I cannot believe it. And I am very angry.

I purchased my last laptop in 2010 – a top of the line XPS 15 laptop. This was my first purchase of any Dell equipment. And my first impression was that it is a great product with great performance but most of all with superb finish quality overall. That impression has lasted till date.

When I wanted to replace my desktop, I wanted nothing but a Dell

It is still my work horse after so many years. I just had to replace its battery once, a few years back. That’s all.

So recently when I wanted to replace my desktop, I wanted nothing but a Dell.

I surfed Dell India and couldn’t see what I wanted. So I started researching for Dell desktop on international resellers sites. After much research I settled on Dell XPS 8900 desktop as the best I could afford currently. Having settled on this, I wanted to check if it is available in India and if so whether the price would make it more sensible to buy it locally. However, I could find only some sketchy information on Dell India website with a page devoted to this product. Sketchy because the spec sheet is something Dell should be embarrassed about. For example, It does not even mention the processor in the whole spec sheet what to talk about the processor version etc.

With some effort I was guided to a person who at least seemed to know about XPS desktops

There was no option but to contact Dell India directly. This is when the nightmare started.

When I first contacted Dell India (08/03/2016 11:58am), the initial response to my query was – you must be talking about XPS 12. My response was – no, I was not looking for a laptop but a desktop. With some effort I was guided to a person who at least seemed to know about XPS desktops. He asked me what configuration I required and I enquired about the options available. There were some queries and counter queries and finally we agreed that he would email me some information and he took my email id and phone number.

The person was very arrogant, discourteous and rude

When I did not hear anything from him in the next 24 hours, I contacted Dell India again. This time (09/03/2016 1:00 pm) I was directed to a lady, who was plainly surprised to hear that I was enquiring about a XPS desktop. She told me that Dell only sells XPS laptops. Before we could proceed any further the phone got disconnected. So I dialled again. This time (09/03/2016 1:04 pm) I was connected to another gentleman to whom I explained that I had not received any response to query the previous day. After understanding my requirement, he curtly told me that Dell does not sell XPS desktops in India. When I informed him that just the previous day someone had discussed the product in detail with me and taken down my email id to send me the details and now for him to tell me that Dell does not sell this is unbelievable. When I persisted the person became very rude and asked me what I wanted to do? I told him that I want to escalate as I want to know why I was lied to the previous day. To cut the story short suffice it say that the person was very arrogant, discourteous and rude. I could not proceed any further with my enquiry.

Funnily, my repetitive efforts at trying to find a support/care email id were futile and I found out to my chagrin that there is no way one can contact Dell India over email for a product enquiry.

There is no way one can contact Dell India over email for a product enquiry

So I decided to try my luck with their chat service. And here is the result for you all to see (just an extract, name of the agent has been removed by me) –

This is an automated email sent from Dell Chat. The following information is a log of your session. Please save the log for your records.	Your session ID for this incident is 6775559.
Time	Details
03/09/2016 05:09:04PM	Rajesh: “Please provide details of availability and pricing of XPS 8900 DESKTOP”
03/09/2016 05:11:28PM	Agent (XXXXXX): “sit XPS desktops is not available”
03/09/2016 05:12:13PM	Rajesh: “But your website talks about it, though full details are not provided”
03/09/2016 05:14:38PM	Agent (XXXXXX): “XPS dekstops are not available”

 

So as a last resort I posted on Dell India’s Facebook page. And here is how it went.

‎Rajesh Kapoor‎ to Dell

Yesterday at 15:02 ·

Hi. Does Dell India sell XPS Desktops either through resellers/distributors or directly?

Top of Form

Like

Comments

Dell Hi Rajesh,
Yes, Dell India sells XPS Desktops you can check with our retailer’s from the link: http://del.ly/6182BelhY & online through this link: http://del.ly/6183Belhl
Thanks & Regards
Ravi Chandra B C
Social Media and Community Professional
Order Status: http://del.ly/6184Belhm
Download Drivers: http://del.ly/6185BelhW

Dell India’s official store locator.

Dell India’s official store locator. Here are Dell Exclusive Stores and Dell Reseller Stores. Also, look for Dell…

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Like · Reply · Yesterday at 15:21

So you see, these people now told me “Yes. Dell India sells XPS Desktops”. It is another matter that none of the links above lead me to anything remotely connected to XPS desktops.
I also phoned a Dell Exclusive Store and they have never heard of a Dell XPS Desktop.

Now how do I handle this from a company I genuinely had admiration for?