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June 29th, 2018 13:00

Sales Chat Expert/accessories complaint

I am unbelievably frustrated by Dell's sales chat representatives, as well as with the quality of your accessory products.

I have an XPS 15 (9560), and I work from my office as well as several other locations.  I hate having to connect and unravel a bunch of wires each time I sit down at the desk in my office, particularly since I use another monitor and a bunch of peripherals there.  So I figured I'd look into a docking station that would take advantage of the Thunderbolt/usb-c port and allow me to do all of the following through JUST usb-c out of my XPS 15:

Charge my laptop

Connect my USB peripherals (printer and keyboard)

Connect my Dell U3415 via HDMI or DP or whatever

Connect ethernet (optional)

When I first looked at docking stations for this, the products were so poorly rated on Dell's own website that I stopped looking.  I thought I'd just get a second power adapter to leave at my office, as that's the most annoying part.  Wait... turns out Dell wants $90 for a power adapter.  And, again... it doesn't work: a huge volume of complaints on dell.com about it simply falling apart in weeks.

So, back to Sales chat to talk about docks, I guess.  

After an hour of confusion, the rep recommends the TB 16.  No reviews on Dell.com, but 40% of purchasers on Amazon gave it one star for a very wide variety of problems.  For $300?  No thanks.

The next time I chatted, a Dell rep recommended the D6000 dock.  I was absolutely explicit in saying that I wanted to do everything (including power the XPS 15) through the USB C cable. Here's pat of the chat transcript:

Me: And I would or would not need a separate power cable for the XPS 15? 
Rep: Are you referring to the AC adapter of your laptop?
Me: Yup.
Rep: I believe that you don't need another power cable for your laptop, [my name]
Me: Can we change that "I believe" into a "I know 100% for sure?"
Rep: Yes that's right [my name]. Thank you for that.
Rep: Rest assured that you no longer need separate cable, [my name]

After placing an order for the D6000, I found out on my own that it would not power the XPS 15... based on customer reviews.  Another chat... and the rep confirmed that, no, the D6000 wouldn't in fact do the things that I very clearly asked for.

So... more time on the phone cancelling the order.

The next chat rep recommended the WD 15.  This one seems to fit the bill... but the XPS 15 is NOT listed as a compatible model.  And there are 169 reviews on Amazon reporting multiple problems from verified purchasers, including that it simply isn't built right (connectors falling out, poor grounding/shocks) and several folks whose computers got wiped by using this.  Insane.

Dell's poorly-informed sales reps and their poorly-designed and manufactured accessories have made me waste more time researching, calling, and cancelling orders than a docking station (that worked) would ever save me.  

At this point I'd settle for a second power adapter... but you Dell can't seem to make those right, either -- even for $90.

I'm trying to hand you guys money, but your products and people have wasted hours of my time.  As someone who has used Dell products for decades, it's incredibly frustrating.

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