To warn anyone buying a computer

[dontbuyadell]

To not buy a Dell!

Their customer service stinks!
Bought a new Dell laptop 3 months ago. The battery unit has failed. Known fault.
Failed on a Friday night - no customer service over the weekend.
Contacted tech support on the Monday morning. Said they would send tech engineer next day - fine
Tuesday - answerphone message (phone never rang) to say call cancelled due to part not arriving. Rebooked for next day by Dell.
Wednesday - same thing
Thursday -same again. Contact Dell support again promised it would be fixed next day.
Friday - cancelled again. Lots of back and forth with Dell. Who escalate things and firm promise for today it being fixed.

Once again today they cancelled. Each time it's just an automated message.

All phone lines are robots. All chats are robots. Even social media is robots. All give me word for word answers.

Absolutely no way of escalating it further.

I'm now posting all over social media in an effort to get someone to help fix it.

I'm losing business and money now as a result. I don't have a spare computer. I live alone.

So please if anyone is thinking of buying a Dell computer please reconsider. Or you could end up being me.

Am I being unreasonable to think we deserve better from large companies?

Why are you dreaming directly with Dell and not the business you bought it from? Surely they should be dealing with Dell if necessary. If the battery had failed ergo isn't it a simple battery if buying a new battery and then pursuing the seller/Dell for sure kind of compensation. Another battery is a useful thing to have anyway - they don't last forever. FWIW - I wrote software for 20+ years and have a wardrobe with about a dozen old laptops - mainly Thinkpads/Lenovo and a few Dells - the XPS15 or XPS13 models are, rightly IMHO, highly regarded - the XPS15 I have now (~3 years old) is probably one of the best laptops I've ever used. Have you checked that it's not the power block that's at fault?

No because funnily enough I bought a laptop because I need it to be mobile. Just because it could function in a much more limited capacity doesn't absolve Dell from their responsibilities to fix it.
It's 3 months old and is not fit for purpose

What a shitty reply! The pp was trying to give you a way to use it until it’s sorted. It may not have worked for you, but you don’t have to be an arse to people trying to help. Ffs.

The person was trying to help you with a solution. In the meantime, as you said you were losing business, and had no other options.

I bought a Dell laptop as I thought it was on at an extremely good price. I sent it back within a week.

I found out why it was so cheap. I went back to my trusty Acer to replace.

It was a nightmare trying to get that sorted as the English language spoken was very broken.

It had broken within 2 days of having it. I couldn't get anywhere with tech. In the end, I demanded a manager and arranged a return.

Everyone I know who has bought Dell has had nothing but trouble with it

We've always had Dells and always found them excellent. In fact our first laptop, bought in about 2005 from them as a slight second still works.
When things have gone wrong they've always been very helpful. Dh spent 3-4 hours on the phone with them trying all sorts of things and eventually one worked about 6 months ago. He was impressed with their persistence and knowledge, and he works in computers and isn't easily impressed there.
When ds' laptop went wrong still in guarantee, they sent someone round to fix it. They came to my work (as easier than home) and were lovely as well as fixing it.

We've only had excellent service from them, and will definitely be going back there when we need another computer.

I can't find your post now on it. However, you said you paid £500 for it, and that was as much as you could afford (paraphrased)

£500 in my view, unless you want a gamers laptop, is good money. It's certainly not cheap