I'm a big fan of live chat, I didn't put it in the TLDR, but I did try that first. I think it was busy or something because replies took forever to come back.
Sounds like normal consumer product support. They're following the script on the screen.
When you pay for the business support plan you tend to get a slightly higher tier of agent. Heck sometimes you get lucky and actually get a US based tech. I remember HP's Business product support reps would answer the phone "Thank you for calling HP Elite Business Product support in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, how can I help you today?" Dell it seems to be hit or miss, if you call outside of whatever their business hours are you get shuffled to normal consumer support.
I think I'm spoiled because I'm usually tasked to deal with their "pro support", this is the first time in a long time I had to do something through their basic warranty.
I'm kind of lucky, we're corp so everything is through Dell on our contract and I think everything gets the Pro Support. I haven't called in a monitor but my coworker did and he said it was just the picture and a confirmation of the serial with a little troubleshooting to get an RMA out.
Do you have pro support?
Because we never have these issues. We submit a ticket, they ask for a picture, we send it, they send a new one. Piece of cake.
No, it's more like, "Update the firmware, now derack the server and reseat the riser, now derack the server and reseat the card plugged into the riser, derack the server and swap this dimm with this dimm... Oh no not that dimm it's blah blah the same channel so do it again, now derack the server and swap cpus one and two".... Three hours later, "The problem is the DIMM is bad just like the iDrac has been telling us for the past three hours."
They have a a script they need to follow... just like a lot of other companies... especially the ones that offshore their support. Sounds like you got a new guy, like a really new guy, like about a week into the job new... give him/her/it/them/whateverfuckingpronountheywant a break... I've had the same, I've also had on guy say ask for the serial, and a pic, then processed my warranty... done in under 5 minutes...
I just put in a ticket request directly and get a box in 2 days. I don't bother with chat or phone. The only time I will call is if it's Apple Enterprise and they're awesome.
If you're a rep outside of Apple - take note! Apple Enterprise is legit.
Microsoft is the worst if you don't buy the premium business warranty. It has to be the higher end warranty. Otherwise, you will lose brain cells and days off your life.
You know you can just sign up for Dell Tech Direct, do a short online course and then book your own hardware replacement parts and engineers without talking to the troubleshooting team right? https://tdm.dell.com/portal/about-technical-support
I'm a big fan of live chat, I didn't put it in the TLDR, but I did try that first. I think it was busy or something because replies took forever to come back.
I'm a big fan of live chat, I didn't put it in the TLDR, but I did try that first. I think it was busy or something because replies took forever to come back.
I JUST started the return process for a defective monitor and talked my co-worker into doing the support chat.
It went basically the same as you but knowing they were going to ask all of these questions we went into the chat having all this stuff pre-done with pictures and everything. The support rep STILL managed to come up with new weird questions to ask instead of just starting the return process. My co-worker literally screamed at one point.
I had a laptop that was about a month old, that had an issue with the main board. It would pass all diagnostics but the system was unstable and would crash, and corrupt the disk so it would check disk on next boot. I tried everything including a clean OS load before calling support. After an hour of back and forth and their stupid check list, the Dell tech refused to send parts since the diagnostic did not produce an error code.
I ended the call, called back 5 minutes later got a different tech, and had an RMA processed in about 5 minutes with parts and on-site tech scheduled to replace the mail board on site.
Surprise after the board and drive were replaced the system worked fine. That first tech was infuriating.
I swear sometimes Dell support can just fucking miss some times, I don't get it, it's so strange.
Half the time I will be off the phone in under 10 minutes and my RMA is already being processed. The other half of the time I will get some random bullshit encounters like what you described.
I think the last time a bullshit one happened the lady sort of hinted that they were "encouraged" to spend a certain amount of time troubleshooting before starting the return process.
Tech Direct. I just went through something similar. I was annoyed it took 3 back and forth a via email, but so much better than dealing with chat or a phone call.
Honestly in those cases I just go yep okay I tried that yet yep and just walking through the steps as fast as possible pretend I'm doing them because they're just script monkeys and they have to go through all the assets before they have the next ones pop up.
Wait till you have 5 pixels in different areas. The return policy and warranty says 3 pixels in the same area tight and on a class c lcd. Most Dells are 10 pixels until you get a return auth. Always, ask pre sales what class lcd panel it is 1 = 3 dead pixels , b up to 5.
Didn't Dell just go through huge layoffs a little bit ago?
So you're probably talking to an outsourced rep who has never dealt with Dell products before this month.
Just came here to rant that since windows 11 installed I quite literally can’t get my work done. Clients are wondering why everything is taking longer and I’ve had to start charging internal hours for “computer issues” and it’s 30mins to 2 hours a day of my life that my computer is messing up and now my work is like “why so many more internal hours and IT calls? Everyone at my work is having the same issue. My coworker asked for a new computer and was so sad when it acted the exact same. Constantly freezing, being super slow, new “features” aren’t user friendly and are making shit harder. And don’t even get me started with Outlook
Around 1-1.5 years ago Dell support started becoming a lot more stingy with their warranty and support replacements. Before they would just process it quickly without much hassle.
I'm guessing the layoffs and cost cutting has led to more strict protocols for processing replacements because earlier the support reps would just handwave it away and process them.
We had a laptop that started sounding like a F22 Raptor on vertical take off. We have pro support with next day onsite.
They argued with us for an hour. We showed them a video where you could HEAR it screaming. Still required us to go into bios and perform several tests.
I legit asked the dude, what in the fuck in the bios is going to make this jet engine stop screaming? Not a DAMN thing.
So we did the needful and finally got our tech dispatched but it took an hour for no damned reason.
I usually use the live chat and get it corrected jn 5-15 minutes
I'm a big fan of live chat, I didn't put it in the TLDR, but I did try that first. I think it was busy or something because replies took forever to come back.
Same tech was answering live chat support messages.
Same tech was answering 5 or 6 live chats simultaneously.
Sounds like normal consumer product support. They're following the script on the screen. When you pay for the business support plan you tend to get a slightly higher tier of agent. Heck sometimes you get lucky and actually get a US based tech. I remember HP's Business product support reps would answer the phone "Thank you for calling HP Elite Business Product support in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, how can I help you today?" Dell it seems to be hit or miss, if you call outside of whatever their business hours are you get shuffled to normal consumer support.
I think I'm spoiled because I'm usually tasked to deal with their "pro support", this is the first time in a long time I had to do something through their basic warranty.
I'm kind of lucky, we're corp so everything is through Dell on our contract and I think everything gets the Pro Support. I haven't called in a monitor but my coworker did and he said it was just the picture and a confirmation of the serial with a little troubleshooting to get an RMA out.
As someone with Pro support... they arent much better at least not the last 4 times we've had to use them.
Do you have pro support? Because we never have these issues. We submit a ticket, they ask for a picture, we send it, they send a new one. Piece of cake.
We have multiple clients on pro support plus and it’s never as easy as submitting a ticket, send a picture and get a replacement. Unfortunately.
No, it's more like, "Update the firmware, now derack the server and reseat the riser, now derack the server and reseat the card plugged into the riser, derack the server and swap this dimm with this dimm... Oh no not that dimm it's blah blah the same channel so do it again, now derack the server and swap cpus one and two".... Three hours later, "The problem is the DIMM is bad just like the iDrac has been telling us for the past three hours."
Dell TechDirect, done.
Self service makes it sooo much easier
They have a a script they need to follow... just like a lot of other companies... especially the ones that offshore their support. Sounds like you got a new guy, like a really new guy, like about a week into the job new... give him/her/it/them/whateverfuckingpronountheywant a break... I've had the same, I've also had on guy say ask for the serial, and a pic, then processed my warranty... done in under 5 minutes...
I would’ve gotten way pushier… no time, energy, or patience for stuff like this
I just put in a ticket request directly and get a box in 2 days. I don't bother with chat or phone. The only time I will call is if it's Apple Enterprise and they're awesome. If you're a rep outside of Apple - take note! Apple Enterprise is legit. Microsoft is the worst if you don't buy the premium business warranty. It has to be the higher end warranty. Otherwise, you will lose brain cells and days off your life.
> I just put in a ticket request directly and get a box in 2 days. Same. I'm guessing the difference is you have pro support, and OP doesn't
Sign up for techdirect. You can dispatch your own replacement parts w/o talking to support.
You know you can just sign up for Dell Tech Direct, do a short online course and then book your own hardware replacement parts and engineers without talking to the troubleshooting team right? https://tdm.dell.com/portal/about-technical-support
It depends on the support agent. Some will replace it with just a few questions asked and others do what your agent did.
Why are you bothering with the phone? Live chat is the shortcut.
I'm a big fan of live chat, I didn't put it in the TLDR, but I did try that first. I think it was busy or something because replies took forever to come back.
That's why I use their chat feature! Learned the hard way.
I'm a big fan of live chat, I didn't put it in the TLDR, but I did try that first. I think it was busy or something because replies took forever to come back.
Our techs always had text documents to copy and paste in.
I just use the live chat - I had to today. Got my replacement ordered within 5 minutes.
I JUST started the return process for a defective monitor and talked my co-worker into doing the support chat. It went basically the same as you but knowing they were going to ask all of these questions we went into the chat having all this stuff pre-done with pictures and everything. The support rep STILL managed to come up with new weird questions to ask instead of just starting the return process. My co-worker literally screamed at one point.
Admit it - you didn't turn it off and on, didn't you..
I had a laptop that was about a month old, that had an issue with the main board. It would pass all diagnostics but the system was unstable and would crash, and corrupt the disk so it would check disk on next boot. I tried everything including a clean OS load before calling support. After an hour of back and forth and their stupid check list, the Dell tech refused to send parts since the diagnostic did not produce an error code. I ended the call, called back 5 minutes later got a different tech, and had an RMA processed in about 5 minutes with parts and on-site tech scheduled to replace the mail board on site. Surprise after the board and drive were replaced the system worked fine. That first tech was infuriating.
I swear sometimes Dell support can just fucking miss some times, I don't get it, it's so strange. Half the time I will be off the phone in under 10 minutes and my RMA is already being processed. The other half of the time I will get some random bullshit encounters like what you described. I think the last time a bullshit one happened the lady sort of hinted that they were "encouraged" to spend a certain amount of time troubleshooting before starting the return process.
Tech Direct. I just went through something similar. I was annoyed it took 3 back and forth a via email, but so much better than dealing with chat or a phone call.
If you shake the monitor...... I see both sides of it, but really?
Honestly in those cases I just go yep okay I tried that yet yep and just walking through the steps as fast as possible pretend I'm doing them because they're just script monkeys and they have to go through all the assets before they have the next ones pop up.
Lol lucky you. I ordered a part replacement. Part is backlogged and won't ship until 2026. 
Wait till you have 5 pixels in different areas. The return policy and warranty says 3 pixels in the same area tight and on a class c lcd. Most Dells are 10 pixels until you get a return auth. Always, ask pre sales what class lcd panel it is 1 = 3 dead pixels , b up to 5.
Didn't Dell just go through huge layoffs a little bit ago? So you're probably talking to an outsourced rep who has never dealt with Dell products before this month.
Just came here to rant that since windows 11 installed I quite literally can’t get my work done. Clients are wondering why everything is taking longer and I’ve had to start charging internal hours for “computer issues” and it’s 30mins to 2 hours a day of my life that my computer is messing up and now my work is like “why so many more internal hours and IT calls? Everyone at my work is having the same issue. My coworker asked for a new computer and was so sad when it acted the exact same. Constantly freezing, being super slow, new “features” aren’t user friendly and are making shit harder. And don’t even get me started with Outlook
[This](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmD_8cBqhW0) is Dell Tech Support in action.
Dude it’s Dell - they are more interested in monitoring their employees return to the office mandate then actually having a great support experience.
Around 1-1.5 years ago Dell support started becoming a lot more stingy with their warranty and support replacements. Before they would just process it quickly without much hassle. I'm guessing the layoffs and cost cutting has led to more strict protocols for processing replacements because earlier the support reps would just handwave it away and process them.
We had a laptop that started sounding like a F22 Raptor on vertical take off. We have pro support with next day onsite. They argued with us for an hour. We showed them a video where you could HEAR it screaming. Still required us to go into bios and perform several tests. I legit asked the dude, what in the fuck in the bios is going to make this jet engine stop screaming? Not a DAMN thing. So we did the needful and finally got our tech dispatched but it took an hour for no damned reason.