Octagon and Dell Philippines: Laptop Repair Takes More Than “Two Weeks”
By Rico, 7:07 am Tue Jan 27 2009 - Editorial - 9 Opinions
So when I had my XPS M1330 repaired, I was told that it would be ready within two weeks (not including weekends). This was last January 3, and as of yesterday (fifteen business days later), I have yet to see the laptop. And yes, this has a lot to do with how Octagon and Dell handle repairs (contrary to what I’ve written before).
Turns out that, in the Octagon Festival Mall branch, items left for warranty repair are picked only on Wednesdays and Fridays. This meant that, despite dropping my laptop off last January 3, it was only picked up for delivery to the Dell Philippines on January 7. Based on what I heard, my laptop was then brought to the Octagon head office before being brought to Dell’s service center somewhere in Ermita. God knows how long that took.
Based on my understanding, my laptop is now back at Octagon’s head office, ready for delivery back to Octagon Festival Mall. And yes, this only happens on Wednesdays and Fridays as well. So hopefully my laptop will become available for pick-up on the 28th—almost four weeks after I dropped it off.
Now I totally understand the Wednesday-Friday setup. It would be too expensive for Octagon to send trucks out to its various branches every single day of the week. I even understand Dell’s need to take more than a week to repair my laptop, since they have to diagnose it, replace any defective parts, etc. But, for the sake of your customers Octagon, you should do a better job of managing their expectations. Don’t promise that a laptop will be ready in “two weeks”, when the reality is closer to twice that.
On a related note, three weeks plus without a laptop is a long time, Dell Philippines. A lot of your customers buy your products not only to surf the web, check email, or play games, but to make a living as well. I’m lucky enough to have a desktop at home as a backup. What about customers who don’t enjoy such a contingency?
Kiven
9:09 am Tue Jan 27 2009
that’s why i still get Acer laptops =)
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Rod
11:11 am Sat Jul 18 2009
the ODD in my Dell Studio laptop is damaged since April, the first time I went to Octagon for the repair the guy told me that it would take a minimum of 2 weeks to repair. I thought that this is too long, so I decided not to leave it, instead we agreed that he will call the Dell service center first so they can prepare the replacement parts ahead of time so that lead time for the repair will be shorthened. So on May 26 ‘09 I went back and gave my laptop for repair, but unfortunately after a month its still broken, they say they can’t find any replacement ODD. So I told them that I will pick up my laptop repaired of not (since I dont have any backup PC at home) I even terminated my Smartbro due to this long repair time. So then I went back to Octagon to pick up the laptop, they gave me the unrepaired laptop and as a consolation they provided a service unit external ODD. Yesterday I went back to Octagon to follow up, but still no update, no replacement parts available yet. I dont know how Dell manages to do this to their customers. I’m not encouraging people not to buy Dell, I just want to tell my story, about the repair that is now two months and still counting.
Rico
11:11 pm Mon Jul 20 2009
Hey Rod, any updates?
Rod
10:10 am Sat Jul 25 2009
Hi Rico, as of now there’s still no available replacement for my laptop’s ODD. So i’m still stuck wtih using the external ODD that Octagon lend me.
fayt
3:03 am Tue Oct 13 2009
i’m using the same laptop but mine is new so i never experience to have it repaired by somebody from Octagon or wherever…..i can suggest that you better be freindly to the technician, talk to him in person not just chat through the net. try it it might help you.
mye
1:01 pm Wed Nov 18 2009
may i know if you have a power supply that we can purchased fora replacement here in the philippines
wexterz
2:02 am Mon Feb 22 2010
maybe the reason it took 2 weeks is because the technician use your laptop.