Dell dumping cheap and nasty computers on South African market without backup for after purchase problems

I bought a very expensive Dell computer after a devastating fire in my office in middle to the end 2023. My secretary had used her Dell computer for years and suggested that I buy a Dell, even though it was twice the price of our standard computers.

My Dell computer was problematic from the start. It incripted e-mails and still does after several IT people had looked at it. There is no solution.

But even more concerning is the level of service delivery. Everything costs a fortune. It took us 4 months to receive a functioning charger, after paying and returning a faulty one. Dell repairs insisted that it was the computer port which was faulty and not their replacement charger. it took us 4 months to have another charger delivered. The charger now works sort of. But we had to phone and e-mail so many times just to receive the replacement charger even after payment was made months ago. Of course we were very speedily informed of how much it would cots if the charging port needed to be fixed and the service fee for doing that repair..

Mt laptop screen broke this year because I accidently closed the top with a pen inside. I paid more than R5000to have it replaced.

Just over 90 days after the replacement of the screen, the whole frame of the screen came loose and the hinges also came loose. This laptop sits on a desk untouched almost exclusively. So how does this happen to a laptop that is not even 2 years old. I was told that the 90 days guarentee had lapsed( at the time it was a few days over the guarentee period, but who expects a whole screen to come apart within 3 months of purchasing a new one at such an expense)

I have tried to contact management at Dell. It is very concerning. There is no management for complaints or customer service inquiries like this in South Africa. I even went abroad to find Dell overseas to assist.

All the "managers"are ghosts and cannot be traced at all on the internet when searching for an e-mail of telephone number.

I eventually found one e-mail to a person who is a PA to the head of Dell SA( of course his phone number was listed but he was unavailable and it went straight to voicemail). I threatened to post this review on Hello peter and I received an e-mail from Ms Zeemanon 16 May 2025 in which she made inquiries. These inquiries were answered immediately.

Absolutely no further communication from Ms Zeeman since then. The teams meeting she proposed has never happened and has never been requested by her.

I have had to source another computer to work as my work was halted. I am dependent on my computer for an income and this has been hugely problematic an I have suffered a loss in time, relevant information and income.

I am so shocked that we, as South Africans save to buy, what has traditionally been considered an expensive and good brand ( and Dell is obviously selling substandard products while coat -tailing on their previous good name) in order to function optimally and we are treated with such disrespect. It is apparent that once Dell has our buy in on a substandard computer, they do not care. They appear then to make more money off the repairs on the malfunctioning computers and their costs are exhorbitant. Everything must be replaced and has a short life span. The service is shocking, the product is problematic and then they cash *** of the repairs which are constantly needed.

I do believe that Dell and their presence in South Africa must be investigated.

Dell does not seem to have any company structure in South Africa with managers or functioning head offices. I have spent months researching and trying to make contact with them. Their presence on the internet all seem to be facades of people who have no contact details. The only departments contactable are repair departments and they cost an arm and a leg.

I enclose herewith the e-mail from MsNZeeman. needless to say, no contact was made with me after her initial response on 16 May 2025. I wonder if her reply was also not automated.

Good Afternoon @lydeahornattorneys.co.za,

I am so sorry to hear about your unpleasant experience with your Dell notebook.

In order for me to look into your request and to provide a possible solution, please share the below requested info with me, at your earliest convivence.

• Please confirm the resellers/ supplier details that you purchased your notebook from? • Please confirm the service tag number of your notebook. • Please share your contact details as well.

I will review the details once I have received your feedback and setup a team's call with you to discuss the next steps.

Kind regards Fourie Zeeman Dell Business Development Manager