Shoppers' Choice Award for Service & Support

re: Shoppers' Choice Award for Service & Support

Will Adams — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 17:00:37 GMT

Recap: We are a small consulting firm that wants to purchase a new Inspiron/Vostro laptop for one of our remote workers. We have been dealing with Dell for over a decade.

We started to buy the computer online, but our online Web interface did not provide as many configuration options as the internal Dell sales team. Additionally we have found that the internal sales team usually can bring the price down even more than the online option. (We are “under the care” of the Small Business team.) Our odyssey began on August 24^th – 3 weeks prior to this writing. Basically, we have received no attention and are still waiting on a reply email “to our rep” from four days ago.

First, although we are very small consulting company, our primary consulting is with the Fortune 500 and government agencies. For example, we have one client that just put in an order for over 2,000 Dell laptops. We consulted with that client on that purchase, and specifically steered them away from an HP solution, instead to purchase a set of Dell M90s (like one that we had in the office.) Treating a small customer (like us) poorly will be reflected in our recommendations to Dell’s (potential) larger clients.

Second, I don’t consider it appropriate to keep anyone waiting three weeks for a purchase. I would have long ago purchased online if I had the same options that your sales reps have. We have had a comfort level and trust with Dell for almost a decade. Experiences like this do not engender trust and move us to the point that we are considering another supplier.

re: Shoppers' Choice Award for Service & Support

Mac — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 07:02:46 GMT

Hi Kenneth,

I never did learned my lesson... after experiencing so much issues with the Latitude notebook that is being used by the company that I've work for... Eventually that line of notebook was dropped and the company settled for another brand.

I would agree with you that Dell's customer service is so poor. I don't even know how they got the award mentioned above. I'm not even sure if Michael Dell or his management team is aware of how poor their customer service is. Queue time is normally more than 5 minutes... At a minimum talk time is about 30 minutes .... maximum will be around 3 hours... From my own personal experience, things doesn't get resolved... promises are being made but not being delivered.... =(

re: Shoppers' Choice Award for Service & Support

Kenneth Skinner — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 00:40:08 GMT

Hello Mac.

My experience with customer service is that they are happy you told them when you would be out of country. Now they know they will not have to deal with you after that date.

I dealt with them inumerable times. Not only do they not remember you or your problems but they give you some type of number so they have a record of the issue and what they "resolved". What does the number really do? Placates you for the moment but frustrates you the next time you deal with them and it turns out to be useless.

Anybody who reads this be forewarned. DO NOT BUY DELL!

re: Shoppers' Choice Award for Service & Support

MORRISON — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 15:33:49 GMT

FIRST, HOW DO I UPGRADE TO VISTA. A DELL 520 PURCHASED DEC.

HOW LONG HAVE I TO UPGRADE ? MM

re: Shoppers' Choice Award for Service & Support

M. Wood — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 03:28:31 GMT

I wonder if any one other than I have been told their rebate check was sent to the wrong address and cashed. Then told in so many hard to understand words, sorry about your bad luck. You may want to look closer to home to fix this problem.

re: Shoppers' Choice Award for Service & Support

Kenneth Skinner — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 04:33:20 GMT

I ordered a dell laptop (Inspiron 1501, AMD Turion 64 MK-36 (2.0GHz/512KB). When I ordered it over the internet it said clearly "Free upgrade to windows vista. Simply pay for shipping and handling".

When it arrived on the invoice it said windows vista upgrade $45.

I called dell numerous times and emailed them countless times. They gave me a service number all the time. When I called back or emailed back the service number I gave which is supposed to give them some type of history as to what previous customer service people did or said seemed to be no help. The responses ranged from I was going to get it for free (which never showed in my account) to I had to pay for it. And everything in between (like a $25 credit and so on and so on).

I do not want a credit. That's an insult. I would rather do without. But I saw with some satisfaction today dell is going throu some rocky times. I will never order a dell again and I have ordered about ten items from them over the years. It used to be good service. But all that's gone.

re: Shoppers' Choice Award for Service & Support

Lionel_Menchaca — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 22:44:02 GMT

Rebecca: Sorry to hear you are having problems getting your hard drive replaced, or that you lost a hard drive at all.

If you can please submit another comment with the e-mail address filled out, I can have someone from our Tech Support team contact you directly to make sure we can resolve the issue.

re: Shoppers' Choice Award for Service & Support

Rebecca Phillips — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 17:55:42 GMT

I just purchased my second 4th Dell (9200) for my small business in about 5 years. If this experience is any indicator of DELL service, it has taken a definate slide to become the technical-customer support from hell. I set up my new computer the night before I left for a 4 week business trip. Returned and used it for 2 days and the hard drive crashed. Spent 10 HOURS on the phone with Dell technicians as first one, and then another technician, worked through the technical issues. I could BARELY understand the 2nd technician and had to keep asking her to repeat her sentences. Finally, a 3rd technician verified my hard drive had crashed and set the process in motion to get a new hard drive to me. I do have next day repair on my service contract. One week later, after being told the technician would be at my place of business by noon, I am still waiting. I have called the dispatch services to learn that 'no' the person was not to be at my place with the new hard drive, but only to schedule an appointment. I can't run my business like this. The only conclusions I can come to, is that DELL customer/technical support and followup has become rather meaningless.

re: Shoppers' Choice Award for Service & Support

Bruce Markham — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 21:20:48 GMT

Well I'll have to admit, I was very pleasantly suprised that someone from Dell contacted me to see if they could listen again to my situation, especially since it had been over 6 months since my purchase.

Lionel and Mira were very professional and arranged to have my situation resolved to my complete satisfaction the very next week.

I didn't experience any of the problems in dealing with Dell that I have read here on this post, so I am now happy again to say:

"Dude, I'LL for sure be getting another Dell".

Keep up the good work, there IS hope :)

re: Shoppers' Choice Award for Service & Support

Catherine — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 17:03:04 GMT

As a struggling student I was pleasantly surprised by the ease and "affordability" of purchasing a Dell Inspiron 600m through (Dell)financing - in spite of the 18.99% interest rate!! Since I knew that I would most likely be using my new computer at work (mine sites), I made very sure to purchase the "3 Years Return to Depot and CompleteCare" extended warranty.

In December 2006 the screen for my Inspiron was damaged while at work, and upon speaking to Andrew in Tech Support I was pleasantly surprised by how quickly and easily the repair/replacement would be.

Unfortunately, this was the only positive experience I have had with Dell. From my being returned to the wrong address after repairs (I was away on holidays at the time and had arranged for it to be returned to my home address....apparently that "can't be done"); to a lump sum payment not being applied to my account; my address not being updated (apparently that is my fault, as I did not inform every single department that my address had changed. Silly me)... the list goes on.

My real concern lies not just with the abundant miscommunication, extensive wait times (20 minutes on average) and multiple transfers between deparments, but with the quality of care offered me by Dell Customer Service Representatives. In every case (apart from the glorious Andrew) I leave the conversation feeling frustrated and helpless. It seems no one at Dell cares about my concerns as they are invalidated by constant interruptions by the Customer Service Agent and by comments such as ou're on the wrong side of the tracks", "we tried to reach you but you didn't update your contact information with this department", "it's not our problem", and "you can't do that".

I like my computer. I liked the (apparent) ease and accessibility of purchasing exactly what I wanted when I needed it. However the lack of any kind of customer "care" leaves me cold and in need of a new company to purchase all further computer/electronics.

If this is Dell's "20% Improvement" well, thank God I never had to deal with Dell before!!