said ok, I'll return the damned thing & file complaints everywhere I can, he agreed to have software technician try a fix. Finally they were able to get it working, but I have zero cofidence in the fix. My advice, don't buy from Dell.

I too agree with what everyone is saying....

I bought my Dell a little over a year ago. I have had to encounters with their tech support. Both were very frustrating but were resolved -- one with the help of Dell, the other without.

The first occurrence was a very short time after receiving the new system. I wanted to convert my home movies into DVDs. But the software that came preloaded had a bug. I contacted the manufacturer and they stated it was a known bug and instructed me to download a patch. However, the patch would not install because I had the OEM version of the software - I had to call Dell. But Dell had cancelled the contract with the OEM and could only give me what I already had, not the patch. After 8 hours of phone frustration I finally had a manager on the line and she was able to help (by sending me another software package).

The second encounter happened just last week. I purchased a game (an older game that by no means taxed my system). It would not play. I contacted the manufacturer. They had me update drivers. After doing that, problem did not go away. They recommended contacting Dell and troubleshoot the video card. I did -- Dell had me back out the up do date drivers to their offically supported ones (over 1 a year old). When I did, the system would not even boot. So then the support person had me update to most current. When the system booted, said "problem solved - have a good day". He didn't even realize that now I was at the point prior to even calling. I had to go thru the whole detailed explanation AGAIN. after many hours, he finally gave up and said -- reinstall. Well, I did my own research.... bought a different video card and now I am having no problems. I just lost about 3 evenings of my time attempting to have Dell assist me. There drivers were out of date, the programs they pointed me too to diagnose the problems did not work, it was a nightmare.

I am in a computer trade and have a deep knowledge of computer systems. I use to build systems rather than buying complete systems, but thought that due to kids and things (time), it would be simpler to buy rather than build --- not my experience. I told my wife -- "Next system, I will build again. That way I won't get frustrated when I have an issue and try to cash in on my investment!!!!"

What a nightmare company Dell has become. On Friday 9-26-05 I place an order and open a new business account. I am approved for more than enough and placed an order for the inspiron 700m. On monday 10-3-05 I check the status and the order has been cancelled. (I got no email or call)
I spend over an hour and half 4 case numbers and 6 transfers to the "right department" trying to find out why the order was cancelled. First I am told I cancelled then I finally find out that after approving me Dell finance placed the account on hold. (without notifying me)

I have not bought from DELL in almost a year because of negative experience with a top of the line DELL and now I am convinced this company is going downhill fast.

My Dell from Hell story:

Several years ago I bought a top of the line Inspiron 8000, which came (Ug!) with Windows ME. None of the documentation identified that Norton was installed by default, and not seeing an Icon when I booted, I loaded McAfee (being the responsible person that I am).

Norton + McAfee = System Black Hole

Result- I couldn't load a word file without crashing the system. Not having figured out the cause yet, I contacted Tech support, and was told on several occasions to reinstall the OS.

I eventually reinstalled the OS, but now the Modem/Nic would not work, and the video drivers shipped with the unit were the wrong ones. After further calls to tech support, they shipped me out replacement (and wrong) drivers.

After 50+ hours of calls (I have the cell phone bills to prove it) I drove to Austin (I was in San Antonio at the time) to have it checked out (after getting the address from a tech support person)- only to be told that maintenance was now performed in Saint Louis!

I shipped the unit to Saint Louis for a check up- no results. It was with the help of my local LUG (Thank's Shannon!) that I figured out that the Nic/Modem issue was that the OS (Win ME, remember?) was assinging the same interrupt to both devices AND WOULD NOT LET ME CHANGE. One install of Windows 2K later, I had the NIC working. One Download from NVidia and the screen drivers were correct.

Since that time I have experienced hardware issues, which since the warranty was expired Dell wanted $600 to diagnose (without even promising to fix it for that price). The good people at parts-people.com fixed my problem (the IDE controler had separated from the motherboard, due to my habit of changing out hard drives) and refurbished my unit for less than 1/3 of this. I have now almost completely removed all semblances of Windows from my system, (running either SUSE or Ubuntu, with occasional forays onto my Win2K drive for data) and am much happier for it.

Next time, I'll buy HP- at least they support Linux and offer AMD based laptops. I bought a Dell because I wanted to be able to travel to Austin for support- I'll never buy from them directly again.

I worked with the end of lease business div. & had the chance to meet some business div. sales reps later on in my ventures. I'm going to make this very clear - Every day I worked in the end of lease div. I fielded calls with upset customers whom said they did not want a lease, were unaware of a lease, thought they where paying for computer(s). I needed to tell these customers that it was too late (after 30 days). In short, no matter what the customer says (I needed to tell them the owed the lease [i.e. a $500 computer ends up costing the end user $1200] If they wanted a "buyout" I could only quote them the $1200 figure and "have a nice day"! Come to find out, I know exactly why the customers were getting stuck with an "unknown lease" , The Business div. sales reps in charge of the "paperwork" where/are filing the sale as a lease rather than a simple sale. WHY? , the big huge banners in the lobby... When the sales rep enters the sale as a lease (even though unknow to the customer) they get "airpoints" kind of like cash for expensive gifts. DO I have proof ? NOPE, IS it true ? ? Is your first name what most call you by ? YES - Most Dell employees hate their jobs, because they deal with this daily. And so much more... MOST admirable co to work for awards ? .. Only because employees keep their mouths shut, beacuse at the end of the day.. If you don't rat on Dell - THey will pay you occasional "hush money" in the form of spiffs or "airpoints" or what have you ..... THIS IS the closest you as the outside public will get to the truest description of what's going on in the inside, AND for a price , we all have more we would like to share. MY Truth is free to the pub.ic.

Who else can you deal with that does a better job?

I have worked with just about every major PC vendor - Dell, HP, IBM (no more), Gateway, Toshiba, etc., in the course of my work. I have had nightmares with all of them. My only comment is that Dell is best of a bad breed. My personal machines are either hand built or Dell.

Rather than anecdotes, I think it is more useful to look at trends and statistics. Anyone have anything useful to show that Dell is bad on the whole? Based on my experience, Dell is one of the best on average.

Customer service is always a problem on PCs. This is more due to the nature of Windows than the hardware vendor. Again, I can't suggest an alternative. Linux is too hard for most end users, and Macs are in general pricier with less software. Also, most people want the same environment they have at home that they have work, making Macs and Linux less attractive.

No company is perfect. If you know of one, please let me know.

You people have very little to do than to complain about a company who is, after all, the world's number 1 computer company (for a reason, might I add). Don't forget, for every problematic pc dell ships, it ships 25,000 fully functioning systems. Most (92%) of all technical issues are customer-caused.

The "Airpoints" that are being referred to as "hush" money is nothing of the kind. It is simply a way to compensate an employee without having to pay them directly. These airpoints are offered on certain vendor's products that aren't selling as well as they should. Instead of getting a bonus you get a gift certificate, baby stuff, books, etc.

People who don't have the facts, obviously love to make things up, this is how rumors are started. So in order to clear a few up:

"When the sales rep enters the sale as a lease (even though unknown to the customer) they get "airpoints" kind of like cash for expensive gifts."
Not true. Unknowingly entering a sale as a lease without customer consent is unethical and does not happen anywhere in Dell. You don't get airpoints for leasing a system.

"Most Dell employees hate their jobs, because they deal with this daily."
Not true. People in our country do not like to work in general, but seriously people, if you don't like your job you would obviously quit and work somewhere else.

Dell is THE best company I have ever worked for.

I spent 5 hours on a three-way phonecall yesterday with Dell Customer Care and Dell Financial. What a waste! I returned a Dell Laptop that didn't work even after the tech's came to my home to service the machine. On August 9th of this year, I spent a total of 3 hours on another three-way conversation dealing with the exchange of the laptop and crediting charges that were sent to me. The conclusion was Dell Financial would credit me half of the money of a finance charge and Dell Customer care would fill out a Policy Exemption Form and credit my account for the balance. This was a mutual agreement, documented by all three of us. Or so I thought. Dell Financial has lived up to their side of the deal, however Dell Customer Care has "lost" the form, and now they have no idea who the manager was that made this promise. Dell Financial told them who it was, but still there is nothing Dell Customer Care will do. Sound complicated, it is. The right hand does not keep up with the left hand. Additional finance charges are being put on my bill at this time. At the conclusion of the phone call Dell Customer Care representative tells me that yet another manager will call me back. She says this I might add while giggling with her co-workers. Five hours on the phone, five hours of my life wasted, five hours with no conclusion. This is what I learned, Dell Financial is a seperate entity then Dell Customer Care. That's not so bad if they would at least be on the same software so a conclusion could be met. I guess Michael Dell doesn't mind how the small consumer feels. It would benefit him greatly to train his customer service team on how not to talk down to people.

I can't believe how many people are unhappy with this company! It makes me wonder how many people are getting ripped off? How many people have an extra 5 hours in a day to try and settle Dell's in house problems. I'm seriously thinking of sending them a bill for my time. I wish you all luck and I hope we all learn a valuable lesson from this sad experience.

I have had the most trouble getting Dell Financial to tell me up front that there are charges for Check-by-phone, they never tell you that until you have already given them the bank routing # and your account # by this time it is too late. On your next statement there is a $15.00 charge for the service.
Being very busy it is hard to remember everything all the time, so at the last minute they call, which then it is too late to send in your payment. If you send it in late there is a $25.00 late fee, even though my payment is only $58.00. There have been times I have received three calls in one day even though it had been taken care of the first call.
I have told friends and family that the pc has been great but it hasn't been worth the aggrevation, actually it is worse than that it is pure harrassment with tones of deception. They seem so nice, but they just ignore what you tell them, and only programed to get payment anyway they can.

I have been less than thrilled with Dell's technical support in the past year. My recommendations helped drive $5M in sales for Dell in the past ten years for my regional area clients.

But no more...besides terrible technical support issues, I see also disturbing trends in pricing. One example: Dell boosts the price for RAM upgrades for their notebook line way out of whack compared to other vendors. Big profit item no doubt.

The reason for the declining technical support is sheer numbers...the success of Dell in shipping millions of PCs has outstripped their technical support capabilities. Reminds me a lot of the success of Symantec and how their technical support is now practically non-existent.

Consider the math... (strictly Karnak guessing below, but humor me with my questimations).

Let's conservatively estimate Dell sold 100 million PCs in the past three years and 50 million are still under warranty. This figure is probably pretty close since Dell shipped 9 million units in the third quarter 2005.

If only 1 in 100 per day needs technical assistance from Dell that's 500,000 requests either by email or phone. The technical requests could be much greater than that on peak days...maybe 1 to 2 million.

So let's say Dell has 5,000 first level support technicians in the USA at decent wages and another 20,000 overseas at pretty low wages. (I could be WAY overestimating the total numbers, but humor me anyway). Throw in another 1,000 second level and supervisory technicians in the USA and maybe 2,000 overseas. OK...so we have nearly 30,000 Dell support technicians of varying skills, many relying on repair scripts, and some very good.

Now the bad news...each technician probably works an 8 to 12 hour shift (maybe 10-12 overseas). So only 9,000 are on duty at any 8 hour shift, maybe a few more in peak times.

500,000 requests on an average day means each technician handles 16 cases a day or about 2 an hour. On heavy days that number rises to 4, 6, or 8 an hour. At the higher volume it's an impossible task as any technician can attest (I am an A+ trainer myself). Since many calls may be not resolved they continue over days and add to the workload.

Enter the big push to free online user support Forums by all the big vendors. Volunteers who own that product (or maybe just good Samaritans) spend their free time helping people who are unable to get warranty help from the vendor. It's a big help, but not enough for the big boys like Dell, Microsoft, Symantec, and all the other first line companies.

At the present time I consider first line companies are unable to provide proper support for my clients (14,000 PCs). Because Microsoft has a monopoly on Windows we have no choice but to continue buying their products. But for PCs there are other choices besides the first line companies with better technical support.

So my clients have dumped Norton AV in favor of a smaller vendor, and are considering other options besides Dell.

I think Dell has tunnel vision for global expansion (China, India, etc..) in their long range game plan and it doesn't include spending money to maintain the user base in America at an acceptable support level. I used to give Dell an A+ for support, but now I give it a failing grade. YMMV

20 hours on the phone with dell. so i gave them as much crap back as they gave me. i just could not take it after a while(this 20 hours was over the course of 4 days) spoke to everyone but the frigging sacred cow !!! tech support sen't me to to "customer care", should be called no care back to tech and so on... when i finally asked for a supervisor, i was told they would call back at 8 pm, it was now 6:30. i made them stay on the phone with me until their supervisor came on. i thought if they can do this all night so can i. i'll admit right now, not my finest moments. but when i asked the tech "how about i fly to india right now and "ring your frigging neck" i was told in a very calm voice, that would not be necessary sir,i was speakind to to manilla. if you can believe it and you probably can , things got worse from here. i have replaced 2 hard drives (inspirion 600) key pad, display, keypad, ac cord all this with a warranty ,i was asked to replace myself. when i asked if i could have the number or email of Tom Calpo who signs himself cheif of cosumer affairs USA i was told there was no way to reach him. the phone numbers next to the texas address is the same old out of country tech numbers. boggles my mind how people can do bussiness like this. tech support even admited they were being recorded and had to make "dell and the customer" happy. i was also told if the computer wen't back to the "depot" wherever that is 3 times or more you would be issued a system exchange. mine wen't 3 times but tech said it only wen't back 2 times, the the third time it must have rode around in the delivery truck for a week and then just come back to me without goig to the "Depot". what shipping company will take any package without a valid shipping sticker, unbelievable. anyway i could go on and on but my bloodpressure is going throught the roof. they stink on ice !!!

My wife and I decided to get a new computer. I've owned a Dell for the past 6 years and have been very pleased with it's performance. On September 25, 2005, I went to Dell's website, found a desktop, made minor upgrades and with a total cost of $970.03 placed the order. After the order was placed, Dell then advised me that e-mails would be sent describing the status of my order. My wife and I decided to call Dell and cancel the order. When we called and canceled, it was less than 24 hours of the order being placed and that's when my Dell experience began.

The last e-mail I received from Dell on Monday, September 26, 2005 at 10:05 PM, the same day we canceled the order, described my order status as "Your order is being processed and will go into production once we authorize your method of payment". The representative I spoke with told me that I would receive a refund for the computer minus the shipping charge. I indicated to the representative that the computer had not been built or shipped according to Dell's last e-mail stating "Your order is being processed and will go into production once we authorize your method of payment". Reluctantly, the representative agreed with me and went ahead and made the arrangements to get a full refund of $970.03. and of course would take 5 to 10 business days. On September 27, 2005 our credit card was charged $970.03 by Dell.

On October 17, 2005 a credit of $702.19 was received by Dell. I called Dell to ask why wasn't a $970.03 credit given. I was told by Dell that the $702.19 was for the CPU and the monitor was separate. The Representative then told me the credit amount for the monitor was unknown because of the taxes still to be added. On October 23, 2005 a credit for $241.76 was received by Dell, this being the credit for the monitor. As of October 23, 2005 the total credit back to me is $943.95, still being $26.08 short of the $970.03 total purchase price.

I had to call Dell once again. Through this whole process I made sure to get reference numbers and case numbers for each phone call and conversation. I gave the representative my last case number and the representative proceed to tell me that I already received full credit . The outstanding balance of $26.08 was for shipping. I then went back to the e-mails sent by Dell, one of which was my "Order Confirmation". This e-mail gave me a break down of the costs associated with this purchase. The line for shipping costs read $24.00. I asked why I was being charged more for shipping. I was then put on hold and unknowingly transferred to a different department. This representative actually agreed with me an put in a "request" for the $26.08 credit and now had to wait 2 to 3 business days for this credit.

As of Wednesday, November 9, 2005, I still have not received the $26.08 credit. You guessed it, I call Dell. Give the representative the case number. The representative told me that the "request" was denied by Dell for the $26.08 credit because it was a shipping charge. I was put on hold and when representative came back she told me that the $26.08 was now being "requested for non-delivery of the computer" and I would now 100% receive this credit. I was now happy and getting my full amount of $970.03 back.

On Thursday November 10, 2005, an e-mail from Dell stating, Dell has processed my credit for the amount of, are you ready for this, $26.07. That's right 1 cent less. I'm furious and immediately call Dell. Once again gave the representative the case number, briefly explained and was put on hold. The representative was in total agreement and apologized. He then told me Dell can not credit 1 cent and would have to credit me $1.00. I said fine and felt confident this will now be a closed issue.

Today, November 11, 2005, at 8:51 Am Est time, I receive a call from Dell to confirm my credit of $26.07 for the shipping charge. The representative explained to me I would see this credit in about 5 business days. He then asked if I was satisfied the way Dell has handle this matter. I replied no. He asked why? I told him the shipping credit was for the amount of $26.08 and not $26.07. Before I could explain that I've already contacted Dell about this 1 cent discrepancy his response was "You really want 1 cent back". Are you kidding me! I then told this gentleman that I've been dealing with this since September and want every single cent back. Out of disgust, he said fine Dell will credit you 1 cent back, hope you have a nice day, thank you for choosing Dell and hung up.

I'm sorry, but why would I not get back my 1 cent. If I simply accepted that the $26.08 as a non refundable shipping charge, when the computer was never built or shipped and you take that amount, multiply it by, say 100,000 people that's over 2 million dollars. If I would have let Dell keep 1 cent it too will add up to huge amounts of money.

This has been an experience I will never forget and will pass along to many others. A friend of ours ended up building my wife and I a computer. We simple went on-line, order all the parts with the help of our friend and built a computer that is beyond what we needed and cost a little over $1000.00.

I recommend this for anyone who wants a new computer and overall you will never have to deal with Dell Computers. Dell tried its hardest to get me to go away and I didn't. I kept all my paper work and would love to learn of other people's problems and maybe pass this experience along to a higher authority. Something has to be illegal with this process and taking advantage of people by putting them in this unforgiving situation until they simple accept defeat and go away.

Thank You,

Chris

Dell Hell is the right name for this forum. The motherboard on my still-under-warranty Inspiron failed. Dell wouldn't allow me to mail the computer to them for repair saying that they had to have DHL deliver an empty box to me. I tried to explain to them that they consider the US Virgin islands (where I live) to be International and won't ship here. Two weeks later I still hadn't received the empty box. During various calls I offered/pleaded/begged to be allowed to send the laptop in myself, paying the Express Mail postage myself. They refused. At one point the rep said I should just got get the box at the DHL office. I contacted DHL and found that the box had been shipped to Austin Texas awaiting my pickup. (I actually made the call to DHL while on hold at Dell) When the Dell rep got back on the line I told her that Dell had sent the box to Austin not to St. Croix. She asked if I could pickup the box myself..... HUH? I should fly from the Virgin Islands to Austin Texas to pickup an empty box in which to ship my computer TO Austin? They absolutely refuse to let me ship it myself. I was a fan of Dell up till now but I wouldn't by another laptop from them if it was only $100.

I feel like I have gone through all the stages of grief with Dell: beginning with DENIAL -
I have always used Dell products, always thought their service was great, really no problems...until I entered "Dell Hell", my next step -
ANGER- how can a company keep my $480 AND the Axim PDA I returned to them for credit, following all their rules, within their 21 days, insured, and UPS can even tell me that 'Ines'@ Dell in LaVerne TN signed for it on 9/22/05...but they can't figure out how to issue a credit, they say 'your credit needs to be reinstated, Mrs. A., I will take care of that right now', but of course, we are in Dell Hell, so that doesn't happen, instead I pass into my next stage of grieving, to...
BARGAINING - ok, I will contact their Customer Service following all their rules - check my credit status online - no problem, they will email me within 24 hours - doesn't come - I email them - no response - I use their 'chat' -
always connected promptly - my hopes are up - always get commitments they don't honor....I am hitting the ativan pretty hard right now as I enter into the next to last stage of grief.....
DEPRESSION - I know I shouldn't take this as a personal afront but I do - I always stood up for them for pete's sake! Its been two months, they still have my $480, they have the AXIM PDA, I have empty promises, no one in customer service who ever keeps their promises. Have you checked out their corporate ethics page - it almost makes you weep it is so sanctimonious...so I finally pass into the final stage of grief....
ACCEPTANCE - my husband is telling me I am getting fairly psychotic on the subject, so I am trying to detach myself, since I am so OUT OF CONTROL OF THE SITUATION. I am currently on the look-out for a Dell Hell Support Group..anyone??

DELL's Strategic and Spiritual Mistake!

In regard to Dell Financing, look what has happened to Sears, GM and Ford when they turned to financing as a way of increasing company revenues. These companies now realize more revenues via financing and are all suffering declining revenues of the sale of their core retail products. Complaints about shoddy workmanship with some Dell products seem to indicate a similar turning away from the core business(ask any MBA and they'll tell you that professors pounded into their heads, "Stick to your core business if you want to keep succeeding."). Dell seems more focused on soft upsells (warranties versus better screens and better processors)than selling a superior system at a good price. Dell has made a strategic error (not to mention a spiritual one, if you're a Bible believer, because The Bible states the common sense idea that debt is something all people should stay away. Alan Greenspan has told consumers the same thing as well).

With regard to the creation of a new "division" to sell the XPS systems, I predict that the current leadership at Dell is preparing the company for the chopping block -- selling or spinning off the XPS division as well as the entry-level computer division.

It's very sad to see an American company go this route.

One more note. For 4th quarter, Dell has cattle calls for hourly employees to take inbound calls and sell systems. These folks are hired by temp firms like Spherion and then have the golden carrot of "You'll be Dell-Badged" if you meet your sales goals over the next few months. What they don't tell you (lie by omission) is that you have about a 2 -4% chance of making it. Management is part of this lie.

Dell, get real again. Michael, it's time to get back on-board and toss out those money-changers.

David
Nashville, TN

DON'T BUY DELL PRODUCTS!
I purchased my first defective Dell computer in November 2004. It continued to crash until I could no longer bring it back up in May 2005. Calling Dell to receive service was a nightmare. So I decided to go onto my old computer to see if they would assist via the Internet. Well, that was a disaster too. Finally, out of frustration, I sent back the PC directly to Dell and ordered a replacement. The new PC also continued to crash until I finally was able to drive the drive into two parts which seem to have minimized the crashes. This is after using Dell technical services, both hardware and software. Neither understood the problem and tried to say it was the other. Naturally, I paid an additional $300 in order to try and obtain additional software assistance. (God forbid Dell should back there products sufficiently to halt from the fleecing of it's customers.) With no help from Dell, I was finally able to divide the hard drive into two, and place differing Microsoft products on each part of the drive which appears to have minimized the crashes from daily to around twice a month. Now, of course, Dell is telling me I am responsible for the financial difference between the PC I returned and the one I know one (depreciation as they like to call they're shoddy products). I am, of course, refusing to pay for the "depreciation" ... and when I called to inquire about the old PC, guess what ... I was told it had been "refurbished and resold!!!" No doubt, to some poor person who is trying to get it to work.

I think it's time we start flooding Dell, Consumer Report Sites, and other websites/report sites, with out complaints. Dell sales are dropping and it's our duty to warn other people about the poor quality of their products and services. I'll be glad to be part of anything that helps to drive their sales lower.

I bought upgraded service for an expensive notebook, and I still cannot get service. I am in day 10 of my "next-day on-site" service. I did see a tech on day 2, but the part from India didn't solve the problem. When the tech called for more parts, Dell India hung up on him. No one's come back, although I have a long blog of contacts http://www.livejournal.com/users/ozdachs/41568.html .

The thing is, customer service isn't always provided by Indians alone. As a student, it is very important for me to have resources all the time. I've had frustrations with DELL as well but it went away when i got to a tech from the Philippines...

Customer's like us buy products and services that we think are custom-made for us. DELL continues to make computers of different models with optional specifications to match a customer's needs, and budget.

...and before you start to go down thorugh this post thinking that i am a no DELL HELL person, i hope you can open your mind.

...anyway, how do i get to know this? one indian tech (though very hard to understand, is technical yet polite enough to answer all my questions about my computer problems, by the way, i had a software problem). told me that the service contract that my parents paid for is dedicated only for hardware

...of course, it's very disappointing on our part to find out that if the problem is software, we will be transferred to the Helpdesk thing wherein we get to pay.! yes, pay. trough proper explanations on the service contract (they don't call it warranty) and initiative reading of the service contract (which will be helpful!), DELL laid all its cards the first time.

...of course, i most likely won't buy another DELL computer (but i wont throw away my 5150, but i learned one important thing. READ to LEARN. it's very easy especially for people who can afford to buy another computer to do so, but it'll be better to be cautious before jumping inside a pit.

I have been in Dell Hell since Nov. 16th when a 1700 dollar system I ordered didn't arrive. Only the monitor arrived. Somehow the tower and all its parts were lost by ups. I started the nightmare of calling uncustomer service to see what they were going to do about it the evening of the 16th. On the afternoon of the 18th UPS had told me the tower was lost and to get Dell to start tracing it (in the contract ups has with Dell, Dell has to put a tracer on the packages and get a new machine going out to you or a refund).

I asked uncustomer service to send me a new computer asap because I needed it for my work and my old one had died and now I was computerless. They said they couldnt' do that until the missing one was located or that UPS paid them for it. WHAAAAAA My contract was with Dell, not UPS. After this unspecified wait time looking for the missing one, I was then to order a new one and wait another 10 days for it to arrive (I am not a rich person and can't be charging all sorts of computers on credit cards). I told Dell to use the 1700 already in their possession to get me out a new machine asap. No dice. I then told them to refund me asap.

Do you know that not one of those Indians ever sent UPS to pick up the monitor. Not one of them ever set up the tracer with UPS. Not one of them did anything. I was sent round and round and round the telephone lines. I even called back sales and asked the guy if he wanted to make a saled and told him the long story. He ordered a new system and gave me a big discount. But the nightmare doesn't end there. He goes and tries to charge this new order to the credit card that already has 1700 on it and I told him it isn't going to fit that he is going to have to credit me for the machine that never arrived first or use that credit for his new machine. He says, ok, I am sending you to the finance dept. They will take care of everything. Don't worry. Well then transfer went into Dell hell oblivion. You know that circle of press 1 for sales, press 2 for tech support yada yada. I kept calling back sales and get getting into the same loop after telling my story to not less than 10 of these guys in 30 minutes. Never got the new computer ordered either. I can go on and on with these service reps that never call back, that transfer you to non existent numbers, that get a dumber than rocks supervisor on the phone, and on and on. The nightmare went on and on for days until the 22nd when I got a long distance number into Texas from one of those stupid service reps. I asked an operator for the ceo office. no dice. I said I want to make a big complaint. Got transferred and left the complaint. Was told I got to the top of the company. This was on the 22nd of Nov. Today is the 4th of Dec. Every day since the 22nd of Nov. this manager has told me she is going to credit my card back. Every day I call her and it hasn't been done. Every day there is a new problem. We must follow the process yada yada. I am still waiting for my refund. I can't get out of this Dell Twilight Zone nightmare. It is never ending. But on Dec. 22nd my credit card company will credit me back and I will be thru with Dell whether their process has ended or not. And I went out yesterday and was able to get credit at a local big electronics company and bought a beautiful HP with a much bigger system and a printer for 1050 bucks. A big savings and a better machine and it is working beautifully. Forget Dell. never again. And thats my story.

My wife purchased a Dell Inspiron 6000 laptop as a Christmas present. She gave me the phone and made it clear I wanted to play games on it too. No problem. I went from $599 to $1100 in a licity split with the two year warranty and the three years of McAfee coverage.

When I got the computer I loved the look of it (It was loaded down with all kinds of stuff I would never use; AOL/ NetZero / etc and of course thier games meant for children.) I took an old game and tried to load it but it would not take. The computer sent me to all kinds of sites to download Active X and Direct X and microsoft to update my drivers. Zowie, I'm off. I get half way through the game (Area 51 which says it is XP compatible) and the game freezes. Now it won't load at all. One by one my system starts to crash; one day my sound is gone, the next my Wi-fi capabillity disappears ( it worked when I first got the machine.

I called support using my cell phone. Wow, what a runaround I got and no resolution. From customer service to tech, customer service to tech. Instead of holding until I am connected they put me in a que. I have to give them all the same information all over again. I finally get someone who can help. They say my drivers are gone and they put me on hold. Guess what? I get cut off. My cell phone is gonna be big. I may have to pay for the repairs my self since I did not purchase a warranty for the software. What a bunch of crap! I am pissed and I am telling all my friends, "do not buy a product from Dell". My next purchase will be a Tosidba or an HP. I have been to Dell Hell and the fact that there is a one says something. The owner of Dell made his billions, so if his company tanks tommorrow, so what. Now, I wouldn't even buy a pizza from him, if he bought a company.

Now. I have a Dell 4550 with 2.4 Gh. Its a good machine and has given me a few problems but at least it came with back up disk. The laptop did not come with a one.

We have been trying to deal with Dell since September 2005. We bought a Dell Dimension 5100 with addons on September 12, 2005. The Dell reference # is 575252459 and paid $1,292.59 for the entire package by credit card. We paid it in full. We also purchased an extended warranty service that we now realize is just useless because we never achieve any results when we call for customer support. We have literally spoken with various customer service agents from the Sales Department, Hardware Warranty Division, Customer Care. We've tried all methods: emails, chat, phone. From day one the product was problematic. It would not turn on. We called tech support to get it to turn on because there was no manual in the delivery to guide us/help us troubleshoot. There is an electronic manual but we could not even turn on the computer so that was useless. We spent 12 hours on the phone with tech support but they couldn't figure out how to get the computer turned on. Eventually, we gave up and just had to do it ourselves by taking it apart. Once it was on, we realized other parts were not working. The sound card was not the one we ordered for. Then we realized it was defective. The dvd writer would not work either. We searched for a guidebook to troubleshoot and realized there wasn't any for those parts either. Again, we tried calling customer service. No one could give an answer/solution. No one could also send us guidebooks. They have not only been not helpful, they also give you false information (like giving you invalid coupon codes, giving you the run-around by telling you to call another number because your problem is not within the scope of their job, refusing to pass you on to a manager, refusing to give their rep ID#s, arguing with you, hanging up on you and worst of all having to spend hours upon hours with them with without getting any help). Yesterday, since the sound card we got from them was defective we just wanted to replace it at our own expense. We decided we would get a sound card with midi but couldn't find one on the Dell website so we tried to ask them for a part number that would be compatible with the PC we got from them. None of them knew about the part number and they didn't even know what a midi was. Finally, we got to talk to a manager whose name is "Rikki" phone number 1800-624-9896 extesion 5880033. This is after 3 months of having purchased the computer. He promised us 100-coupon and gave us this coupon code hn9k?mmtz8x1m7. He opened a case number for us 119127105. We tried the coupon online to make the purchase on the Dell website. It was an invalid code. A code we had already used in the past. We were tricked and lied to. Now we're trying to get a hold of someone who can help us but none of them have helped us. They just pass us around. Some of the people we have talked to are: Erika (extension 7284520); Adam (extension 7240099); Amit of Dell Chat (Amit_0125865); puneet_puree@dell.com (id# 103067). Records will show they just pass us around without giving us any way to resolve this. On top of that, most of them are rude -- they just hang up on you or won't give you their rep ID#, won't let you talk to their manager, or just disconnect you when you're chatting with them. When that happens you have to call back or log back in and start from scratch because they don't even record your complaints. At this point, we just want to return everything we've purchased from Dell but they have a 21-day limit for returns. That is a ridiculous time limit given that you literally have to spend hundreds of hours just to get a single piece of information from Dell. Even then the information you eventually end up with is unhelpful. For the past 3 months, we have been trying to salvage this computer. It has taken so much time away from my family already. And my husband, to whom the computer has been purchased for has become more sick because of the aggravation Dell has caused us (he was already sick before but now he's sunk deeper into depression). We also want to get a refund for the extended warranty since we've now realized that it is useless -- there is no tech support.

I just hope my sparkling new 9300 is the lucky one to last me through my MBA! ;-(

Dell appears to have adopted a business practice of shipping defective computers with defective software arrangments, and expecting the customers to repair them. I recently paid over $6,000.00 for a Dell XPS 600 and am still trying to get it to work. Tech support is useless, they are not trained in the basics, if reading off a script doesn't solve the problem, they don't want to know. I am on the second unit and still trying to get it to work properly.

Dell customer services lies repeatedly, their strategy appears to be to get the customer to simply give up. It is normal practice to be on the phone for over 30 minutes and be bounced around from rep to rep, each claiming it is someone else's responsibility.

The highlight was when a tech person thought the XPS 600 was a laptop.

I don't know what any of you are talking about.

I've gotton great service and great products from Dell for years now.

Go Figure?

My experience with Dell has been very good.

My husband and I bought a 4-month-old Dimension 4600 from a pawn shop (yes, a pawn shop)! They had just put it out for sale that day, and it was obvious they didn't know what they had. We paid $459.00! It came with 2 (yep, T-W-O) Pentium 4 processors, a DVD-R drive, CD-R Drive, 512 MB RAM, Windows XP, Norton Anti-virus, Subwoofer & speakers and some cool programs.

That was 10 months ago, and we haven't had any problems yet.

Viva la Dell! :-)

I am in Australia and made the terrible decision to recommend a Dell system to a relative. They received a faulty notebook (bad display) which was replaced with another faulty display. Then the motherboard was replaced and everything seemed to be OK.
That was until I visited and had a look at the notebook to discover that the motherboard had been replaced with a motherboard from a cheaper, nastier model. As this was out of the warranty period when I discovered this chicanery Dell want nothing to do with it and consistently ignored our emails and calls until we just gave up in disgust.
If anyone from dell is reading this you will NEVER be recommended to anyone I know and if I see or hear of anyone considering buying a Dell I will make sure they know what ripoff artists you are.

DFS is my problem. I like the machines (so far) and my servers have worked almost flawlessly, and when requested repairs happen quickly. But I may never buy from Dell again because of Dell Financial Services.

OMG folks, the free tech support at any company you can name is bad. No company should treat their customers badly and these are some awful stories.

Just ante up for at least Dell's Gold level of tech support and you'll find it to be worth it. Similarly, ante up for Symantec's tech support and you'll find that to be worth it too.

Rob Hof started this off by saying that if Dell sold stuff that people liked instead of merely having to endure, then maybe people would pay more for it. Well, they do sell more reliable stuff, but just as you say you'll have to pay more for it. So, try it the other way around. Pay more for it and you'll get it, because it's already being offered.

It's absolutely the case that you get what you pay for, but don't just load up a Dimension and expect it to perform like even a stripped down Precision.

Dell is completely up front that they sell varying levels of PC's based on stability & reliability that you can expect. They're so up front about it that it's the defining basis for the way they split up their sales tiers. For desktops it's 3 lines (Dimension, Optiplex and Precision). What more do you want? If you buy a Dimension-anything you're not choosing stability & reliability. That starts at Optiplex and they say so. If you go for the Precision then you get a beautiful-to-service case with coded diagnostic lights outside that'll tell YOU the user what is the status of your hardware if anything does go wrong. YOU can clearly see if it's the power supply, motherboard, processor, video card, whatever, and it's a higher level of reliability to start with. But you've got to PAY for that extra stuff.

Fer cryin' out loud it's right there on their "Tell me more" pages.

Today I found out something incredible. I am a small business owner and decided to lease a computer from dell. The original cost to purchase the computer is $3700. I have used it for over a year with one problem that was resolved. I have been thinking about computer change and decided to check out what it would take to terminate the lease. I have already made $1600 in payments over the last year. If I send the computer back I will be required to pay $4100 to terminate the lease. If I buy out and keep the computer I will be required to pay over $5000. I am amazed that this could be true. How could I be required to pay $5700 for a computer that I have used a year and not even be able to keep. They have me locked in! This is my first experience with a lease and it is turning out to be a bad one! They would rather keep me locked and lose my business then to help me resolve this issue. The fine print is killing me!!!!

I PURCHASE A COMPUTER WITH DELL CREDIT. LATER THEN MAILED ME A LEASE WITH $75.00 CHARGE. I HAVE BEEN ON HOLD ABOUT 15 MINUTES SO FAR TO GET OUT OF THIS BAIT AND SWITCH.
I WILL NEVER DO BUSINESS WITH DELL AGAIN.

I bought a Dell Inspiron 1100 and have had it only long enough to have it paid off. I have been lucky that I have not had much go wrong with my computer but the few things that I have had go wrong I have had to go through DELL HELL to get them fixed and I bought the 4 year warranty! I was told by the salesman that if anything went wrong with the laptop that I could send it in and they would fix it under the warranty. That is the only reason I bought the 4 year warranty. The CD-ROM went out and I finally got through to a rep after a week and I had to replace the part myself. Yes, replacing the part was not hard to do, but for the money I have paid for the 4 year warranty I feel like DELL should have done it...and the saleman said they would. I have had other minor problems and have paid to take the laptop to another company in my home town. I would rather do that instead of have to deal with DELL's customer service. As one other person posted, no company is perfect but if their customer service dept. is crappy they will keep losing customers

Dell from Hell
I agree. Have had nothing but trouble from tech support India. They dont know english nor how to fix a problem. Been on the phone 1 1/2 weeks at least 6-12 hours in one day arguing with tech
I have had several VERY BAD encounters with them
I say dont buy a dell unless you want true hell.
I was a very good customer but now forget it.
I had purchased notebooks which were also a nightmare from hell. every day trouble with these notebooks and received new ones after months of yelling and complaining and trouble. Well 4 months later they say one still needs returning
they were returned both already, I had the tracking numbers but recently put them in garbage as its been many months that have passed now they say they havent received it. Well I have had it cant take anymore!!!!! I am stressed out to the limit Dell doesnt care about customers. I will be telling everyone I know DONT BUY A DELL.
Tech support stinks, and if you return a product they say you didnt. My advice keep all your tracking numbers for years. I wish I did now

DELL support is questionable on all levels. I give you now my Dell, hell, nightmare:
Please forgive for any grammatical or typo errors, I am very upset upon writing this as to how such a large successful company cannot have a clue. I guess it goes for so many companies nowadays; as long as they get your money everything else is forgotten. How sad for all of us paying customers.

I purchased last year an Inspiron 9200 for a price tag of around $3000. I called right before the warranty was out. First, my keyboard "f" key always repeated, and my mouse never worked properly in addition to the paint and plastic on the mouse warring out making it difficult to drag, all this in less than one year. It was determined that the computer was overheating and the cooling fan had to be replaced. Dell technical support told me that this fan and heat problem can cause many other related problems such as with the mouse, programs, etc. I also started to have display problems which one of the dell techs made me go into my registry, guiding me to somehow erase the system 32 config files which rendered all solutions I could find on line through Microsoft useless. I want to add here and now that I had anti-spyware and anti-virus programs running and installed. After this disaster, I decided to call Microsoft because I was scared to deal with Dell any longer. In addition, Dell technical support most of the time doesn’t even wait on line for you to do something, and they will tell you that they will call you back however, they never do. A week or more has gone by before I eventually have called them back. Basically they just forget about you hoping that you will forget about them too.

Microsoft helped me do a parallel installation of Windows XP pro so that I may get some important files out. However after doing this and replacing the operating system, it turned out that upon having to reload my drivers, I discovered that Dell originally sent me the wrong system file disks which had the drivers on it. When I brought this up to technical support at Dell, they told me in so many words “too bad” you have to call sales and pay for one to be sent. They inferred that it was my fault for not checking when I first got the computer. I was livid; I had to download all drivers using a dial up modem which took HOURS and HOURS. Microsoft gave me wonderful support I can say this in all honesty. They give you a case number and follow it through. They call back when they say and keep tabs on the case until the issue is solved. They are willing to stay on the phone, in my case with all the registry problems thanks to Dell, Microsoft stayed with me at times for a couple of hours trying fiendishly to solve my problem. They really didn’t have to do this. However I am grateful for all their efforts.

The system was sent to Dells repair depot where the fan problem was NOT fixed, Dell claimed that instead it was just a dust problem blocking a vent, yet when I ran the diagnostics the fan had no speed rating (rpm), it simply read 0. Also, my system still didn't work properly and it still got very hot. The same level of heat I noticed previously that which almost burnt my lap because it was getting so hot. Upon its return they only replaced the keyboard (not the mouse etc) which I argued should of also been replaced they told me normal wear and tear i.e. repeating "f" and mouse problems are never covered, but however, they went against their own word and replaced the keyboard anyway leaving the rest. Go figure? No fan replaced, no mouse, but replaced keyboard for repeating f key thus repairing only part of which they said wasn’t covered anyway; and they didn’t even fix a major fan problem. Yes. Go figure? Does this make sense? In addition, upon receiving the computer back from the repair depot, which is probably UPS or some other shipping company which from learning on a news report are now training employees to fix computers. When you think your sending your computer or electronic device back to the company, according to this report think again. Anyway, among the previously mentioned problems, I was also surprised to see that my notebook was returned with the top cover around the keyboard and power button and mouse pad not completely flush so that in order to turn the system on or off, I must snap the cover so that it is flush, to access the power button and some of the keys properly. Through all of this and arguing my point to Dell, being placed on hold, and going back and fourth to customer care and then tech support with being transferred to wrong departments in between like “desktop support” I don’t even own a desktop. All of this ignorance and continual waste of my time for hours getting nowhere; going around in circles, being told one thing and then another with so many different people; nobody knowing what the other said, or if they do check, what was said is different from my account of reality; their notes appearing to be always in their favor to make them look good but being different from what you described or was told. For many of such Dell employees, one has to wonder since you are talking to India most if not all the time for technical support or even customer service, do such employees accurately account for and take proper notes in English? When ordering a new system, however, you don’t reach India and you don’t even have to wait on the phone. Why is that? Again to reiterate, weeks and days of horror with Dell customer service and tech support GETTING NOWHERE and talking to people all over the world, mainly India, with no continuity of service nor respect for the customer.

If all I said isn’t enough, I paid full price for this troubled Inspiron 9200 system even after last year winning on the "elf" game $250 or $300 I can’t remember specifically, but I did save the email. This amount was to be taken off ANY notebook over an amount I certainly met; which they promised to apply to my dell account after purchase BUT NEVER DID. I never made an issue of it because I already new it would be a pain in the neck with a company such as this. Now this 9200 system sits useless under my bed and as I turn it on I only get a wall paper with no icons. Programs must be entered through task manager. I can't even give the system to my aunt or anyone else who can use it.

AFTER ALL THIS I was actually stupid enough to be talked into buying another notebook the e1705 duel core system because of an argument over using a coupon I received in the mail for “valued customers of Dell” for $300 off Inspiron systems over a certain amount which I would of met, yet of course the coupon was not specific and Dell tried to argue that this didn’t include the e1705 system, again, the coupon did not state that. Here we go again, another source of unfair arguments which raised my blood pressure to an extreme again. When I went to put the coupon code in, it gave me an error message, stating that I had to call Dell sales, when I did they told me “oh we made a mistake with those particular coupons” sorry. I thought to myself, how can a company such as this get away with this. Here it is I am upset around the holidays which should be so joyful etc. I am sure Michael Dell is on his yacht or sailboat, or in his mansion, or on some wonderful family trip abroad, not having a clue as to what us poor customers have gone through or are going through; the very customers who put his company where it is today by purchasing Dell products.
I originally wanted the XPS170 system with all top components because as a medical student, I do some graphic works in medicine. However, I was talked into the e1705 by the Dell salesman who claimed that the 1705 system was faster and better on all levels. I am beginning to think different. I also had the coupon and after arguing the point for a couple hours and phone calls, eventually I did get the discount and got the e1705 system with all top components. I had the system for less then one month, but yet over the 21 day return policy. After arguing back and forth for hours (by the way I got the extended 2 year warranty with accidental damage), and diagnosing with tech support, it was determined that I should get a total NEW system exchange, only after trying to convince me to replace my memory and MOTHERBOARD and some other components first. Of course, this was logical to them before they had to spend any money in replacing a whole system. Why would anybody accept replacing a mother board on a system that is less than one month old? Even Microsoft told me that is a crazy thing to insist upon. My system was getting hot right where the graphic card was, the fan was running full blast when I wasn’t even doing anything demanding; the display was freezing and then zooming to display multiple desktops; in all doing weird stuff. This system had the new NVIDIA 7800 go chip, however, not the GTX 7800 chip which to my understanding is more stable. After looking on the NVIDIA web site and other sites, unless I was misunderstanding, I noticed possible issues with NVIDIA 7800 and dual core systems but not the GTX chips which Dell puts in the XPS models. I informed Dell tech support of this at the onset of my problems among my many other issues with my new system. It was understood by me after arguing against the motherboard and other replacement issues, and me pressing the fact that I had 2 years accidental damage and extended onsite weekend 24/7 support, they decided to a new system replacement. They said the new system would be delivered within 7 days then, and now its been 2 weeks or more. I called customer care again and they assured me that it was going to production. “GOING TO production, I told them that I was supposed to receive it by now. I asked other questions as to returns etc.. I was told that with the system exchange, I may return it within 21 days to get a full refund if I was not satisfied. A few days later I called again because alarmingly I noticed that Dell yanked the NIVIDIA Getforce go 7800 chips and is now putting ATI radeon mobility chips. I could only wonder why they would stop putting in the NVIDIA chips after only 2 or less months of producing the e1705; rather curious don’t you think? When discussing the issue with tech support, they were not even aware as to what graphics chip they are putting in the new e1705 systems. I had to read it to them from their web site. They kept telling me that they were putting the chips in that were compatible with the Inspiron 9300 systems. What does that have to do with the computer at hand being the e1705 a better version of the inspiron 9400 not even the 9300? They also informed me that as to my new system replacement that I would only receive an exact configuration replacement, meaning that I would probably get the NVIDIA chip AGAIN, or a LESSER chip such as ATI X300 or Intel integrated chip, both appearing to me and on the ATI website, lower than premium chips; however I would not be getting the ATI X1400 256 mobility chip which they are currently installing as an option unless I paid extra on my credit card, which of course they would be willing to take payment for right away if I wanted. They wanted more money from me after all my troubles. I was also informed that purchasing the accidental damage, and extra warranties. If Dell decides to replace the system, in most cases they will give you a REFURBISHED system, NOT a NEW one as in my case. Be careful! In my case, I got a new one, because they couldn’t figure out the problem, and because it was so new to begin with. At the end of this phone call upon asking about returns again, I was also told a different story then what I was told before. Now they told me that I could not return the new replacement system within 21 day. After arguing, they told me that I would need to be connected to the order modification department which claimed that they could not help me and they would have to connect me back to customer care. Upon reaching customer care and going through the whole ordeal again, they told me that they could not help me because I had to be connected to "post sales" customer care. CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS? I then hung up and called back customer care again. I spoke to a very nice person who put me on hold gave me the number 18006958133 and then connected me to employee purchase and business account customer care...HOW did I suddenly become a business or employee? She saw my account and information in front of her and yet connected me to the wrong department again, even giving me the wrong phone number. Of course, I found out about this again only after repeating the whole story AGAIN. I was then put on hold for customer care which after 35 minutes I hung up and called again of course not the number previously mentioned. I got a very nice lady on the phone who listened to my problem and who repeated the information I was told that I MAY RETURN THE SYSTEM EXCHANGE FOR A COMPLETE REFUND WITHIN 21 DAYS IF I AM NOT SATISFIED. This time I taped the conversation repeatedly asking making sure and asking for the employee badge number. There is no way Dell can escape out of this one. This company has a lot of nerve and in my opinion is extremely terrible to customers in every way possible. I was a good customer bought many systems this being my fourth or fifth, even being talked into another EXPENSIVE system after having so much trouble before. FOOL I am. I have only really touched the tip of the iceberg with all that I have been through with Dell. My blood pressure runs sky high every time I think of dealing with them. I am sure however, this is what they want to do to customers is make it difficult for them so that they will give up, or not spend the energy, talking to India one day and who knows where the next with no continuity of customer care or support care in between. A NIGHTMARE is an understatement. Something should definitely be done about all of this. After searching the web and blog spots, I can see that I am not the only one going through such a continual ordeal. I am so sick of hearing at every level of support the same memorized sentences from clone Dell employees versed to the point they are like robots: “we are sorry for all your problems, I understand your frustration, and am sorry you had to go through what you went through, but I am here to help..etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. In the end I am sorry I can’t do this or that giving a customer a sense that in reality nobody at this company can do a damn thing. It seems that every employee you talk to at Dell has their hands tied and will do anything to pawn you off to another department, yet the other department will send you back to the original department you spoke too or somewhere else creating a viscous circle and getting nowhere, spending endless hours of your time, telling you one thing doing another. I have had episodes where I will repeat something and the Dell employee will repeat the same thing like reading from a script, not even touching upon what I was talking about originally.

Finally most recently, I called sales to speak to my sales agent who told me to call him if I ever had problems. Of course I could get hold of him, so I talked to another who told me with all my problems, I needed to speak to a secret department, the customer escalations cue, for severe customer problems, or disgruntled customers. This cue, they informed me is hardly used, only in extreme situations. We will see the ongoing saga.

I can’t understand why a class action law suit hasn’t been brought against such a company as of yet. I am sure it is just a matter of time.

i am, aclient of dell. misfortune that deletes our time is,what we have in common.everything was a fight as dell sold me my system with pc-cillin and macafee. not sure it will ever be right.

Dell is truly Hell. Well the way the tech supports treat their customers is terrible!!! My computer has trouble after trouble and you have to explain to India which are very hard to understand and cant resolve your problem, then they tell you take your computer apart. Yes right, I always thought if you did that your warranty was void. Well not at dell, they expect you to do the work, so I say fine then I should get paid not tech support. A new computer with so many problems fought to get replacement so they finally did after almost 1 year and tons of trouble, Mailed back old desktop kept box thank god and now they dont have it. UPS delivered it but dell returns cant find it. Someone isn't doing their job right and the customer gets the crap!!!! What is this company coming to???? I will not refer them to anyone nor will I ever purchased anyting ever again from dell from hell!!!!!!!!!! Still waiting to hear if they found it, they probably wont admit it. Be careful people if you return something to them make darn sure call them all the time and get it in writing that they received it!!! The new desktop is no better, it gives me trouble every other week. I am presently looking into another desktop from another company and will try to sell this garbage if I can.
really disappointed with dell!!

Who is their right mind ever buys a Dell for the service? Come on fellow youve been around the Block?

In fact the Service for all of them is awful! I would not mind paying and extra $10 bucks an hour just to be able to talk to A Mom's apple pie English speaking American. But alas we will all be speaking Spanish soon anyway, so what's the point?

Rome fell from within and SO WILL WE!!!

Either fix it youself, resell it on Ebay or Complain to the company but Sniveling on line about the company aint gona fix squat?

With that I am outa here,

Bob

I work for a company that has spent over $30,000 on dell products. the support is the same. horrible.

Wow! I have a Dell Optiplex GX280, that all of the sudden, the CD ROM quit working. I used their chat service, and within minutes, my CD ROM was working. I really do love my Dell, and so far (and I mean so far) I have had no problems with any Dell that the county has ordered (I work for county gov't). I don't see what the problem is. Used to have so many problems with Gateway (much like all of your complaints) that we switched to Dell. I guess being a PC technician, who knows how to fix PC problems, I haven't had any problems working on the Dells that we have purchased.

I purchased my first computer system from Dell about 6 years ago. It was a piece of junk but Dell agreed to replace it under the then standard 3 year warranty (which also came with life time technical support). They sent out a refirbed unit that was far more superior than the junk they sent out then. The replacement computer has been fantastic and I have not had to call their company again. When I dealt with customer service they bent over backwards to make me a "Happy Dell Customer".

Around Xmas time I decided to buy a laptop. I had saw an ad on yahoo for an Inspiron 6000 for $599 with a pent. processor. I clicked, upgraded some featuers and walked away with the computer for $629 with shipping and tax. The laptop came quickly and so far so good. I did NOT have to deal with their customer service or tech support at this time. So little did I know...

That things had gotten so bad. I recently placed an order during their 10 Days of Deals. I had wanted a digital camera since getting my notebook. They had them on sale and I had a coupon code that would get me a really nice camera for a great deal. So I placed the order with an agent on the phone.

They screwed up the order. Then they tell me the camera is backordered but it will for sure ship out. 17 days later I go on their phone system to see about the order and find its been canceled. No notice sent, nothing.

Called and spoke with CS and what a joke. Typical Dell Hell treatment. Transfers left and right, non-english speaking people, promises to do this and that, and now I sit with no camera and several missed opportunities to buy from another vendor at a low price.

The thing that REALLY peeves me is that every time I call they will be happy to replace the same order at a higher price. So apparently they have the camera at regular price but not at their sale price. Bait and SWITCH!!!!!!!!!!

I work for the "Main" Dealership of a total of 3. I was asked to purchase a laptop for the company. I knew Dell had good products, so I recommended a Dell. This could have led to the purchase of over 500 or more computers in the future...for Dell. The laptop was ordered over the phone, and we were given a total cash price. We made out a company check and mailed it to Dell Financial. Then the trouble started...They said that we didnt pay the total balance, we were $10.00 short, even though we paid EXACTLY WHAT THEY SAID WAS DUE. Then when we called to complain, they said they would zero the balance off from their books on thier end, we had to do nothing. Well, the very next month, we received a statement from DELL stating that we still owed a balance, and now we are being charged 150.00 interest monthly!!
This made my general manager crazy. Being that we are a large Truck Dealership and deal with finance company daily, he call Dell Finance and told them that they must be crazy to charge 150.00 interest on a $10.00 balance monthly. They were real "nasty" on the phone with him, as I listened by speaker phone to their conversation. They said they can legally charge any interest amount they wanted. So my boss replied with, well try to go ahead, because we will see you in court before we pay that fee. And he hung up. We received legal threats from Dell, and In the end, my boss paid that bogus interest charge JUST TO STOP DEALING WITH DELL FINANCIAL FOREVER. That was two years ago, and since then, we have NEVER again purchased any Dells' and now we buy IBM's for all 3 if our companys. I have never been so ashamed of recommending a company before, and I learned a valuable lesson... EVEN THOUGH YOUR PRODUCT IS GREAT, IF THE REST OF YOUR BUSINESS ISNT, YOU WILL FAIL TO MEET THE EXPECTATIONS OF YOUR CUSTOMERS AND SOONER OR LATER, YOUR COMPANY WILL NOTICE IT WHEN YOUR BUSINESS STARTS FAILING..
NO MORE DELLS FOR US!
KATRENAVANTASSLE

Well in the past I bought a Dell Dimension-600r
P-3-600MHZ for about-hmmmm-1400-came with
19-inch trinitron monitor-great monitor"Sony
one under Dell name-But I learned to biuld
PC's and found out my Dell Dim was already
absoulete-I gutted it put in Asus-mobo-P-3
1st-1.2GHZ then a P-3-1.4....then P-4-3.2GHZ...

Now I got a AMD-64-4400......

My friend needed to reformatt his HD-had a Dell
Dim-4400-needed Mobo drivers-only-so I called
waited an hr got somebody from Phililpines-stated
I needed this disk but told me he had to pay
over $300.00 for the Hole Software Package/OS/
ETC-I told them in a PC way eat!@#$%^& so I
did some ebay search-chu/ching-4-bucks for this
loley disk-snatch that up....

Bottom line don't buy from Dell...Biuld your
own....Takes about 2-3 hrs and get quality
stuff for allot less-I've biuld 3....

Well Dell snagged Alienware PC=(-Doohhhh!!!!
Well all 3 of my PC's run great-"knock on wood".
John

We went through a nighmare with Dell Financial Services. We finally documented our case with the Texas Attorney General's office of consumer affairs. Their web site is at:

https://www.oag.state.tx.us/

The web site provides good guidance on how to use their services and document your case. The Attorney General's office will compell Dell to refute the charges and that is very effective.

Go for it.

Hi, Jonn you are not right!

The reason you have to send it with DHL is because the computer doesn't actually go to Dell to be repaired...DHL does the repair for them. It's calle d DHL Logistics. There's more info here: http://www.3plogistics.com/DHL_5-04.htm

I just bought a Dell Inspiron 1705. It was delivered in record time and it looked great. As soon as I set up the computer, I noticed that the screen resolution was not working and then I started getting an error message that the computer had found PCI Hardware but could not install it. I called the world-famous tech support people and began my passport around the world. I went from the Philippines to India and back again. No one could resolve the problems. Since I just purchased it, I decided the next day to simply return the computer. Dell put me through to their sales dept rather than returns. Once again, I found myself dealing with someone from India. They asked weird questions like, "are you on a landline? Can I call you on your cell phone?" I repeated at least ten times that I simply wanted to return a bad computer. The Dell techy then asked, "would you be purchasing another computer?" I said I wanted to return the bad one and exchange for a new one. She then processed me for a completely new purchase and as she was getting off the phone, I asked her about the return. She asked, "Oh, you want to return your old computer? I will connect you." After ten minutes, I finally got through to possibly the only American working for Dell. She told me that Dell would not pay for the return because I just purchased rather than exchanged a computer! I went ballistic. Finally, she sent me to another return specialist and I was able to complete (hopefully) the return and cancellation of any computer from Dell. As a final insult, I somehow ended up back with the original Dell support staffer from India. I will never buy from Dell now.

This is the same for all support vendors. Reading this is like rading an HP support GRIPE forum or an IBM support forum. Amaericans are greedy, glutunous, and arrogant people. The pressure for cheap products at reduced cost with high salaries have begun the push of manaufacturing and jobs over seas. American are becoming victims of their own design. I rememeber back in the day do not buy unless you have the money tday is borrow and spend since monthly payments are cheap. This won't last long and as far as all the griping here welcome to the new support for computer technology. I ahve worked for all the major computer vendors and you are preaching to the choir it IS the same for any vendor welcome to it and get used to it. Look at sail boats they are made in China and south america because EPA and government have banded use of certain chemicals needed for their production so where do the jobs and inductry go? DUH to countries that want growth and properity. Unions drive wages to where profits shrink what to the suto makers do? Duh shift production to Canada and Mexico we are competing on a global scale now thanks to the technology everyone is complaining over support that is recieved or not recieved as the case maybe.

Hmmm, so much rant. While I myself find a slightly longer wait on dell phone line, their products (knock on wood) seem fine to me.

Once my DVD Reader drive went bad. The tech support was from India. They asked me to dismantle the cabinet etc. At one point I said I am not able to do this, and he politely said that's ok. Then they ordered for an at-home service agent. I called on Sunday evening. By tuesday the tech service agent came and repaired my desktop at my home.

There were two confirmation calls by the Dell India representatives to know if my issue has been fulfilled. I confirmed with a yes.

I think you just need to be a bit polite with the CSR (and be clear -- don't confuse them). Oh well, or may be I am a bit lucky.

Yeah I needed one more service on my Dell XPS laptop. They shipped it without a Roxio DVD software CD. I first called them but their support was closed (no idea why).

Then I sent an email saying it's urgent that I get the CD. I got four CDs (out of which none was right :D) by overnight delivery. I again complained, and by next day i got the right CD in my mailbox. Fair enough, no?

Let me tell you a few things I know about Dell. If you're buying Dimension notebooks and Inspiron notebooks, you're buying the lowest level of systems they have. Even the XPS is no match for a good OptiPlex or Precision desktop. Latitude notebooks make Inspirons look like stylish paper weights. You get what you pay for unfortunately. It's not fair, but it is what it is.

As far as knocking the service reps. Try putting yourself in their shoes. As a former "rep" I can tell you that after you've been through the grinder, you begin to lose most of the compassion and sincerity you started off with. The employees are as much a victim as the customer. Most of the people you talk to are contractors just trying to make the "cut". No one is promised a permenant job, and you're informed up front that only the best of the incoming 200 new contractors will become Dell employees. From day one you are put in competition with everyone around you. It jades you after a while trust me.

Having given Dell a bit of a pass above, I should tell you that their phone system is of the Devil's making. A lot of the phone shuffling is due to the difficulty of navigating the evil and incomprehensible maze that is the automated system.

Let me give you a few good pointers to follow. Buy Gold Tech support if you'd like to talk to a state side rep. You'll get better service all around by going that route. Not only are you not going over seas, but your talking to actual computer techs. The other advice I give is to think about how and where you've purchased your system. If you've purchased online and need to make a change or cancel, don't call customer service, call e-sales. They have the tools to take care of that on the spot. Don't buy a computer over the phone and go to e-sales or customer service to cancel or modify the order. Only your sales rep can handle that for you. I can't vouch for the over seas reps, but stateside reps are asked to check their voicemail daily. That being said, some orders are built and shipped on the SAME DAY. Don't think on it or give it a day, because that will most likely be too late. Be certain of what you're buying before you buy it. The sales reps know product lines, but most of them have little to no technical knowledge. Know now that Dell Financing is the same as applying and receiving a Foley's card. Last but not least try to be nice. Understand that the sales rep you're calling out of desperation because your three hour tech support call to Manilla dropped, isn't responsible for your grief. He/she are not equipped to handle your problem. They have no magic phone number to provide or a buddy in tech support they can patch you to. Supervisor's are around, but usually in meetings or training a new group of reps. Remember this and your Dell experience may not be perfect, but it won't be Hell either. Good luck!

Dell and Dell Financial Services are by far the worst companies to deal with. You first need to get some who speaks english on the phone, after a long wait. I was laid off for a few months and was already signed up on the Credit Protection plan, called Dell and they wouldn't approve. I had 1 payment that was less than 30 days late, they called my phone every 1/2 from 8 am to 10 PM for 3 weeks straight. I have been harassed like this. I am calling the attorney general's office!

Dell laptop inspiron 5100 causing a problem when I switched on the computer it immediately or after one second switch off by itself. Please solve this problem

I have had nothing but fantastic results in Optiplex I bought from Dell! Best buy on the market and you dont deal with a middle man. It has just proven to be a great machine and a great value.

I own 2 dell dimensions. I got a dimension 500 and it had 3 yr warrenty. It went bad & 5 months of crap and no fix in sight. I ordered a dimension 2400 and it came in broke. Could not get parts as on back order
after 10 days i told them i would cancel 2400 and was really mad. They tied both pcs together at my request. I was given a new 2350 for the old 500. And then they replaced the new 2400. Then it was rebate time. what a nightmare. it took going to a friend and having him cash the checks. ok you would expect it was over...ha! I paid it off in $200 amonth payments. Payoff was $8 overpayment. sent$165 M.O. they said i sent $15. It took 8 months to settle it.then they tried to charge me late fees. I learned to do my repairs and trouble shoot on the forums. i bypass all that fake support. I just did power supply in 2350 and got a compatible and saved money. My next pc will NOT be dell from hell

Thank you for using the Better Business Bureau's Online Complaint System.
Your complaint has been assigned case # 94083103.
A confirmation will be emailed to : podunkgirl71@hotmail.com
Please print a copy of this for your records.

Filed on : August 28 2006

Filed by :
Cintia Samuelson
1175 Golden Cane Dr
Weston FL 33327

Filed against :
Dell Computer Financing
Po Box 5292
Carol StreamStream IL 60197

Complaint Description:
I bought a coputer inspiron 8600 in 2004, dell offered at the time a line of credit. I apply for it and dell gave me a line of credit in the amount of $2700; the cost of the computer including taxes is $1575.04; I had 60 days to pay it before interest. I had cancer (4 surgeries in 3 yeas); so when I got my health back, I send in the payment about 30 days late. I knew I was a month late so I send an amount of $1600.00 to cover for the interest of the 30 days and to pay off the balance f $1575.00 which they received and processed on may 5 2004. As of 2 days ago (two years later) I received a call from dell saying that I own them over a $1000.00, because the fact I did not pay within the 30 days they are charging me for the full amount of the line of credit (that I did not use all the line of credit. They told me that they apply the $1600 into many payments in the time of 2 years to mke the monthly payments of the entire ccredit line. They never paid the interest and plied the remaining towards the principal at time that they recieved it. They , at their own discretion, applied the paymento over a time period of 2 years, they never told me that they were holding my money in a escroww account and applying it monthly. I was under the impression that I fullfill my obligations when I send the money for the total amount of the product pllus interest for the 30 days that i was late. Isn't illegal for them to charge me for a line of credit that I did not use? and 2 yeasr later Dell comes to tell me that i own money? I never got their payments not bills. By law if they cash my payement of $1600.00 they had to use it right the way, by applying the interest for the 30 day that I was late and the remaining towards the principal. They cash the money, and did not use it right the way, Dell unlawfull, decided to apply the full $1600 into monthly payements for a peiod of two years towards the total line of credit, not just towards what I used of this line of credit. I have an invoice shwing that I purchase the computer on january 21, and they send me all the credit/loan terms on the 22 (which I never signed for). TAKE NOTE THAT ALSO ACCORDING TO THE FEDERAL TRADE COMISSION UNDER "TILA ACT" EVERY LOAN/CREDIT TERMS HAVE TO BE DISCLOSURE BEFORE THE LOAN IS GIVING; in my case they clearly violate the TILA law. I did send in the payment in the amount od $1600.00 more then the $1575.04(price of computer) to cover the interest for the 30 days that I was late. Dell is accting unlawufull and deceiving practices by cash the money and not applyed it right the way according to the law. it was paid and now Dell harass me every day. I already put a complaint and got a case number from dell, but they do not call me to discuss their mistake, nor remove me from their harrassing call list. Also dell refuses to send me the statements that show that I owned them a $58.00 bill payment a month that did add up to the total that they are charging me ($1000); because according to them they said it is about several month payements of $58 that I own them. Please help stop dell from doing it to more people. there is many complaints like mine on the consumer affairs.

Your Desired Resolution:
that they stop the harrassing phone calls, and retify their mistake, and clean my credit, and remove that fraudulent bill. And that they clear the mess, and be held liable for violating the TILA law.

You know what. I have had a Dell Dimesion 8250 desktop for 4 years and nothing has gone wrong with it at all. I think that you people don't take care of your computers so you should stop talking like it's Dell's fault. We got our Dell through shipping, set it up in 5 minutes and worked and still works 4 years and running. It's not Dell's fault you ... download viruses half an hour after you get your PC.

I can see some people are obviously in denial about Dell. I did not buy a cheap compter, I bought a 3500.00 Inspiron in 2001. Within a year or so I had 2 burned out mother boards and screens. The second burn out with over 18 months left on my next day in home service contract nobody showed, my calls weren't documented and after many many calls I had an appointment where no tech showed.
WE ARE NOT CHEAP COMPUTER BUYING AMERICANS,
but we are treated like we don't matter.

now years later I speck to a Jerry Strothers at Dell computers and am so upset!
it doesn't atter if the dell reps are indian, american, or what have you. Their job is to take your money, dump your calls, and let dell finaincial ruin your credit!
my story is here http:bewaredellcomputers.blogspot.com

linda

I am sure that is a very good brand in computer hardware and perpherals. The simple fact is we Americans and NRI's never knew how to use a computer . We purchase a Dell unit and think that we have purchased Dell along with the employees for Dell which is very bad . We should first try to understand the computer and also login or call Dell Technical support for a simple issue like the system if working slow.

As any one who has read the post above can see Dell does not care about customer experience. As a Dell Europe employee I see this everyday and am on the receiving end of it. There are two types of Customers in Dell. Corporate/Business and Home. Corporate customers are the lifeblood of Dell and make up the majority of Dell's business. Incredible as this may seem Dell sell more computers, servers, storage systems and network equipment, printers etc to corporate customers than they do to anyone else. This is the number one fact as to why Dell are not interested in the customer experience despite the retoric that they spout. Dell treat Corporate customer like Gods and the rest may go to (dell)hell. Recently I attempted to help a friend purchase a laptop thougth our website. The order was through a business account and was fully approved. After 8 weeks the laptop had failed to appear and no trace of the order could be found. In my attempts to trace the order internally I found to my horror that the order was never on the system and our waiting had been in vain. This is the last time that I will recommend Dell.

This is type of service is also evident between Dell departments. Internal orders are often wrong or incomplete. The people who have posted their comments on this thread are all correct and not alone, staff are sometimes/often on the receiving end of this customer experience themselves.
Dell due to it's size and wealth have are a law onto themselves and people need to make it clear that this type of business thinking will not be tolerated. The only way to make Dell sit up and listen is to lower their bottom line.

First of all you get what you pay for. If you buy a "bargain" system for Dell or any other company it's not going to be much more than an expensive paperwieght. Second of all any tech support you talk to now days is out of the country. Dell crushes the computer market so of course they will get the most complaints. I work for Dell and own Dell computers. They are the best computer I have owned and Dell is the greatest company to work for!!!!!

Kristen, regardless of whether a consumer buys a "bargain" product or a top of the line product, they all have the same warranty and entitlement to receive competent and efficient technical support. And it's great how a Dell employee is calling her own company's products expensive paperweights. Way to spread the positive PR!

From what I have read it looks like these are really isolated cases of bad Customer Service experience. With My company we use dell's and we've had no major problems outside of the occasional hardware replacement or dead harddrive.

Most of the problems I've seen with Dell's usualy are caused from the users. They don't remember to upgrade their computers(personal and work, if they are allowed) when updates are released and so we do a monthly update check outside of norton AV which we do daily now. Virus are our largest problem. My only major complaint with Dell is the cost of upgrading RAM but other than that, we've had a very positive experience with Dell.

I will agree that Dell customer service can be a very lengthy and sometimes unhelpful process. But i had a monitor go on the blink and I called Dell. Yes it took a while to get some help, but the guy tried to help me. Nothing came of the issue, and he informed me my warranty was up and apologized. I went about my business and the same Dell rep called me back to inform me that he had just discovered that the monitor I had came with a three year warranty and they shipped me a new one in a few days! I think Dell does the best they can do with the volume of customers they have to deal with. Most customers dont know anything about computers anyways. My system is two years old and has worked beautifully. No company is perfect!

I Have to Strongly disagree with the above opinion that *dell computers are a great* My Story started 9 months ago, I on the references of family with Older Dells shelled out $1,500 for a XPS 5150 thinking I was going to be getting a Quality Product...Was I EVER Mislead!!!

What happened Next was a case of Deplorable Customer Service and Deplorable Technical Service!!

They used tactics of Stalling, Lying and Ignorance to new levels of Unprofessionalism for Any High Profile Company I am truly astonished! These people did not keep tracking case numbers for each call instead they would hang up! They Used tactics of it was the Consumers Fault Not the DEFECTIVE Product! Never Once was it Considered! But months and months and HOURS and Hours on the phone Demanding to speak to Somebody in Corporate was beyond a challenge to any reasonable person.

So after 9 months You Think they resolve the issue correctly by sending another computer to replace a Defective one Yes? HaHA

You Guessed it the Second was even worse it sounded as if it would Blow up grinding metal noises and all! So Weeks and Hours of endurance trying to get them to answer my calls! Nope They would NOT return my calls. Not Until I Filed and Offical Complaint with the BBB to get rid of the Defective Computer!

It truly is Beyond me with the Aggressive Advertising that Dell does that they Can NOT treat their clients better. They are losing Repeat Business and Word of Mouth!

I am on my way of looking for a Quality Computer Product now I Won't Recomend Dell twice bitten, thrice shy! Not I!

I wonder how many people could have fixed their own damn problem without contacting dell but too lazy to hunt for the fix themeselves when its as easy as using the Search box..cause we all know that...you aren't the first person with whatever problem you have...granted some issues truly need to be addressed by dell but come on...9 out of 10 people...are just lazy and expect technology to work without having to learn a damn thing and then want to blame everyone else but their own ignorance...friggen amazes me..

I also had problems with dell,but not the computer itself,just customer service.I couldn't understand a word they said and I asked to speak with someone whom actually spoke good english and the guy just changed his voice,like I was a fool.I did the the problem resolved but I do not care to call them with any questions I have.It is ridiculous that they have these call centers in every corner of the world,for god's sake at least get someone who speaks english!!!

I paid over $1800 for my new Dell laptop which wont power on. I called for service morning of 12/11/2006. Dell said they cant fix it until after Christmas. Go figure. Its on a lease, someone please email me on how to get out of this lease! AHHHHH!