Direct2Dell

CUSTOMER SERVICE IS BROKEN!   I have been insulted, lied to, hung up on, deliberately transferred to people that couldn't help me just to get me off the phone - there is no way to contact these people in writing or get anything that they say on the record.

I believe there is a reason for this - they don't WANT anything they say or do to be on the record, and they have caused me nothing but misery and heartache in every dealing I have had with them.

The last time customer service seemed to even be TRYING to do their job correctly and recognize that they could be held accountable was when their department offered chat support.  For some reason, the knowledge that they might be handling issues on the record changed everything ...

All areas of customer service (not to be confused with tech support) need to be overhauled.  There is not adequate communication, adequate knowledge, adequate documentation, adequate accountability. 

I have three Dells, the first is 8 years old - it is dead now, but still stays on my floor in the hopes that I might someday revive it.  I bought Dell because they were inexpensive, and if you bought it at the time of sale, the hardware warranties and support were good.  But customer service will drive me away - if there are not MAJOR changes made AND SOON, I will NEVER buy another Dell!

And what is this "Your Tech Team" thing?  I am paying extra money to talk with people who are doing what Dell Technical Support USED to do with any system still under warranty?  Or is the big sales point merely that the agents are located in the U.S.?  I bought a subscription, but I feel like a fool - there are so many knowledgeable tech support agents already working for Dell, especially in their Central America call centers and the Phillipines - yet they are being restricted as to what questions they are allowed to answer now?  They know the machines, they know the answers, but they are not allowed to say?  Everything comes from the script, no matter how knowledgeable the agent?

I'm very, very tired of being treated like ignorant trash.  Courtesy, respect, understanding that without customers, THERE CAN BE NO CUSTOMER SERVICE DEPARTMENT and hence - no jobs!!!!! would be nice. 

This past month and a half has made me despise everything Dell. 

I've been trying without luck to access dell.com for a week to order a new pc. But an 'object expected error' comes up each time. I can access HP, Apple, and any other pc company website without problem, but dell.com. I've even turned off all protection and it happens. Went from IE 8 to 7, still no luck. Today is my final attempt to view and order a replacement.

After ordering a new monitor, new memory, new mouse - was told I had a year interest free to pay off... paid one month - min. of $20.00 but, I paid $35.00 and planned on paying off in the interest free year.  Recevied my second bill.... suddently I h ad $200 plus and finance and interest fees applied... called customer service... was on phone at least one hour, talked to 6-7 people, got disconnected twice, told the same info over and over... finally asked to speak to a supervisor... no one could take care of my extra charges... had to be transferred over and over again... finally I said enough is enough, hung up, and wrote a check for the balance I owe... I  have had it with Dell's customer service and it will take a long time - if ever to buy again from them.  I may not know all I should/could about computers but, I know service and the lack of.... Donna Lewis

I read this post and had to laugh out loud. On a call with a call centre agent today, I started hearing some of the nonsense excuses that Laura provides in her original blog post ... but they were being used to blame ME for a defective hard-drive that Dell put into one of its substandard computers.

About a year after helping a friend purchase a desktop with extended warranty, it stopped booting - a Blue Screen of Death error occurred very eary in the boot process. The error message suggested the hard drive was damaged. After exhausting the online troubleshooting (not much I could do since the computer wouldn't boot!) and consulting some tech forums I called Dell and they asked me to run a basic test. They claimed it was a "software issue." I patiently explained that no software changes had been made and everything, including the Dell Troubleshooting site, suggested it was a hardware problem.

Within a few minutes the agent was offering to sell me "software support." I explained that when my friend bought her Dell, she bought a COMPUTER - not just a box and monitor, but a system that included hardware and an operating system. If after normal use and the hardware could not even load the operating system, then this needed to be rectified since it was still under warranty. I said the only "software" that I was having trouble with was the operating system - which DELL sold to me preinstalled!

So isn't it hilarious that I find Laura claiming that Dell is going to provide "free operating system support." Imagine that - Dell is going to support the operating systems that Dell re-sells and pre-loads onto Dell machines! But clearly they backtracked on this offer, since the agent today said that if I ever wanted to see the OS again, I'd have to pay dearly for it (she actually didn't know how much it would cost but when I asked it if would be $100 or more she wouldn't rule it out). How embarassing that after two years Dell still has't bothered to remove the blatantly false promise of OS support from its own blog! (Laura says "we're not always acting as One Dell" - what an understatement!)

It appears that Laura's research - conducted with the best of intentions, no doubt - finding that Dell "helps" people install stuff they "didn't even buy from Dell" has been distorted and garbled down the chain of command, so that now whenever a call centre agent hears ANY complaint about a boot issue they are instructed to immediately blame the customer for foolishly installing faulty programs. But in this case there were no such installations - my friend is the most ordinary home-user you'll ever meet and wouldn't even know how to mess around with the boot directory if she wanted to.

When, after half an hour, I got a "supervisor," she had the nerve to tell me that if I wasted money on "software support" and they determined they couldn't help me (which is exactly what would happen - how can I fix software if I can't even start the machine!), then I would be referred back to her "hardware support" department - even though she said they couldn't help me! Rather than pay money to speak to another frustrating call centre agent, I started searching more help sites and discovered that I might get more information by running the computer's diagostics from the CD that came with the machine.

Lo and behold! Partway through the test I get an error message indicating that the hard disc is corrupted. It gave me a code, which seems to indicate the exact sector of the hard drive that is damaged, and told me to call Dell technical support. I couldn't believe it - now even the computer itself was telling me that I had a hardware problem that only Dell could fix. So now I know exactly what is wrong with the computer and exactly what needs to be done with it - it would cost next to nothing for Dell to replace the hard drive and everybody would be happy. But that's not the Dell way.

Instead my friend is going to have to continue paying monthly installments for two more years for a useless machine sitting on her floor. Great work Laura - you and your team have somehow managed to make the Dell customer service experience even WORSE than it was two years ago!

And by the way - according to your own agents you don't exist. At the end of my call I asked if there was a customer relations department or ombudsperson I could talk to since my problem was obviously not resolved and my friend is extremely dissatisfied about paying for a product she cannot use. They said no such department exists and if I wanted any more help from Dell I'd have to pay them more money. No thanks.

I bought a PC a couple years ago and put it on a DFS account.  I made all my payments on time but one.  That "one" was only a day late because I had a moment as we all do.  No big deal I thought, I've been a good customer, I'll call and see if I can get them to lower my rate back down from the 29.99% they jacked it up to.  Boy was I wrong!  I got some person from India to whom I explained the situation and was promptly told that "Dell has no controll over the interest rates, that the federal reserve sets the prime rate".  I was astonished.  Thinking that the person clearly misunderstood what I had said, I repeated the situation and was again met with the same answer!  I tried to calmly tell this person that I was not asking Dell to change the federal rate, only mine, and again I was met with the robotic response of "I'm sorry but Dell cannot change your rate, the rates are set by the federal reserve."  After wanting to absolutely scream with frustration I promptly hung up and completed a balnance transfer to another account.

This past year I was in need of a laptop.  i had NO intention of getting a Dell and went against my better judgement.  I spoke to someone in customer service asking a question that I can't remember, but this time somehow I managed to get someone who was not in India.  I was astonished.  She asked if I was going to purchase my laptop from Dell and said "oh God no!"  When asked why I told her and she offered me a promotional rate.  Sure, whatever.  I did it however, much to my dismay the printer that showed up was clearly wrong.  I had ordered a laptop with wireless capability, and a printer to match.  My printer has no wireless capability.  (sigh)  I have no interest in calling and dealing with anyone to try to get this matter resolved because I'll probably be told that the federal reserve decides which printer I get. 

I can strongly say I will NEVER buy another Dell product and sadly not because of the product quality, but because of all the hassle associated with the process.  I found out aboutthis blog today in Good Housekeeping.  There was an article about guess what?  someone else who had nightmare issues with Dell financial services. I'm sure Dell won't care about my pidly little problem that has aged a little; at least this feels somewhat therapeutic.

I'll be in the market for a laptop for my son in about a year, rest assured it won't  be Dell.

I need the address & the phone no. of the DELL service centres for repair purpose in INDIA.

I need service center address located in Hyderabad, andhrapradesh, India. My Inspiron 1520 not working at all.

I have purchased Dell 3100 Pentium in Aug'06. Now the motherboard had a problem , I need buy a new one to replace. Please give me a quoctation and the delivery time (Johor Bahru) for this issue.

I have also purchased an XPS m1730 WoW edition, and it has arrived arived over a month ago. My problem is that I have not recieved my "Quest Envelope". I did spend about 2 hours on the phone getting bounced from call center to call center untill I got someone who actually knew, or led me to believe they know about what what the "Quest Envelope" is. Anyways, they assured me that it will arrive, I just need patience. That was 3 weeks ago. Any help, or info as to what is going on would be appreciated.

how to get coupan codes help me  any one plzzz

Still nothing.....

........and?

Still no "Quest Envelope"

Still no one who knows why we haven't received it or where it comes from.

Still no one "checking" anything, including the "customer advocate" who promised to call us with anything she could find, and we haven't heard from her in over a week.

And I still don't know if we are the only customers having problems with this. We certainly cannot be the only ones who ordered this package. We're closing in on the 3rd month of problems with this order.

Gee thanks.... but so far "checking into" the problem has yielded but one answer and that is "I don't know"....this has been the answer for 2 weeks, and before that it was the answer for 8 weeks.... How is "I don't know" an acceptable (and apparently final) response to a customer who has not received what they ordered? How does anything get done there? .....oh wait, I know the answer to that: "I don't know" 

So....when the bill comes and I have still not received every single piece of what I ordered....that will be my answer "Gee...I don't know why you haven't received payment....let me check that account.....Oh, I show here that your payment is in the enveloping stage"

So, when you have "someone" check into it, make sure it is "someone" who has something more than "I don't know" as an answer.

LE,

Sorry to hear of your problems. I will have someone check into this.

 Joanne

Did finally receive the system, but not the "Quest Envelope" which was to be "shipped separately overnight," and frankly is one of (if not the) the most important aspects of this package. We have been waiting for this part of our order for about 2 weeks now. We're back to making multiple phone calls and getting no answer or solutions. No one seems to know anything about where it comes from or how to check on why we have not received it. How is this possible? I don't know how anything gets accomplished in a business that is run this poorly.

This has been, overall, an extremely frustrating experience from the start, with no end in sight.

.......still waiting.........

Thanks for your efforts, Lionel. In an attempt to not use this forum for my own personal situation, I have a challenge for you that might address my problem in a way that doesn't single me out, since I don't think this is an appropriate utilization of your time. I do appreciate you taking the time to hook us up with someone who can keep track of our order, but to this point we are no closer to knowing when (or if) we will ever receive our system, and have since the last post received 3 more shipment delay notifications. So, this is what I would like you to find out, if you can:

Is this a problem we alone are having, or is it a product-wide problem? In other words, is everyone with current orders for the system we are waiting for also in perpetual "delay" mode, or is it something that is only happening to us?

I look forward to an answer....any answer....as long as it is an honest one.

Thanks again!

....still waiting....

I find it interesting, Lionel, that you will apologize and offer a phone call for the above complaint, but I have been posting about my ongoing, weeks' long problem with customer service all week....and have received ZERO response.

http://direct2dell.com/one2one/archive/2007/12/04/36984.aspx?CommentPosted=true#commentmessage 

We are still spending hours a day on the phone trying to get answers, only to be transferred like a ping-pong ball between Customer Care, Modification, and Financing departments. Customer Care says Modification handles our issue, Modification says Customer Care handles our issue, transfers us back, then to Financing, then to Customer Care...never the same person twice, always the run around.

Still waiting.... Hey, Kevin, I'll bet you $1000 my experience has been worse.

Offering a phone call from Customer Service for a problem with Customer Service staff does seem a little silly. I would prefer to speak to someone a little higher up on the food chain. I certainly think the trouble I am having is worth an upgrade to overnight shipping, and I do believe I should be charged the "new low price" that is advertised for the system I have ordered ($700 less and mine isn't even out of production - depending on who you speak with - after weeks and weeks of hassles).

hello all...

DELL Rocks....!!!!

I recently had a horrible customer service experience thru the call center.  I ordered a laptop online for my 13 year old and paid dearly for delivery charges to get it there as a gift.  Weeks later and I still have not received it!!!

It seems that the delivery company (DHL) delivered it on March 3rd to somebody that was not me!  Someone without my name signed and took the computer.  When I called customer service to see why my package had not arrived, I was shocked to hear that they had delivered it to my address (which I don't believe because who walks up to someone's door and signs for a package when they don't live there?)

I was treated badly by the call center and transferred to a few different people.  I was told that a replacement could be up to 2 weeks and a refund even longer.  No concern about the money I spent for delivery!  I am so upset that I could cry!!  I guess that's Dell's version of customer service.  If I ever see this laptop that I've paid dearly for, I will be surprised.  Shame on Dell for all their false advertising about how important the customer is because I believed them, like an idiot!

The Customer Service Department is a joke.  Empty promises!!

Thank you for your comment Lionel but it should never have gotten this far! Ever!

Is Laura still overseas? How about Lionel? Laura's last post was 2006 & Lionel's was January '07. Guess customer service isn't important to them anymore!

Gee, how ironic my last "comment" was never posted!

I won't bother with the details of the previous post except to say it was about substandard customer service & how long I'd been working on resolution. Since then I've emailed the customer advocate & gotten no response.

In one of the many emails from customer service, I was offered a $25 coupon - I explained that if they really wanted to make me happy send me ink for my printer instead because I can't get the ink anywhere else (No Staples within 100 miles of me) & that the coupon wasn't going to do me any good. I was told "No problem" & that it shipped 1/21/08.

So here's the punchline folks......They actually charged me for it! So again I have to start with the emails and phone calls to customer service. I'm done with Dell - my products are going to be bought so I can have local customer service from now on!

This is all well and good, but even if what you say is true there are other issues that fall between the cracks.  For example I am an I.T. professional when I call dell support I do not expect to be treated like a common user who knows next to nothing about computer.  By the time I call tech support or customer support I have already done 99% of everything they have in their scripts.  You need to find away to assess the level of expertise your customers have and tailor your support to each and everyone in a unique manner.  You can not treat people like bubble gum we don't all taste the same.

 Then there is the issue of your products and practices that prevent knowledgeable user from upgrading the Desktops and Laptops they buy.  To be more specific Dell's MediaDirect software and the practice of hiding MD in a hidden partition which in turn makes it nearly impossible to clone to a larger hard drive.  Sure if you know what hoops to jump through you can do it, but that means removing MD and using DOS based utility to fix the Master Boot Record by replacing it with a generic one, then using another utility to unhide and recover the partition used by MD.  Once that is done then you can clone the drive.  Why should anyone have to do through that much trouble to increase the size of their hard drive?  The answer is they should not have to and this is something Dell needs to address yesterday.

hi, I need the imagin or the picture of the  motherboard from the computer dell inspiron 600m how can I take? please tell me a soon is pocible.thank!
 

I have been a customer of Dell since 1993 and have purchased 5 computers (All desktops) over the years and have been very happy with your service and have recommended you to everyone I have talked to. Until I purchased a laptop this year!  I purchased this laptop on Feb 19, 2007, since I got the laptop I have hardly used it. It has had issues – I have not been able to locate the CD/DVD drive and it had a driver issue which made it unstable, it was always shutting down on me. I loaded my graphics software and tried to use it once – it was dismal, so slow - so I gave up on it. I agree with Petee that Inspirations are useless, even my old 95 computer with Windows 95 is quicker than this!

I bought the Inspiration 1501 on sale for $549 and added updates, I thought, and the cost came to $766.42 with tax.  I thought I added extra ram to bring it up to 2 GB, extra 20GB added to hard drive ($35) and better screen. I’m not computer illiterate, but I didn’t have time to be bothered with the problems, I have a job to do and just want to get on with it, so I put it aside and didn’t look at it again until recently!

This week my son came up and looked it over and told me that I only received the standard computer that was on sale according to the paper work – so what happened to the computer I ordered and why did I pay so much more for something I did not receive? There were always paper issue at the start too and I didn’t get any until I called it up on the Dell site.

I would like this issue to be resolved and your good name restored, please contact me and let me know what to do about this matter. I either want the computer updated as it should have been the issue with the driver resolved or my money refunded for the updates not included.

The invoice on line is for the standard Inspiration 1501 – which is what I received – so why was I charged more ($708) for an item that was on sale for $549.

I have chatted on line and called both customer service and tech support and I have been handed from department to department and now I am getting frustrated. This is not helping. The customer support is useless, when you can understand them, they are very gracious but that is not helping me. So far I have taken 2 days of my time trying to resolve this issue, and I feel like charging DELL for the cost, never mind the cost loading software that will never work well!

I bought a Dim 8400 in 2004...I have been plagued by "not responding" and "blue screen errors" since my purchase.

I have had three Dell Dim 8400s sent to me to try and fix the problems with operation, and getting the right components ordered...

 In a drastic attempt to gain some attention, I stopped paying my bill to Dell...They wrote off the debt and I have not been bothered from them about it either...

 For free, it's a great deal, but to purchase, you get screwed.

 And don't bother trying to get help from India either....

Dell Credit does not want you to close your account. Try it...took me two hours and I was disconnected SEVEN times.

This is after they assured me it was closed two months ago. Never, ever buy a DELL.

I want to buy a laptop from DELL. Actually i am in chennai in India. So i require a list of branches available over here. Will you please provide the list. thank you.........

Paul C, if you were actually a PhD you'd realize writing in all capitals is just well, to be brutaly honest stupid.

 I generally avoid Dell product's like the plague simply because of support problems. Plus the quality of the products has been declining along with the price (but thats to be expcted in all fairness)  I personally have no problem listening to someone with an accent pulling ones head out of their asses tends to help with that. (For an example of how much most people over-react to someone's accent see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=za2qEfOlFdc )

Anyway, what annoy's me most about my recent experience with Dell's support is it seem's their buisness IVR system seem's to be missing options. My Client ordered twenty 19' monitors from Dell (higher end LCD line) Well, after 2 weeks one of them had a dead power supply I call this number.. Suprised there is no option even for perpheral's on their buisness support number (800-387-5757) when I finally get ahold of someone I say i need to setup an RMA (this is their technical line option) and the agent just says "Whats an RMA"..... I state the company name I am with and also say I can provide you with serial numbers for the effected unit as they are monitors and do not have an express service tag number.. I just get cold transfered over to the End User/Retail Consumer support IVR.. Which also has no option for monitors..

 In 3 years I am yet to see any improvement in Dell's support, if anything its in a steady decline

TERMINATE YOUR ENTIRE CUSTOMER SERVICE DEPARTMENT.  IT IS A JOKE!

SIMPLIFY THE ENTIRE ABUSIVE MESS, WHICH DOES NOT PERMIT PURCHASES, AND IS COUNTER PRODUCTIVE .

DELL IS THE ONLY BUSINESS I KNOW OF THAT DOES NOT HAVE ENGLISH SPEAKING SUPERVISORS ON DUTY.  THERE ALSO IS NO ONE EMPLOYED WHO HAS ANY AUTHORITY.

IF YOU TRY TO GET YOUR COMPANY MOVED INTO THE 21 CENTRUTY, MAKE IT USA ONLY, AND I WILL ASSIST YOU - FREE OF CHARGE - IN REDESIGNING YOUR VERIFICATION NIGHTMARE.

DR PAUL CHECK

well, let me try this again, apparently my post yesterday offended someone and it has not appeared here. Perhaps dell and lionel are sick of me because I won't go away... I know it isn't because i am rude or offensive, I try to keep it polite, although I may sound cynical at times! And I did mention that I felt the "magic wand" is being used instead (figuratively speaking) to beat me down rather than to try and fix my problem.

So, to update the posts on this topic (above), I wanted to share with dell users the sad saga as it goes from bad to worse.

I just found out the motherboard dell was so kind to offer at a 10% discount is in fact a "refurbished" motherboard and it is not even in stock! A motherboard, mind you, that Dell removed from the XPS Inspiron line because it was such a turkey... they replaced it with a Gen2 which had a different motherboard!

Why is it that car manufacturers are forced to recall lemons even when out of warranty but Dell just says in effect "so sad, too bad"


 

I wanted to update the saga of my experience with customer service. Although I am not expecting a magic wand to fix my problems I do have hope for a satisfactory resolution. But it keeps getting more bizarre by the day!

Another unusual development from Dell Customer Service, I was contacted today by the Executive Support Officer in response to a complaint I filed with the better business bureau and he offered me %10 off the purchase price of a new motherboard as a resolution to my problem!

A $40 discount on a $400 part for a top of the line computer I paid almost $3000 for less than three years ago, said computer having a well documented flaw in the design and hardware.....

This makes a mockery out of the new approach to customer service that is the topic of this thread.

I never hoped for a magic wand, only fair treatment.

Hi all: My experience in the last 3 weeks shows that despite Laura's and Lionel's efforts, little has changed at ground level.

I have a burned out motherboard on an Inspiron 9100, (which is so well documented on the dell forums), and trying to get Dell to do the right thing is still a nightmare. Less than 3 years old and the solution they have offered is no solution at all (spend $500 to replace the motherboard, which of course anyone who has followed this topic knows is not a viable solution).

The links provided by Laura above to the "customer advocate" are a joke... I get the same person as my "customer advocate" as I got when I emailed the Canadian contact for "customer service". In that email she is listed as the "supervisor" at customer service, her response to my problem "you will have to call technical support, customer service cannot help you."

The Oxford Dictionary defines advocate as "a person who supports or speaks in favour" (English spelling).

She seems to be wearing two hats and neither one fits her.... Laura, Lionel, anyone home?

The most recent of my many documented contacts with Dell on this issue is when I then phoned Dell Customer Service in Canada and spoke with two supervisors, the first hung up on me after I refused to believe her claim that she was the final authority on this matter at Customer Service. I am willing to bet a search of her Company ID number and name comes up blank!

The second supervisor was a bit more forthcoming when I explained that I intended to complain to the heavens about Supervisor #1. Supervisor #2 finally acknowledged that there is indeed someone there who can speak with me, who has authority to deal with my problem. This someone works in the "Executive Escalation Team" and although they were going to call me within 72 hrs. I still await the call.....  Sad, Sad, Sad.... duff sigurdson

For many thousands of dell customers this is wearing pretty thin....duff sigurdson

You will be receiving an empty box within 2 business days which will be delivered for shipping the system, and then to contact DHL at 1-877-335-5782
during their normal business hours Monday-Friday between 7:00 AM – 7:00 PM Central Standard Time to arrange pickup of the system at your convenience. Estimated return time after shipping the system to depot 5-8 Business Days." Now it is Friday and I try to see when We would be rec'vd said box to send and they inform me that I was suppose to call to get this box sent to me!!!!

Over the years, I'd heard many good reports about Dell computers, and had come to view Dell as the gold standard for PC's.  Confident of their product quality, I seriously thought about purchasing a Dell this year.  Then to confirm the wisdom of this notion,  I began talking with Dell owners, which was most everyone I knew.  One-by-one, I told them of my intentions.  But, to my astonishment and dismay, these people all said essentially the same thing. First, "Dell machines are fine, but the customer service is awful"--rude, difficult to understand CSR's, etc."  Second, "I'll never buy another Dell."  

This brings to mind elementary marketing maxims. "You win customers one at a time, but foul up and you can lose them by the millions."  And, "Nothing sells like word of mouth."  Of course, the road goes both ways.  Negative word of mouth can finish you off. "Once burned," etc.  Sad to say, once a customer is lost, they tend to stay that way while  complaining to anyone with ears to hear. 

The beginnings of a strategy leading to an eventual resolution and turnaround seem obvious enough.  For starters, move Dell's CSR's to the U.S., and monitor them to death for consistent QA. Next, buy saturation advertising to promote the daylights out of the change. Admit you seriously screwed up, fall on your corporate sword, and vow to do a whole lot better.  Short of that, I fear Dell is done for.  Mercifully, the product is apparently still well regarded by the public, so there is reason for some cautious optimism.

Personally, I may still consider buying a Dell, but honestly the likelihood is remote.  It's a real shame too.  Without superior service, the best product on earth won't sustain sales growth.

I have owned several Dell computers and have been very satisfied with the machines themselves.  However, your customer service is atrocious as you can barely understand the actual support staff.  I'm tired of dealing with an Indian call center employee who is apathetic about what he does.  They show no sense of appreciation for the actual customer and do nothing but refer to some manual they probably have for dealing with people.  All I act. accomplished with my calls pertaining to a big hit on my bill due to some financing questions I had, was a sense of frustration and the knowledge that I will never again buy from dell.  Congratulations.  Either hire people that can speak something better than pidgin English or don't sell to the American public.  They don't actually transfer me to the people I need to talk to or when I ask to talk to a supervisor, they tell me they are the supervisor.  Anyway, pertaining to my actual problem regardless of my bad experience with your actual support staff.  I'm contacting the better business bureau, the staff writer for the chicago tribune's local business section, and working on other options.  I don't appreciate this waste of my time, I might send you a bill for the time I wasted on your call center.

After being promised a "90 days same as cash" promotional offer by the sales rep in Tennessee, I found out that he screwed up my order three ways and didn't give me the promotional deal.  His supervisor made minimal contact with me, but the short version of the story is that I managed to cancel the order and close the DFS account.  I feel mighty lucky that I didn't actually go through with the purchase.

 I have read on many sites that lots of customers have been hosed by the financing deal.  They are told they qualify, but they really don't (nobody does), and then they git hit with huge interest rates.  I spent one frustrating week trying to get this all resolved and I consider myself fortunate that I didn't end up with the kinds of customer service nightmares that so many others have had.

I'm using a '99 HP desktop and really thought Dell was going to be a good choice for a laptop.  Not anymore.  I'm going with another HP. 

I think you need to use rural American people for your customer support. I refuse to use any company that uses foreign labor for jobs that Americans should be doing. If you want to employ Indians, then move your business to India and incorporate over there. India has one of the largest and strongest Communist parties in the entire world. If that is what you want to support, you can do it without my dollars.

Many companies are also using China for support...gee,...in spite of all the human rights violations. I guess the Almighty Dollar takes away the sting of those violations.

So go ahead and support Communism, foreign workers, and various other governments who really hate the U.S. and are hell bent on our destruction. Your products have suffered quality issues for years. You will be known as Packard Bell 2.0.

Why do you think DELL has slipped to HP lately? Or Gateway?

You can actually get ahold of someone who SPEAKS- E N G L I S H at these companys, and they actually try and help resolve your problem.

Dell is a Dinosaur whose time has passed. Find a reliable mainstream company that provides customer service in practice and not in PR gibberish.

This is my fifth call to you MF call center......I WANT SOMEONE TO HELP MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Okay, I am soo relieved to have so many others that have had the same unacceptable service as I have. Dell, your customer service base is rapidly eroding you realize -The good news is that we know what we need to do.  Well, when do you plan on doing it? Not now because you take no accountability for the continuing unacceptable service level. I have spent two days on the phone with people who can't even comprehend simple english. I called to cancel items I ordered less than 48 hours before. I was told with the lessor value item that they would credit my account and I could keep the item but for the second order of $300.00 they could not credit me because they didn't have a shipping #. How is that my problem? I love being told by a customer service rep that he is going to put me on hold so I am going to have to wait or that I just like to talk??? What?? Gee I don't know if you could comprehend simple english maybe I wouldn't have to repeat my self for 45 minutes- all I was trying to do was cancel an order. Laura that is how you are improving your service level? It's sad you have to publicly em brass a multimillion dollar company in order to be acknowledged as a customer. Gee Laura, yikes a spike in calls - maybe because you have to call several times to hopefully get some one you can actually help you- so far after three hours over two days I have lost that battle and you have lost a customer for ever.

PS Laura- Maybe you should switch to a business model that works and update your resume.....you will need it soon.

Dell decided to cut costs by oursourcing their help desk and technical support services to India. The problem with this is that they took a bunch of oridinary Indian citizens, taught them a little English, and then had them start answering calls from the US. I doubt any of these people had ever owned a computer nor had any of them ever worked on a help desk before. What they should have done was to hire Indian people and had them relocate to the US for a while to learn the business and the language. Then when they returned to India they would have had a clue to what was expected of them and to know what US customers expected of them. There's a saying that Dell should take note of...you reap what you sow.

Recently, I had the misfortune of dealing with misplaced order (error on Dell's part). After talking/emailing Dell's customer service 8 times (!) to correct their error, for total of 4 hours of phone calls (including hold time), I gave up and demanded full refund. The process was incredibly frustrating -- and I maintained my composure at all time -- with one representative transferring me to another, which often meant another 20-50 minutes on hold. At the end, I asked for simple refund of the price difference between the part I ordered and the part I received. Dell's representative had the audacity to offer roughly half the amount, and in store credit form.

The refund process itself took full 70 minutes. And in the process, the service representative asked for my email several times. They had my customer service number, so why do I have to repeat my email several times?

So, this is it. I am switching to Mac.
 

While your statements have all the right spin, I seriously doubt we will see anything improve. I have bought several Dell desktops and notebooks over the past year but it is very unlikely I will buy anymore. The support from Dell is simply awful. Every time I call I wait and wait and finally get some person in India that hasn't got a clue and can't do anything but read the same script over and over again.

I get transferred between people and disconnected or sent to busy or non-existent Dell phone numbers.

It took me several calls to get the Dell Dollars I was supposed to get for 2 PCs in January and probably cost more in my time than they were worth.

I also bought two desktops in January that were advertised as Vista ready with the Dell-recommended video card. I now find out that the video cards won't support the Aero interface. Thanks a lot Dell!

The best customer service I have seen in years is when I call about my IBM servers. I speak to actual Americans AND they have answers.

It's February of 2007, and the customer service I have experienced with Dell is horrible to the point where it would be funny if it was not so infuriating.  Along with a general lack of competence among Dell representatives, I have even repeatedly had Dell representatives make statements to me that later turned out to be false. 

If you're reading this statement and you're undecided about whether to purchase a Dell, here's one consumer who is warning you that his experience with Dell has been awful.  Not only did Dell produce a piece of garbage that I happened to purchase (just google Inspiron 5150 and Lundell Settlement), they lost my computer when I sent it in for warranty service.  After over two months and nearly one dozen phone calls, I am continuing to attempt to get my computer back, fighting misrepresentations and dilatory tactics by Dell representatives.

I have been a long-time customer of HP and it never crossed my mind to switch. After some technical and mechanical issues with my current HP and numerous calls to out-sourced call centers--and poor customer service, I decided to give DELL a try.

I'm not sure I am confident that the big name that I've heard so much about regarding good customer service and great computers is really the same company anymore.

 I am disappointed after reading all the posts that Dell has succomed to the sub-standard service and support that so many companies have fallen victim to.

Tell me why I should buy a Dell!! What guarantees do I have as a consumer and investing my hard-earned money into your product and not have the service and support that I pay for? I know there are no guarantees in life, but there should be a bigger emphasis keeping customers happy--happy customers leads to return customers!!

One of the points that struck me from this blog was that the company is not working as "one" Dell.  Ain't that the truth!  I run tech support in a school; I have an out of warranty laptop that needed service.  The initial contact with tech support via email said the motherboard needed to be replaced, and I could send it to Dell to be fixed.  All I had to do was call this number.  Once I reached someone there, they gave me another number to call.  That person gave me another number.  I'm now on my 7th phone number.  No one can give me an answer of how to ship the laptop and how much it will cost (since it's out of warranty.)  What's even more frustrating is that since I work in a school, I only have certain windows of time when I can call, and a certain amount of time I can spend on the phone.  Each time I was transferred, I ended up having to hang up and call back another day because I did not have time to wait on hold.  Now I have a new phone number to call -- I called it this morning at 11:05 EST, and I got a message that said the department was CLOSED!

So yes, working as one unit is definitely something Dell needs to work on.  I want to be able to call ONE person and receive and answer I need.  I, like many others, cannot wait on the phone for endless amounts of time.

To Gregory Mason:

One of my clients experienced a similar problem to yours. His small business account somehow got cross-linked in the Dell database with another account. For YEARS, each time we made an on-line order with Dell, the initial transaction would go through, but the followup confirmation e-mail would never arrive. Eventually, the order would be silently cancelled, because the cross-linked account holder would tell Dell that they had not ordered anything. In one case, his order was cancelled because the client's credit card company wanted confirmation before authorization, but he was never contacted by either party.

As a long-term Dell "Preferred" (that's what it says on my financial account) customer, I can only say it is time to give up.  My service experiences over the past two years have continued to worsen only.  No improvement.  I purchase for companies I consult to, for my home, etc., under several phone numbers.  As a consultant, I used to be able to charge my clients less of a maintenance fee because I could rely on Dell's service side to save me time and be effective.  What has been understated here, though time is mentioned often, is the VALUE of that time.  It now costs me considerably as I waste time with voice mail, options that make little sense, and people who cannot effect change.

The final straw was when ordering a notebook for my son for this Christmas, my order was sent to an unknown individual in Mississippi, yet charged to my "Preferred" account.  Four and one half hours of time spent after seeing online my order signed for in Mississippi, being insulted by some service reps telling me my customer number was not me and they could do nothing, receiving evasions instead of answers, being told a replacement order would be made, then could not be made due to security reasons, being told a special case manager would contact me and didn't......well, you get the picture.  It is time to re-evaluate the value Dell provides and start recommending a competitor for our needs and my clients.

The best way I can fully illustrate the issue is on one occasion where admittedly, my temper was sorely tested, the service rep asked me, "What do you want us to do?"  I responded with, "What anyone else in service would do, which is treat me like the Preferred account holder you say I am.  If you had purchased the notebook from me and I had shipped it to someone else and charged my account, I would find a way to issue the replacement, move it up in queue, and get it to my son by Christmas if I had to overnight it at my own expense." 

Clearly, out-sourcing without empowerment was great for Dell's margins but the ultimate cost will likely be the fall of another major American corporation paying lip-service to the terms customer and service.

It's the old saying, "Word of Mouth can kill you!"

Here is an actual presales exchange that I just had using the online chat feature on the Dell.ca sales website. Did my presales questions get answered? No. Customer service at its best? No.

You be the judge:

Well, my issue has finally been resolved.  It was fairly amusing and somewhat satisfying to see the Customer Advocate team be tortured through the same problems that plagued us in our pursuits to have our problem resolved.

In fairness, the Customer Advocate working with us, Debbie, did an excellent job staying on the case right till the end.  But when even a Dell rep has problems figuring out what to do, and gets dropped calls trying to help us resolve the issue, you have to wonder what it will take to fix the core problem facing overall customer support at the company.

Today's adventure in customer support has also been cataloged in my blog for your review.

http://rkosloskey.blogspot.com/

I just cancelled my alienware order.

3 weeks of lies and abuse.

If you're thinking of buying, my advice is LOOK ELSEWHERE!

From:  Was-going-to-buy-a-Dell-today

Believe it or not, I am happy that I spent more than three hours, more like four I think, doing my research on warranties for laptops, most specifically Dell.  [I have dial up!]

Looks like the time I took today has saved me a whole bunch of time, not to mention agony, in the future.  I will not be buying an Inspiron 9400 after all, thank you very much.  Your stories have saved my sanity!

I simply can't believe with such a large number of people complaining about the language barrier and scripts and phone techs with no knowledge, Laura has completely ignored this segment of complaints and is not even commenting on it!  That tell's me that there is no way they are going to be changing this. 

I have already spent some time on the phone with India... And I was BUYING... I was trying to find out a couple answers that I needed before I hit the 'add to cart'  'buy now' button, for my laptop.  I couldn't get him to understand that I needed to know the difference between 'return to depot' and 'limited warranty', besides the $100 difference in price.  Apparently it has to do with being able to bring my computer in to a local [5 hours away] tech instead of sending it by courier to the depot 12 hours away. 

But all that doesn't really matter after reading all this stuff of yours, I am able to see that I would be very fortunate to get far enough in to the repair process that I would actually ever need a repair person... they want every thing done by phone... well I am very computer/ parts/hardware/software/components illiterate.. I am a bookkeeper.  And that's frustrating enough as it is,  :)  I don't need to fix my own computer after I spend $200 or $300 for extra warranty. 

So I am going to Plan B.  And obviously will not recommend Dell to anyone. Ever. 

I'll send them to this Direct2Dell and let them see what their future with a Dell could be like!

From:  Was-going-to-buy-a-Dell-laptop

Thank you all very much!!  I am happy that I spent more than two hours, more like three I think, doing my research on warranties for laptops, most specifically Dell.

Looks like the time I took today has saved me a whole bunch of time, not to mention agony, in the future.  I will not be buying an Inspiron 9400 after all, thank you very much.  Your stories have saved my sanity!

I am going to Plan B.  And obviously will not recommend Dell to anyone. Ever.  I'll send them to this Direct2Dell and let them see what their future with a Dell could be like!

Here's a classic reason why Dell support doesn't work for everyone. I have a hearing impairment. Consequently, I prefer to deal with support issues via e-mail. Here's the reply I got today from Dell Support today:

Laura, After 10 days no response to my post and no further postings. Guess this thread has run its course. BTW it was July 13th when I played the phone game with your CSRs trying to change my DFS mailing address. Guess what? I just got my statement yesterday at the old address. Same old Dell. My next laptop will be an HP.