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?

NO! Received this email below. Told me my account was on hold with
no explaination and that they were not were unable to check
order/system details. RUNAROUND!! If my account is on hold why can I
still access it and order!!!!

From: Customer_Advocate [mailto:Customer_Advocate@dell.com]
Sent: Wednesday, June 20, 2007 8:32 PM
To: Andrew Porowski
Subject: RE: Feedback - Dell Computer Corporation Complaint Customer
Service from andy@imaginetpc.com (KMM49797869I57L0KM)

Dear Andrew Porowski,

Thank you for contacting Dell Warranty Support.

Andrew, I have checked the records and found that you account is on
Hold. I am unable to access your Dell Account and find the
configuration, order details and warranty information of your
computer.

For this issue I would request you to contact our Customer Care
Department as they are the best ones to help you out in this matter.

You can contact our Customer care Department for assistance at
1-800-624-9897


If your issue is urgent and requires immediate assistance, please
utilize our 24 hour phone support at 800-822-8965.

Thank you for contacting Dell Warranty Support.

Respectfully,
Rohit
Dell Rep ID # D40715
Dell Warranty Support
http://support.dell.com

Read it fully here, and call the number given.

http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/change_orde
r/en/tag_transfer?c=us&l=en&s=gen&~ck=ln&lnki=0

This is an actual quote of part of thier transfer agreement:

All requests to transfer ownership, service, limited warranty and Dell
support are determined at Dell's sole discretion. Dell reserves the
right to refuse to honor transfer requests and requests for warranty
coverage and/or service if Dell has not received payment for the
subject system, even if you have made payment to another party. You
may not return the system under the Dell Return Policy. All such
transfer requests are otherwise subject to Dell's terms and conditions
of sale located at www.dell.com.

I think there is more involved that you are not telling us.

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.