Dell complaints

[Wireless]

Dell has introduced a new metric called Ri1 (Resolve in 1 call). I am normaly very skeptical about Dell metrices because they never reward the talented. Lets see if this can improve things. I have been doing this anyway, resolving in one call but that does not seem to get me any more money.. so I think I'll just start looking for another job as they are least interested in retaining people who resolve issues.

[DOC_Is_Evil]

I have a similar metric...Which I just learned today, despite the fact that they have supposedly been monitoring me on it for the past several months...I agree with this metric, it's one that actually benefits the customer instead of Dell. I never thought I would actually see it enforced.

[weput]

Dell metrics sucks.
The only reason they exist is to make sure your "operational cost" keeps below what they budget.

[rustyboots]

"Resolve in one call"? LOL What a joke. Not that it isnt possible, it is just that Dells phone metrics prevent you from having the time to spend with a customer to find out what the real problem is and fix it. It takes most customers 5 minutes to tell you what is wrong and then it takes you a few minutes asking questions and getting answers to determine what the real problem is, when it started and what troubleshooting has been done. If you are a second level tech (L2) and you talk to a customer, then you have 10 minutes spent listening to then whine about how poor the level one tech is. (And they are RIGHT!!!)
You can fix a problem if you forget time limits and decide to fix the problem. This was the old way of Dell when quality meant something. Do standard troubleshooting and use your own personal experience.
Of course I worked with a tech that would torture the customer with troubleshooting steps repeated over and over in a different order just to prove something did or didn't work. He had a high Averted Dispatch rate (same as Ri1), but customers would hang up on him and some of his "fixes" called back in a few days later as the same problem returned. Problem fixed? No problem was "bandaged" and returned as customer turned system back on after waiting 48 hours to use system again....(Lester, are you reading this? )
Why bother? Dell has damn few people left that give a shit about helping customers and even fewer Executive level people who care about the customer. Let the credit card/debit card clear and Dell has your money and you have a good chance of going through a living hell if something goes wrong. Nobody there cares about quality; in product or support.
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rustyboots (i use to slave at dell)

[demotedmanager]

Nobody there cares about quality; in product or support.


I hear ya there. I have worked at Dhell now for 4.5 years and I gotta say I want to care about quality and the customers, but everytime I think Dhell has changed to a positive note.....my hopes get dashed. Their ability to stick the metrics numbers (and whether a person meets them) down the poor phone agents throat is sickening.

I worked for Dhell back in 1995, so this is my second time around and was away for about 10 years. Wished I would have remembered exactly why I left the first time, then I would not have come back. However, I was foolish I guess thinking that perhaps they had changed. Yep, they changed...they became more political and embraced the "good old boy" networking scheme more than they did in 1995.

I started this time off in "Bronze" server. I worked my way up to the "premiere Gold level" server area, working in their software area of high complexity in Round Rock. At the start of my current employment I had decided NOT to be in management, but as time went by I changed my mind as I wanted to help the IC on the phones and hopefully help them not get the shaft.

So, I applied for, interviewed, and got an manager position in Oklahoma City. I left my kids (they are all grown up) and many friends I made there in hopes to better myself and move up. Well I was welcomed warmly and was told to "drive my team" as if it were a business and make them succeed. I did just that, out of 16 teams on the floor my team ranged from number 2 to number 8 (because of the high turnover rate). Then last Feb (of 2008) I was informed I was to become a "team lead" and would be demoted. Please don't get me wrong most of the team leads at OKC are honest hard working people, but if I had wanted to be a team lead I could have stayed in Round Rock where my family and family lived.

Here is the kicker, no one and I mean no one (Area manager, site director) could tell me specifically why I got demoted. I was told by the site director that it was because of a "manager stack ranking", the news was not relayed to me because my manager (the area manager) was on vacation. I asked the site diretor what was in this ranking and he realized he had messed up by saying this piece of information and told me to ask my manager. Well when he came back I asked him about this "manager stack ranking", he said it does not exist. I informed him of what the site director had said and he knew I had caught him in a lie. A year later and I still don't have a honest explanantion. Oh and the sad part is the HR Generalist sat in the meeting and just smiled. But then why should I expect anything different, I have a Master's in HR and I more than anyone know how they work. Yep, always stick with management and NEVER help the employee.

However, I have to be honest with myself I know exactly why I got demoted. I did not "brown nose" the area manager or site director. Instead I "drove my team" as I would a business. I watched after my guys and helped them improve.


So, as I said at the top up there....I gotta say I want to care about quality and the customers, but everytime I think Dhell has changed to a positive note.....my hopes get dashed.

Well I am off my soap box, thanks for the vent and you better believe two things: once the economy improves I am leaving Dhell (can't leave now cause of son's tuitiion and a mortgage on the house I bought here in OKC) and I sure am not coming back again. Thanks for your attention and hope good thoughts...Happy Holidays.

[Rocke_T_Sinetist]

Same here. I was #1-3 in performance metrics, but I got the perp walk the same time everyone else did, in May 2001.

Needless to point out, anyone who believes HR is there to benefit the employee in any way is living in a fool's paradise. HR is there as an adjunct to legal. To make sure the bogus PIP paperwork meets regulation. As a manager, surely you noticed that.

The metrics and rankings make it LOOK like a meritocracy, but they are REALLY a structure by which economically- or structurally-undesirable people can be dispensed with within legal guidelines.

Dell is a Beelzebubocracy. Even customers can tell. Employees who have been there longer than 6 weeks should have no doubts.
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Rocke T Sinetist
as in, 'it doesn't take a...'