Dell complaints

[darsys]

Want to know more about why Dell Sucks? See what they did to us. You can read the full post about it in MY blog at http://www.darsys.net/2005/08/why-dell-sucks-and-blows-dont-buy-dell.html

However, to sum it up here's selected excerpts:


I want to tell you quite clearly why this Dell machine is our last. I have never been treated so poorly and so indifferently by a group of people. Your “customer care” department doesn’t care about anything much less their customers.

My company distributes construction supplies and hurricane related supplies – check our website to see how hurricane oriented we are. Before and after a storm we are at our very busiest because the products we sell enable people to protect their homes and businesses from the storms and to repair their homes and business after the storm. Without computers our business is brought almost to a halt, as everything needs to be done manually. Plus orders that are e-mailed don’t arrive at all. We’re based in Florida where we get more than our fair share of hurricanes.

Thursday evening the 25th of August, Hurricane Katrina pounded us rather badly, with the eye wall of the storm passing directly over us. We tried to open Friday the 26th but due to lack of water, electricity, and passable roads we unable to and gave up. Saturday morning we came in and emergency power was in place. Our Dell Dimension 4600 came up and running just fine but within five minutes there was a loud “pop” and it died. The timing could not have been worse. I am not unreasonable I do not fault Dell for an act of Mother Nature.

I immediately called tech support. The man I spoke to was very helpful and after 15 minutes was relatively confident the power supply was the problem. I explained how critical this machine was along with the data on it. I said I didn’t care what it cost, but I needed someone to fix it immediately. He said he couldn’t help with that but that the parts department could.

Around 8:50am I was connected to the parts department. The parts department said they could send me the special, proprietary power supply. I said that with no other alternative, that would have to do, but I repeated five times that it must be sent UPS RED EARLY AM delivery: that means by 830am. I specifically asked him if he understood what I needed. I explained how important it was. He took my credit card information and said it would be done. The order number was XXXXX.

I spent all day Saturday calling every single computer store in town that was open, asking if they had a power supply for this unit. They all said “No because Dell uses non-standard parts so you have to deal with them.” Why is such a common part proprietary?

Monday morning, at 9:04am I called parts and asked where my supply was. The nice lady informed me it was in Ohio and that it didn’t ship until Sunday. She suggested that perhaps I call DHL and see what they could do. She didn’t quite seem to get why I was upset and she had this idea it was going to be delivered “later in the day” even though it was still in Ohio. She said I could speak to Technical Support who could help me. After 1 hour and 18 minutes on hold, I got someone who said he couldn’t do anything. I repeated again that it wasn’t the cost, and that I wasn’t asking for anything free, just for someone to come in and fix the computer. He said only Parts could authorize that. After more time on hold, I was finally connected with Parts who said only Tech Support could authorize that.

I asked for the phone number to your corporate office and was refused that information. I called my stockbroker and asked him to look it up. You’re a public company after all. I called your corporate offices and asked to speak to an officer of the company. I was transferred to “Escalation” where I got a “this mailbox is full – please try later” message and got disconnected. I called back immediately and again asked for a human to speak to and was transferred before I even finish my sentence to another voice mailbox which, guess what, was also full.

By noon, I was pretty furious as you can imagine. I called again, and this time got a Customer Care agent in Ireland. She was very friendly but not much more helpful, though she at least pretended to be sympathetic. She transferred me back to Parts and promised to stay on the line, but she didn’t. As always, I was asked for a phone number ‘in case we get disconnected’ but (of course) when I was, nobody called back. It’s nice to have a perfect record but not in this case.

I called your corporate office again and got your “Dell Switchboard” again, which I finally figured out is bogus because you can’t get anybody with authority or anyone who even cares. Finally, I get some lady who tries valiantly to help and stay on the line with me, but said “the hold time is too long” and she’d have to leave me to my own devices. She gives me a third case number (XXXXX, XXXXX, and XXXXX are my three case numbers for the same issue.)

I want to point out that every single person I spoke to was clearly explained to that this was your error and that I didn’t even care about the money, but I just wanted it fixed. Nobody wanted to authorize a technician to come out to our place of business and fix our machine.

I was, sometime around 1pm, after being on the phone with Dell for four hours, transferred to a Tech Support line in Panama. I got a technician named Enrique. You should put him in charge of your company. He listened to me, read the case information, and agreed I had been screwed over. He sat with me on the line for nearly 40 minutes waiting for somebody to come to the line – and they blew him off too. He then took the initiative and scheduled a repair order for an on-site person in an effort to help me (XXXXXXXX) and I wish to report that I was never called in order to make the appointment. Finally around 3pm, I called the 800 number and they said they’d call me in a day or two to see what they could do. Nobody at your company has any sense of urgency. Do you not understand the severity of this situation?

Tuesday I spent more time on the phone as my system was still down. Your dispatch department couldn’t dispatch anyone because they claimed I didn’t have the part. I told them it was in my hands having finally arrived just before lunchtime, but they argued that their computer reflected otherwise. I asked for a supervisor and spoke to Allison. She took my credit card number and promised someone would be here by 2pm. She never called back and no technician showed up. I left messages for her that were not returned. I called late that evening to cancel the service call as I had made other arrangements. I was told they couldn’t cancel it and I had to call tech support. There is not a chance in hell of me doing that. At least I was nice enough to try to cancel it. If you charge my card I will protest it.

Today is Wednesday and the damned thing is fixed via another vendor who has been promised all future hardware business for helping me with Dell hardware when Dell wouldn’t. Even your competitors can understand a critically important situation. They came to my aid and that speaks volumes about both them and you.

I had sent a draft of this via email before I added the latest travesties and received a call from someone in your Executive Support department. He was very nice and apologetic but I wish to point out that really doesn’t help.

For the record, every single customer who called us and asked why we didn’t answer their emails and why their order wasn’t shipped was told about our Dell saga. I am making this entire letter available to any of our over 15,000 clients who ask, and when we write a letter of apology to all the affected customers they will be told exactly what we think of Dell. Further, a copy is being posted on our website.

I care that you caused my customers extreme difficulties when they could least afford it. We care about out customers and you clearly don’t. Forget your words, actions speak loudly. We’ve been in business almost fifty years and I can assure you this type of behavior guarantees you won’t be. You should be ashamed. Your activities, while legal, are immoral. You shouldn’t hide from your customers and you do as evidenced by my inability to get anyone in authority on the telephone. I can tell you that you have earned the bad press your customer service has been receiving.

If you have comments, please leave them on my Blog where I am sure to see them, or if you post here be sure to CC me via email.


Thanks for Nothing Dell!
-- Eric

[Sprocket]

A few problems with your complaint.

1. Dell uses DHL for shipping not UPS.

2. parts are sent out next BUSINESS day 10:30. period. There is no alternative. Meaning that if you order a part on friday, the absolute earliest it will be delivered is Monday by 10:30 am provided it is in stock and ships immediately.

3. Hurricanes shut shipping down pretty bad as a general rule. I'd say you were lucky toget it at all.

4. Time and materials calls are generated by Dell and service performed by a third party company such as Banctec (who I work for). When the call is generated and comes across to us, it is not runnable until parts are received AND payment info is provided. We usually get the part first.

5. it is not next day service. it is next BUSINESS day service. and is subject to parts and technician availability. After hours service is subject to technician's availability. Saturday service is subject to technician availability and must be confirmed by the technician running the call by 5pm the preceeding thursday. Translation, the earliest you would have gotten a T&M tech onsite would be tuesday, as the call would not be runnable on monday until that credit information is provided to our company.

6. Lost productivity and business is not provided for in dells warranty. YOur outage is no more important than grandmas inability to play solitaire.

I'm not trying to say you are wrong for being angry and frustrated at dell. what I am saying is understand the system that a monster company uses takes time. there is no such thing as instantaneous.

Unfortunately the processes either were not understood properly by the Dell reps ( a lot of them don't know the in's and outs of the system) or were not explained to you properly. I deal with reseting customer expectations on a daily basis.

please feel free to commment or ask questions.
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[ShaftDu]

i feel your pain dude. Dell is a giant thanks to aggressive marketing and the consumer's need for lower price. You know in any other field, Dell's business would have bankrupt them a long time ago. The only problem is there is no real alternative. And no one wants to step up. The problem is that they can't. The moment some company comes out and says "we have PCs starting at XXX" Dell will have 30 more commericals claiming to have PCs even lower then they are. And you guess it, the consumer will call Dell.

[Badger]

Darsys:
First off, congrats on surviving the hurricane and trying to get yourself back to normalicy.

I have to agree with Sproket on this. The problem with being a multinational corporation is that you lose that direct touch. A tech just cannot call up a Dell technician in your local area, tell him where you live and what you need, and have them do emergency repairs. Unless you have the undo-mundo corporate clause for high end servers and businesses with more than 1000 Dell's on site. Even then, the tech simply submits the ticket and it's picked up by someone else. It would have been impossible for you to get what you needed in the time you seemed reasonable.

Still, it's shitty you had to wait on hold for so long. Half the calls are ones, like yourself, who have been bounced between queues. It just ties up the lines and does nothing. Your best bet for any tech support is always a local shop. The part might be non-standard, but if it was a bind, they may have been able to rig up something.

Good luck in the future!
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I may not agree with what you say, but I will fight for your right to say it.

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[Rocke_T_Sinetist]

Good valid perspectives from everyone.

*Nobody can reach anybody with the authority to 'do something' by calling corporate headquarters. Corporate policy. No matter the name of the corporation. Indifference to customers is rampant. Called the government lately? Phone/cable company? Do they make you wait, drop calls, connect you to someone who doesn't give a sh*t, or otherwise dodge/misdirect your problem?

*If one's operation depends solely on one piece of electromechanical equipment, one is well-advised to have a hot backup. That's why there is no such thing as a "commercial passenger aircraft" with only one engine.

*Dell's form factor for things like power supplies can be proprietary. That is, 'what size it is and where the screwholes are'. The 'part that makes it work' is industry standard within Intel subvendors and almost universally interchangeable. But you may not be able to close the case while the substitute part is in service. Good work, sub-sub-vendor, finding a part that fit.

Eric's experience with going through channels to solve his problem is way too representative of the worst-case unsolved hardware problems. A customer's dependence upon a piece of hardware is, at the warranty (and common sense) level, irrelevant. A customer's expectation that a purchased product operates properly OR the vendor makes a concerted, expeditious effort to make it work is a very valid expectation. Thanks for illuminating this case Eric, and sorry for your difficulties. Improvement is needed. Perhaps the highest purpose of a site like this is to reveal precisely that.
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Rocke T Sinetist
as in, 'it doesn't take a...'

[paul_dellcc]

I entirely agree with Sprocket, ShaftDu, Badger and Rocke_T_Sinetist.

There's something I didn't get: how is it possible that you have +15,000 clients and there is only one computer
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I see DELL people!!

If we don't remember our past, we can't understand our present and we can put in danger our future...

[darsys]

[darsys]

[paul_dellcc]

Dell screwed you badly. No one said the opposite.

However, you shouldn't entrust your business on PCs. Why Cause the answer is broken in front of you.

We are here cause we don't like how Dell treats their customers. We are trying, by posting our ideas and customer experiences, to improve such treatment.

Not me, but the other posters instructed you on how Dell works.
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I see DELL people!!

If we don't remember our past, we can't understand our present and we can put in danger our future...

[darsys]

[Rocke_T_Sinetist]

No problem darsys, the 'threshold of offense' in here is pretty high, and airing support shortcomings is the whole purpose of this forum.

From an engineering perspective (however high and mighty that makes me or doesn't), I validate your conclusion.

You know what made Sony into a brand name that was the reference by which all other offshore consumer electronics companies were measured? Support. They established parts and repair depots in the U.S. alongside introducing cutting-edge products (pocket radios and reel-to-reel tape recorders--it didn't take all that much to capture the American consumer's imagination in 1962). Panasonic followed closely. Prior to that, Japanese imports were considered 'junk', disposable.

Customer perception of support does persuade the market. Otherwise, we'd all be totally wasting our time here.
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Rocke T Sinetist
as in, 'it doesn't take a...'

[Badger]

[Sprocket]

I shall address in order

[Badger]

A most heartfelt post goes to...

SPROCKET!

Wow dude, that was long, yet informative.
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I may not agree with what you say, but I will fight for your right to say it.

Midget Tossing funds Terrorism