WHAT ARE MY CONSUMER RIGHTS WITH DELL?
What is your consumer rights with Dell really depends on what country you bought your goods in and where you live as each country has its own consumer laws and Dell loves to play on that fact.
2022-12-26
There is the only way to deal with companies like this tech giant like Dell is by knowing exactly what your consumer rights are.
As this is a UK-based website we only deal with that here and now but if you reside in another country search online for that country or state’s own set of consumer rights.
One thing to get very clear there’s a good reason Dell’s terms and conditions are vague, to say the least because we think it confuses the hell of its consumers.
So in the UK goods bought anywhere has an implied warranty of 6 years that’s right 6 years not the 1 year Dell and others clearly state.
Now the most important takeaway from that is before 6 months of ownership is up and you know or think your device is faulty you are required to inform the company you have a problem either by direct messaging (take screen captures) or by email once you have done that it is up to the company to either repair, replace, exchange or refund the total price paid, now where have you heard all that options from a dell-cares team member?
So they are either badly trained or it’s all by design to hoodwink their unsuspecting customers, this can be construed as unfair contract terms in some jurisdictions.
Now if the fault develops after 6 months the onus is on the buyer if need be to get an independent engineer to report on what you think is wrong but more importantly if they back your assertion up in their written report.
If you have jumped through all those hoops then in this example dell will contact you and ask if the repair has fixed your problem if you confirm it has Dell may use that against you later.
So if your like most non-tech-savvy consumers you’re better off saying we are still evaluating the said repairs or if nothing much has changed tell them its still faulty if that’s the case if you thought dell or other companies were slow to initially respond to your call in dell’s case you are more likely to be met with pure silence.
We think they do this to exceed the 6-month rule to make it much harder for the consumer to win or for them to play fair.
What Dell seems to prefer is giving you a full refund we think this is to cut their costs going forward but dell gives 1 year onsite warranties on most of their devices but not all and in reality, they must have at least 2 0r 3 attempts at least of sorting the issue and in any case, the consumer has the right to ask for an exchange of device either the same or mutually agreed on a similar device or upgrade if applicable and available.
If you reside in the United Kingdom one of your best courses of action is to use the free service of RESOLVER they act as arbitrators between the consumer and retailer or Manufacturer or both in the UK of all dell disputes and complaints dell has lost around 85% of cases brought against them this saves lots of court fees for both the consumer and retailers and or manufacturers like dell.
Dell should play fair but for whatever reason they don’t, it is an utter failure by consumers not to know their actual consumer rights implied or otherwise the more we take on dodgy retailers or manufacturers that at some point their own reputation is so bad they have to change their ways.