i'm increasing becoming less of a dell supporter

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i'm increasing becoming less of a dell supporter

posted @ Friday, March 12, 2004 8:39 AM | 8 Comments |

i have yet to have a positive experience with dell customer support recently. last year i bought a new laptop and had a question about my screen resolution only having certain options (at the time i thought i had the upgraded video adapter). after several email exchanges with dell support (remember, i just had a question), the “resolution” (all i was looking for was an answer) was “we are sorry you are having the problem” [what problem?] “please re-install your operating system” -- are you kidding me? that was the “solution” to my question?

more recently, i decided i was going to experiment with smart cards. my inspiron 8600 did not come with an internal smart card reader, but it does have available “space” underneath the type II slot that does exist. after a little research, i found out that the d600 laptopt does have a smart card reader and used the same config as the 8600. great, i'll call dell and order the part. i couldn't find it on the web site, and emailing customer care resulted in a message: “yes it is available for your system, please call dell spear and buy the card...” [yes this is how it was typed...i thought for a moment what “spear” was until i realized it was “spare” as in spare parts department]. the following has been the last 45 minutes...

Dell: Thank you for calling Dell
Me: Hi, i would like to order a spare part for my inspiron 8600 laptop
Dell: What is your express service tag?
Me (thinking): didn't i just enter that into the system, a lot of good that did
Me: here it is XXXXXXXXXXX
Dell: okay, mr. heuer (butchers name of course, but that is no different than anyone else), how can i help you
Me (thinking): evidently you didn't listen previously
Me: I'd like to order the smart card reader for my 8600
Dell: I am not familiar with that, can you tell me please what is a smart card reader
Me (thinking): oh boy, here we go
Me: it is a slot below my type II slot (PCMCIA slot). you have one on the d600 laptop
Dell: Okay, do you have the SKU number?
Me: Um, no.
Dell: Okay, one moment

several minutes of delay

Dell: okay I have found it, i believe you are referring to the flash memory, let me get the price for you
Me (thinking): i'm sorry, did i say flash?
Me: no, it is a smart card reader

[tim goes into dissertation of what a smart card reader is and gives the guy on the phone a url to show the d600 hardware and sku]

Dell: i'm sorry we don't have that
Me: so why did customer care say you did?
Dell: let me transfer you to software and peripherals
Dell: okay i have (forget foreign name) on the line to help
Dell2: hi tim, can i have your express service code?
Me (thinking): idiots...didn't #1 give it to you?

[tim goes through almost identical conversation with #2]

Dell2: let me transfer you to technical support
Dell3: hi tim, can i have your express service code?
Me (thinking) is it possible to reach through the phone and choke someone?
[tim and #3 exchange few words, but at least #3 comes back with a definitive “yes the 8600 does have the available support for it in the laptop body, but we do not sell the part for that laptop, you'll have to use a PCMCIA smart card reader adapter”
Me: thanks
Dell3: is there anything else...
Me: (click)

i'm not trying to be rude about foreign people...i work with non-US contractors/microsoft staff/etc all the time and have an awesome experience. when you are working with someone that even may have a somewhat language barrier, it is easier in person to work through that. but having dell phone support being answered in another country doesn't sit well with me as a customer. it would not pass the mother-in-law factor (my lowest common denominator for testing). there is too much of a language/cultural barrier with the people answering the phone. it took me a long time to explain what it was (aside from the lack of training that upset me) and he still didn't understand.

i understand cost savings, but if it costs you a customer, is it really savings?

frustrated...oh, anyone know of PCMCIA smart card readers?

Friday, March 12, 2004 8:39 AM

Comments.

Marc Orchant said:

# re: i'm increasing becoming less of a dell supporter

Tim - we're having a lot of issues with Dell at my company too. They recently canceled an order placed with an Amex Platinum card that had previously been used on transactions totaling tens of thousands of dollars. The customer "service" person said, "Call Amex. There's something wrong with your card."

We bought an IBM rack server instead from CDW!

3/12/2004 3:50 PM
timh said:

# re: i'm increasing becoming less of a dell supporter

that sucks...i'm still a firm believer in their equipment...hands down the best i've had (destkop, laptop and server)...and my initial experience with their customer support is what kept me coming back...but i guess they got too big, shipped stuff overseas and now customer service is suffering.

3/12/2004 4:44 PM
Mike Walsh (Helsinki) said:

# re: i'm increasing becoming less of a dell supporter

I had the e-mail shuffle when I was trying to find out about Win 2003 Server (and particularly Win 2003 drivers) running on my Dell Inspiron 8500 (Dell at Tech-Ed promised to send me info - never did contact me of course).

First I was at the US site; signed in my my contact number asked the question and later got a message back telling me that I should contact Dell Europe in the UK. Contected them; got an e-mail back saying I should contact Dell in Finland. Contacted them and got a message back saying look at their web site's support pages [in the US] (where of course I started and where there was nothing at all on Win 2003.

So I retained the XP Pro (was home but I upgraded it) but partitioned the disk with Partition Magic and dual booted Win 2003 Server and then used the XP drivers from the Dell site to get the internal wireless card and various other things working.

Needless to say I can't use the CD burning software that came with the machine on the machine at all - well I can but only on the small XP partition that is still there on Win 2003 it tells me it's the wrong machine. So I have to boot to XP to burn anything !!

No Dell aren't the greatest.

3/13/2004 10:35 AM
Peter Ward said:

# re: i'm increasing becoming less of a dell supporter

I'm sorry to hear this.

In my 'corporate' days I was a strong fan, and bought several hundred thousands of pounds worth of kit from them (and recommended probably a few millions more).

At that time they were not only well priced but VERY responsive, even to relatively small customers lilke myself. Support was largely via Eire (I'm in the UK), and good quality.

Recently I have been re-checking the market and DELL are hopelessly uncompetitive on price and service (delivery time, warranty etc) so if their support services have become poor it seems they've totally blown it, which is a shame.

For us in Europe / UK globalisation is a very serious issue, as the 'New Commonwealth' provides English speaking support operations with a large cheap labour pool who 'speak the language'. When the call-centres go, the whole IT and telecoms infrastructure soon follows, with functions such as accounts sure to be next......

3/15/2004 2:05 AM
Mike T said:

# re: i'm increasing becoming less of a dell supporter

glad to hear I'm not the only one with these frustrations. I hate having to give that express number to every person at Dell that comes on the phone, shouldn't they be able to pass it back and forth on their end? They do type it in the system after all... anyhow, I had a problem with my Inspiron awhile back. Periodically, it would tell me I'm running on batteries even though I was plugged into the wall (even the bios told me this, not just Windows XP). I made sure I had the most current bios updates before calling tech support. I figured I'd save the hassle of email support because they'd eventually tell me to phone in anyways. I got transfered to some foreign guy that was hard to understand (no offense but when you're alread frustrated and you can't understand the tech sup. guy it makes it worse). We argued for awhile, he was telling me that I was doing it wrong (how hard is it to make sure the laptop is plugged into the wall and laptop at the same time?). I proceeded to tell him he doesn't know what he's talking about and I wanted to speak with someone else. I ran out of time and they did not contact me the next day (probably my fault for telling them they didn't know what they're talking about). Two months later I decided to attempt to fix the problem once again. This time, I called up and explained the previous situation... they had a tech sup. rep out in 3 days to fix the laptop. They replaced the motherboard... its a miracle it actually works properly now. Anyhow I thought I'd pitch in my two cents.

6/1/2004 11:31 AM
Shirley said:

# re: i'm increasing becoming less of a dell supporter

Get lost you losers - America will go to dogs soon because it is made of bunch of ignorant and arrogant people like you - does your mouth pain if you have to give the express service code to every tech - and if you are really so smart, then why did you not purchase it online, instead of giving the link to that website - sick and stupid people like you really come on my nerves. I pity poor America - hard and intelligent work of the ancestors are going to go waste.

10/24/2004 6:33 AM
timh said:

# re: i'm increasing becoming less of a dell supporter

for what it is worth, the spare part wasn't available online...i tried that first, and if you would read, you'd see that i started my customer service online.

to me, "hard work" does not equal ignorance. by your standards, as long as i work hard and long, but if i do the worst job at my skill, than i should be rewarded?

10/24/2004 6:54 AM
kualla said:

# re: i'm increasing becoming less of a dell supporter

"Get lost you losers - America will go to dogs soon because it is made of bunch of ignorant and arrogant people like you - does your mouth pain if you have to give the express service code to every tech - and if you are really so smart, then why did you not purchase it online, instead of giving the link to that website - sick and stupid people like you really come on my nerves. I pity poor America - hard and intelligent work of the ancestors are going to go waste."

With technology as high-tech as it is now, it really isn't hard to transfer information, that is one of the main purposes of the internet(networking). Wouldn't you get mad if you had to enter in the same long number 10 times when you have a half dozen other things you could be doing. Just so you know an average work week for americans is no longer 40 hours, try closer to 60 hours and that is besides all the chores and tasks besides work... We need time for family and a little time for relaxing not sitting on the phone talking with someone over a product that we paid with our hard earned cash and is not working as it should. Then to top it off the person on the other line is basically just handing us a line instead of actually trying to give support AND problem solve the problem! Can you really blame us for getting a little upset?

11/8/2005 4:56 PM