I have purchased Dell products for the last 25 years and – until this experience – was a big fan of both Dell products and Dell IT support.
In October of 2016, I purchased a Precision 7710 with the Advance E-Port Plus docking station. I already had two HD Ultrasharp Dell Monitors. Despite misgivings about Windows 10 I ordered the computer with the Windows 10 OS.
The computer had display issues, so that my HD monitors looked fuzzy and pixelated. (This was not related to any particular app, as even the desktop icons looked bad.)
After several calls to Pro Support, I was told to return the computer for a refund and purchase the same computer again, which I did. (I was hesitant, because the computer is very expensive, and I had already experienced a high level of confusing around the order - for example, I never received an invoice, and the computer arrived with no paperwork - no invoice, packing slip - nothing. As a small business owner, that we very worrisome.)
Right after receiving the new computer, I had major surgery, and did not use the docking station for several weeks, because I could not sit at a desk. (This was my one major mistake, because it meant that I missed the deadline for a straight return.) When I finally did attempt to use my external monitors, the computer had the same problem. There were other, seemingly associated problems, such as the fact that the NVIDIA control panel and the Intel control panel could not detect more than one monitor. There were also strange display issues, such as the screen flickering black, and sometimes blank white rectangles appeared on screen.)
Anyway, I called support again, only to find out that the salesman hadn't included Pro Support with my order. It took about a week to sort that out.
Since then, I have had endless communication with support. I have tried everything, and they have tried everything - including sending a technician to replace the graphic card and motherboard. They even sent me a new SSD that I had to install myself. While the monitors look alright, the graphics control panels still do not detect the two monitors, and I still have weird flickering.
When support sent the new SSD, the IT guy configured it especially for me - only he used a computer with a different graphics card.
Finally, they decided to send me a replacement system (everything) so I could mail my old system back and they could diagnose it. However, the new system is worse than the old one, as all of the original problems exist (fuzzy HD monitors). I do not want to send them the old system, which – after many long hours working to fix it – is performing better than the new system (although some issues persist). I'm waiting to hear back on this.
There is a LOT more to this story – details about how the Dell website doesn't work, salespeople who tried to sell me the wrong docking station, support people with accents too thick to understand, driver updates, OS re-installations, BIOS changes, cables, registry changes, software repairs, and much more – details too minute and tedious to share here. I think I have about 120 emails from Dell in my inbox, and that doesn't cover the vast amount of time on the phone. It would take me a full workday to write a coherent, chronological summary of events. Worse, it would be absolutely dreadful to read – nearly as dreadful as it has been to experience all of it.
I have spent probably twice what the computer is worth in lost time, emails, and phone calls with Dell. Even weirder is the fact that Dell has almost certainly lost money on this endless process, which it continues to prolong.
This has become so absurd – eight months of me trying to pay them good money to provide me with a reliable system, to no avail, and both of us dumping more and more time into a seemingly futile effort.
I'm considering small claims court, or perhaps even a letter directly to the CEO – both of which are desperate moves unlikely to yield results – but what else is there? I can't really afford to throw a few thousand dollars in the trash. At this point, however, I may need to make the sacrifice just for the sake of my personal well-being. Eight months of this has led to nearly constant anxiety. (My work is very high-stakes, I regularly work about 80 hours a week, and I am very dependent on my computer for meeting tight deadlines.)
At this point, I'd like to just try another computer model entirely (or return the computer and get a refund). A refund is against policy, I'm sure. I don't know about exchanging it for a different model. (I'm waiting to hear back on this.) I could just use it as it is, but that seems incredibly unfair, given the high price that I paid.
Has anyone had a similar experience and been able to successfully push through to an actual resolution that resulted in a working, reliable system? Any clever ideas for breaking through this endless mire?
