Dell responds to Jarvis complaints at last
by Duncan
August 23, 2005
Jeff Jarvis of Buzzmachine has finally forced someone at Dell Computers to turn on a light switch and realize that giving bad customer service to someone with Jarvis’ profile is bad for business.
Online Media Daily reports that Dell has implemented new procedures for dealing with bloggers. The company’s public relations department now monitors blogs looking for commentaries and complaints and has begun forwarding complaints from people “with personally identifiable information” to the customer service department so that representatives can contact dissatisfied consumers directly.
It would be much easier if they’d just do a good job of support in the first place… Oh well, after buying an iBook I’m happy I’ll no longer be buying Dell.
I worked for Dell for a while. As an American, I was always loved by the customers for at least one reason: they could understand me!!
It’s a shame the PR department has to go searching for complaints in the blogosphere, that the complaints don’t work their way directly from the customer to capable people in Customer Service. However, you can never count on all of the public to take the time to find the right employee to solve the problem. Indeed, the time it takes can be absurdly long.
I say they should raise the stakes for their employees. Any problem stems from some employee’s actions but accountability is almost non-existent. Spare the rod and spoil the child: be quicker with discipline and raise wages.
I have always praised DELL for the excelent support that they have given me. However my latest problem of the mother board over heating has left me without my laptop for over a month and certainly no In House Support as I had paid for. I too am having to ship my laptop off to be fixed. The problem is wide spread. I have known many people to have the same problem, yet DELL still cant seem to fix it the first time with In House Support.
I was told that changing out the mother board wouldn’t cause me to lose any data. Oh sure, I didn’t lose any data, I just can’t use it either. It is nice to look at though, lol. When the mother board is changed out the bios must be flashed and more than likely Windows will have to be reinstalled, wiping clean the hard drive. So, no the data is still here, but until I reinstall windows the computer wont work right! I had to learn how to network tonight so I could back my data up on someone elses computer.
DOES THIS SOUND LIKE SUPPORT??? I think not!
WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM DELL??????
Elaine Nilsson
Hi, I recently set up a Dell complaint forum.
I think it would be helpful to other customers if you can post your complaint/opinion in the forum.
The Website is
http://www.ydell.com
Thanks.
A group of military personel deployed overseas, including
myself wanted to order the new Dell XPS M170 Notebook computer. To our
surprise and dissappointment, WE COULDN\’T! Dell DOES NOT ship to to
military APO addresses! We think it\’s just a damn shame that Dell doesn\’t
support their military. I guess when a company gets as big as Dell,
military customers don\’t matter! To make matters worse, we had found a
30% discount coupon code, which really had us excited. That is, untill we
found out their policy towards military shipping. So, shame on Dell,
for their lack of support for the men and women of the U.S. military!
Dell and Service are mutually Exclusive. Dell service is absolutely pathetic. I purchased through a Fortune 100 corporate account for employees and opted for the 24×7 at home service. Eight months later my PC died. Called support. Three days later tech showed up five hours late with a likewise dead new motherboard. Three days later tech showed up again with another dead replacement part. Four days later tech scheduled, but never showed. Consider that I opted for the top of thel ine “premium” 24×7 on-site support option. Guess what though, nothing occurred during the weekend! As a matter of fact I raised this issue with 3 separate techs and all said.. “well you have a point, we just don’t do much on the weekends. We will not even ship replacement parts except during mon-fri. Anyway… Two days later tech showed up two hours late with another dead part and then left. Next day I called Dell and was told replacement system was ordered but would take 10-15 days to “build.” Ten days later “new” system shows up at my house for me to install only it is DOA! Unbelievable! Looked inside, realized it was a “refurbished” system–a derelict with dust bunnies and bent CPU cooling vanes and a fan that sounded like a worn out diesel! Unbelieveable! Dell: “Sorry about that.” We’ll ship you another after we “build it” in 10-15 days! 3 weeks later while I was out of town for thanksgiving another refurb was dropped at my front door.. alone. It apparently spent turkey day plus 3 days all alone exposed on the front porch. Who’s brain child was that? The box was “weathered” from the experience. I unpacked and inspected the “refurb”. I laughed hysterically from the sad shape this one was in. Once again the insides was absolutely coated in dust and BIG dust bunnies abounded. The CPU cooling fan had nasty brown dust ENCRUSTING every single fan blade in their entirety! Who in the world inpsected that piece of crapola before sending it to me? I took pictures for evidence. To top it all off this one it didn’t work as well. DOA! So let’s recap I’ve been waiting 2 months and 2 weeks for this!?? My only option was to attempt a transplant of parts to try to piece together a working unit. I was able to succeed but I discovred that the refurb was significantly different from the one I ordered: different video card, slower CPU, different s/w and older versions of s/w loaded on replacement HD. Where .. where is that 24×7 on-site support with premium responsiveness? What an absolute joke! It really is quite insulting. By the way, I did get an email from Dell the other day telling me they considered the matter closed! Michael Dell should be ashamed of himself and his sad excuse for customer support.
Below is my phone and chat log with Dell Support Today. Just keep this in the back of your head, I’m an IT Manager for one of Chicago’s Museums. How do you suppose an end user would feel if they had a similar experience?
11:03:56 AM System Welcome (name protected) …
11:03:56 AM System Connecting to server. Please wait…
11:03:56 AM System Thank you for using Dell Chat, a representative will be with you soon.
11:03:56 AM System Initial Question/Comment: PRESALES HARDWARE COMPATIBILITY QUESTION REGARDING A POWERVAULT DLT TAPE DRIVER FOR USE UNDER VERITAS/SYMANTEC 10.1(D)
11:07:37 AM System You are now being connected to an agent. Thank you for using Dell Chat
11:07:37 AM System Connected with CU_Rep_Oliver
11:07:55 AM CU_Rep_Oliver Welcome to Dell Sales Chat.My name is Oliver.I’ll be your personal sales agent for today.give me a moment to review your concern, please don’t go away.
11:08:07 AM You driver should read drive…sorry
11:10:19 AM CU_Rep_Oliver please call our spare parts dept for that at 18009153355-7269937
11:11:39 AM You so spare parts will be able to tell me if the drive I’m looking to purchase is compatible with veritas?
11:11:51 AM CU_Rep_Oliver are you still there,chris?
11:11:54 AM CU_Rep_Oliver yes.
11:12:13 AM You yes, im here, the connection is lagging
11:13:01 AM You what is the 7269937 part of the number, is it the route thru the menu
11:13:19 AM CU_Rep_Oliver Ok,would there be anything else that I can assist you regarding this,?
11:13:32 AM CU_Rep_Oliver that’s the ext num.
11:13:36 AM You did you not get my last message?
11:13:41 AM You ahh ok
11:14:10 AM You Nope, thats it….Thanks
11:14:24 AM CU_Rep_Oliver Thank you for chatting with Dell Sales chat and Have a great day.
11:14:28 AM System CU_Rep_Oliver has left this session!
11:14:28 AM System The session has ended!
—-
[NOTES: Dell Spare Parts Number 1-800-915-3355 extension 7269937, note the extension didn’t work, Still had to press 4,2,3,3 then number asked me for my express service tag. So the rep lied about the number because I needed presales support, not tech support for existing customers.]
After not providing my express tag that I don’t have since I don’t own the dell equipment YET, the menu told me to choose from options not pertaining to my situation. Pressing 0 transferred me to wifi tech support another 0 repeated the wifi menu, 3 0’s got me nowhere. After press 0 ten more times i was transferred to the tech support hold line, expected wait estimated at greater than 6 minutes. (Nice) So far 2 minutes in menu, and 6 minutes on hold!
I see they treat their presales customers about as good as their current customers! :(
Waited 10 more minutes before hanging up. Hung up redialed number, entered fruitless 7 digit extension and same menu options, this time I was immediately connected to someone only identifying herself as Abby, wanted my service tag number…I said I wanted presales, she said, “you have to purchase the part to get presales support.â€? I told her that I don’t want to buy the part unless I know if its compatible. She said, “what’s the model?â€?
(Finally I’m getting somewhere) I said, Its a DLT Drive in a Dell Powervault 120T Server. First she asked, “Is that a type of CD Burner?â€? I said, NO!, then she asked again for the part and I repeated it, only to get a reply from her along the lines of “What model was the server?â€? I then repeated it again! (ARGH) Then she said “oh ok.â€? And asked, “do you have the part in front of you?â€? I said NO, I need to know if it is compatible before I purchase it! (DUH!) Then she asked, “what is your address so I can ship you the part?â€? I told her that I’m not buying a product before knowing if it is compatible with the software that I have.
She said oh! And Put me on hold stating that she was looking up that information. When she came back 2 minutes later she told me, “that she needed to transfer me to the standard tech support line for that to be answered.�
[And provided me with the number In case of disconnect.]
When the call (800-624-9896 extension 7266955) was connected I had to choose option 3 simply because I didn’t need a gift card, nor did I have what ever option 2 provided. Then customer support picked up, so I proceeded to ask the same question that I asked the other lady. This new lady who didn’t provide her name said, “I’m sorry you reached the wrong place, let me transfer you.� (another female indian).
After being transferred again to the tech support line, the voice activation system demanded my service tag, I spoke into the phone “Not applicable!â€? the voice activated system didn’t understand, I said, “operatorâ€? and the vas said “in order to transfer you I need the service tag number.â€? Again I said, “operatorâ€? at this point I was then transferred and presented with the PAY-TECH-Line recording.
After listening to the message, I was dumped into the tech line telling me that I could get faster support by using the online web chat. (Hmmm, I feel as if I had tried that already) After waiting 10 minutes this recording came on telling me to call this number 888-242-0957 because if I don’t have a service tag, this support line can’t help me and to have my credit card information handy. (Hmm is it just me or is it standard practice to charge customers for a PRE-SALES QUESTION???) Total time on hold before hanging up, 18 minutes 45 seconds.
I guess I will have to hunt down some English speaking Customer Service Executive. But for now, I will post this on any open blog!