What rights against Dell

neilmcl

still_savin wrote: »

I genuinely don't understand how anyone can find it reasonable that a company can admit that the product they have sent is faulty, but then decide that they'll not refund me for three weeks until their machine gets back to them in the Far East. The fault isn't under question - Dell have acknowledged it is broken. The customer is being treated as untrustworthy, but the customer isn't the one who's done something wrong!

It is entirely reasonable for them to get the item back in their possession and to make sure it is indeed faulty before issuing a refund. You seem intent in making a meal out of the whole situation, regardless of any mistakes the retailer have made.

still_savin

neilmcl wrote: »

It is entirely reasonable for them to get the item back in their possession and to make sure it is indeed faulty before issuing a refund. You seem intent in making a meal out of the whole situation, regardless of any mistakes the retailer have made.

Well as I've just said, maybe I've just got too furious over this situation to have a clear head, so maybe you're right, but I really just can't see it. Do you accept that Dell's incompetence in failing to send an engineer twice is likely to have a cost to me, because I had to wait for him to (not) arrive? There's only Yes or No there really. If you've said Yes, can you further see that Dell issuing a refund - now, in two weeks, or in seventeen years time - does not put me back in the position I was prior to Dell breaking our contract? I would still be at a significant loss, and the responsible party for that loss is Dell.

Unless I'm massively misunderstanding the legislation, SOGA suggests that it is the customer who is entitled to choose the remedy from either a refund or a replacement/repair. I chose replacement, in order to at least get something from my situation. I just can't actually GET a replacement - Dell keep setting dates when they'll give me that (and lets not forget they charged me an additional amount for it) but they keep failing to meet them.

The basic position is that I don't WANT to be unreasonable, or difficult, or just a royal PITA, and I'm genuinely upset that some posters feel I am being. I'd like to ask them - what exactly do they think I should do instead then? Should I elect a refund, which when it eventually arrives will allow me to go and source a replacement elsewhere but do nothing to compensate me for all this trouble? Or should I just sit and wait until Dell decide I will get a replacement (Dell today can't say when that might be, just that it will be 'as soon as possible')? Something else? Tell me how YOU would resolve the problem, and whether or not you'd be satisfied with that resolution!

RacyRed

neilmcl wrote: »

It is entirely reasonable for them to get the item back in their possession and to make sure it is indeed faulty before issuing a refund. You seem intent in making a meal out of the whole situation, regardless of any mistakes the retailer have made.

Can't agree with this. Dell's own engineer has aready inspected the computer and diagnosed a faulty hard drive.

still savin, I may be alone in this but I also think that you have been treated very badly. I really cannot see why one of the largest computer companies in the world cannot source and equipe their engineer with a replacement hard drive or get a similar spec computer to you within a few days.

And having to phone a premium rate technical support line repeatedly to get a situation like this sorted is, frankly, obscene.

If I were in your shoes I'd invoice Dell for lost earnings and call costs. As for the computer, when is it due now? If still the 14th I'd see if it arrives before doing anything else.

still_savin

It can't arrive on the 14th, because it hasn't been built yet. It still shows on the tracking site as "in production". I'm struggling to believe that Dell can finish building it, freight it to Europe, get it delivered to the courier's central depot, get it from there to the local depot, and get it from there to me, all during the course of the one business day that's left before the 14th.

But, and here's a bit here for my detractors who think I'm being unreasonable, Dell today insist on the phone that I should be at home Monday anyway. This is because Dell haven't notified me that the date is wrong, so I should assume its not wrong. Here's a rough account of the call I've made to them this morning.

DELL: We have already told you that your computer will arrive on or before the 14th.
ME: Well yes I know, but you already told me that my computer would arrive on or before the 2nd as well. And on or before the 28th. And... ummm..... it didn't.
DELL: Well it will definitely come this time.
ME: That's what the last person said.
DELL: Please wait until the 14th and your computer will arrive.
ME: But it shows on the tracking service as "in production"
DELL: That system might be wrong.
ME: So you're saying that I should stay at home for delivery Monday then?
DELL: Yes.
ME: What if it doesn't come, as in the last time and the time before that when you said it would?
DELL: Then we will arrange for a new delivery date.
ME: But then I'd have lost ANOTHER day!
DELL: We cannot contact the place where your computer is being built so we cannot find out if the tracking is right or not.
ME: What CAN you do?
DELL: We can send an email, and we will get a reply in two working days.
ME: Two working days is past the 14th! What use is an email telling me whether or not I'll get my computer on the 14th which arrives AFTER the 14th??!!

I've lost the plot now. What's certain is ONE of us is mad, either me or Dell, because one of us thinks this situation is fine and the other one thinks its farcical. Opinions on this board seem somewhat divided as to which of us needs a visit from the men in the white coats...

RacyRed

Tricky one. If the tracker is incorrect then the laptop might arrive on Monday. But your lack of optimism is understandable. I don't think you have any choice but to be available on the 14th as things stand though.

I find it odd that Dell are unable to find out the exact status for you and confirm or update the expected delivery date. Do you have a contact number for the twitter person who called you? Might be worth chasing this up with them?

still_savin

I only have an email address for him. And all he did was contact the same team that I had and ask them to call me rather than me call them.

I'm just trying to find out now if I can sue Dell for distress and inconvenience when/if I finally get a computer from them.

PZH

RacyRed wrote: »

I don't think you have any choice but to be available on the 14th as things stand though.

Who do Dell use as a Courier? If no-one is available to take delivery, wouldn't they leave a card for re-delivery? At least you then know that it is with a courier and available for delivery ?

still_savin

phoodless wrote: »

Who do Dell use as a Courier? If no-one is available to take delivery, wouldn't they leave a card for re-delivery? At least you then know that it is with a courier and available for delivery ?

;) Welsh Western. I'm not going to express any opinion on them at all, other than to give you their name and tell you to enter "Welsh Western Dell" into Google and look at any of your choice of the first dozen results (other than the first, which is Dell's own entry describing the alleged process). Have a quick read - it'll make your hair stand on end. If Welsh Western do have me down for a delivery, I pretty much have to be here for it, or nobody on God's green earth will see it again for at least another fortnight!

PZH

still_savin wrote: »

;) Welsh Western. I'm not going to express any opinion on them at all, other than to give you their name and tell you to enter "Welsh Western Dell" into Google and look at any of your choice of the first dozen results (other than the first, which is Dell's own entry describing the alleged process). Have a quick read - it'll make your hair stand on end. If Welsh Western do have me down for a delivery, I pretty much have to be here for it, or nobody on God's green earth will see it again for at least another fortnight!

To be fair - the reviews are dated as far back as 2004. (latest is April 2010 on MSE)

If you google CityLink (and other couriers ) you will get some horrendous stories - but I personally have never had a problem with them.

I googled Dell delivery - and they also use UPS and HDL ?

still_savin

phoodless wrote: »

To be fair - the reviews are dated as far back as 2004. (latest is April 2010 on MSE)

If you google CityLink (and other couriers ) you will get some horrendous stories - but I personally have never had a problem with them.

I googled Dell delivery - and they also use UPS and HDL ?

I believe I am down for WW, as when I click the "track shipping" link on my order status page I get redirected to a page titled Welsh Western Track & Trace. Unfortunately the boxes which should say stuff like "Arrived depot" "On van" or whatever are all blank, but it does look like its the (in)famous Welsh Western that's handling it - if it's coming.