Update on the Dell monitor
Soon after my real-time rage hit the web, I saw a few hits in my server logs that reverse-mapped to various dell.com addresses. I knew then that my ploy was working, and sure enough, not more than 20 minutes later I got a very polite email from Larry Robinson, who's a Dell Online Community Outreach Liaison. I also got a ping from Jimmy Parish, also of Dell, on Facebook.
Long story short, the company got a new monitor out to me, and it arrived last night. We hooked it up this morning in the office, and it works great. I'm still waiting for return instructions for the broken monitor, but at least nobody's blocked at this point.
Larry speculated that the original disconnect was that the CSRs were looking at the order date, not the ship date, when they told me to get lost before the 21-day return period. He said the company does take these kinds of incidents seriously, and tries to modify their internal procedures to handle things better. I appreciate that; the last thing I want to hear is that they're making an exception for me just because I complained in a public forum, because that doesn't help me the next time I get into a situation.
Since my blog post I've heard many Dell stories from friends, some unpleasant, but many satisfactory, and a few outright pleasant. If I underweight the part of the experience involving ignorant front-line CSRs and focus on the actual humans who took a few moments to understand the problem, then my experience was slightly on the pleasant side, too. So Dell manages to stay out of my personal Hall of Shame, and I'll probably buy from them again.... especially likely when the mini Inspiron comes out soon. :)
Mike, Whatever the cause, it was a mix up on our part, and I'm glad I could help get things straightened out and the monitor replaced as it should have been. I apologize it took so much effort on your part, as that is not the type of experience we want for our customers.
We're a big company, and it (usually) takes time for things to change, but we really are listening and working on improving the things our customers have problems with. The last two years have been the most interesting 'tech support' job I've ever worked, since I get to both find the problems and make sure the right people here in Dell hear about them, while at the same time working with customers (such as yourself) to get the immediate problem(s) taken care of. It's too bad the internet is such a big place, and there are so few of us on my team ...
I'm also looking forward to the Inspiron 910, as I've used notebooks long enough to truly appreciate "the lighter the betteer". I don't know when it gets released, but the rumors I've heard say it is supposed to be Soon(TM). ;)
Larry
Dell Outreach Liaison.