No Magic Wands For Customer Service

re: No Magic Wands For Customer Service

Kasey — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 19:32:15 GMT

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.

re: No Magic Wands For Customer Service

Moureen — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 17:51:22 GMT

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.

re: No Magic Wands For Customer Service

Donna Lewis — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 10:32:21 GMT

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

re: No Magic Wands For Customer Service

Steve Durant — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 01:59:24 GMT

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.

re: No Magic Wands For Customer Service

Peggi — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 16:37:50 GMT

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.

re: No Magic Wands For Customer Service

hooka — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 23:07:21 GMT

This is my first time visiting your site and i must say i like it a lot. Your article was an interesting read. I will surely check back here more often! hooka

re: No Magic Wands For Customer Service

Praveen — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 06:28:36 GMT

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

re: No Magic Wands For Customer Service

madhava — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 12:31:43 GMT

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

re: No Magic Wands For Customer Service

Eileen — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 04:25:27 GMT

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.

re: No Magic Wands For Customer Service

Kit — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 22:15:24 GMT

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.