Comments on: Growing pains hit Dell's customer service

The company continues to win market share and turn out record quarterly profits, but two recent surveys show that it's slipped when it comes to a more subjective measurement: customer service.

[Philip Vaughn]

Dell Coupon

This has been going on for more than three months. I received a $50 Dell Coupon from American Express as part of their Rewards Memnbership program back in the summer.
My problems have included at least three long-term dead-end calls to India outsource (an hour or more each time). They do not know anything about this kind of coupon.
To date, they have failed and refused to honor this coupon in any way. it expires in February of 2007.
Secondly, I noticed this shrotly after i began using the Dell Inspiron B120. And, not one the can explain it. That's a confidence builder.
I am a writer by trae. This si why i got the laptop, so I wouldn't have to go to the local university library every time I wanted to wriote something.
I write something on the Dell computer, save it, go back to edit it, and always it is the same. When I call the new file up, it has expanded to hundreds of emopty pages, with an occasionalline on every tenth page or so.
I then have to go over to the library to get the file redone for transfer back to the Dell computer (via a flashdrive).
But that only temporarily solves the problem. I can work on the file again, but if I dare change it, it once again expands to the hundreds of pages of white pages, with an occasional line on every tenth page or so.
I've been told that it's because of the Corel conversion. The University of kentucky library uses Microsoft Office while Corel uses WoredPerfect, and the damaged file is the ersult of the in compatability between the two systems.
I was told gthis by a Geek Squad member at BestBuy, who ahve given me better servuice than Dell ever has. He suggested installing a Microsoft Office Suite to make my Dell laptop compatible with teh university computer I have used to undo the damage done by my Dell computer.
Of course, I wouldn't know because I can't get an answer from Dell Customer Service Experts because that is a contradiction in terms.
You can't get a live human being on the phone, and when you do, it's some outsource guy in India who has no idea what you are talking about, a thick-accented person with a bad connection.
Or, if you are lucky, you can get a Dell Customer service rep who wants to charge you an arm and a leg.
God, would I love to talk to the Dell CEO about this. Better still, i'd like to put him through this hell and see how much he liked it. I guaranatee you this. He would never buy his own product again.
And he would join some substantial company.
Promise the Dell CEO this. If i lose that coupon becasue of the village idiot outsourcers in India, he will lose more than my business.

[mozawa]

Dell's Service is Awful

I paid for "Next Day" support. I logged a call on Sunday and still haven't seen a tech as of Wednesday. I spoke with 6 people yesterday and three today, including 2 supervisors, all of whom advised the part is "in transit" and that the part "should have arrived" but that "next day" service is dependent upon when the part can get to the technician. I asked to speak to a manager yesterday but was told they would not come to the phone because they were in Leadership Training. I could understand if one tech was not helpful but the inability for anyone to help me indicates a systematic failure. Besides my Dell Inspiron I have a Dell Desktop and previously owned two other Dell laptops. I won't buy a Dell again.

[markyland]

Absolutely Horrible

I can't even begin to describe the painful experience I went through this week with Dell. I spent probably about 6 hours on the phone over the course of the whole week. Some of the highlights were:

1) being put on hold for 15 minutes and then transferred to a new person that knew nothing about the case

2) giving me extensions to call which just route to the regular pool of people

3) putting the phone down while the support people made animal noises and were laughing (i'm not kidding!)

4) saying they were going to ship overnight and charging me for it and then sending it ground mail (to the wrong address!)

5) chatting with someone online who had no idea what i was saying. and it takes hours to get a response to a single question this way.

6) being told i will get a credit and then receiving that credit for the wrong amount

i could keep going on and on like this. i can't even believe how bad it was. i used to love dell. i will never give them another penny again.

[garethlewis]

world of dell pain

Like everyone else on here, i've been a victim of dell - it's taken me nearly 4 months to get a working pc off them.

whilst it's very tempting to blame the front-line staff at dell's indian call centre, it's hardly their fault they are just doing their jobs.

just accept that you are putting money into a firm that doesn't really care too much about what its customers think of them, because Dell feel that their brand is the strongest pc brand out there.

as customers, it's our duty to go out into the big wide world and prove that completely and utterly wrong.

this is the last piece of dell equipment i shall ever buy, even after the promise of £30 of compensation.

[emekonen]

arrogence will be their downfall

it is only after their sales plummet. it is only after many companies surpass them. and it will only be after all their shady dealings catch up to them that they will actually care what we think, only because they will be losing money. then they will feel the frusteration we have felt, then they will know what its like when they try to win us back that we wont listen. then we will sit in our hapiness as their company burns and i will have a grin from ear to ear. burn dell.....burn in hell.

[coopie12]

Wow!!

I couldn't help but notice that you are commenting on someone else's English, even going so far as asking whether they are Mexican, but you start your comment with "First Of". I believe you meant "First Off", so honestly, before you decide to rant & rave about someone else's English, please consult a dictionary or even easier, try spell-check! Ignorance breeds ignorance...you are truly proof of that!

[emekonen]

amazing,,,in the bad department

i ordered a dell xps 200, being told that this was the best computer for me. it was fast and could run just about anything...just about. when i got it i then realized how small it was, which was cool at first,but it didnt run just about everything. many games i tried to play didnt work because of the video card, which i thought was weird because i told the lady on the phone that i wanted the NVDIA card. i realized quickly that this was going to be bad. i called and told them the problem and they suggested to me the card that would work best. when i got it, it was too big for the xps 200. weird, you would think this "expert" would know that. well so i tried a return. its been a year and it still has not been credited. what a terrible company, i have spent so many days angry. and after voicing my problem i get these INSANE responses. "i am sorry for the inconvienience sir, how can i help you?" and every single phone drone says the same robotic responses to a T. i really hope nothing but bad things for dell. die dell....die!

[emekonen]

aligning against Dell

if we could only find a way to aim al-qaida towards Dell. then they would be heros.

[Ryner1]

Dells horrid customer service

I purchased three Dell computers within the last three months. Two were Christmas presents for my two sons. When my son received his he decided he wanted to upgrade to a better processor.

I contacted Dell for a return. I had spent 1154.17 on the computer and I expected there would be some return fees. I expected that it may be $100 to $150. Boy, was I wrong. My son had to return ALL three pkgs even though he only wanted to upgrade (and pay for the upgrade) the tower. Oh, and the three pieces had to be returned to THREE different addresses just so two of them could be shipped right back to him. (I ended up cancelling the entire order because of the horrid customer service)

My son had to spend $40 in return shipping, and Dell refunded me only $837.00. I had him return everything and buy his next unit from newegg.com. The people at Dell had NO customer service skills. They were condescending and obnoxious. I wouldn't recommend Dell to anyone.

I'll buy another Dell when Dell freezes over.

[pianoone]

DELL

My experience over the past 3 years has been mostly horrible. Customer service was a pain in the ass. When I had trouble with viruses and other problems during first year of service I was always switched to someone in the Phillipines or India. Nice people, BUT the could not properly pronounce the kings English. I had to ask them to spell out what they were saying. HELLO? I thought Dell was all about COMMUNICATIONS. Very bright people but at 2:00 AM in the morning after five hours struggling with them I ws traumatized. I finally got a new 2-wire system and then I was able to get guys in Phoenix who I understood. They laughed when I told them my previous problems...very understandably...they KNEW. What the hell does DELL think about outsourcing customer service. They must have their brains you know where. I AM FINISHED WITH DELL. HEWLET PACKARD HERE I COME. DELL got my last $2,000.00.

Hey DELLl.........outsource THIS comment!

[Conker10]

Dell Sucks

I ordered a PS3 bundle which was to include a 60gb PS3; extra controller and 5 games. When the package arrived, the only item in it was the 60gb PS3. I called their customer service, and finally spoke with service rep. She said that I would have to return to whole and package and another bundle would be sent to me. I asked to speak with her supervisor and was patched through only for my call to be cut off. I called back and spoke with another rep who told that I only odered the PS3 and should not have gotten any games. I told him that it was a bundle that I was charged $950.00 plus tax. First they said they could credit my account for the aount of the games and extra controller I did not receive. Then I was told I would have return the item and the whole amount would be credited back to my account. I was given a RTN number and they were giving my tracking number with UPS when my call got dropped again. I called back again to get the tracking number, had re-explain the situation again and was finally told that UPS would be coming tomorrow evening to pick up the package. In total, I spoke with three service reps and one supervisor and spent a total of over two hours on the phone. Once, this item is returned, and I pay off my balance of $160.00, then I am through with Dell.

[rla310]

Dell--it has not worked

I own three Dells and recently was looking to buy 2 laptops. When the customer service person put me on hold for an inexcusbale amount of time I responded with a line "You're going to lose me to Gateway" Much to my surprise she told me "go ahead" amd dropped me--cut me off, hung up on me. I e -mailed Dell customer service immediatly and to this day I have not heard a word from Dell. I will buy two Acers or two Gateways but I will NOT buy a Dell. I hate to say it but Dell has not fixed their customer service problem...

[cukiet]

DELL'S SERVICE SUCKS NO DOUBT

I purchase an INSPIRON E1750 last year, with many upgrade options, and pay extra for extended warranty and service as well. When I found out my system was not upgraded to Sound Blaster Audigy as I had paid for, I tried to contact tech support. I had wasted many hours and many days with many tech supports when they tried to pass around same BS and still did not come to any solution yet. NEVER AGAIN I WILL BUY A DELL

[smileatjen]

I concur 100%

I have purchased for many years from Dell. However, today I have decided I'd rather pay more for better customer service.

[thefleetingnow]

DELL 's Customer Non-Service

I bought my Dell Laptop Inspiron 6000 due to the "ratings" on-line about the company's great customer service. My experience with Dell's "customer service" over a months of trying to get them to own up to the fact that the motherboard fried just before the one-year warranty expired! Dell tried time and again to renege on its responsibility to honor its warranty with its clever "shifting the problem" tactics. When they finally admitted that my Dell laptop needed a new
motherboard, the warranty has just run out! Rather than paying Dell a few hundred dollars for Dell to
fix the Inspiron 6000 laptop, I decided to use the laptop as an illustration to friends of mine as to how a business that engages dissservice to its customers will have to pay dearly sooner or later.

[SiliconValleyJulia]

READ my AUGUST 1, 2007 experiences before considering DELL, please!

This is the first time that I have ever taken the time to post on the internet about anything.

However, I have never been so frustrated with my expensive computer products. I only hope that my note here will someone convince others to take the time to research other options if they are looking to purchase any products from Dell.

I recently moved. My movers managed to misplace the power cord to my expensive printer that I purchased 3 years ago from Dell.

It took over 4 hours on the phone in total to deal with this. Who would have thought that getting the cable in which to simply plug in my product would take so much time, effort and wasted money.

All of the people that I spoke with were answering from a call center in the Phillippines. Most people could not speak English well enough to properly communicate (I speak 3 languages myself and understanding people with any kind of accent is normally not an issue).
I had to end impossible conversations on two occasions just due to this problem alone.

Secondly, every time I stated why I was calling, I was told to buy a new printer instead of the replacement cord.

After all the calls, I finally got the cord in the mail today. It cost $25. It is not even for a computer whatsoever. It is a power cord for an automobile GPS system.

I did not know that Dell sold these. When I go to purchase one of these (also on my list of Things To Do). I will make certain not to purchase Dell.

I will immediately refuse to consider anything made by Dell!

So...I will not only NOT purchase anything from Dell...but I will tell my friends about this and ask them to tell others.

Thankfully, I do not have stock in Dell...if I did I would sell it...immediately and without hesitation.

Yes, I did file a complaint with Dell. I wrote several notes, in fact, carefully outlining my problems. All I got were automatically sent replies, none of which made any sense whatsoever with the form letter replies relating to my concerns.

It is a shame.

What a sorry sight to watch a dying company.

I hope this note saves others a few dollars. I ate the $25 because it will take all day to try to get this turned around...it isn't worth it.

Please take the time to reconsider your future Dell purchases!

[wsbridgeman]

Dell Service Sucks

We bought a new desktop for our nephew last year when he entered high school. We purchased the extended 24/7, next day, in-home repair/service. All went well until late July 2007, (computer is now 11 months old), and when on boot up, the blue screen of death with the error message, ?Unmountable boot sector? appeared. Nothing we did could get out of the screen, so we went on-line to chat with tech support.

First, tech support wanted to know if we had a problem, how we could get on-line to chat with them. After telling them I had another system connected to the internet, then the real trouble started. I explained the problem, and I was asked to perform various tests for the next hour. When each came back, ?FAILED?, the support went on to another test. They even wanted me to install the OS and drivers. When I said I didn?t have the disks, they wanted to know why! Finally, I demanded they send someone out to repair my system ? replace the hard drive and install the drivers.

Two days later, I received a call from the local technician saying he had the hard drive. Since it was my day off work, I told him to come over and do his thing. He popped in a new hard drive, plugged everything in, turned on the system, installed the OS cd, and told me what sequence to install the driver cd?s, and walked out the door.

I now have a system where the boot drive is labeled ?I? not ?C?. I occasionally get the following error message when loading new software, ?Windows ? No Disk Exception Processing Message c0000013 Parameters 756bf9c 4 756bf9c 756bf9c?.

When I brought these problems up with DELL, I was told it was my fault the drive was not labeled ?C?, because I did something wrong when I installed the hard drive and OS the OS, and to correct the problem requires reinstalling the hard drive and reloading ALL the software.

This is the fifth DELL system we have purchased in the last four years for family members off to college or high school. While this is the only one with a problem, it is the LAST DELL I will ever buy and I suggest NO ONE EVER buy a DELL product!

[josetjack]

Truth

Dell customer service sucks.

[sharolona]

Dells customer service horrible..worse ever..

First of all I am a very unsatisfied customer and my attitude on Dell customer service is horrible. All I do is get transferred to call centers that have no idea what they are doing or what one call resolution is.
I bought a 1200 dollar laptop in November and was told I would get a dell coupon of $100 and a gift card of the same amount. So I got the coupon dollars used it on a laptop bag and the 966 printer cartridges. Planning on buying the 966 printer when I got my gift card. Well then had not received my giftcard as promised and it was two months late. I had to talk to reps in India who never helped me. I finally got the gift card today. Then I go on line the 966 printer is no longer available. So now I am tryin to return the cartridges worth $50 and am told cannot. This is nothing that should be my fault to where I cannot return the cartridges. Its not my fault the printer is no longer available and here I sit with $50 in cartridges I cannot use. So of course I talk to someone else overseas in customer service and they tell me the same thing even the manager. She asks me to call back the next day. I told her I will continue on until I get resolution. So unhappy I even bought a laptop and gave my money to a company that cares nothing about customer satisfaction.

[Lindapiano4jesus]

Dell Needs to Change Tech Support-Terrible

I purchased a Dell desktop on Feb. 14, 2008. I had problems with the computer freezing up from day one. With the 1st call to tech support, I could barely understand the person on the other end and he knew much less than I did, he said that someone had set me computer to go to "sleep" every 5 minutes. (DUH!) That's not even an option. To make a very long story short, I spent over 2 hours at a time "troubleshooting" for several days. They sent a local contracted tech to my house to replace a part, that didn't work, they wanted to start over again with more troubleshooting. I had to take computer apart and remove parts from the inside. I had to get down on the floor, hook it back up and see if it came on, it did, so I had to unhook everything again and put side back on. Still didn't fix it, when I called back frustrated to no end, I asked for a new computer, I am disabled and having heart problems and after working with the computer I had to lay down and rest with chest pain.After being transferred to several different departments and reps I was told they could not do a computer replacment until a tech had been sent to my home "3" times. So they sent more parts and a tech, he put those on and guess what it is doing the same thing. There needs to be some changes at Dell, I AM NOT A COMPUTER TECH, and neither should I have to act as one. I would not recommend Dell to a friend for that reason. I understand that things happen, they are machines, but they need to take another approach to situations like this one.

[megsmanners]

i have a dell xps laptop m1330. i have spent at least 20 hours on the phone with at least 30 different tech support or xps support technicians. i have had two visits to my home. my computer still does not work. this is a nightmare.
i purchased my computer in jordan in feb or march. i am in the states now. while in the states the screen became very dark. the tech support could not use my express service code because it was purchased overseas. so they set up a "dummy" service code. they sent a technician with a new lcd screen. but the one they sent him was for the computer that last used the dummy service code. so it didn't fit. he ordered a new one. the next week a different technician came to the house. he installed the screen. but it was still dark. he called dell, they said it needed new software, something to do with the driver and bios. he said he would not do it because he only does hardware. he gave me a number to call. i called it 1-800-232-8544 but of course i couldn't get through to anyone because i needed the service code to use the automated service to put me through to a technician who could help me. i called 1-800-285-1653 and the tech support guy took over my computer and tried to help but couldn't he then told me to call 1-800-232-8544 and of course i couldn't use that number again. so i am sitting on a fairly new $2000+ computer that i can't see. i love my computer. i miss my computer. but i can't seem to get anyone at dell to solve my problem. i have a daughter going to college in the fall i made her buy an apple because of the problems we have had will dell service. i have a son who will be going to college next year. he also will not be buying a dell if we can't get any help. my husband is an it consultant in saudi arabia, he will be upgrading to a new laptop this year as well, not a dell if service is a problem. i also have a 14 year old daughter and we bought her an hp for the same reason. dell's service is a huge problem since there are no outlets where a customer can take their computer to have it fixed. even when it is new! please help!
thanks, meg sakka

[dajap8]

I bought the Dell Dimension 4700C 2 years and a half ago, from the very first moment problems came up. Sudenly the computer was broken (3 weeks after I purchased it), I mean it went off without any possibility of doing anything, they repaired without any logical reason written in the receip.
One year and a half later, the problems with the disc drive begin, such like a blue screen appearing everytime y copy something to a disc, and destroying the disc contents completely. They required me to repared by my self with very complicated operations which honestly I had no idea how to do, finaly the disc drive was broken completely, and they accepted to come, pick it up and repair it. This was the first time. It is already 2 years and a half since I bought it and they have came to pick it up and repair it 5 times in total!, asuring me each time that is was going to work well, formating the C drive already 3 times, and the most important thing, making me lose a lot of time, because I need the computer because of my job.
Even you you take care I lost a lot of data everytime they format my computer.

I also studing computer graphi design and I very need the computer, so the delay in my studies means a delay in finding a new job at the time I estimated. This last week they asured me it was going to be the last time and is not working well again, and I have to prepare many things for interviews that I have next week.