Unbelieve treatment from DELL

[dwilliu1]

I'd love to hear what you all think of this.

My father recently purchased a refurbished Dell Inspiron 8100 notebook, about 5 months ago or so. About a week ago the notebook was damaged by water leaking onto it, and the notebook was non-functional. This type of damage is not covered by Dell's warranty. My father contacted Dell about the problem, and they told him to send it in for recovery/repair. Dell's diagnosis was that the Inspiron's motherboard has been fried, and repair for such a thing would cost
about $900.

My father opted to have the laptop sent back to him, without having Dell repair any part of
it. $900 is ridiculous and he could almost purchase a new system for that price. Plus it would be much cheaper for him to have it repaired some place else, but obviously he needs his notebook back for business etc.

This is where things get shady...

Upon informing the customer service representative of this, he was told that it would cost him $260 just for Dell to send the computer back, unrepaired!

He was never aware of this policy prior to sending the notebook to Dell, and he was unaware of any obligation to pay such a steep fee for getting what is essentially a repair estimate. If he had known this I'm sure he would never have sent his Inspiron to Dell in the first place, yet they want to charge him $260 to ship his own laptop back to him???

To make it worse, the customer service representative then stated that if he were to purchase a new notebook from Dell, then they would credit his account with the $260.

I'm no lawyer, but isn't that blackmail?

We've bought many Dells in the past and I know many of you people do too, but doesn't that story make you a little uneasy about Dell?
:disgust:

 

[WinkOsmosis]

Get a lawyer and sue them for emotional damage, since you are both obviously distraught.

 

[RoodyPooGangsta]

I don't see how they can keep something that is his. Tell them 'fine, bill me for the estimate and send my machine back'. Then, once he has it back, don't pay the $260 and if they want to push it, take the case to a lawyer.

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

This is a normal practice, nothing shady about it. Sony charges $225 to look at out of warranty stuff, excluding shipping. Sears is $96 or so. You don't even get credit if you decide to have it fixed, that $96 is just pissed away.

It's not like they can replace just a single part and get it working. They'll have to replace the mobo, power supply, etc. Depends on what is changable. The processor could be soldered on as well as the vid card. All expensive stuff. But you can't go anywhere else or do it yourself. You could buy the mobo from someplace else, but still expensive.

I have a fried power supply on a Toshiba 200mhz laptop, so you can imagine how slow it is. $385 to fix it. Power supply and mobo are one piece, as is the processor and vid card.

It sucks to be your dad, but it's not an uncommon thing. It sucks that they didn't tell him about that before he sent it in. I'd certainly call and tell them that he wasn't aware that there was a charge, nor was he informed there would be any. He's gotta be polite. Being rude won't get him anywhere.

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

Originally posted by: RoodyPooGangsta
I don't see how they can keep something that is his. Tell them 'fine, bill me for the estimate and send my machine back'. Then, once he has it back, don't pay the $260 and if they want to push it, take the case to a lawyer.

They could claim it as a lien. Same as a mechanic. You can't just go get your car and not pay. They hold a lien on it until you do pay. Otherwise bozos would get their cars fixed for free. Mechanic has to pay a lawyer and court fees. Getting a judgement doesn't do jack. So the court orders the guy to pay the mechanic $400 and he doesn't pay it. You'd be out the $400 if the guy doesn't have it.

 

[NikPreviousAcct]

So... you read through all the policies from Dell, first, right? Simply "not knowing" is a sh|tty excuse.

 

[dwilliu1]

Normal practice or not, it's deceiving and it's not how they should treat their customers.
I'll update you as the situation develops.

 

[Dacalo]

this is normal.

I had my Sharp MD player which just stopped functioning after 6 months.

I sent it for repair and they told me that it will cost $350 to repair it. ( I bought it for $320 back when MD just came out)

I declined and I just wanted my MD player back, but they told me I have to pay $300, yes $300 to have it back.

I said screw it, you can keep my broken MD player and left it at that.

What a waste of MD player it was :disgust:

 

[dwilliu1]

Any company that prides itself in having good relationships with their customers shouldn't have a policy like that.

 

[Lucky]

and customers who are smart enough to ask what the charge for an estimate is if you decide not to have them repair it dont go through this hassle.

 

[Centaur6]

Like someone above already said, give them your CC number and have them send the machine back. Once it's in your hands, call the credit card company and tell them to stop payment. Then call DELL, ask for the person you spoke to, and personally tell him to go fvck himself. Don't forget to thank him for his time and wish him a happy New Year.

 

[rgwalt]

You have to pay for estimates for repairs. It is too bad that they didn't inform you in the first place, but that was their error. Hey, at least they'll give you credit towards a new laptop.

Ryan

 

[Antisocial Virge]

Originally posted by: Centaur6
Like someone above already said, give them your CC number and have them send the machine back. Once it's in your hands, call the credit card company and tell them to stop payment. Then call DELL, ask for the person you spoke to, and personally tell him to go fvck himself. Don't forget to thank him for his time and wish him a happy New Year.

Lovely ethics on yea. Make sure to remind me to use your services and then refuse to pay you. What would make you think Dell was gonna do it for free if it was out of warrenty.

 

[SuperSix]

Pay it with a credit card, and dispute the charge after you get the notebook back..

Assuming your story is true.

 

[Cyberian]

He was never aware of this policy prior to sending the notebook to Dell,

This is a bit surprising for a large, reputable company like Dell.
If this is true, then whoever you spoke with at Dell should be reprimanded and the bill should be lowered significantly.
I worked for another large PC manufacturer, and we had to explain our rates ad nauseum and keep asking the customer if they completely understood.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Originally posted by: dwilliu1
Normal practice or not, it's deceiving and it's not how they should treat their customers.
I'll update you as the situation develops.

Did your father think they would have a repair tech look at it for free? I don't know of any repair center except maybe a mom-and-pop store that does free problem diagnostics for electronic equipment.

If your dad wasn't naive enough to think it would be free, why didn't he ask what the charge would be? Did he decide on his own what the charge "should" be?

Sounds like you should pay the money.

 

[Spook]

So, let me get this straight, you wanted them to do all the work troubleshooting, for free... so you could get the part yourself at home for the mere cost of the part, and replace it yourself... So, they do all the work, and you just have to do the replacement... is that what you expected? Umm Technicians have to eat too you know. I have to agree, it sounds like a bit much, but I wouldn't have expected a free examination either....

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

Originally posted by: Centaur6
Like someone above already said, give them your CC number and have them send the machine back. Once it's in your hands, call the credit card company and tell them to stop payment. Then call DELL, ask for the person you spoke to, and personally tell him to go fvck himself. Don't forget to thank him for his time and wish him a happy New Year.

Uh, just because you dispute a charge doesn't make it magically go away. If Dell proves to the CC company that it was legit, the charge will stand. It's not a get out of payment free card.

 

[Tom]

Your Dad might check if the damage is covered by homeowners or auto insurance, depending on the circumstances.

 

[GSOYF]

2 lessons from this....don't spill water on your computer, and don't get a dell.

 

[John]

Before you ever send/leave equipment at a facility for service, you should always ask them how much their hourly rate is, and to call if it goes over their minimum charge.

 

[Blieb]

Jack your old man in the mug for getting water on his laptop, and console him by telling him he's lucky he didn't burn his tulip off.

 

[Rogue]

I've worked in the tech support industry long enough to know that this is one of those things they do to see who they can actually get money from for it. Push the issue hard enough for long enough and they'll cut their losses. They know that they will make that profit up the next time you purchase from them, so they'd be smart to let it go and keep you as a customer. Go straight to management on the matter and be persistent.

 

[Gonad the Barbarian]

Is the notebook under warranty or not? If it is, they are not supposed to charge a fee to find the problem, even if the problem itself isn't covered by the warranty.

 

[oniq]

Call the cops, tell them that DELL forced you to slap a UPS calltag (shipping) label on the laptop and send it off to them!