After a few exchanges with Dell via telephone and email, I got an offer to get my money back provided I didn't write about it, not even on Facebook (actually mentioned by name in an email). Now, I had informed the company I was going to write about it whether I got the money back or not. I wasn't trying to blackmail them. It's just that these episodes make good learning experiences. Since this has been such good material, I told them to keep the $134 and invest it in tech support. (OK, so I didn't make that stipulation.). But the fact that this offer was even made, rather than saying, "You're right, we really screwed up" and making an offer says something about the culture at Dell-land. Dell should consider this a learning experience.