To Dell with it

Wow, this must be the month of getting jacked around my technology companies. First the whole Best Buy Fiasco, then my computer at work dies, and I've spent a full week trying to get my Adobe ® Creative Suite ™ to activate, to no avail, then my laptop needs to get some of the feet replaced on the bottom. No problem I say to myself, I've got my 4-year, accidental coverage complete care warranty. Dell will take care of it. So I log-in to chat with their support (good luck understanding anyone that you may get on the phone...) thinking that it can't be that hard to get three new feet shipped out to me. Apparently it is. Silly me, you would think that they would know what feet go on it seeing as they built the blasted thing, but apparently not.
The first technician I spoke with was friendly enough, and agreed to ship those parts out to me ASAP. Sweet! I go to work the next day, and lo-and-behold this HUGE box shows up from Dell. What's this I wondered to myself, as I opened it to find not three little rubber feet, but two, and not even of the same size!!! Also in the box, was a return shipping label, what did they want me to send back? Did they think I puled of the feet for fun, or did they completely miss the part where I told them that "the feet FELL off." So, I figured I must have gotten the resident idiot there in their technical support department, so let's try this again. I log myself into their chat system, and explain my problem to Elvis (seriously, that's what this guy has on there for his name. And I thought Elvis was dead... He's not, he's just adopted an Indian accent, and working for Dell.) Elvis promptly apologizes, and agrees to ship out the correct feet. The next day I go to work again, and a padded manila envelope shows up from Dell. Sweet! Finally I can get rid of the stupid rocking that happens every time I type on a solid surface. I proceed to cut the top of the envelope off, and pull out the contents. And what's this? ONE foot, that must have been less than half of the size of the previous two put together. Boy, no wonder Elvis gave up music, apparently he can't count for beans. By this time, I am starting to get highly annoyed with it. Who would have thought that three little rubber feet would have been such a big deal? So I log myself back into their chat, where I speak to a man (assuming) named Ricky. Good ol' Ricky I thought, there have been tons of great people named that (I mean who doesn't love Ricky Ricardo?), this guy is going to be the one that finally gets it right I tell myself. I explain the problem, as well as the incompetence of the previous two technicians. Well, says Ricky, I'm going to dispatch a technician with the feet (for three stickon rubber feet?) and an entirely new bottom just in case I send you the wrong feet again. Great, this guys already winning me over with his confidence. Replacing the bottom has me a little worried however, as my stickers for my copy of Windows Vista that I purchased as an express upgrade when I bought my computer, were on the bottom. I expressed this to Ricky, and he promptly replied that it would all be taken care of, and that I had nothing to worry about. This was Saturday morning, and I was told to expect the technician on Monday, Tuesday at the latest. So Monday rolls past, Tuesday rolls past, Wednesday rolls past and I start to wonder what is going on. So I log back into their support chat, and who do I get but good old Ricky again... I explain to him that apparently the technician is MIA, and that they need to send out a search party for him. So Ricky asks me to hold on while he researches what is going on. He comes back a few minutes to tell me that according to DHL the shipment has been picked up by the agent. That's strange I thought, I just checked in two minutes before I got on and it had been sitting in West Valley since Monday morning. So Ricky pulls up the tracking page in our chat window, and tries to explain to me that the shipment was picked up Saturday (the same day he dispatched it by-the-way, boy that's some fast shipping.) in Houston - Cypress, TX. No wonder I haven't seen the technician. Texas is a long way from Utah. So I then have to provide him with some technical support, and explain to him that he shipped it from TX, and it said shipment picked up in Houston because that is when DHL picked it up, not his agent, and if he kindly scrolled to the top, he can plainly see where it said in the current status that it was AWAITING pickup in West Valley City. So he tells me then that I have to call the company that they use for their on site service. I call them, and they are baffled why I haven't heard back from the technician already. Phone numbers are all correct, so the guy tries to call the tech. He can't get him to answer his phone, so he leaves him a message. About 5 hours later that afternoon, the guy calls back to see if the technician has called me back yet. Nope I said, haven't seen, nor heard anything. He tells me that he is going to do a "monitored" call (whatever that mean, but imagine that it can't be good for the technicians reputation.) and that I should hear back from a tech within the next thirty minutes. Well the tech calls, and we schedule an appointment for the next day. The tech calls me the next day at the appointed time, and tells me he is on his way. Twenty minutes later he calls back lost, and it takes him about three more phone calls before he finally makes it there. So I hand him my lappy (as I have affectionately named it) and leave him to do is stuff. An hour later he has replaced the bottom, and says he is done. I ask him about the sticker. He tells me "I just do hardware stuff, you are going to have to call Dell back." not a problem I think to myself, they said they would take care of it. He goes on his merry way, and that night I get on with Dell. Now, Quinnon, my fourth technician is a complete JERK! He tells me that he cannot replace my sticker and that I am going to have to contact customer care who _MAY_ replace my sticker. Well, had I known that I would have told the tech that took a week to get there to get lost, and I would continue with my shipping fiasco until they finally sent me the right feet. but it was too late, my sticker is already in the mail on it's way back to Dell. So then I take a closer look at my computer as my fan's are running an abnormal amount of time and notice that the idiot did not bother to put my blue tooth module or door back on. CRAP!!!! This is getting ridiculous! Quinnon promised to ship me out a new blue tooth module, and door. (We'll see how he does, as I should get it Monday) so now, because of their incompetence I am left without a sticker, and a blue tooth module (so much for hot syncing my cell phone.) And now get to call their customer care center, and deal with that whole fiasco. All I can say at this point, is I better get someone who speaks English as their FIRST language. And all of this, I am starting to learn by doing some research, is what is commonly referred to around the blog-o-sphere as "DELL HELL". This sucks. I'll update as soon as I get a chance to call them on Monday, as they are not open on weekends, and they are also only available during regular business hours, so I have to loose time from work to deal with the mess they made. I wonder how they plan on compensating me for that??