ArtisticallyChill

About 3 weeks ago, my Dell W2607C 26″ LCD TV died due to a faulty power issue that has been known to plague Dell TVs for a while. It’s been a week since I called the Dell Customer Service center and my case got pushed forward to a ‘higher authority’.

After playing some phone tag and email tag, I finally got in touch with a representative from the Dell Consumer Resolution Center. It pretty much went down the same way as my call to Dell Customer Service last week. I went through all the details again, recounting my call with the Customer Service rep from last week, remaining adamant that the same hardware flaw that is found on the W2600 series is the same one that my TV has.

After further expressing my disappointment with Dell’s inability to take responsibility for selling me a defective TV, the rep pointed out that should I be approved for a replacement, that I wouldn’t be getting another W2607c because of the simple fact that it is no longer in production.

“So, what you’re saying is that Dell manufactures defective TVs and stops production before the TV is discontinued. Why would Dell do that? To gain more money on warranties and for those that didn’t buy the warranty pay for the repairs?”

The Dell rep was silent for a bit, as if she was stunned that I figured Dell’s real motive behind the faulty TVs. She then responded, “Sir, we would like to replace the TV for you but would like to make it clear that you would not get the same type model.” Ok, now we are getting somewhere.

Here’s the kicker. “So you’re telling me that I will not get a W2607C, that I would be getting a different model TV upon my approval for a replacement?”

“Yes.”, she replies.

“And what if the same problem occurs? Will I have to jump through hoops to get it replaced again?”, I asked.

“Sir, this model will not have that problem.”

“How do you know? Is this a refurbished model, or an older model, or what?”

“I can’t say Sir, it all depends on what kind of replacement you get approved for. But it will not be any model that is discontinued.”

“If you don’t know what kind of model TV I will get should I be approved for a replacement, how can you say that the replacement will not have that same problem 30 days, 90 days, or 2 years from now?”, I replied.

“Sir, if that should happen we will replace it for you but I guarantee that the TV will not have this problem. However, should anything else happen to the TV you will be required to go through the Dell Repair service, which will require a pre-payment.”, she stated, as if reading it off some script.

“So what you’re saying is that if, and that’s a big IF, I get approved for a replacement TV that WILL NOT have the power issue, but could very well be flawed in such a way that I would have to pay for repairs.”

“Sir, the TV will not be flawed or defective. I’m just saying that should there be any other problems other than the power issue, we cannot help you with a replacement, only repairs.”, she replied.

“Well I guess if that’s my only option to replace this overly expensive paperweight, I guess I’ll have to take my chances.”

“Sir, so you want to go ahead with the replacement process?”

“Sure, I have no other choice. How long will this take?”

She replies, “Should you be approved, about 6-7 days. I will call back again around that time to touch base with you.”

At this point she took down my address, and gave me another reference number to go along with my case number. She also got my email address to send me a confirmation email with the number I had just written down.

So I’ve got to wait another 6-7 days. I wish Dell would take a cue from Microsoft’s current policy with their RRoD problem: Just replace it. No questions asked. See, Microsoft is owning up to its mistakes with the Xbox 360. Dell, they aren’t, at least, not to the extent that they should be. With Microsoft, it took me one phone call. With Dell, I had to jump through the hoops of emails, and playing phone tag over the course of 2 weeks and I still have to wait another week to see whether or not I will get approved for a replacement. With Microsoft, I’ve already shipped out my defective console and will get a replacement sent to me within two weeks. That’s how all replacement plans should work when it clearly is the company’s fault.

~ LoneWolf

It’s been about 2 weeks since my Dell 26″ LCD TV died due to some defective piece of hardware within. I haven’t thrown it out yet. So I decided to research my problem to see if it can be fixed or if others had experienced the same thing. I found this forum site called FixYa and was led to this forum talking about the Dell W2600 LCD TV’s power issue.

I read through all those who posted that they had the similar problem and read through all the submitted solutions. Some said that they were able to get their LCD TVs replaced by Dell even if the warranty had expired. With some renewed hope, I called Dell’s Tech Support.

Even though I was hesitant about dealing with customer service people (see old posts about ‘Circuit Shitty’), if I could get this LCD replaced like those on the FixYa threads, I had to give it a shot. Of course, I was on hold for nearly 20 minutes. After giving all the pertinent information regarding my Dell 26″LCD/TV, the operator (in very broken english, I might add) guided me through all the troubleshooting steps I had done already. Though it was a waste of time, I did it follow her instructions as a long shot that it might work this time around. But it didn’t. So she put me on hold for a few minutes to speak with her supervisor (which means she needed to consult her script).

When she got bak on, she tried pulling the old “contact your cable company” line, but I told her the cable is fine cause it’s also plugged into a second tv. She then tried to explain that since it was out of warranty it could not be replaced. I didn’t leave it at that and began to explain how Dell sold me a defective product and that I have had LCD monitors and TVs last longer than 2 years and how it was unfair for a loyal customer to be treated in this way. She then tried to send me off to another tech support service, but the only difference is that they were gonna charge me. I said ‘No’ and then asked for her supervisor. A few minutes on hold and I was then greeted by a man, with much better broken english.

He tried to give the same line about ‘out of warranty’ and I told him that this is not an uncommon problem and that if he goggled ‘Dell 26″ TV not powering up’, he’d see that there are a lot of consumers out there with the same problem as me.

He then said, “Oh but the problem you speak of is with the 2600 series model not yours, yours is the 2607C.” I replied, without hesitation, “But it is still part of the same series, is it not? And it looks like the same problem was overlooked when they made the one I bought.”

After that he apologized for all the trouble my TV, and Dell have caused me and said that he would forward this incident to someone of a ‘higher’ authority and that I should expect a call within 72 hours. I thought to myself, “Way to go! I might be getting somewhere with Dell!” I told him I was grateful for his help, that I didn’t expect him to replace it right away, that all I wanted was for him to understand my predicament and to forward my plea to the higher powers.

Though the call took about an hour to get through, it was a lot easier than my those past customer service calls to those complete assholes at Circuit City. I kept a much cooler head and not once did I scream anything bad on the phone. I even received an email with a case number as soon as I got off the phone too. Maybe my TV will be replaced after all.

Here’s hoping. *knocks on wood*

~ LoneWolf