Refusal to Honor Dell Warranty

Hi how did you ever make out with this repair? Thanks.

Hi,

My name is Todd and I'm a customer advocate with Dell's online
outreach program. We try to help our customers via blogs, forums, and
other online sites.

You are correct, the warranty is carried by the system and if the
ownership has been transferred it should be active for you.

If you can email me the service tag of the system I can look into this
and make sure everything is corrected for you. You can reach me at
Customer_Advocate@Dell.com. Please include my first name, Todd, in
the subject line of the message so it can quickly be routed through to
me and I'll be glad to help you get this straightened out.

Thank you,

Todd

Customer Advocate
Dell, Inc.

http://direct2dell.com/one2one/archive/2006/11/19/3648.aspx

So, did you get the difficulty taken care of Andrew?

Were you able to contact the original owner?

I don't see anything to indicate that the orginal letter writer is
trying to pull a fast one on Dell, or that the system in not paid for.
And I pride myself on my deeply cynical attitude!

But then perhaps I am too biased against Dell. My experiences with
them have led me to believe that their policy is "delay, then deny".

I to am biased against dell, and that you are correct in the delay,
then deny scheme. As a tech who stays in business by repairing dells
(not under warranty) his description leaves something to be desired,
and is incomplete. Crashed/dead motherboard is to generic a
description

Hi my name is Andy; I am the original letter writer and want to thank
you all for your posts. To clarify some issues:

Bill and Gino,

I AM NOT the original purchaser so I would have no way of confirming
if the laptop was paid for. However, based on a email I received
today from Dell as well as the change of ownership I received on
4/27/07 that indicates the transfer of ownership has been completed;
Dell has been paid in full for this laptop by the original owner.

"Dear Dell Customer,


The following request to transfer ownership of the listed Service
Tag(s) has been completed.

SERVICE TAGS TRANSFERRED
------------------------
SERVICE TAG: 67D4331 STATUS: Completed COMMENTS:

-U.S. Tag Team (US_Tag_Team@dell.com)"

The email I received today from Todd a Customer Advocate at Dell, Inc.
His reason for Dell refusing to process the warranty is because the
unit was sold to some company in Texas as a refurbished unit. The
company does not appear to be the original purchaser so who knows how
many hands this laptop has gone through. He suggested I contact that
company for warranty but said he did not think they would do anything
for me. As the current end user, it does not matter to me if Elvis
Presley was the original owner because the laptop was sold with a 4
year next business day warranty so that laptop should be covered for
that term. Yes I purchased this laptop used and followed what the
Dell customer service reps told me back in April so I was put through
the delay, then deny as Barbara described it perfectly. The only
thing missing here is the warranty!!

Again, I use the analogy if I purchased a used car that originally had
a 4 year warranty, I can go to any dealership to have the car repaired
UNDER WARRANTY! Period. The warranty should follow the item (laptop)
because if the dealer or reseller went out of business, the end user /
consumer would be screwed. Remember Dell collected additional money
for the extended warranty above and beyond the cost of the price of
the item. Don't you think that the original purchaser is entitled to
a partial refund for the extended warranty they paid for seeing that
Dell is not honoring it for the term the item was purchased with?
Dell collected money kind of like an insurance company would so that
if something happened to the "insured item", it's covered. What it
amounts to is a loophole to reserve the right to fix or not as Venice
clearly described.

Listen. At this point it makes no difference if Dell repairs my laptop
or not. My background is this: I am and have been the sole owner of
ImagiNet Computers, a computer sales and service company in
Connecticut. I was a Dell junkie and pushed their product as THE
BEST. Remember "Dude you got to get a Dell"

I have over 20+ years in the industry and have heard hundreds of my
customers telling me when I would attempt to sell them a Dell "Oh no,
I don't want to buy a Dell because I was ripped off, was given the
runaround, wasted hours of time, they sell junk, I can't understand
them (India), so on, etc." I would reassure that customer that the
product is the best based on my years of repair experience. We saw
less Dell's than others that constantly came in for repair. Plus I
told the customer if you needed support, as a Dell VAR we would charge
a "value added fee ImagiNet CompuCare $185/year" over the cost for
Dell's system that we do not mark up or make anything on. For this
added fee, you can call or see us direct, a human and we would handle
both hardware and software issues. Hence our fee, a warranty or
insurance policy ;) Our customers love us!

In 15 years I never was the victim so I never understood the fear my
customers had when I mentioned D.E.L.L. WELL, I'M A VICTIM now and I
just want to make sure I do the best I can to make sure there won't be
another victim or at least fewer. We all know Dell is no longer #1
and there is a clear reason why!

If there is any way that I can be of assistance for any other victims,
please contact me anytime. You can all help by posting your
experience on planetfeedback.com or other blog or newsgroup sites.
Spread the word because you may find yourself a victim.

Dell's customer service is like a peach pit, the peach tasted well on
the outside but the pit got stuck in my throat. :( VERY
DISSATISFIED!!

First, a correction to your letter. "I believe the warranty follows
the equipment and not the owner." You may want to believe this all
you want, but no warranty has the requirement to follow the product.
I've worked with many products over the years that require the product
be purchased from an authorized reseller. If the product is not, it
is not under warranty regardless of the time frame. These same
products may also not allow for a warranty to be transfered.

As I carefully reread your letter, I noticed something very
interesting. You've stated you completed a "change of ownership" and
that you received an e-mail stating that "the transfer of ownership
has been completed and that I was now the owner [on record]". But
realize that at no time does any of this speak of transferring the
warranty, only changing Dell's records as to whom the computer
belongs. This may mean the warranty has not been transfered to you
and it may not be up to you to transfer said warranty. It may be up
to the person who originally purchased the computer.

If the original owner is okay with having the warranty transfered, I
would get him/her on it immediately. Having it delayed further may
mean the warranty expires.

This doesn't, however, mean that the problem the computer is having is
necessarily covered under warranty.

Hi Andrew, I too have had a horrible experience with Dell's warranty
service. It's almost as if they want to try ANYTHING to declare a
warranty not valid.

I know it requires a lot of time and that you shouldn't have to do it,
but you need to block out a full day (soon) to stay on the phone with
them until you have a resolution agreement.

Escalate your calls and ask for supervisors and managers. If you have
to, do the old "Gee, you've been wonderful with your service to me
today. May I have your supervisors telephone number and email address
to send a compliment about you?"

28 days and counting. With each passing day you should become more and
more of a nuisance to make sure you get repairs needed while under
warranty. Once the warranty window closes, you'll pretty much be
screwed. Uhh.. I mean out of luck.

My old Dell Laptop rocked and I referred at least two other people to
their site to purchase their own notebooks. Two more purchases later,
I have avoided Dell simply because of their horrible track record
regarding warranty repairs. So far, so good, with HP.

Be a Tiger; go get 'em! Best of luck.

Andrew, I feel your pain. Dell tried to pull the same stunt on me. My
husband is in the military, and we were able to purchase our Dell
laptop through a discount arrangement they have with AAFES (Army-Air
Force Exchange Services). When my hard drive died, the first person I
spoke to a Dell was very helpful, but when subsequent problems
occurred, they tried to argue that since I purchased the laptop
through AAFES, the United States Government was the "real" owner of my
laptop and that they could no longer speak to me about it!

I followed the instructions to transfer ownership as well, and in the
day or so between that conversation and the transference, my warranty
expired.

Although my current problem was a continuation of the problem that
began under warranty, they declared that since I was no longer under
warranty, I would have to pay $49 to receive any assistance via phone.


So good luck with your situation Andrew. In my case, I took the laptop
to Circuit City, where they fixed my problem for thirty bucks and a
whole lot less headache. I hope you fare better.