Read this before buying from Dell EPP/MPP

Long story short, I ordered two L702x's from the Employee Purchase Plan / Member Purchase Plan web site after extensive research here, with Dell chat, and with the technical service manual. Turned out the computers weren't right (didn't have four memory slots) because Dell chat didn't know what they were talking about as usual (I found this out after the usual excruciating multi-hour telephone exchange with Dell Customer Service and Technical support).



The good news is I ran across Denney James (Dell sales), who is in Dell-Texas, not some out-sourced customer non-service company somewhere. The long story short on that one is that he fixed all the problems I had pleasantly and quickly, and supported me all the way through. If only I had ordered by calling him instead of ordering from the web site I could have saved myself ten hours of frustration and two weeks of time.



My recommendation: If you are going to order a Dell from the EPP/MPP site, don't! Contact this guy instead and save yourself a lot of trouble! I sure wish I had!



Denney James

Denney_James@Dell.com

Dell | Employee Purchase Representative

Contact: (800)999-3355 Ext. 4167686

Hours: 830-530 CST (Sat & Sun off)

Reply 1 : Read this before buying from Dell EPP/MPP

Glad you got your issue resolved. My past purchases thru a EPP Rep have been fairly smooth (guess I got lucky).

Reply 2 : Read this before buying from Dell EPP/MPP

Better suggestion. Don't buy Dell at all.

Reply 3 : Read this before buying from Dell EPP/MPP

Quote:

Originally Posted by Win7SP1 Better suggestion. Don't buy Dell at all.

No one else had something closer to what I wanted for even remotely close to the same price. I could have custom-built a Clevo for an additional $700, got an HP that lacked a couple of features I wanted, or gone to others with similar limitations, but why would I do that when Dell had the closest to what I wanted (all but the 1920x1200 screen size, which is basically discontinued by everyone) for hundreds less than everyone else?

Reply 4 : Read this before buying from Dell EPP/MPP

Quote:

Originally Posted by Win7SP1 Better suggestion. Don't buy Dell at all.

Good luck finding another manufacturer who is as understanding as Dell. Dell has some of the most lax return rules compared to HP or Lenovo.

Reply 5 : Read this before buying from Dell EPP/MPP

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tsunade_Hime Good luck finding another manufacturer who is as understanding as Dell. Dell has some of the most lax return rules compared to HP or Lenovo.

? HP return policy seems better to me out of the 3; they're all 21 day returns, but both Dell and Lenovo ask for (up to) 15% restocking fees, while HP doesn't. Or were you referring to some other aspect of returns?

Reply 6 : Read this before buying from Dell EPP/MPP

Quote:

Originally Posted by Judicator both Dell and Lenovo ask for (up to) 15% restocking fees, while HP doesn't.

Huh? I've had every Dell account type ever offered, from home user to 50K+ enterprise, as well as education, and I've never run into this.



This is in the US (it probably varies by market) and as recently as December 2010 small business still got the 30-day "Total Satisfaction Guarantee" (100% refund, Dell pays return shipping). They like to offer people deals to keep the systems, though. Whether that works will depend on whether the reason for return is a better price elsewhere or something lacking in the system that can't be fixed. One example that bit us a couple years ago was that there were no PS/2 keyboard ports on whatever system the beancounters spec'd, while we use a custom 124+ key keyboard built for us that only comes in PS/2.



The reason I know about December was that the aforementioned beancounters ordered us Optiplex 960's (nice systems, BTW) but forgot the 2nd serial adapters. Dell business accessories and spares couldn't get us the add-on adapters, and I had to threaten to return the systems and re-order new ones with the exact same config, plus the serial adapters. That finally got their attention.

Reply 7 : Read this before buying from Dell EPP/MPP

Quote:

Originally Posted by Win7SP1 Better suggestion. Don't buy Dell at all.

I like Dell. Anytime I have had a problem, I have usually had resolve to my situation. Sure, sometimes I have felt like I had to push for better Customer Service..but in the end all has been resolved.

Reply 8 : Read this before buying from Dell EPP/MPP

Quote:

Originally Posted by Win7SP1 Better suggestion. Don't buy Dell at all.

Will have to rustle up the bush here and there,but in the end you can cut a deal with them, most of the time better deals, nothing comes Easy you know , great lappy's, affordable price , Decent Customer Service( None's perfect)

Reply 9 : Read this before buying from Dell EPP/MPP

Hey Lee Jay,



I partially took your advice... Once Dell messed up my order i went to Denney, and in less than a day he has managed to fix my order and make sure that i get the correct product. Thanks a ton for posting this.