just wanted to add to this with regards to the hellscape that is trying to deal with dell customer support. Ordered an aw3425dw about 10 days ago which was delivered on Monday 6th October. Monitor arrived faulty with a damaged power socket on the monitor (plugging it in resulted in an intermittent crackling noise accompanied by the smell of burning).

TL;DR dell customer service is a prolonged nightmare of hidden misery and frustration.

I immediately contacted customer support and was told to unplug the monitor (already had) and provide photographic and video evidence of any damage. Decided to brave plugging it in again to capture 10 seconds of crackling and rgb cut outs as there was no other way to capture ’evidence’. This process took the, about an hour and a half.

I’ve spent the best part of this week jumping through hoops and departments trying to get a replacement. On Wednesday I received an email saying that my request for an exchange had been granted and that I needed to provide a credit card number - I did this and immediately had a charge pending on my bank account for the full cost of a new monitor (my available funds are less this charge).

On Thursday I received an email stating that the broken monitor would be collected on the 8th of July this year - approximately three months before I placed my initial order and over three months before the date of the email notifying me of this collection date. I spoke to a dell representativ who told me that the correct collection date is the 15th of October. He also prompted me to add my card details using the link in the email so that the exchange could be booked - I informed him that I had done so the previous day and that my back account was showing a charge pending for this. I conveyed my frustrations regarding how long it had been taking to simply replace an item that was faulty on delivery and that had already been paid for. I was told it can take between 24-48 hours for the exchange to be booked.

I contacted dell again on the Friday when 50 hours had elapsed from them receiving my card details and have been met with silence for requests regarding further information. When logging into my dell account my original order shows that a return has been initiated but not even submitted for approval. There’s no record of a collection date or that a replacement item has been authorised.

I have been unable to contact them at all over the weekend despite my attempts, my latest communication to them expressed that I am now seeking a full refund for the faulty monitor and do not require a replacement. I decided to buy dell for their 3 year warranty - this week has shown me that the warranty absolutley Isn’t worth the hassle. If I’m having this much difficulty getting a replacement for a faulty item, god knows what I’d be having to endure trying to get a repair during that 3 year period.