I’ve just come out of court from the hearing to decide my claim for compensation against Dell Computers.
If you have read my blog, you will know that I chose to take Dell to court at the end of a long dispute regarding two Inspiron 1545 laptops I ordered pre Christmas.
My decision to take this to court was twofold:
First, to receive recognition and some compensation for the appalling customer service that I experienced that resulted in my 12 year old son Daniel not receiving his Christmas present in time
Second, to demonstrate to Dell that they can’t expect to treat customers like this without consequences. I want to show that they need to treat their customers with respect and be responsive to complaints more effectively than in this case.
The hard thing in this case was how to value my time and set an appropriate level of compensation. I did this by calculating how much time I had spent and valuing this at an hourly rate that I regularly charge for my consultancy business.
I was also claiming for loss of use of the laptop by my son and the value of missing software that was in the original order but did not make it into the replacement
In court today, attending on behalf of Dell was a barrister and a solicitor, whilst I chose to represent myself. I’ve had some experience of courts through my divorce, but I was surprised to see a barrister in attendance
My approach to the case was to claim that Dell were in breach of their own terms and conditions for not providing confirmed order documentation and not communicating with me in the manner or the timescales outlined in the conditions.
Dell’s approach was to focus on the minutiae of the law regarding: legal liability for an order; at what point was the order confirmed; what was a reasonable time to deliver it and what was a reasonable time to resolve a dispute
Interesting to note, Dell reserves the right in their T&Cs to change the specification of a system so long as the changes offer at least equivalent functionality
In my case, the original laptop included Napster software and a 12 month subscription to the online streaming service – this was not in the replacement laptop and dell offered me Office Home and Student as an alternative
Both I and the barrister had opportunity to put forward our case, answer questions from the judge and clarify and question each other on the evidence given
The judge then made a quick decision and in summary he found:
Dell were in breach of contract to deliver the laptop in a reasonable time frame, although from a legal perspective “Time was not of the essence”
There was a period of 2-3 weeks when there was a loss of use
The missing software should have been replaced or an appropriate alternative
I did not prove my case to receive compensation either for the amount of time or at the rate quoted
I also received partial costs paid and did not have to pay Dell’s costs
Why did I not get all my costs? Well last week, Dell made me an offer to settle in advance of court. However this offer was conditional on not publicising the settlement, so I refused.
The judge found that as I could have accepted that offer, worth more than I received today, I could have avoided the court listing fee for today.
Consequently, whilst I won, it is a pyrrhic victory and I am slightly out of pocket.
Despite this, I have no regrets for the action I have taken. I strongly believe that if consumers do not stand up to big business occasionally we will all suffer. I took on a multi-billion dollar company and won!
It is National Complaints Day tomorrow, Friday 13th and I support this wholeheartedly and have started to participate in the forum at Complaint Community which is a very interesting approach to resolving these emotionally charged and frustrating issues
Actually I do have one regret: if I had received larger compensation then I would have gone out and bought myself a new Apple iPad – sorry Dell not interested in the Streak
Off on holiday soon, but if you would like to contact me regarding this situation, email me
Posted by Dave at 1:37 PM 0 comments
Labels: Customer Service, dell, Mutton, victory, winner
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My Dell Hell - In Court today
Just a quick post to say that I am just leaving now for my court case with Dell computers. I am confident I will win my case and I shall post here later with the results - whichever way it goes
Wish me luck!
Posted by Dave at 8:34 AM 0 comments
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Tuesday, August 10
My Dell Hell - Posted on Complain Community
just had an interesting talk with the sponsors of National Complaints Day, namely Complain Community
It is an interesting approach to collect multiple complaints and group them by companies people are complaining about. They then engage with the brands concerned to see if resolution can be reached.
It's a bit late for me, as I am currently still expecting to be in court this Thursday with Dell Computers, but I would encourage you to check their site out - for anybody who feels they have a complaint, or what sounds likemore often, people who have a complaint about how their original complaint has been dealt with.
It is also possible that we can levferage my experience for some media coverage this week for National Complaints Day - watch this space
Posted by Dave at 6:23 PM 0 comments
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My Dell Hell - It's National Complaints Day this Friday
Just had an interesting chat with Sarah Pennells at Savvy Woman regarding my court case with Dell Computers this Thursday, 12 August.
She told me that this Friday is National Complaints Day, so I have made contact with them to see if they want to use my situation as a case study - more news soon.
If you would like to help publicise my case and you use Twitter, you can follow me or tweet using the hash tags #dellsucks or #ncd2010
Or of course please feel free to blog about this, post on Facebook - use this link to my Blog with all articlaes posted about Dell http://bit.ly/dm_vs_dell
Posted by Dave at 2:10 PM 0 comments
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My Dell Hell - Dell vs Dave Mutton - In court this Thursday 12 August
It’s been quite a while since I updated this Blog for lots of different reasons, but the main factor was that court proceedings in the UK can take a long time to process
In the last few months several important things have happened:
I had contact from a solicitor working at Geoffrey Leaver solicitors, on behalf for Dell. He had two objectives, one was to re-arrange collection of the extra laptop which finally happened in mid April and the second was to discuss my claim
We had several conversations based around the fact that I was looking to achieve two core objectives:
Primarily to have Dell publicly acknowledge and apologise for their poor Customer Service
Receive appropriate compensation for the time and effort I have gone to and for my son for the upset and inconvenience of not receiving his Christmas present on time
Despite several calls, I think the main focus from the solicitor was retrieving the laptop and he never really gave serious consideration to my case
Consequently, time passed, various deadlines for the court elapsed and I continued the process
On Monday 2nd August, I had to pay a final listing fee to the court for the case to proceed. I received a letter from the solicitor on Saturday 31 July with a Without Prejudice offer from Dell. This offer of several hundred pounds would just about cover my costs incurred so far, but I feel still did not give me any compensation for the all the hassle I have gone through. Furthermore, the offer was conditional on not publicising the offer and payment in any format, such as this blog.
I replied to the solicitor, making these points and stating that not only was the cash on offer unacceptable, but also the fact that I would not be allowed to mention the settlement was totally against one of the primary purposes of me taking this case to court in the first place
I suggested that an improved offer, accompanied by a public letter of apology from Dell would be acceptable.
This was formally rejected by Dell, their solicitor stated: “My clients do not consider this proposal to be reasonable and it is rejected.”
Consequently, this Thursday at 2pm I will be attending the High Wycombe County Court and defending my case for compensation from Dell Computers for terrible Customer Service
What is most interesting is a story that I saw on BBC TV news this week – which is also available on the BBC News website – here
This story was about a 59-year-old man from Rotherham who has successfully billed British Gas for his time after two years of ongoing disputes with the energy supplier.
Barry Payling said he was paid more than £2, 000 by the company after he threatened to take them to court for a "horrendous catalogue of errors".
British Gas said it had paid the money as "a gesture of goodwill, an apology" - not for Mr Payling's time.
BBC TV News interviewed Sarah Pennels, a well-known personal finance journalist and broadcaster, who runs Savvywoman.co.uk
This is perfect timing for me, setting a great precedent and I will contact Ms Pennels to see if she is interested in my case
I will try to update this blog over the next few days as and if things develop, watch this space
Posted by Dave at 11:44 AM 0 comments
Labels: angry, Customer Service, dell, Mutton, poor
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Monday, March 22
Dell vs Dave Mutton - It may go to court
Things are moving again with regard to my action against Dell Computers. ]
If this is the first time you have read my blog, I decided several months ago to take action after I had received such poor and incompetent service over the supply of two Inspiron 1545 laptops, despite numerous emails and phone calls to Dell Customer Services and several emails to Michael Dell, Chairman of Dell. It was a long and painful process to resolve my situation and Dell just didn't seem to care about what was happening and their eventual offer of compensation was insulting.
So I issued a claim in the UK County Court for compensation and last week Dell Computers filed a defence. This means they dispute my claim and will defend it in court.
Although the legal department of Dell Computers managed to actually file the defence on time, they have lived up to the reputation of the rest of the business by filing a defence that is both incomplete and inaccurate, but in one significant instance is fundamentally untrue.
So, I have some time now to file more documents with the court and then a judge will decide if it will go to an actual hearing.
This will cost me a bit more money, but I am determined to continue my action and not let them get away with how they treat consumers such as myself.
I wonder how much it is costing Dell to defend this action - probably a lot more than I was asking for in compensation.
I'll update my blog with more information soon, including how you could maybe help my case.
Posted by Dave at 12:32 PM 2 comments
Labels: dell
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Monday, March 08
Dell Computers - bunch of useless incompetents
It's 7pm and what a surprise, no courier has turned up to collect the spare Inspiron 1545 laptop.
This collection was arranged one month ago, but I remembered and I would expect a multi $billion business with sophisticated customer service systems to remember too.
I'll just add it to the ever growing list of reasons why I will never buy from Dell Computers again and also raise it in court if I get the chance.
Posted by Dave at 7:06 PM 1 comments
Labels: angry, bad, Customer Service, Dave, dell, Hell, poor
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Dell Computers vs Dave Mutton Update
Nothing much has happened in the past few weeks since Dell formally acknowledged my claim. They have 28 days from the date of service to formally respond, then it's up to the court to decide what happens next. This notice expires in two weeks on Monday 22 March.
I now have the details of the solicitors acting on behalf of Dell Computers, namely, Geoffrey Leaver Solicitors based in Milton Keynes. I Wonder if they will make any effort to contact me and check the facts of the matter before making their response. I don't hold any hope that Dell Customer services in India have detailed records of my complaint as they are so inefficient.
The only other thing happening today is the extra Inspiron 1545 laptop that I have had unopened since late December, should be collected by Dell. I say should, I had confirmation on a an email on 15th February that it would be collected today, but so far had no other communication. So presumably, Dell expect me to wait in all day for their courier - I think not.
I will not go out of my way to be away from home, but neither will I wait in to ensure collection. I give it a 50% chance that a) The courier from Dell Computers actually turns up and b) I'm actually here to hand over the Inspiron 1545 laptop.
by the way, if you are reading this and you work at Dell, I had occasion to buy a new Netbook recently and guess what? I didn't buy Dell - so there is the first sale you've lost as a direct result of your incompetent customer service.
I bought a stylish Samsung N220 netbook and so far I am very happy with it.
Posted by Dave at 10:45 AM 0 comments
Labels: angry, Customer Service, Dave, dell, legal, poor
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Thursday, February 25
Dell Computers vs Dave Mutton
Checked in on my court claim for compensation against Dell Computers last night and they have formally acknowledged the claim. This means they now have 28 days to prepare and file a defence.
I'm not surprised that Dell Computers legal team are more efficient than their terrible Customer Service team based in India. So it will be interesting now to see what they do next - will they try to contact me and make an offer or will they take it all the way and I'll see them in court.
Looking at my Google Analytics data, I am still getting a lot of traffic from Dell servers, so somebody over there is watching this blog - interestingly I haven't had any further traffic recently from the Radian6 service. I wonder if they changed the way they use it - getting a lot of traffic direct using my name as a search word. Maybe someone in their Social Media team realised that the when they click in the Radian6 report it shows up as a referring site to whichever blog or site they are looking at??
Finally, although my emails to [email protected] didn't get a direct response, I did get my missing Inspiron laptop eventually - it's just symbolic of the inefficiency of Dell that they offered me compensation worth less than the missing software and making no allowance for the unbelievable hassle I have had dealing with their incompetent customer service team.
To anybody who is struggling with your own Dell Hell, it might be a late order for a Dell laptop or Dell desktop, a problem with Dell technical support, or any other type of Dell after sales support, my advice to keep on persevering and I recommend you do this:
Keep a note of when and how long it takes you to do anything - this could be how long you stay on hold when you call Dell Customer Services, how long it takes you to write an email to Dell technical Support, or even how long it takes to write a blog post or Tweet about how poor Dell Computers customer service is
Always ask for a name and email address for who you are talking to - they will not always give it - so make a note of that too
when you send any emails always set your options to ask for a read receipt and copy everybody you have been dealing with on the same email
Don't lose your temper on the phone - be polite, but don't let them get what they want which is for you to go away. If you have a legitimate problem, be persistent
If it is clear that the person you are dealing with has no way to help you, then ask to speak to their supervisor - ask for their name and contact details before they transfer you (or put you on hold)
If somebody says they will call you back, make sure you get:
Their name
Their contact details, name and email
A specific time when they will call back, or the latest time. Then repeat this back to them as some CS calls are recorded, e.g. "To confirm, you "their name" will call me back by 2pm on "day and date" regarding my complaint about "your problem"
ask them to email you and confirm what actions they are taking and when they will get back to you
Above all else - Don't Give Up
I hope that helps you with your Dell Hell. I've been dealing with my complaint now since the middle of December...
Posted by Dave at 10:03 AM 1 comments
Labels: angry, Customer Service, Dave, dell, Mutton, poor, Radian 6, Social Networking
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Monday, February 22
No News from Dell - I'm not surprised
It's been almost a week since I issued my claim in the county court for compensation from Dell Computers for terrible customer service. They have 14 days to respond and I'm hoping that they are such a disorganised company that they will not even bother to defend and I will win my claim.
Of course if they do actually choose to defend that will also be interesting as it will mean that there legal team are far more efficient than their customer service team - nice choice of priorities.
Thanks to the people who have sent me messages of support either on the blog or via Twitter - I am keeping both updated (#dellsucks on Twitter) with any news and who knows maybe I will start a trend...
Posted by Dave at 3:30 PM 0 comments
Labels: angry, Customer Service, dell, legal, poor, stupid
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Tuesday, February 16
Legal Process started against Dell Computers
I have today submitted a claim in the County Court for compensation against Dell Computers for their appalling customer service and arrogant attitude. Full details of this process have already been posted on this blog in my most recent posts.
To bring the record fully up to date I have been exchanging emails with a customer service rep at Dell who offered his apologies; confirmed the c£50 compensation; stated that the missing software was now no longer available (no offer of anything to replace it - was worth £60); confirmed that they will collect the extra laptop on 8th March (this is about how long I had to wait to get the order). Finally, he also confirmed that Dell would defend any court action, so I look forward to the next steps in this process.
Finally, I have also decided to seek publicity for my dispute and will be contacting several consumer affairs programmes on both TV and Radio.
Big corporations have to accept that they cannot behave this way to customers who are paying them money for goods and services.
Posted by Dave at 1:08 PM 0 comments
Labels: angry, bad, Customer Service, dell, legal, poor
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