Dell complaints

[Kierra]

I've never had a real issue with Dell in the past. Probably because I stay away from the customer service as much as possible but I was pretty annoyed with them tonight.

I had placed an order and the estimated ship date was '7/7/07' according to the order.

Then I get the confirmation email and it says estimated ship date '7/19/07'. All I could think was what?

I didn't really feel like dealing with anyone in India since they were completely clueless when I had a broken hinge on my laptop. I'll never call them again since I found a local repair shop where although the Dell certified tech there is from India, the customer service man is not and they did a great job for half the price and my laptop was 2 miles from my work instead of 1000s of miles away from me.

So I logged into the Dell 'support chat' where I recieved a bunch of computerized replies and crap about 'we need time to assemble'. It was extremely impersonal and not supportive or informative at all.

To be fair this is an order for the brand new inspiron desktop line they just released and I'm not really surprised about the slowness but what's with the not being honest about the estimated ship date until after I pay them? I wouldn't be upset if the estimate ship date was accurate before I ordered.

I never had a hardware problem with a Dell computer (laptop hinge was my fault for letting it fall off the seat in my car) but they could do so much for themselves by improving their impersonal customer 'service'. It really felt like I was chatting to a robot who was clueless and didn't care.

[diashto]

Robotic no, scripted yes.

You were most likely still talking to someone in India, and they just had their knowledgebase/support script open in one window, and was copy/pasting the responses into your chat window.

It's a fairly common tactic, and has been used in almost every tech-chat that i've had experience with. Theoretically it gives everyone the same response (no favors), and also is supposed to make the language barrier less obvious.

[Kierra]

Thank you for the answer.

[Rocke_T_Sinetist]

If Dell was a REAL computer company, automating routine support wouldn't be beyond them. They're just a commodity sales company.

If they DID automate it, accuracy might improve on the bulk of their screwups. Cases that didn't fit a known pattern would still experience the "duuh" that you get now, except without getting put on hold for 40 minutes first.

And customers wouldn't have to deal with Dell's legendary attitude.
_________________
Rocke T Sinetist
as in, 'it doesn't take a...'

[FallenAngel]

I'd say that more than 90% of any text based support is a cut n' paste job. Read the question, select the most appropriate answer from a cheat sheet, cut and paste to window.

You'll rarely get anything beyond a scripted answer that is so uniform, you can test it yourself. Try text messaging the support over 3 days asking pretty much the same questions, and you'll see the answers are likely to be identical in most ways.

It's text based. What did you expect?

[Dude-5]

As a chat tech support agent, I can tell you that yes:

1) Our opening statements (name, what's your issue, I'm sorry about the issue you're having... etc.) are definitely scripted.

2) We *have* to use certain scripts on each chat.

3) We're talking with more than one person at a time--typically 3--so without some sort of time-saving feature, it would be impossible. Ever wonder why it sometimes takes 2-3 minutes between each response?

4) We also have to log the case and do research while we're chatting with you. Multiply that times 3 for the other chats also.

5) Our closing statements are also scripted. Usually these have to be given quickly, because customers sometimes try to cut out before we've told them everything...which is not good.

[Whatsnew]

Responses are scripted to save time so unscripted answerable questions can be answered better i believe.

Business are asking its employees to follow this in some kind of fashion like what you think are machine oriented responses... without which their job might be at stake... What do you expect... I further agree with Dude-5 with almost everything else.

So if someone have got feedback about this they should be submitting it to business...

Regards
METALLICA...

[pointofview]

Guys, this is a company that is going down the sewer pipe. When you start to spend money on stuff that not only doesn't help your customer, but just wastes his/her time and pisses them off, you are going down--sooner rather than later.

I sent an email to "customer advocate". They spent money having someone reply. That someone insisted on having my name, address (in Canada), express code number, my phone number. Otherwise they couldn't help me. I spent time doing that. They now spent money having someone send me a follow-up email telling me to call an 1-800 number. Which I did. After asking for my "express code number" at least three times, the company spent money having some tech in india put me on hold and then tell me that I had the wrong 1-800 number and to call another one.

After calling the new number, being paid for by Dell, and being asked for my personal info twice more, and my "express code number", I reach some american guy (presumably being paid by Dell one way or another) who doesn't even work for Dell, who can't help me. Question: Why didn't the company spend its money sending me a new battery under the warranty which I paid for, right off the bat, rather than spending its money screwing the customer around?

The customer base will be GONE --its just a matter of how soon.

[FallenAngel]

You're still on about that battery? lol

By now you could've paid for and received 3 new ones and have been off conducting your business.

You already know that Dell won't be replacing it anytime soon

[pointofview]

Yeah, I know. But on principle, we need to deal, in some way, with unethical companies even if it isn't economically justifiable. Otherwise they just continue to be unethical. Do you work for Dell??

[FallenAngel]

No I don't work for them any longer.

Even when I did, I was no fan of them as 99% of my posts would attest. Stories like yours though, do tend to get me a little worked up. I won't really defend Dell in any way, but from time to time I do have to play on the side of common sense.