I purchased a 50" Dell plasma TV which was delivered on 2/18/06 and came with a two year warranty.
On January 13th, 2008, I contacted Dell regarding a problem with the TV. It was diagnosed as a "pixelization" issue, and Dell arranged to have a replacement (refurbished) TV delivered.
It was, on January 18th. So far so good.
But...
The Dell technician that was dispatched and met the shipper at my home knew NOTHING about TVs. In fact, I had to re-connect wiring and such because she did not know how to. I turned the TV on, and things seemed basically OK so she left. But even then, the colors displayed on the replacement TV did not seem "right."
Dell called my house several times in the next few days to follow up on their service. I was not able to answer their calls. However, on January 27th they sent me the following email:
-----Original Message-----
From: US_CTS_Ownership@dell.com [mailto:US_CTS_Ownership@dell.com]
Sent: Sunday, January 27, 2008 8:06 PM
To: Gary *** ******
Subject: Dell Inc. Case #184831705 Team PSP021 Email #~61330854~# Confirmation
Dear GARY *** ******,
Thank you for contacting Dell's Technical Support. It was a pleasure working with you to resolve the issue you had with your system.
The following information relates to your recent call.
Case # ***********
If you need further assistance with case # *************, you may contact your case owner via email. Simply reply to this email. DO NOT CHANGE the email subject line. Changing the subject line will cause routing problems with the email back to Dell.
Please include the following information in the BODY of the email message:
1.) Best time to reach you
2.) Include phone number
3.) Include your case # ************* in the email message
4.) Brief description of the current state of your issue
For all new issues, please contact a live Dell Consumer Hardware Warranty Support agent by going to http://support.dell.com/chat. An easy & efficient way to contact a Dell representative for all your needs.
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For expedited service to our premium tech agents please use YOUR express service code when calling Dell tech support at 1-*** *** ****. Your express service code is located on the bottom of your portable or on the back of your desktop system.
Respectfully,
******
********
_________
So the next day, January 28th, I sent them this email:
-----Original Message-----
From: Gary *** ******
Sent: Monday, January 28, 2008 4:40 PM
To: 'US_CTS_Ownership@dell.com'
Subject: RE: Dell Inc. Case #184831705 Team PSP021 Email #~61330854~# Confirmation
Dear ****** (or whomever),
Thank you for the follow-up regarding Case # **********.
I have received a couple of messages about this, but decided to wait a few days to respond, because I have a concern that I hoped would go away.
It hasn't.
Specifically, it has to do with the picture itself.
The replacement television has a green hue that I have not been able to completely eliminate associated with people on-screen. I have tried many personal settings as well as the pre-configured ones. While I finally settled on the "Sports" setting, the color is A; Not as real-looking, especially with flesh tones, as the original TV and B; Not nearly as real-looking, especially with flesh tones, as the 42" Dell Plasma set on the Sports setting that I bought at the same time as the original 50" (which is in a different room of the same house).
If the picture we are seeing now were the same as the demonstration models we saw at a Dell kiosk, frankly I would not have made the purchase(s) because other plasmas I have seen (not the least of which are/were my own) are much more vibrant, and lifelike than this one.
Suggestions are welcome.
If you wish to speak on the phone about it, you can reach me generally at home *** *** **** around 8 to 9PM Pacific Time.
Thanks,
Gary *** ******
________
They NEVER RESPONDED.
The problem never went away, and in fact, suddenly got much worse.
When that occurred, I sent them the following email:
-----Original Message-----
From: Gary *** ******
Sent: Monday, March 17, 2008 11:43 AM
To: 'US_CTS_Ownership@dell.com'
Subject: RE: Dell Inc. Case #184831705 Team PSP021 Email #~61330854~# Confirmation
PLEASE HELP!!!!!
As I wrote (below), I was concerned about the picture quality of the replacement TV we received. Flesh tomes in particular were never quite right.
But last Friday night (3/14), suddenly the "red" completely left the image!!!
Our "color" screen can now be best described as Sepia-like, with bronze coloring dominating the images.
I have tried numerous settings in trying to adjust the color, from the pre-configured settings to personal settings. But the red comes out as brown.
This is totally unacceptable and we will need a replacement unit as soon as possible!
1.) Best time to reach you - 8AM - 8PM Pacific Time
2.) Include phone number *** *** ****
3.) Include your case # ********** in the email message
4.) Brief description of the current state of your issue See above (and below).
Again, PLEASE CONTACT ME SOON!
Thank you,
Gary *** ******
(I also included the orignal two emails above).
________
They did not respond.
So I sent it again the next day.
And the next day.
And then I finally called them on 3/20. It is important, I suppose, to note I also called them after the 28th of January but hung up because of long wait times. This time I was not going to abandon and finally got to a rep, Bianca. She could not help me and claimed they did not respond because my "system" was out of warranty.
I escalated to *******. Same story.
He committed to having someone from the "Customer Resolutions Team" get ahold of me within 24 hours.
They didn't. approximately 48 hours later Prolog called me back. He placed me on hold for over 30 minutes, came on and explained he would escalate further to a "Corporate Manager." He came back on to say I could not (then) speak to anyone, but a manager would call me back within 24 hours and even committed to the time at 2 to 3 PM Pacific. On Friday, 3/21 I was not able to take a call that instead came in at 3PM Eastern. The message stated that "****** from the Dell Resolution Team" would call me back on Monday, between 2 and 3 Eastern.
On Monday, 3/24 I got a call from "Sam." He, like many others, could not help. He, like some of the others stated the case was unusual, but since it is now "out of warranty" he could do nothing about it.
With dogged persistence I got him to agree to send a replacement, but that they could not send a Dell technician. I finally agreed to that with some trepidation (after all, what if the replacement was indeed again bad?), since my current TV is basically "Bronze and blue."
But Sam called me back a few hours later to tell me he could not get the TV replaced after all because it requires a technician and one can't be dispatched because it was out of warranty.
Right.
So then he, like several other people, suggested I contact Dell "Out of warranty support." I refused, because I am firm that this is an in, not out, of warranty issue. I suggested he contact them, because they would likely not even agree to repair the TV at all.
He put me on hold for awhile, came back, and said that he called them. He confirmed my suspician that they will not only not offer a support contract, but they have NO PROVISION to even get it fixed!
I went round and round with him for awhile longer, and he claimed that the only thing I could do was "write Dell Corporate." But there is no name, no department, and even the address to send it to are not available. He committed to giving it to me, but didn't before the end of the call which took place when he told me he had never actually read my email!
What????
Since then I have written them emails on the 26th, called on the 26th, and even had a "chat" with agent Curtis who could not give me an address, but gave me another phone number. I called it and eventually spoke with "Litto" who, once briefed, would also not even provide an address to send coorespondance to, said I was already talking to people "way above my supervisor" when I tried escalating yet again so refused to do that and said "someone" will call me back.
Is it me? Or is this ridiculous!?!?!?!?
Bottom line: IT IS NOT APPROPRIATE TO REPLACE DEFECTIVE MERCHANDISE UNDER WARRANTY WITH DEFECTIVE MERCHANDISE THAT IS REPORTED AS SUCH IN A TIMELY FASHION WITH THE PRODUCT IS STILL UNDER WARRANTY, IGNORE THE PROBLEM DESPITE FOLLOWING INSTRUCTIONS PROVIDED FOR CONTACTING THE ORGANIZATION THEN CLAIM THE PRODUCT IS OUT OF WARRANTY.