Dell (Dell Inc., Dell Computers) Horrible Customer Service, Inconvenience customers for their errors and product malfunction Internet

I purchased a laptop from Dell, Inc. a few weeks ago.  I have had the worst customer service ever.  1 day after I ordered the computer, I needed to change the ship to address, as it was originally ordered to ship to my dad's house (so someone would be home), but my dad was put into hospise care so wasn't there.  Took me an hour on hold to be told by the csr that I couldn't change the address.  I told her I'd like to cancel the order then, because I didn't want to pay for a pc that I wouldn't receive, and she said that although it'd been less than 24 hours, I couldn't cancel the order either.  It took 10 minutes of arguing with her to get her to transfer me to a manager, who told me that there was no reason why I couldn't change the address.

5 days after I received the computer, I had an issue with the battery.  Whenever I was running on battery power alone, the screen turned a dark pink color.  I tried to charge the battery for 24 hours to see if that helped, and it did not.  I then contacted customer care via on-line chat.  I let her link up with the computer, and the rep determined that it was probably the battery, which was not providing the required power to properly run the lcd rgb display.  She said that she'd send me a new battery, and I would have it in 1-2 days.  She made no mention of me needing to do anything.  I received the battery.  It was alone in the box, with nothing more than 2 pieces of gray foam.  There was no paperwork or documentation in the box.

A few days later, I found that I was charged for the battery.  This was supposed to be under warranty, but they charged me for it.  I called their customer service line at 9am today (Saturday), and held for 15 minutes before I got anyone.  I explained my problem, and was told a different customer service department would have to handle my issue.  It took 10 more minutes to get another person, who was with tech support.  He said that I shouldn't have been charged, but he couldn't reverse the charge and that a different department had to do it, but he'd transfer me right away.  I had requested to speak to the manager of the department he was transferring me to.  I held for about 40 minutes, and then the system hung up on me.

I then called back.  It took about 15 minutes to get a person.  I was told, wrong customer service department, they'd transfer me.  I held for another 5 minutes and got another csr, who said, again, wrong customer service department, but she'd transfer me to the right one.  After another 10 minutes, another rep, another wrong customer service.  How many customer service departments do they have?  I was promised by this rep that she'd use an internal line to get me to the right person before the transfer.  Nope, she just transferred me to the general operator.  The operator hung up on me.

I then called what I thought was the corporate number.  I asked the person who answered for any manager on duty.  I was finally transferred to a manager, but this was the manager of corporate sales (business accounts).  This was the first person I spoke with that did not have a very thick accent.  I had trouble understanding all of the other people I had spoken with.  This rep was probably American or Canadian, or was at least educated in the US or Canada. 

The manager told me that I was charged because I didn't send back the old part.  I was never instructed to do so.  I was not told this by the tech support rep on the on-line chat session.  He said that there should have been instructions to do so in the box.  There were none.  Because the old battery wasn't working properly, I had already disposed of it.  I purchased an extended warranty (that covered accidental breakage as well as malfunction), but did not receive a warranty contract with my computer, so I didn't get anything to read that stated a return policy on bad parts. 

The manager said that I would have to speak with the customer care and service department.  I told him that I'd been trying to get transferred to that department for the past 2 hours.  He said that the department I needed wasn't even open on Saturdays.  Why didn't anyone I had spoken to told me this?  He said he didn't know.  He said that the rep that I had the on-line session with should have told me that I needed to return the old part, but didn't (mistake 1), the IT guy should have sent me an e-mail with return instructions, but didn't (mistake 2), and that the shipping department should have included return product documents, but didn't (mistake 3).  3 departments made errors, which will cost me $150, if they do not fix it, but I'll have to wait for them to call me, or call during the day, Mon-Fri. 

I have received a bad battery and horrible service, and no one at Dell really seems to care.  The manager said that you have to buy the upgraded warranty to get the better service.  Well I paid several hundred dollars extra to have the best warranty that I could purchase for my system, so why am I still receiving sub-standard care.  I feel as if I was ripped off for the battery and ripped off for my warranty, and ripped off for the time I wasted when they simply could have told me from the get go that the department I needed was closed until Monday.

I don't know what this website can do to make things better, but at least my story is now told.  I recommend not going with Dell, unless you never plan on calling customer service or tech support, or have money to burn.  the $2,500 I paid is simply too much money to be treated lousy.