Other than Michael Dell, does anyone care at Dell? Another lost customer.

In today’s economic climate, I would expect a business to strive to perform their best on the all important area  of customer service. I must say that my most recent experience with Dell has not only left me  frustrated, and disappointed, but also downright angry.

I ordered a 70-200mm Canon L lens f/4 with the next day shipping option as I needed this for my son’s graduation. I was quoted a delivery date of the 9th, his graduation is the 10th. I had to go ahead and call Dell Financial to verify my information, not a problem. Order went into production and the order screen again showed up with a delivery dated of the 9th. Lo and behold, over the weekend I checked the status and the delivery date changed to the 16th! I did not receive a single call nor an email on this from Dell. I would never have know unless I stayed on top of it.

I started a chat process to address  this concern   this morning prior to work. For him to tell me it was now backordered and  there was an issue with the stock order and that I needed to call a phone number took 30 minutes! THIRTY! Perhaps if he was not chatting with several other people at the same time I could have been serviced faster.  The chat function was worthless as it not only wasted my time for a simple inquiry, but also solved no issue and I was instructed to call in to cancel the order, they cannot cancel via chat.

So I call and of course get placed on hold for 13 minutes and when connected I get a very rude and unprofessional young man. This kid could not shut up and would continually  finish my sentence for me and then would continue on with his mouth-never letting up-until finally frustrated with his attitude I raised my voice at him and told him that I did not appreciate how he was communicating with me.

He then informed me the order could not be canceled because it already went to shipping! Shipping? How? On the order screen it still says In Production, not shipped or sent to vendor! I asked to be transferred to a supervisor as wonder-boy stated there was nothing he could do. Of course guess what, yep, mysteriously I got disconnected from the call. So 25 minutes of cel phone time down the drain.

So here is my question to Michael Dell. How do you expect to prevent further layoffs in your company, turn around the dismal reputation your company  has in customer service, when you put your customers through such an ordeal?

1)    Had to call and wait for DFS verification
2)    30 minutes on chat to waste my time, had to call in to cancel
3)    Wasted another 25 minutes dealing with a very rude and unprofessional individual to tell me it cannot be canceled
4)    And yet still, my order is still not canceled and you expect me to waste more of MY time to return the item when it arrives?

I ordered the lens from another place-a reputable location which I know will actually get it overnight to me. I also have a laptop for my son on order with Dell-In Production-though I have no idea what that now means with this company. I will continue with this laptop order though I expect an issue to arise from this. However, I will be canceling my account with Dell. Not only that, as I conduct training for my company including   customer service, I will make it a point to ensure that I mention Dell when dealing with how not to deal with a customer. I will also ensure that every single person and company I deal with from this point on gets  an earful on how Dell lost me as a customer.

I have spent well over $50k in computers, electronics, etc in just the last 4 years with various companies, most recently a Canon 5DM2 with Dell.  Dell will no longer receive a penny of this from me.  < ADMIN NOTE: Order number removed per privacy policy >

IF you get the laptop you have on order, your son will probably be happy with it.  Dell does make good computers - unfortunately they have very nearly the worst customer service of any major company.   I continue to buy Dell products (occasionally) but only when I can buy the item directly off the shelf from a retailer, without having to deal with Dell directly.  This cuts down on the Dell products that I would otherwise buy because the pre-configured computers Dell has in retail stores are rarely the configuration I want.

 Two of the worst aspects of Dell's truely miserable customer service are that they always foul up anything to do with shipping and they have an absolute company policy against anyone in any department ever talking to anyone in any other department.  This is the reason that none of the so-called customer service or so-called tech support people can ever actually help a customer with any real problem, because they cannot enter or change an order (only "sales" can do that) and they cannot find out the real status of an order or shipment because all they have is the exact same computer information that you are accessing directly (even though the screen that you access often directs you to call for support).  ALL they can do is send an email to the department that made the mistake in the first place and ask them if they have any information to share with the customer. Of course, they hardly ever get any answer at all or if they do get an answer it just tells them what they and you already know.  Also, despite the constant assurances, no one at Dell will ever call you back. 

The one good point about their live chat "support" is that you end up with a complete record of exactly what you were told and when.  So when you check back each day you have the case number, and the names of everyone involved, and all of the mistaken information they already gave you. 

I noticed that you didn't mention having ordered any of the faster shipping options on the laptop that you have on order for your son.  Lots of Luck because Dell's standard shipping is via DHL.  If you want to know what to expect just do a google search on the two words Dell and DHL to read dozens of horror stories.

??? what laptop? the OP said he ordered a camera lens.

additionally, dell does not use dhl anymore - they use fedex in the US now.

I have to agree with this statement "unfortunately they have very nearly the worst customer service of any major company", dell is loosing me as a customer as well, they do not seem to care as much as they did about the customer anymore, I may as well take my money to best-buy or Walmart who provide me with better information at least.

I agree 100%.I don't think I've ever had to deal with worse customer service.  I guess that's to be expected with dell from now on.

I ordered a computer 14/07/2009 and i'm still waiting... Cannot cancel because it's in production since i order it. Cannot talk to a supervisor either and the service dept. transfer me to another dept. or i got disconnected from the call. They don't send e-mails to inform  me of new Estimated Ship Date and every time i call i got a new date.

Quote : 4)    And yet still, my order is still not canceled and you expect me to waste more of MY time to return the item when it arrives?

I must say that my most recent experience with Dell has not only left me  frustrated, and disappointed, but also downright angry.

I will continue with this computer order though I expect an issue to arise from this. However, I will be canceling my account with Dell. Not only that, as I conduct training for my company including   customer service, I will make it a point to ensure that I mention Dell when dealing with how not to deal with a customer. I will also ensure that every single person and company I deal with from this point on gets  an earful on how Dell lost me as a customer.

Si it's about the same story...

I also agree with you regarding Dell's incredibly bad customer service!  I have a dell printer - the only place I can purchase ink for it is through dell.  One of the cartridges from my last order would not work.  I called Dell last week to ask for a replacement ink.  I was put on hold for 25 minutes after which I was disconnected.  I called back and spoke to another customer service rep. who sent me out a new ink cartridge.  Today I went to open the new cartridge and put it into my printer.  When I opened the package, ink came pouring out and got all over my clothes.  I called Dell and spoke with 3 different customer service reps - going all the way to someone who claimed to be a "manager".  I was told that they will send me another replacement ink.  As far as my clothing that was destroyed, and the time I spent on hold, there is no compensation.  I was told "It is not Dell's policy to compensate a customer." 

I have a home office and will now have to use my colored ink, which is more expensive, to print until the new black cartridge arrives.  ( I normally order more ink when I put the last cartridge into the printer.)

Not only did Dell waste my time, they cost me $$.  I have clothing that I cannot wear and have to use my colored ink until the new cartridge arrives.  (Which, by the way, they told me it can take up to 7 days!!)  I would have been happy if they had just offered me an additional cartridge of ink for my troubles!! 

I will be telling everyone I know not to purchase from Dell!!!

Dell is just too big and they don't care to lose small customers like us... we MUST do something

I was just sitting here ready about Dell's customer service issues (and believe me they have plenty) but you stated that you could only buy the ink for your printer from Dell because it was a Dell printer. I have a Dell Printer 720 and have found the ink for it at inksell.com It's comparable in price and I didn't have to put up with the hassle from Dell. Just Google your Printer model and add the word ink to it and it should pull up sites that you can order ink from.

Hope this helps!

Bought new machine. Datasafe on line doesn't work

I think we are all "full of ourselves" if we think any one at Dell cares about customer service.  I to have purchased many Dell laptops over the years but can not seem to get anywhere with my "lemon" Inspiron 1520.  I have full warranty/extended/home service.  The monitor has been replaced, the heat sync and memory have been replaced and it still crashes.  The representative of "senior management" who has the authority to take care of the situation does not call when he says he will.  No technician has called or shown up at my house as promised (and paid for) and I can't even leave a message for the rep because his voicemail box is full!!!!

Why do we keep coming back to Dell?  I have no clue, I supposed as a creature of habit.  But never again will I recommend Dell nor will I purchase another Dell in this lifetime.  You can not reach an english speaking person, you can not contact Corporate and there is NO customer satisfaction.

Just and update to all of this.

Not only did I receive the lens, but also a duplicate order lens that never showed up on my order screen nor I ordered. Where do all of these orders go? After several calls again with again  inept service reps , I finally contacted a supervisor that did not transfer me endlessly , and spoke pretty good English. Two weeks later the issue was finally resolved. What a hassle and nightmare. 

Update on laptop: Laptop arrived just in time for my son's graduation. Problem is: It was DOA. Not a single beep, light, nothing once powered one. Instructed to remove the top panel above the keyboard and push down the power button . Mind you this is a brand new laptop and already I am being instructed to take it apart. Nothing. So for my son's graduation dinner we had to give him a print out of what he was suppose to receive while Dell made another laptop in Malaysia.  Called a week later to get the status to be told they had some server issues and LOST a days worth of warranty claims which of course included mine. So a week lost. Created a new reference number. We received the replacement laptop after another 1.5 weeks and guess what-no return label for the old unit. Dell started calling me days later wanting to know where their old laptop was.........

I have been in business for far too many years but it only took day 1 to recognize that customers are the core of our continued viability. Training is key to reaching this, and Dell's largest opportunity is

1) Training, need any of us add anything to this?

2) IT department which absolutely is one of the worst as witnessed by even this forum,Dells website, order screen, etc. Lost information, orders that do not appear on the account page,etc. Plus, what is with these coupons you send out? 15% off electronics except gaming, storage (hard drives) cameras, lenses, tvs, etc. What is it good for? What is left? I received a coupon for 10% off stackable in Dell business which is where I shop but I get an error that states the coupon is not good for this segment. Come on.

3) Endless transfers from people that either do no care or know how to handle a situation.Often times the call is disconnected on Dells end.

Empower your people Dell instead of losing customers.  It really is not that difficult to take care of a customer, it is difficult to get a company like Dell to try.

Dell ink is also available at Staples and Wal Mart....

Just call them for my order and i win another 5 days to my production... august 28th to sept.2 and still cannot cancel.

I cannot even get a response from anyone in europe - so far tried 40 calls, daily e-mails, twitter and blogs it's been two weeks...they simply are not listening or responding. I've had to call the helpline in Asia, they're great and are trying to fix things from there. Maybe buy from them! All i want to do is book a computer in for repair but because i have an asia service tag they just put the phone down on me. shocking!