Wireless(ish), Dell arrogance and the Small Claims Track.

It's wireless(ish) because it's about the pitiful wireless performance of the Dell laptop I'm typing on, rather than my historic litany of interference problems. No question that I have some 2.4GHz interference issues, but I probably wouldn't care about them, were it not for this machine being barely capable of holding a connection even when it's in the same room as the access point.

So... haven't been down this route for a while and I'm on slightly dubious ground because it's a year since I bought the machine. But I did tell Dell I was formally rejecting it last year and they chose to completely ignore me. Having bought Al a budget Acer refurb that gets three times the throughput of the Dell from exactly the same place inspired me to pick up the issue again. Having a conversation with Dell customer services - one 'Dolson Jasper James' - in which said (and astonishingly rude) Dell representative made up the Sale of Goods Act to his own end and essentially told me to get lost, I was suddenly minded to pursue it relentlessly.

I bought my first Dell machine almost 30 years ago and have always recommended them to friends and family over the years.  I'm now retracting all previous recommendations: Dell has become a shabby, arrogant organisation that treats its customers with complete disdain, wearing them down until they give up trying to get reasonable service. I'm pretty sure this is a deliberate tactic, which makes it all the more annoying.

---

Lavina

I am about to hit the button on a Small Claims Court claim through Money Claim Online, the process for which acknowledges:

" You are required to give details of your claim in the box below. If you wish, you may also send detailed particulars direct to the defendant. If you need to do this, please tick here.

You must serve any additional documents on the defendant within 14 days after service of the claim form. "

The attached documents will be submitted in support of the claim. In particular, I will reference (in the claim submission) the facts that:

1. A number of other people observe exactly the same issue that I have complained about since purchase - referenced in the PDF files numbered 1, 2 3.
2. I raised the original support call around this issue on the 31st May 2011. There ensued multiple failures to respond to agreed dates and timescales, the upshot of which was that the wireless card was not replaced until late July, incompetence in your support process causing me to book a day's leave from work which I did not need to and, generally, causing me considerable inconvenience.
3. The issue was not resolved by the support calls and visits - and, on the 3/9/11, I wrote to you to advise that I wished to formally reject the machine under the Sale of Goods Act.  I was not prepared to go through another two months of repair efforts and sought a full refund of the original purchase cost, which, at the time, I indicated I would accept in the form of a credit note against a different Dell model. You will, no doubt, be aware that, under the Sale of Goods Act,  the retailer must either repair or replace the goods 'within a reasonable time but without causing significant inconvenience'.
4. Dell failed to respond to this, despite chasers seeking a way forward on 4/9, 7/9, 17/9 and 24/9.

Bullets 2, 3 and 4 are supported by the 94-page PDF document of email exchanges with Dell - "Gmail - Dell Technical Support Notification (KMM36617955I57L0KM)" - which evidences the extraordinary lengths I have gone to in order to resolve this matter.

My reasons for now seeking resolution through legal process are well-documented in recent exchanges and are also covered under the PDF document referenced in the preceding paragraph.

I would be grateful if you could confirm receipt of these documents on behalf of Dell.  Please note that I do not intend to formally instantiate the action until the 12th May 2012, to give you time to consider your position and make an appropriate offer to settle, prior to formalising the dispute through the Small Claims Track of the County Court.

Regards

---