Dell: An honest review

Have gone through a couple of orders with Dell recently so thought I'd post a few thoughts.

If this is the wrong place please move :)

Ordering

Ordering with Dell is pretty painless really. First of all I went with finance. Went through steps all seemed fine.

Ordered a Dell 2001FP

Got an e-mail from Dell Finance section saying that I had a problem with the order and asking me to confirm that I was still interested. I did and got through the documents. At this stage I was wishing I didn't use my hotmail addy as I just don't trust it for stuff like this ;)

Just as I returned documents I realised that I actually had enough to buy the damn thing so did two things:

1: rang Dell customer service

2: E-mailed blokey confirming the cancellation of finance.

Dell customer service were OK I have to say: after I got through the normal pres 1, 4, 7, 2, 2 etcetc

They said that was fine. The finaince would be cancelled and that they'd put it on my card.

They did say that the monitor was at the courriers awaiting delivery so it may be up to 7days. Bit of a bugger but hey it was my fault.

The e-mailing thing got a bit silly. Obviously the finaince chap I spoke to has a lot of customers to look after: he kept e-mailing me about the order and every time I told him it was cancelled.

Sooooo

I checked ARIA and was miffed to see a Dell 2005FPW for a damn site cheaper than I payed for my 2001FP. Right ring Dell: cancel order. Order off of ARIA :p

That all done I did indeed get straight through to a Dell cust service op and she seems to have sorted it all out. Dell raised TWO orders would you believe. But apprently these are being cancelled.

I did enjoy the way she said: "well: just keep one of the monitors and I'll give you a rebate on the order" lmao: NO!

Soooooo thats all pending and I'll update this when I get ALL the money back.

The Monitor:

Got the monitor through from ARIA and all was good. great packaging in original Dell box, good clear instructions....good solid cables with EMI shielding. Liked it.

plugged in...

Bleed

Not my favourite subject this. Yes I'd read about it but it was soo sexy and ya know: it won't happen to me!

It did :(

Screen performs great it has to be said apart from the bleed. This is pretty bad with 4 "Grey" areas on the screen when its totally black. Maybe I would have left it if it was a cheapo one.

Here's a bad camera pic of it:

http://upload.rubbishrubbishrubbishr...2/DSC00135.JPG

The RMA

This was on thursday

Wearily (mostly my fault I'll admit ;)) I rang Dell.

Tech support: got through to India. Now I like to think I know a little bit about hardware (no expert) but I told him exactly what was wrong. Amazinly I got put on hold (or not). I feared the worst....

Then an Irish voice answered the phone. WOW! Talked through what tests I'd done (ya know monitor tests, changing cables, changing graphics cards etc). He listened and said that was great. He arranged the RMA number. Took detailed info about where to pick up the thing. I work same as most peeps so a fairly complicated pickup was arranged where they had to ring up to me from reception. Once again I feared the worst.

And once again I have been pleasontly suprised. They came on monday (chap from Ireland said they would do as it vwas 5.30) in the afternoon, rang me down and gave me the monitor. I only had to bring the actual unit: the courrier had a box for it and it was bubble-wrapped up.

Funny thing: the original one was a "rev A2" and the replacement (think its a refurb) is a "rev A1"

Soooo...gonna test it tonight but fingers crossed for a successful replacement.

Conclusion (in kind)

I'm pretty impressed with Dell overall. Their customer service line is pretty naff as they can't really speak great English. But as long as I get my refund I don't care. Thats pending so I'll get back to you.

Customer service Line: 6.5/10

As for the RMA: it was a pleasent experience. Nobody likes having to return items (epecially as expensive as this) but Dell made this a decent and convenient experience for me.

Tech Support/RMA: 9/10

I obviously can't speak for actually tech support. But this guy knew his stuff and was pleasent, efficient and easy to deal with :)

I'm not sure why people criticise Dell. My customer services experiences have generally been pretty good (wifi on my laptop failed).

Good to hear that some people do get good service :) I personally CAN see why people criticise Dell as problems have occured to myself and friends of mine (and not just one)

Well Dell haven't been amazing but at least they have promised to do something about their slack-ness

After the refurb STILL had back-light bleed and they tried to pick up the monitor when I wasn't even in the office (and I'd told them not to even try), I rang them and didn't moan but did say that I had been messed about quite a bit.

Thankfully they decided to offer me a 2405FPW to replace the 2005FPW. A week later and I'm still waiting for it but hopefully it wont be too long cause F.E.A.R. looks a bit pants with white spots on it :(

Well Dell did as they promised if anyone's interested ;)

They sent me a brand New 2405FPW. No backlight bleed, no dead pixels, no issues at all so far.

I'm a Happy Camper :)

Quick mobile phone pics:

http://upload.rubbishrubbishrubbishr...76/2405FPW.JPG

I hate you and stuff.

Lucky get :) Well done m8!