Open Letter to Dell Inc.
An Open Letter To:
All those on the Executive Biographies webpage which I visited on 08/24/2007, please see the list of all those on the Dell Inc. leadership at the bottom of this letter directly under my signature line.
Dell Computer Corp.
Dell Inc. (Corporate Office / Office of Michael Dell)
CEO Michael Dell
Chairman Michael Dell
sent via email (Suppressed out of Courtesy to Dell.com)
Thursday, April 03, 2008
Dear Michael S. Dell:
Your website has an Executive Biographies page which I visited on 08/24/2007 states the following about you:
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Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer
Michael S. Dell
Michael Dell, born in February 1965, is the chairman of the Board of Directors and chief executive officer of Dell, the company he founded in 1984 with $1,000 and an unprecedented idea - to build relationships directly with customers. In 1992, Mr.
Dell became the youngest CEO ever to earn a ranking on the Fortune 500.
=========
I am truly disappointed as well as disgusted that I have one of two decisions about how to handle my issues and frustrations with . One, spend hours and hours and hours waiting on hold and being transferred all over the world
through your totally dysfunctional, inadequate, toll free customer service line to finally talk to someone that can bring resolution to fixing my very broken Dell Laptop Computer, Model Inspiron 700m. Or, to spend hours and hours and hours writing this
letter to Dell, Inc. Since it is our policy to post Open Letters as this letter is on our website so that other consumers can benefit from this letter.
Our organization, Citizens For A Better America (R) (CFABA.ORG) obtained the Inspiron 700m from Sam's Club in April 2005.
At the time, I expressed my concerns to Robin Schrader, Vice President of Member Services for Sam's Club that they were not offering their 1 or 3 year extended warranty for this Dell Laptop. I expressed my concerns that if Dell.com flaked out on me
than I would have not other way of handling my problem with getting my laptop fixed.
Often, I am asked when I have to resort to letter writing like I am now doing certain questions of the organization that I am writing to. Since I have also found that those some organizations are so bad that they do not actually answer my questions,
I go ahead and make an assumption as to what their answer might be.
Q01. Is it the intent of DELL.COM to communicate to your customers that their time is of no value whatsoever and that keeping them on the phone for hours either by putting them on hold or by transferring them all over the world is acceptable behavior
for Dell.com?
A01. It is my perceived answer that it is indeed the policy of DELL.COM to do what I suggested in my question.
Q02. Is it the intent of DELL.COM to force their new customers to agree to a EULA, End User License Agreement without allowing those customers to read that EULA?
A02. Yes, it is. When we first took delivery of the Dell.COM, Inspiron 700m the first initial boot up screen asked us / the user of that computer to agree to a EULA. There was no place to click to see what the EULA said. Even though DELL.COM had
sent plenty of documents within the box that the Inspiron 700m came in there was no EULA. We went to your website DELL.COM and search and search for a DELL EULA and could not find one.
Q03. Was it the intent of DELL.COM to appear to be like thugs?
A03. Yes, by appearance it was. DELL.COM attempted to force us to agree to a "DELL EULA" even though they did not want us to see and read it. This is truly thug like behavior. Our solution was: Format the entire hard drive. After formatting the hard
drive drive there was no longer a demand to agree to a "DELL EULA."
Here is my evidence / proof:
This is the legend for some abbreviations:
TRPC = Tape Recorded Phone Conversation.
(Normally because DELL.COM was recording the conversation. It is my policy to record phone conversations when I am being recorded or potentially recorded
}}}The conversation / phone call continues uninterrupted with additional notes.
{{{Continuing notes from the previous set of notes.
LAMM = Left answering machine message.
EC = Ended call.
HU = Hung up.
After the date, such as 05-24-2005, there is 065515, which is time, in military format, down to seconds.
========================
BELOW ARE A LIST OF PHONE CALLS:
05-24-2005 TRPC 0620 Started calling Dell. Finally reached Ching Emp. #461420 in the Phillipines. Home Account - 800-624-9896 Consumer Dept. X7269219. 064716 Ching transferred me to the main #. 064930 h.u.
05-24-2005 065515 TRPC. Rc called 800# and then X7269219. 070012 Amara Atkins Empl. #451609, answered the phone. She said that I needed to verify the phone number. I told her that I am refusing to verify the number. I gave her thirty (30)
>>>
{{{seconds to tell me that she is transferring me to the manager of support or I will call. Vincent Emp #40740 came on the line. 073103 He started the process of transferring me to an aid that would go through the process of }}}
{{{Amora and I went through trying to re-install the system by holding down the Ctrl F11 key and she kept expecting it to come up with the DELL name. It never did. She told me that the two partitions that are there are useless. She is }}}
{{{going to send an entire installation kit. She said that it should arrive either on Thu or Fri of this week via Airborne Express Two day. 075510 e.c.
05-24-2005 081505 Partition1 (C Drive) 71696 MB. Partition2 [FAT32] 4620 MB [349 MB free]. 081711 new partition for Windows XP has been created on 76317 MB Disk 0 at Id 0 on bus 0 on atapi [MBR]. These are the notes from doing what I was
instructed to do.
01-03-2006 134158 TRPC. Rc called and went through their voice support. 1350 JD EMP #72797 answered the phone and then hung up on me.
01-03-2006 135425 TRPC. Rc called 1-800 and x726-9219. Gabriela, Emp #61921 answered the phone and then at 1406 I got hung up on. 140652 e.c.
01-03-2006 1409 TRPC. Rc called 1-512-725-0281, Tom Kehoe in the Media Dept. I lamm for him to call me. 143546 e.c.
01-05-2006 1222 Rc took call from Linda Kelly responding to my phone call of the other day. 122720 e.c.
01-05-2006 123205 TRPC. Rc called 1-800-624-9897 x7262156 and lamm to Linda Kelly. 123447 e.c.
01-05-2006 141159 TRPC. I called again to see if I could reach Linda Kelly and she answered the phone. }}}
{{{Warren, Badge 0121312. Linda Kelly, Exec. Support Rep., - 145654 - Rc 0800-1700 CT. TUE - 1200-1400 PT, 1400-1600 CT. 152854 e.c.
01-10-2006 131238 Rc took call from Brian Wolfe. Refrennce #67176759. 132930 e.c.
07-10-2006 130259 Rc called Brian Wolfe at 1-800-624-9896 x724-3283. 0800-1700, 'I will call you back before 1400 Central Time.' 130959 e.c.
07-11-2006 Brian Wolfe called and lamm.
07-12-2006 092355 TRPC. Rc lamm for Brian Wolfe to return my call. 092855 e.n.
07-12-2006 114301 TRPC. I called and h.u. after hearing voice mail. 114415 e.n.
07-13-2006 He called and lamm.
07-14-2006 090031 Rc called and lamm for him to call me for sure up to 0930 PT or 1130 CT. 090525 e.c.
07-28-2006 084952 TRPC. Rc called and lamm for him to call me or if busy to call 1776. 085150 e.c.
11-13-2006 113521 TRPC. Rc called Linda Kelly at 1-800-624-9897 X7262156. / 113738 Because they were recording, I decided to call back and record the conversation. 114350 e.c.
11-15-2006 091840 TRPC. / 092037 TRPC. Rc called again. I lamm for her the service tag number and that I will be here today until 1700 CT, your time. 092350 e.c.
11-17-2006 131459 TRPC. Rc called Linda Kelly. She said that if you need immediate assistance please call 800-624-9896. I lamm for her to call me at her earliest convenience. 131901 e.c.
11-13-2007 About one year later, as of this date no response from Linda Kelly or anyone else at Dell, Inc.
I do not want to miscommunicate my frustration. My frustrations of dealing with Dell.com.
In a soundbite, and to tell you what this letter is about early on in the letter is my total dissatisfaction and frustration with your company as a whole and you individually.
I am disappointed that I am having to take the time, effort, money, and energy to write this Open Letter. It is my policy however, that if I have to resort to writing a letter to bring resolution to a problem then I will make that letter An Open
Letter to be published on the internet for the world to see and to hopefully bring about sufficient change that someone else does not have to go through what I have gone through.
I have tried to my best satisfaction to attempt to resolve by calling, then I came to the distasteful decision of taking my limited time to write a letter.
Since, I am having to do that, then it is my desire for as many people to see that letter as possible, and hence make the letter an Open Letter and publish it at our convenience on the internet for "the world to see."
As you know my first attempt to contact Dell.com was on July 10, 2006 about my latest problem with our Dell Laptop Computer, Model Inspiron 700m. While we did play phone tag several times between July 10 and July 13, Brian Wollfe has not returned my
phone call of July 28, 2006, even though I called Briane Wolfe to tell him that I would be there that entire day. If you have doubts about this, it is my policy to record conversations whenever I am being recorded as was indicated on your voice mail,
so, I did record this entire call. If you or anyone else at Dell would like to hear it, I can arrange for that.
Maybe, the number of calls you are receiving from people like myself, because other divisions of Dell are doing a bad job at Customer Service are excessive, it is my hope that perhaps this Open Letter would bring an improvement in those issues.
The problems that I have described on Brian Wolfe's voice mail with my laptop are as follows:
01. The motherboard has failed again in the area of the USB ports. The bottom USB port or, one of the two USB ports.
02. The power supply / power converter, the device to plug into the wall to both charge the battery as well as to run the laptop on electric current has failed. It only works sometimes and only when I keep adjusting the power cable.
03. The battery no longer charges.
04. The plug in headset and microphone combination does not work on the motherboard.
Since, I have previously discussed my frustration with Robin Schrader, VP Business Member Services of Sam's Club I thought I would sent this letter to them, in my hopes for Sam's Club to continue to re-consider their decision about having Dell.com be
a vendor of theirs. I recognize that Robin Schrader is no longer with Sam's Club, I will send this to Sam's Club in the hopes that Sam's Club will move in the direction of thinking Dell.com provides terrible laptop computer and Dell provides lousy
customer service.
In making the decision to write this letter I considered my options:
01. Spend 2-4 hours on the phone attempting to get support as I had done back in January 2006 when my Inspiron 700m motherboard failed and then having to then contact the Executive Offices of Dell.com / Dell Computer Corp. / Dell Inc. anyway.
02. To just go ahead and take the time to write this Open Letter to express my frustration, dissatisfaction and disappointment at Dell.com / Dell Computer Corp. / Dell Inc. concept of Customer Service. My greatest disappointment is the extreme
inconvenience your company has caused me and our organization, because I / we do not get paid for corresponding with your company, as you and your fellow Dell employees do.
As I have expressed publicly on previous occasions I believe that Dell.com / Dell Computer Corp. / Dell Inc. concepts of Customer Service are flawed on numerous fronts.
Since, I do not believe from my previous experiences with your organization that you care to know where your Customer Service is flawed, I will not take up any more of my time going into that detail.
It is my hope, after receiving this Open Letter that you will quickly take actions to rectify the problems with our Dell Laptop Computer, Model Inspiron 700m. I would like to thank you in advance for reading this Open Letter and bringing resolution
to these problems.
What will I think and believe to be an equitable resolution to my dealings with Dell.com?
I believe that I have been truly ripped off with my dealings with Dell.com.
As a result I do not want or desire any further dealings with Dell Computer Corporation. I do not want to have any further dealings with Dell.com because I do not trust nor do I have the confidence that Dell.com will not give me another defective
Laptop computer.
Since Dell.com has not respected my time, I do not want to have to potentially put in any more time in dealing or potentially dealing with Dell.com.
Mr. Michael Dell, kindly submit a check in the amount of $1761.04 [$1626.83, the amount on website - have proof if needed] X 8.25% Sales Tax Amount of $134.21 for Grand Total of $1761.04 the amount that the Inspiron 700M cost on the Sam's Club website
on the date of the order on 04/06/2005. For your information, the order for the Inspiron 700M came with a three (3) year extended warranty.
I have good news for you. After you submit your check for $1761.04 I and any organization that I lead will not do business with http://Dell.com in the future. So, the good news is that you will not have to do this again. I have already set this kind
of precedent before by agreeing to not do business with Maxtor Corporation in the future after a full refund of a hard drive that I had purchased. I have kept my commitment to them and I will keep my commitment to you to not purchase any more Dell
Products.
Dell Computer Corporation deserves the kinds of bad publicity it has received like the one entitled: "N.Y. Attorney General Cuomo sues Dell By SAMANTHA GROSS, Associated Press Writer on Thursday, May 17, 2007."
Please, please, do not put me in a place where I have to work at attempting to give http://Dell.com any more bad publicity other than this Open Letter.
This is a formal request for the $1761.04! If a formal request is not sufficient, then please consider this a Formal Demand.
Please let me know whether your intentions are to honor this formal request within ten (10) days of the date of this letter.
In conclusion it is my hope that you repent, that is make a change in your bad behavior of providing terrible laptop computers and providing lousy customer service.
I have included the names of the entire leadership of Dell Computer Corporation in this letter since this letter is ultimately addressed to all of them. I have also done a search of all the email addresses on the dell.com website and sent this letter
to that list.
I have done so in an to attempt to bring about that kind of change in your Corporate attitude and behavior.
Sincerely,
Robert Colaco
Volunteer National Chairman, Founder
Citizens For A Better America (R) (CFABA.ORG)
http://cfaba.org
This Open Letter Is Addressed To The Following on the Dell, Inc. Leadership:
Michael S. Dell, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer
Donald J. Carty, Vice Chairman and Chief Financial Officer
Brad R. Anderson, Senior Vice President, Product Group
Paul D. Bell, Senior Vice President and President, Americas
Michael R. Cannon, President, Global Operations
Jeffrey W. Clarke, Senior Vice President, Product Group
Stephen J. Felice, Senior Vice President and President, Asia-Pacific/Japan
Ronald G. Garriques, President, Global Consumer Group
Mark Jarvis, Chief Marketing Officer
David A. Marmonti, Senior Vice President and President, Europe, Middle East and Africa
Timothy W. Mattox, Vice President, Strategy
Stephen F. Schuckenbrock, Senior Vice President and President, Global Services, and Chief Information Officer
Lawrence P. Tu, Senior Vice President, General Counsel
Also, this Open Letter is addressed to the Board of Directors:
William H. Gray, III, Audit; Governance and Nominating
Sallie L. Krawcheck, Finance Committee
Alan G. Lafley, Compensation, Finance
Judy C. Lewent, Compensation, Finance (Chair)
Thomas W. Luce III, Audit (Chair)
Klaus S. Luft, Compensation
Alex J. Mandl, Audit
Michael A. Miles, Compensation (Chair); Governance and Nominating
Samuel A. Nunn, Jr., Presiding Director, Audit; Governance and Nominating (Chair)
Donald J. Carty, Non-Independent Director
Michael S. Dell, Non-Independent Director
Carbon Copy (CC) Sent to Sam's Club sent via email (Suppressed out of Courtesy to samsclub.com)
This was sent to you by:
Citizens For A Better America (R) (CFABA.ORG)
Federal, F.E.C. ID #: C00278333
California, F.P.P.C. ID #: 1265022
National Headquarters:
PO Box 7647,
Van Nuys, California 91409-7647
Voice: (818)757-1776
E-mail: hq@cfaba.org
http://cfaba.org
(c) Copyright, 1992-2008. All Rights Reserved. Citizens For A Better America (R). This has been authorized, paid for and published by Citizens For A Better America (R) (CFABA.ORG). This is not authorized by any candidate or candidate committee.
(R) = Federally Registered Trademark filed with the US Patents & Trademarks Office.
Citizens For A Better America (R) (CFABA.ORG) is a registered trademark with the United States Patents and Trademarks office, Registration Number: 2500525. (TM) = Trademark.
[Document Name: 20080403_OPEN_LTR_TO_DELL_COM.TXT].
All Registered Trademarks and Trademarks are the property of Citizens For A Better America (R) (CFABA.ORG) or Robert Colaco and may not be used without permission.
THIS IS THE END OF E-MAIL FROM: CITIZENS FOR A BETTER AMERICA (R) (CFABA.ORG).
Additional Tags or search terms for this letter:
01. Problems with Dell Computer Corp.
02. Problems with Dell Inc.
03. Problems with Dell.com
04. Problems with http://www.dell.com/
05. Frustrations with Dell Computer Corp.
06. Frustrations with Dell Inc.
07. Frustrations with Dell.com
08. Frustrations with http://www.dell.com/
09. Disappointments with Dell Computer Corp.
10. Disappointments with Dell Inc.
11. Disappointments with Dell.com
12. Disappointments with http://www.dell.com/
13. Lousy customer service by Dell Computer Corp.
14. Lousy customer service by Dell Inc.
15. Lousy customer service http://www.dell.com/