This is more formal than most of my other posts. I'll simply play this one straight.
Dell has reached a settlement agreement with 47 U.S. states related to certain past consumer practices. The initiatives, which were offered up to four years ago, included a no-interest financing plan, next business-day service contracts, warranty services and rebates.
Under the agreement, Dell will pay the 47 states a total of approximately $3.85 million to cover both costs of the investigation and refunds to customers. Dell worked cooperatively with the associated state attorneys-general and their staffs and thanks them for their prompt and reasonable approach to resolving these past issues.
The issues represented only a very small percentage of the tens of millions of Dell consumer transactions in the states during the four-year period. Dell had previously addressed the issues directly with many of the customers involved and many were satisfactorily resolved prior to the states' involvement. Under the settlements, Dell has agreed to additional customer disclosures to make sure that customers are fully informed about its financing and service offers. Some of these changes had been implemented prior to this agreement, and some of the practices at issue are no longer relevant.
Dell's goal is to provide the best customer experience possible. Over the past several years, Dell has invested millions of dollars in customer service and technical support to improve customer experience. Among results of that effort, the company was cited in 2008 as the top provider of customer service among Windows-based PC Makers by the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). Dell also has opened several lines of communications, including a Web site called Web site called Ideastorm, Dell's community forums or Direct2Dell for direct customer feedback.
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Hello Lionel,
This is my first post and most likely the last. It is out of pure frustration that I write at all. I am not a big corporate customer but have ordered three computers in three years and was looking for two more at Christmas. During the sale just before (12 days of Christmas?) I found a Studio 15 on a 2 day sale that I wanted to give as a gift but I saw the next day there was a Mini 9 on sale so I waited until the next day to see the price to order both. When I went to order the next day, the Studio had gone up $75. I wrote to customer service explaning that I thought the idea of a two day sale was that the price was the same for TWO DAYS. After waiting 4 or 5 days minimum for a response, I got the canned, go to blah blah blah to order this product response. It was obvious to me that they either had NO grasp of the question or absolutely did not care. I immediately bought two HP products and have been completely satisfied. This is hardly the first example I have seen of Dell "creative" pricing. Having seen the same system on the same day for two different prices on the site is completely common. It seems Dell has relegated individual buyers to second class citizens under volume corporate customers. It may sound good on paper, but IT managers who have a bad experience with their personal machines seem unlikely to purchase them for an office network. Dell's financials have been terrible recently and I can't help but believe that in tight economic times people like myself are deciding that Dell is not doing enough to earn their business. Thank you for your time.
Imagine being at a costomer service line for 15 minutes (that alone would challenge the most patient of consumers) to speak to a rep that explains you were in the wrong line. This is the line that the company rep told you to stand in to solve your problem. You went to a new line, again directed by the rep, explained in detail, again, to be told that you need to go back to the original line-and yes you must wait your turn again. When you finally have someone that will discuss your situation with you, you are called a liar, given false information, and walked away from only to be force to stand in another line. Do all of this with someone who speaks and understands little of your language. Then you are told that you can get assistance from someone that speaks your language better but you will have to pay more for it This is my experience with Dell's Customer Service via phone and I assure you this is a very mild version. I was hung up on, transferred back and forth between tech and customer support. Told that I must have used a screwdriver to take a screw out my computer because screws did not just fall out, keep in mind no one from Dell has seen my computer yet. I am sure I can find a million consumers that can contradict that statement. When I asked for a supervisors last name I was told it was policy not to give that to me. I have no idea what customer support expectations are India but apparently they're very low. Not a single person I spoke to wanted to do ANYTHING to help. Let me transfer you seems to be their favorite phrase. How can you treat your customers that way.
Dell has improved greatly over the past two years. Lionel and his team are a representation of that improvement from personal experience. I hope the remaining parts of Dell can get up to speed and the bad stuff that dogged Dell in the past rests in the past.
I am very upset with Dell customer service right now. I ordered new ink cartridges for my Dell 924 inkjet printers that arrived in mid December. Two weeks ago my Dell 924 printer broke, and I called Dell to get a new printer. No new printers use these expensive ink cartridges (I paid for four cartridges last month). The sales guy on the phone said I can return them for a refund. After encouraging me to buy a new printer with cartridges over the phone, he transferred me to the returns dept. who indicated that there is a strict 21-day return policy on products. Well--these ink cartridges have been unopened, brand new and I have them maybe 30 days. I just ordered a brand new printer from Dell. I have ordered all my hardware and some software from Dell for several years now. BUT they will not waive their 21-day policy for a good customer who just bought a new printer, and none of their new printers use these Dell 924 cartridges (forced obselescence). I tried to escalate this within Dell Customer Service, but I got the standard response each time (3 times) and I could never speak to anyone besides a CSR. Why would they do this to a good customer? I am trying to find the emails for Dell management to communicate with someone who might care about keeping good customers. I will use the new printer, but I will not be buying more products from Dell unless they can do something with these ink cartridges which I am sure could be used by someone else. Any ideas for me??
Nancy
dude i guess u do not read !!!! get real what a statement ( provide the best customer experience possible ) that only goes for sale's after sales u really hit the bottom hard..this is what is wrong with dell .....in which soundproof office do u work , you must look out the window all day because i see dell does not read it 's own forum...YOU JUST DON'T GET IT DELL