This letter was returned by the Post Office as undeliverable (see photo), even though the address in the body of the letter was obtained from the 2001 Dell Annual Corporate Statement. We used the corrected address below, supplied by USPS, and reforwarded. It was eventually acknowledged by Dell Executive Support, and this initiated a fix of the machine. USE THIS ADDRESS:

Executive Offices
Michael S. Dell, Kevin B. Rollins, James T. Vanderslice
Dell Computer Corp.
1 Dell Way
Round Rock, TX 78682-7000

February 9, 2002

Executive Offices
Michael S. Dell, Kevin B. Rollins, James T. Vanderslice
Dell Computer Corporation
807 Las Cimas Parkway, Building 2
Austin, Texas 78746

Gentlemen,

What happens when youthful, dynamic, trend setting companies like Dell hit middle age? Do line managers forget how to communicate with the customers who put Dell on the map? Do employees learn how to hide behind the rules? When there are known product problems, is the true scope concealed from top management? Do service people compete on cost savings by saying “no” to the customer?

I hope you’ll scan my personal experience with Dell before you pass this letter on down the line, as you must. This is a customer complaint letter.

Inspiron 3800
Service Tag: 7xxxy
Service Code: 12245837

I bought an Inspiron 3800 in June 2000, and some of the keys soon stopped working. I always use an external keyboard with my laptops, except on a few flights a year. I first noticed and reported this problem in January 2001. The onboard keyboard was replaced under warranty, and Dell said this should fix the problem.

I still have that identical problem, with identical symptoms, and Dell has repeatedly refused to fix it. After the Dell repair, some keys again stopped working. I first re-confirmed this at San Francisco International, and then reported this to Dell, in August 2001.

In August, Dell was essentially unreachable by telephone. After a hang-up on Dell’s end, I used web and email. Tech Support apologized but said that I must contact Customer Service for this problem, because the machine was now out of warranty.

Customer service said that they had no record of me contacting Dell since March 2001, and that I needed to contact Tech Support, because the machine was now out of warranty. I refused to start over at Tech Support, insisting the case be transferred. I asked to communicate with a manager. I was told neither could be done. This infuriating exchange lasted over a week.

From the outside looking in, Dell has constructed a virtual Customer Firewall.

In January, I heard from another I3800 owner with the same “keyboard problem”. I learned that Dell has finally identified a specific (but undisclosed) problem with certain I3800’s. Dell has learned how to repair it so that it will not reappear. Dell is now performing out-of-warranty service on this problem, and this problem only, on a case-by-case basis.

Tech Support knows I know this, because I bit the bullet and contacted Tech Support again, by web page and email.

After over a week of email exchanges, a full weekend of diagnostics, and misleadingly vague boilerplate directions, I produced a set of Dell Diagnostics that indicated that nothing was wrong with the machine except the keyboard. I was only then told, no, it is “very necessary” to run the full (4.5 hour+) diagnostics. I downloaded a newer set, and re-ran them. I was led to believe that if we could prove this defect was truly specific to the onboard keyboard, an out of warranty service call might be authorized.

On February 7, Tech Support told me the motherboard was the confirmed problem; they would be happy to schedule a service call; this had been discussed with a supervisor, and I would have to pay for it, because the machine is out of warranty.

I insisted that it is not right that a customer have to pay for a repair which Dell performed (or misdiagnosed) that subsequently also failed. This would be the third keyboard module in 14 months. I asked for the name of a corporate officer to whom I could write, but my point and my request were both stonewalled.

I’ve been in front line sales, service, management and quality-analysis positions for nearly 40 years. I’ve seen the warning signs when something systematically goes wrong in servicing the customer base of a good corporation.

Bottom line: I have exactly the same problem Dell tried but failed to fix in January 2001, but I am now told to believe that a repair bill, that should easily approach $1,000, should solve the problem.

This I3800 is the worst $3,267 investment I ever made. It no longer matters whether Tech Support argues that the keyboard failed first, or that the keyboard fried the motherboard, or that one must insist (without proof) that the two conflicting diagnoses both be treated as isolated, random, out-of-warranty incidents. This machine has been a disaster.

No one at Dell has identified any connection between all these failures and Dell product integrity and service excellence. This has been a brutal, chilling customer service experience.

So far, Dell has lost in the neighborhood of $10,000 in sales to co-workers like myself who prefer to buy their own machines for work use. Most of the business went to IBM. My firm also has a national corporate account with Dell. This experience has attracted unusual executive interest.

I still want the machine fixed or replaced. Unfortunately, no matter what Dell does now, it has been a regrettable, draining, and enormously costly nightmare. Might Dell yet do something as a result of this letter to make the Dell experience better for the next customer?

Alex Forbes

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