The Telephone System... Getting It Right

re: The Telephone System... Getting It Right

meredith williams — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 17:01:05 GMT

I am on my fourth Dell desk top. This will be the last Dell computer or peripheral I purchase. I do not appreciate the difficulty of trying to communicate with their customer service representatives who do not speak well enough that I can understand them; it is as though they are reading a script, or paging through a manual, 'for this problem, see p.17, section 2a', and processing the attempted resolution in that manner.

Additionally, it is incomprehensible to me that they would require the customer to pay to return an item that was delivered to a previous address when the customer specifically reiterated the current residential address and it was verified during the conversation with the Dell representative.

If Michael Dell perceives his market share to be "untouchable" he had best think again. Competition in the marketplace will cause consumers to consider the after-market customer service more heavily when researching to purchase.

re: The Telephone System... Getting It Right

Jacqueline — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 18:44:52 GMT

Dell:

You should employ a customer service force that is actually informed about the client's situation. Also, customers would be much happier if you would not take hours to answer their call. The same issue exists with the chat line. You should not repeatedly ask the client for the same information, when the client is bounced from department to department.

Provide real time information on your website. Give real and honest answers as to delays.

You should account for seasonal increases in demand for products and ramp up production accordingly. You have been in business for some 20 years. You are not a start up company.

As you have grown, your customer service has deteriorated and your shipment delays have increased to an unacceptable level; e.g, 4-6 week delays for shipment of product.

I would rather pay more money for a product to your competitors and actually receive it, in a timely fashion. I will look to do this in the future.

re: The Telephone System... Getting It Right

James Moore — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 17:01:56 GMT

I'm the owner of a new M1710, and have needed to call technical support several times in the first couple weeks of ownership.

Get rid of your voice recognition system. It's an annoying toy only capable of doing demos in a tightly controlled environment; it's clear that's nowhere near production quality. On both my cell phone and a cordless phone (wired phones are extinct), it had a recognition rate that hovered around zero. Most annoying was that it kept reading noise on the line as an attempt by me to say something.

Stop referring people to the online chat system if you're not willing to staff it adequately. Most of the time I've tried I get a message saying that no one's available and I should call the phone number.

re: The Telephone System... Getting It Right

Valerie Hoffman — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 16:10:04 GMT

I'D BE HAPPY JUST TO GO BACK TO THE DAYS OF BEING ABLE TO UNDERSTAND THE TECH ON THE OTHER END OF THE PHONE. WERE AMERICAN BASED, CLEARLY ENGLISH SPEAKING TECHS THAT EXPENSIVE? THIS IS GETTING REDICULOUS!!!!

re: The Telephone System... Getting It Right

Lionel_Menchaca — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 13:24:33 GMT

Hi Dan, sorry for the frustrations. Please send another comment with your e-mail (not to be published) so that we can contact you directly. Thanks in advance.

re: The Telephone System... Getting It Right

Alex — Thu, 10 Aug 2006 11:54:26 GMT

You never get your customer care right, lets have our call centres back in the UK where people speak proper english!

I think sometimes you give your customers any excuse just to keep them all quiet one classic example is the very poor handling of your XPs 700 affair! I was told that the problems you where having with it was down to Graphics and sound, NOT thermal cooling problems, so who is right? we the customer demand answers and not a whole load of complete flannel!!!!

You might find that your home customers will remain loyal.

try it you might be suprised!!

re: The Telephone System... Getting It Right

Dan — Thu, 10 Aug 2006 07:36:21 GMT

Ms. Bosworth:

I've had very poor experience with at least 3 of you phone centers trying to get a simple AC adapter cord for power plug adapter for a brand new Dell laptop my daughter is taking to Germany for a year. The international adapter that Dell sent me was not compatible with the AC adapter shipped with the computer. Now I am told that I have to call Dell Germany to get the proper adaper. I have talked with customer sales in Roseburg, OR, who spent 30 minutes trying to find an adapter and sent the wrong one. I've talked to the a service center in the Phillipines once and to India about 5 times. I've been transfered and disconnected (after 20 minute waits) three times. No one can help me get the adapter my daughter needs, although today, a rep. in India did offer to refund all of my money paid for the adaper and shipping, but could not get me an adapter that will work. Instead, they gave me a phone number for the Dell-Germany sales (located in Germany), that I have since ound out does not work from the US. Since I do not speak Germany, I don't know if I could have ever gotten to a human given all the automated routing used by Dell. I figure that I have now spent 10 hours trying to order, then get replaced, a simple $20-$50 part. I have spoken with 7 different people, and my daugher still doen't have a power adapter to work with her computer in Germany. I've been sent to sales, customer service, technical support, back to customer service and now back to sales (in Germany) over the course of a week. No one knows your products, not even your sales people, and I spent a frustrating hour trying to explain to a customer service rep from India that you can not plug a three prong cord into a two prong transformer. This is insane.

Dell has a long way to go to get back to the wonderful customer service reputation it once had. I own 3 Dell desktops, and this is the 2nd laptop I've purchased in 6 mos. Given this experience, it very well may be my last.

Dell's Blog and My Issue With Complainers

CustomersAreAlways — Thu, 10 Aug 2006 02:36:09 GMT

It&rsquo;s back to the Dell&rsquo;s Direct2Dell blog to see what they&rsquo;re up to these days. I was enlightened to see that they&rsquo;ve become very detailed in addressing customer service issues such as shipping delays, call center

re: The Telephone System... Getting It Right

Mr. Kite — Thu, 10 Aug 2006 01:33:35 GMT

My wife and I nearly bought a Dell computer the other day, but the horrific customer service and failure by Dell to honor its own advertised offer caused us to abort the transaction. We're buying an Apple. You guys either fix your customer service and abandon your bad faith attempts at bait-and-switch or competition will drive you into Chapter 7. Oh, and while I'm at it, thanks for wasting 4 hours of my life on the phone with you guys trying to straighten out a transaction that you guys messed up. Much appreciated. Hope the English lessons for your customer service reps. go well...

re: The Telephone System... Getting It Right

Bubba — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 03:43:51 GMT

It is interesting that Michael didn't like the Alienware rep and did like the Dell rep as Dell owns Alienware.

If Dell really wants to make the support process better how about getting rid of the IVR completely and have someone actually answer the phones when you call in for support....