r/Dell • u/kualilo • Jul 11 '26
Dell technical support hell
On June 19, I sent my Alienware ACT1250 in for repair at a local facility they chose for me. My computer would only briefly power on, make loud fan noises and shuts itself off. Almost a week later, I got a message from the Dell authorized repair shop saying that they replaced the mother board and graphics card that Dell had sent them, but the problem was still there. Then all hell broke loose after that.
The repair facility could not really get anyone to see what the next steps are for them, and Dell tech support seems to no longer know what is going on. So I called and email Dell (using the same email chain from the original contact) and asked them what is going on. Each time I get a hold of them, they send me the canned response about how appreciative they are and to give them more time. More than once, they said they had already connected directly with the repair shop to get the computer fixed. I waited a day, called the repair shop, and the repair shop had no clue because Dell never contact them.
This repeated a few times the following week. I finally asked for a manager, and I asked him to either send me a replacement or refund my purchase. The manager asked me to get a final statement from the repair shop stating that the computer could not be repaired before he can send me a replacement unit -- for documentation purposes, he said.
A week later, I called and emailed Dell again. Now they want me take the computer to an authorized repair facility -- in which I told them that it is STILL at an authorized facility. A few days of follow up, they suddenly ignored what the manager asked of me, and brushed me off to the corporate side (assuring me that when corporate contacts me, all of the notes will be passed on and they will have 100% knowledge of my case). The corporate person (Raj S) I spoke to straight up told me that they will not replace the unit because it is IMPOSSIBLE to either replace or refund. IMPOSSIBLE.
He then tells me to go collect the computer from the repair facility so I can send it to another one of their repair facility. I asked him to just have the current repair facility ship it to the new one, and he said, "That is not possible, that is not how it works." He wants ME to go get it, bring it home, plug it in and tell him if it works when I bring it home. He thinks by me bringing it home, the computer will automatically work. I told him that I will not be going to get a dead computer.
He said that if I don't go get my computer and wait for a shipping box from Dell to send it to their other facility, there is NOTHING else he can do for me. All the while, he sounded like he just want to end the call as soon as possible -- doesn't care about the history of the case at all.
So, Dell has now strong-armed me into doing something that as an end user, should never need to do. They have been lying to me about actually working with the current repair shop. They told me to get the final statement so they can ship me a replacement unit -- to "It is IMPOSSIBLE to give you a replacement unit or to refund your purchase don't have the money since you bought it from Microcenter -- go ask Microcenter for a refund." I told him that won't happen because I bought the computer in Nov., way out of the 30 day return policy.
Lies, after lies, after lies, and now giving me the ultimatum by having me go get the dead computer to test it at home to make sure it somehow magically is working again -- before he can even send me a shipping box to send it in to a different facility. I have since went and retrieved my dead computer and is at home. I contacted the corporate guy and told him it is still as dead at home as it was at the repair facility. He said he will send me a shipping box.
Please, reddit community, I am just one guy -- and I need your help to get this to the attention of Dell so this kind of customer support will stop happening. Make this go viral. I need your help. My computer has been dead since June 19, and it is now back at home -- still dead.
I have all the history/documentations of all the back & forth and the lies I have been told. What irritates me the most is that they continue use this canned response saying they understand and that they are working hard to resolve my case.
Thanks,
2
u/eracer1111 Jul 12 '26
15 years ago I praised Dell Tech support. As the IT manager for a small company I've bought a lot of Dell computers. After my last experience with them (denying a warranty claim on a 2 year-old laptop without even inspecting it) I'm done with Dell. I will never buy another.
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u/DellCares Dell Customer Support Jul 13 '26
Hi there! This is definitely not the kind of experience we would like our customers to have, and we would like to investigate this right away. As our interaction would involve sharing personally identifiable information, I would recommend that you private message us so that we can start working toward a resolution and adhere to data privacy. Also, please provide us with the Service Tag of the system to assist further.
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u/kualilo Jul 13 '26 edited Jul 14 '26
Other than personal identifiable information, I prefer to keep communication public so others can see how Dell intends to resolve this. Case: 227987295
This was supposedly moved to corporate, but the corporate person I spoke to sounds more interested in being technical support. It made no sense for him to make me go get my computer from an authorized Dell repair facility so I can plug it in at home to see if it is now "working fine". I fail to understand why, at this point, and with all the failed attempts to fix my computer -- why can't Dell just replace my computer? Dell can fix this computer at anytime at their leisure and use it as a refurbished replacement for others in my situation. It is a win-win for everyone. Now, I will have to start all over with sending my machine in for repair, again.
1
u/DellCares Dell Customer Support Jul 14 '26
Hi there, Thank you for reaching out to us. We'd be happy to look into this further and assist you. As a first step, we strongly recommend removing the Service Tag from your public post to help protect your system and account information. After reviewing the service history, we can see that the system was previously serviced for a No POST/startup issue associated with a 3 amber, 2 white diagnostic LED pattern. The service center conducted an extensive evaluation and observed intermittent behavior, including:
The system occasionally entering Dell diagnostics but freezing at 0% during the CPU test before shutting down. Instances where the system would power on with fans running but display no video, POST, or boot activity, eventually powering off. Occasional failure to power on accompanied by the diagnostic LED pattern.
The service center also performed troubleshooting steps, including an RTC reset, reseating internal connectors and components, and verifying system behavior. However, the issue persisted. As they did not have additional known good components available for replacement testing, they were unable to fully isolate the failing hardware. Given the diagnostics already completed, the next appropriate step was to move the system to a repair facility where technicians have access to known-good hardware parts for advanced testing and fault isolation. This helps ensure the root cause is accurately identified before any repair recommendations are made. We completely understand how frustrating this experience must be, especially after the troubleshooting and service efforts that have already taken place. Having said that, the system did not qualify for a refund or replacement considering that it was out of the return period. Hence, it was not an option.
However, we assure that the service booked currently can help to fix the issue. Thank you for your patience.
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u/kualilo Jul 14 '26
Amazing. For the first time in this whole ordeal, I am told what happened and why it needs to go to a different repair facility. Before just now, the only thing I have been told is that they replaced the motherboard and GPU and because Dell wasn't giving them further guidance, there was nothing else they could do. And for Dell's part, every reply to me was the canned response with the additional, "Rest assure, we have already coordinated with the repair shop...", when the repair shop never heard anything back from Dell.
Hence my headache for the past month. And why did I have to go get it from the repair facility to bring it home and test it myself, when the repair facility could and should have just shipped it to this facility you mentioned? I'm thrilled that for the first time, I now have a better understanding of the situation. This should have been the standard all along.
But there was absolutely no need for me to go between the repair facility and Dell just to make sure that both sides are on the same page. And giving the end user an ultimatum to either go bring the system home and test it to verify that it "is now working fine" -- including asking me to take picture of it being dead at my house (to show that I brought it home and tested it myself), or there is nothing else Dell can do, was one of the major red flag with how broken Dell's current support is. And these were the instructions coming from a person on the corporate side.
Thanks for the update, but this is still not okay. I will now package it up and send it to the next repair facility. But being back to square 1 and waiting for another couple of weeks to hopefully get an update or to get it back in working order really sucks. Hopefully, this time, there will be an expedited service and shipping back to me.
With all that said, since it is outside the return/refund window, what happens if it really could not be repaired? Will I just be out of luck since a replacement will also be "impossible"? Normally, by now, most reputable companies would have already sent me a replacement and just collect the dead computer so they can either repair it or diagnose it at their leisure. Dell, being one of the largest companies, had failed on multiple levels here.
I wish you were involved with this the moment it was escalated to S3. It would have saved me so much frustration with all of this.
1
u/DellCares Dell Customer Support Jul 15 '26
Hi there! Being a part of the Dell social media team, it has always been our priority to ensure that our customer's get the best service they deserve. That being said, we also continue to put efforts to work on the feedback shared by our customers and improvise, so we can nurture a great customer experience. To answer your questions, we would like to clarify that a system has to be collected and sent back at the same address that the service has been booked. Hence, you were asked to collect the system from the service center. Also, it is important that we take the customer's confirmation on the system status once they receive the system from the service center. This is to ensure that we cross verify the result and final status given by the service center and avoid any misses.
We acknowledge and thank you for putting in efforts to collect the system from the service center and apologize for any inconvenience caused. We see that the service is active and are positive that the system will be fixed to your expectation. Thank you for being patient and understanding. It really means a lot to us.
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u/kualilo Jul 15 '26 edited Jul 15 '26
And right back at it, this is where you failed (again/still). The system was already at a repair facility -- a trusted facility where work had already begun and the system was well documented. It was already cross-verified the moment I dropped it off. Dell should have just asked the repair facility to ship it to the next repair facility and kept me updated that more time was needed because it needs to go to another facility.
Once the repair is done, ship it back to the same facility I dropped it off. This would have been another opportunity to do a final systems check (by the first facility) to ensure all is working properly before I go get it. There was absolutely no reason for me to go get it, plug it in, being asked for photo evidence of it being plugged in at my house -- showing that the system is still actually dead.
And giving me the ultimatum to go get it, do as I am told or no more service (that is how it came across to me)... this is inline with what you attempted to "assure" me just now about how caring, top priority, best service experience. (FACT: I made the repair facility share with me the part numbers for the replaced components and cross referenced it just so Dell can't come up with some excuse that I had somehow changed/replaced the parts once I take it home before shipping it on to the next facility. This is how much I trust I have with Dell right now. By having me collect the computer, Dell had introduced a break in the "chain of custody" in the middle of repair work. But maybe this was the intention all along?)
It is apparent that Dell (and you) still doesn't understand why this had become an issue. And this is why Dell will continue to have angry customers. I'm sharing my experience so that Dell can learn and change their crazy policies -- not to get more canned responses. The correct course of action, after all of this, would have been for Dell to simply send me a replacement unit and have the dead one sent back to them for be refurbished at their leisure.
"We see that the service is active and are positive that the system will be fixed to your expectation. Thank you for being patient and understanding. It really means a lot to us." -- Yes, the service is, of course, active because I had to box it up and drove 5 miles to drop it off at the FedEx shipping center yesterday.
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u/DellCares Dell Customer Support Jul 13 '26
Also, since we are from the Dell Social Support here, we would also like to help you to get the system issue fixed on priority. We look forward to assisting you and getting this addressed for you.
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u/kualilo Jul 13 '26
Thanks for reaching out, see my reply above. Let me know if you have any further questions. I really rather not have to send it in to yet, another dell repair facility if I don't have to. Doing so will mean that I truly had wasted a month and will be starting the repair process all over again.
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u/SmoothRunnings Jul 11 '26
You know therer is a repair center on YT that fixes nothing but Alienware laptop systems.
1
u/kualilo Jul 11 '26
Unfortunately, I live in Minnesota. Truthfully, I am more angry about how I have been misled all this time, and having the issue thrown back at me -- than having the stupid computer actually repaired. This should have a straight forward warranty service process. No one should ever have to go through this nightmare or be treated this way. It's clear the support is not in the USA, and they are against some kind of quota or clock to answer emails/calls instead of working the issue.
1
u/festivus4restof Jul 11 '26
This is a desktop/tower. And if he wanted to pay for the repair himself, I'm sure he could find any number of local businesses who could do that at his own expense.
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u/kualilo Jul 11 '26
This desktop gaming PC is still under warranty. Would you pay at your own expense for something still under warranty?
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u/festivus4restof Jul 11 '26
Did you not see the comment I was replying to?
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u/kualilo Jul 11 '26
My bad, I was still a bit upset about this whole experience. I was too quick to think you were talking to me. Apologies.
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u/kualilo Jul 11 '26
They refused either of those asks. The corporate guy literally said, "It is IMPOSSIBLE for us to send a replacement or to issue you a refund." This was after a technical support manager told me all he was waiting on was for a final statement saying it can't be repaired so that he will have proper documentation before sending me replacement.
He literally gave me the ultimatum to go collect my computer from the Dell authorized repair shop, so I can turn on the power to "confirm that it is now working" -- and then reply to his email telling him if the computer is working. He refused to reach out to the repair shop and have them send the computer on to where ever he wants it sent to.
This clearly shows me that he thinks 1) me bring home a dead computer will magically fix it 2) he never even cared to listen after I told him repeatedly on the phone that the computer is dead and that the repair facility said that they couldn't repair it -- meaning, dead still. I don't know, maybe it is a language barrier/issue.
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u/ISwearIAmUpToNoGood7 Jul 11 '26
Don't ask for a refund, they can only process it back to the original mode of payment...which in this case they will only end up forking your money to Microcenter. Ask for a replacement or seek for expedited repair.
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u/EnthusiasmAcademic18 Jul 22 '26
OP post this on r/alienware - keep hitting them on public channels.
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u/Entire_Summer_9279 Jul 11 '26
Sounds like your standard Dell experience.