[Resolved]  Dell — Brand New Defective Laptop story

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West Delhi, Delhi

My Dell Latitude all of a sudden stopped reading the SD Card when the problem could not be resolved by updating the drivers, I lodged a complaint with CS Dell. The Support Agents manning the Dell Call Center very not only very nice & helpful but also very respectful. Thereafter one engineer came and replaced the motherboard, palm-rest (and took away the BT module) but fault could not be rectified. Anther engineer came; again replaced the motherboard, Keypad. Fault still persisted but the Tag No. got changed (most probably the engineer had installed some used laptop and might have given the new laptop to some of his friends whose laptop was not under warranty - otherwise how the Service Tag could get changed?) The third engineer came and again replaced the motherboard. He wanted to replace the palm-rest too but I told him that it was changed just few days back only. He then broke the knobs of the palm-rest deliberately & intentionally. He then told me that he was only checking by applying little pressure. Thereafter he changed the Palm-rest also. In the process he removed the Blue Tooth Reader and coolly took it away. The simple fault of SD Card Reader could not be rectified and my keypad & touch pad started giving me problems; the sound quality deteriorated. After he left, I noticed that the BT Reader was missing. I called him up to ask him about the BT Reader. He very confidently told me that he removed it from one palm-rest & installed in in my laptop. This was a false statement and I reported the matter to higher authorities at Dell and also at Wipro (the engineer was from Wipro on contract with Dell) Next day that engineer came and not only returned the BT Reader but also tendered his apologies for taking it 'by mistake'. WHAT A SHAME!

Later having failed to rectify a small fault of SD Card reader, EVEN AFTER CHANGING THE MOTHERBOARD THRICE, PALM-REST TWICE, and some other parts worth Rs. 1,11.000/-, Dell agreed to replace the laptop.
Since the Laptop was costing app. Rs. 90000/- the Dell very cleverly inflated a quote of RS. 76000/- and sent me as 89142/- for my approval. It was a matter of chance that I while checking the specs I happened to make a online quote of same configuration and found the fact. I then asked Dell to supply me the replacement with the configuration I made online and which was costing Rs. 88,614/-.
After more then 20 days of having given me assurance of replacement. when Dell dd not supply the replacement I wrote a letter to Mr. Mahesh Bhalla, Dell's Executive Director & GM, that I will file a Consumer case in the Consumer Court under Sec. 12, 14, 17 & 21 of Consumer Protection Act 1986. I sent this letter perhaps a notice, by Speed Post and copies by email, to all the senior officers including Director Services, Sh. Ravi Gutta for hopeless onsite warranty service by TVS-E & WIPRO engineers and also to Manager WUR Cell, Ms. Melody, for the dilatory tactics adopted by her team members in asking me all absurd authorizations; read undertakings. I was then immediately sent me a brand new latitude within next 2 days - perhaps even before the speed post was delivered to Mr. Mahesh Bhalla.

After receiving the replacement I though that nightmare was over. When switched on, this brand new Laptop's screen turned blank immediately after having entered all my particulars. When nothing happened for next 2 hrs. I turned it off and re-started it. Same thing happened again. I then reported the matter to Dell.

Dell sent his engineer (from WIPRO, but he told a lie that he was from Dell else I would have shown hm the door coz last time a WIPRO engineer had taken the Blue Tooth reader) who after seeing the laptop screen turning blank, started it in a safe mode and after the laptop booted up in safe mode he run few utilities then started it in normal mode and told me that I should have "Hard Booted" the laptop before filing a complaint with Dell. According to him and his written report, copy of the same is still with me, he had "Hard Booted" the laptop by going into safe mode. HOW DISGUSTING FOR AN ENGINEER TO TALK ALL THIS NON-SENSE as we all very well know that hard boot does not mean starting the system in to safe mode and then re-starting t into normal mode.
Thereafter the screen going blank problem started occurring once a while. The diagnostic run showed error[protected] LCD Cable error and the Battery life which was at 97% earlier was reduced to 94%.

The Dell support team later made me format the hard disk and reinstall Win 7 - including all the drivers. In the process I lost my factory recovery image too but even then problem kept on re-occurring. The LCD cable error remained as it is and so was the battery life at 94%.

To add fuel to the fire one Sr. Engr. Mr. Syed told me that my laptop is 'not having LCD' but LED so I need not to worry about LCD cable error.. I immediately realized that whatever has been written on the net about Dell is correct for all monitors are basically LCD only. Its their illumination method which is CFL or LCD.

I again wrote a letter to Mr. Ravi Gutta and wanted immediate replacement for that brand new defective laptop sent to me as a replacement. When he did not reply, I took the matter to Delhi Dispute Resolution Society under Dept of Law & LA Govt. of India (Jagoo Grahak Jagoo: Toll Free No.[protected] for early amicable resolution. I, being a loyal Dell customer for years, owning Optiplex desktop and Dell's high end professional monitor - Ultra Sharp 2410U, never wanted to make it public that the Dell's service engineers are so inefficient & incompetent and also utterly dishonest & fraud that they cannot repair a simple fault of SD Card Reader and can even steal a part (may be anything on which they can lay their hands on, in your premises) too. But then Dell instead of sending some of its officers, choose to sent his lawyer who deliberately asked 15 days time to consult the Dell and get back. This was only a mediation proceedings to amicably settle the issue. I realized that Dell has intentionally & deliberately sent me a defective Laptop with defective battery and its lawyers would not like that things are settled quickly. I then filed a Consumer case against Dell even before the next date of mediation proceedings. As anticipated by me, on the next date of mediation proceedings, Dell's lawyer came and offered to get the laptop repaired and no replacement. When I countered him that Dell could not rectify a simple fault of SD Card Reader even by changing the parts worth Rs. 1,11,000/- by three different engineers and because of that frequent dismantling and reassembling, my laptop had developed other problems.; whereas the present fault was mysterious as the screen turns blank after Windows logo once a while and therefore I cannot trust those inefficient and incompetent and above all DISHONEST engineers, he had no answer. As expected the mediation proceedings failed. The case will now proceed at "Consumer Court read District Consumer Dispute Redressal Forum" under the sec. mentioned above. I neither served a so called legal notice thru a lawyer nor fighting (pleading) this case thru any lawyer. It is not necessary to hire an advocate to present your complaint in Consumer Courts. I will be doing it all by myself. I am even willing to help everyone who wish to file a Consumer complaint in Consumer Court against Dell. All you need is 4 copies of complaint written in English explaining the facts and your requirement that is relief you want from the court. Rs. 100/- (postal order) is the fees of Consumer Courts. Mind you they are not Courts but Forums though holding judicial powers Why because people like you & me can seek justice ourselves. But remember, these Forums have powers like Civil Courts, but here the Judges are Retd. Govt. Officers & retd. Judges.

Anybody needing any help in this respect is most welcome. PLEASE TELL ME WHEN DELL SERVICE ENGINEERS COULD NOT RECTIFY A SIMPLE PROBLEM OF SD CARD READER EVEN AFTER CHANGING MOTHERBOARD THRICE AND SCREWED MY LAPTOP: WHEN A SR.
ENGINEER SAYS THAT MY LAPTOP DOES NOT HAVE LCD MONITOR BUT LED MONITOR AND LCD CABLE ERROR IS A BUG THEN HOW CAN I TRUST A BRAND NEW LAPTOP IN THE HANDS OF SUCH PEOPLE WHO HAD EARLIER SCREWED MY PREVIOUS LAPTOP.
Please send me your honest views. You can join me in my fight against fraud of Dell. After all the mess (and the theft), the Director Services, Sh Ravi Gutta must own all the responsibility and gracefully quit Dell as its Director Services. Dell must immediately replace my brand new but defective laptop and compensate me for all the harassment, agony, and torture or wait for the Consumer Court verdict. Sh. Ravi Gutta can be approached at [protected]@dell.com for your service related problems.