Dell India — Poor dell technical support and after sales service

Address:

400076

I purchased dell inspiron 20 two in one 3052 series from a dell outlet in mumbai on 11 sept. 2016 with service tag jj83b22 and express service code [protected]. The machine was delivered on the same day and after opening the packaging it was switched on by the delivery person and i was left on my own to struggle with all teething problems namely ms office trial version which was installed did not function at all. Further, as per the dell deal with canon for which payment was made by me to the dell vendor, a canon printer pixma mg 2570 was also supplied on 20 sept 2016 by courier which remained unpacked for want of any formal installation or directions in this regard from my dell vendor located 100 meters from my house. A ms office software and a protegent antivirus was also purchased from the dell vendor with an assurance by the vendor that he would come and install the software within couple of days of purchase on 11 sept. 2016. But inspite of daily promises the vendor did not turn up till 28 sept 2016 when it was decided to contact dell india customer service.
What followed next was the most horrifying experience of my lifetime (I am 65 years old and have dealt with many procurement of this kind). After explaining the background the customer service was quick to transfer me to technical support who in turn after the entire background transferred me to warranties who in turn referred me to software and i was in turn transferred to technical support again who expressed their inability to help and referred me to his superior who apprised me that as per dell policy dell india does not encourage any installation of machines or live demonstration by their engineer or even deputing their service engineer but expects the user to sit in front of the machine which can last for hours with their step by step instructions for troubleshooting. Only after this fails then perhaps it may be possible to depute dell engineer for on site repairs only after satisfying themselves that the fault lies only with the software. The outcome of my call which took almost 90 minutes was a big zero. Incidentally the entire call was to have been recorded as intimated. I was also told that the warranty was only for hardware and hence a dell engineer could not be deputed under the warranty to satisfy my other concerns.
For your information just a simple call to canon for a minor printer issue on sunday (Yesterday) has resulted in their engineer turning up today the next morning for needful. But dell india does not believe in any formal channel for reporting defects or complaints by email or a call center for lodging a complaint which can then be passed on to the concerned department internally. But dell prefers to make the customer jump like a ping pong ball between various sections of dell or sit in front their machines for hours for the step by step directions by dell staff with the blessings of the telephone service provider since god forbid if the call gets disconnected in between troubleshooting the poor customer will be left high and dry.
After my prolonged conversation on phone with dell india it was clear that the purpose or effort of each executive in dell was to pass the buck. No wonder my vendor also did not turn up for almost 17 days knowing fully well that he was not obliged to help the customer in keeping with the dell philosophy.
The present status is that the computer is running very slow, anti virus installed does not scan and stops beyond 5 minutes, computer gets hanged often and printer shows ready but the document does not reach the printer. It is possible that there is ram problem with windows 10 installed. But i do not expect any help from dell india since deputing their engineer on site is not an easy or desirable option. So much for their after sales service and customer satisfaction.
I am sure i could have saved a lot of money if i had purchased it online since as such the help provided by dell for installation, setting up and for trouble free operation was nil. I am now planning to dispose off my machine and purchase one with better customer satisfaction concern and which works on indian philosophy and not us philosophy. But even in us they believe in customer friendly step by step guidance and as such they do not disown the customer.