Dell Customer Service Improvement?

[JeffO93]

We have Gold. I used email support request.
Laptop had Toshiba CDRW/DVD drive that wouldn't recognize CD's, much less write. Forget DVD's.
I reseated it. No good.
I took all the hardware out, RAM, hdd, CD/DVD, PCMCIA's, battery, and powered up. This gives it a HARD hardware reset. Didn't help.
Upgraded the BIOS. No good.
Upgraded Roxio, including drive-recognitiion updates. No good.
Updated Windows. No Good.
Borrowed another laptop of same model. Same problem, same model of CDRW/DVD.
Borrowed a 3rd laptop with Sanyo CDRW/DVD. It worked. I swapped the Sanyo into the two "bad" laptops, everything worked.
Put the Toshiba's into the "good" laptop. No good.

Safe to say the problem follows the Toshiba CDRW/DVD drives, not the computers.
Dell sent me a response. You'll never guess what they said. Okay, some of you WILL guess! They told me to do all the things I said I had already DONE!!!
I never knew I could respond with such an angry email without using profanity!

The drives arrived overnight.

Gold support isn't worth the extra cost to corporations. It's better to have a stock of compatible replacements on the shelf. Swap it out and throw the old one away. Problem fixed in 15 minutes, instead of days of frustrating BS.

They have a tested set of hardware that is safe to buy. I still think Dell is quality. Just don't pay any extra for support.

[nomas]

Jerkweed: did Dell install this magically nonworking app?? NO! sure, we do "best effort" on pretty much anything you install or attach to your Gold Supported system, but do you think they pay us enough to care about saving your data? NO! If you have ever worked a call center, you would know that everything is "hurry up and take another call!" So, I have some advice for all of you suckers out there that like to complain about the support we give you: A reinstall will fix every software problem every time!
Some people actually call in and are nice, they are patient while we try to figure out what they have done to make the computer stop working, and they recognize the FACT that the reason they need to call someone for help is because they have no clue what the consequences are for installing something that isnt compatible with everything else they have installed on their machine. I sincerely hope I get the call from every one of you little whiners...I will show you how bad it can get when it comes to troubleshooting. I can see to it that we spend an hour troubleshooting...and you will still reinstall. and dont think about calling back in to just talk to someone else...yeah..thats right...i'll tag your system with notes indicating there is all kinds of viruses and corrupted registry entries... you WILL reinstall if you dont cooperate...

Then she called me, I got the name of the program did a Google on it, noted that it needed Java to run.

I went to her house installed Java Virtual Machine, and started her program.

She had sp 1a which kills windows virtual machine.

When I explained what I did to fix it, she was furious at Dell.

I suggested she call her credit card company, and charge back, the Gold purchase.

When I left she was dialing the phone.

Customer: "Thank God someone finally answered! There is Smoke coming from my new Dell!"

Dell award winning Customer Service: "Okay Ma'am Listen carefully, put in your Recovery CD , and restart the Computer."

[/QUOTE]

[Ya_know]

Hey nomas , it's customer support efforts like yours that bring Dell down. You think you know everything about support, reloading is not the answer some 95% of the time. It’s a copout for poorly trained, *****ionless wannabe techs like you.

Sit on that for a while, and with your next call I expect you will have a better attitude, or go to work for MacDonald where customers get what they want or people get fired!!!

[nomas]

Hey nomas , it's customer support efforts like yours that bring Dell down. You think you know everything about support, reloading is not the answer some 95% of the time. It’s a copout for poorly trained, *****ionless wannabe techs like you.

Sit on that for a while, and with your next call I expect you will have a better attitude, or go to work for MacDonald where customers get what they want or people get fired!!!

See, that's where you have it all wrong. I think you might have misunderstood my rant. So, for the sake of explaining, I will try to clarify.
When Dell ships a system out, we know exactly what is loaded on it. When we are told that in order for us to get a good performance evaluation, our call times have to be under 20 minutes. (this is changing, but barely. when I first started there 3 1/2 years ago, yeah, I was wet behind the ears. I have seen everything now I think)
Take into account some of the crap people load on their computers and WONT tell you about because THEY dont think it will be a problem. (anybody ever try to use PC Anywhere 10.0 on Windows XP? No? because it will NOT work!!) This all adds up to a poor customer experience. When I first started there, there were posters everwhere about out award winning support. I haven't seen one of those posters in 3 years now. I still have that job mostly because these so called IT managers and in house help desks have even less of a clue than most of our techs. (there are some brilliant people here at Dell, but not many) If people only had a clue as to how many policies we had to deal with on any given call, they would cry.

So, when you need to have some hardware replaced, be prepared. Sound like you know what you are doing, and you will most likely be treated accordingly. Also, do NOT blame the tech on the phone when you receive a wrong part. Keep in mind,WE are not the ones packing that part in a box and putting it in a box. We leave that to the illegal immigrants that only speak spanish and have gang tats. (I am kidding about that part) There is a reason those people work in a warehouse though.

So, if anybody else has any complaints, feel free to ask me why things happen the way they do. I will be more than happy to discuss it in this forum since my boss has absolutely no control over what I say here.

Oh and Ya_know, here's a link jsut for you! (see, I am not *****ionless, and I don't tell people to reinstall on every call. Sometimes though, it jsut isnt worth your time or mine to repair a corrupt OS!)

http://www.lavasoftusa.com

[Radical Dreamer]

See, that's where you have it all wrong. I think you might have misunderstood my rant. So, for the sake of explaining, I will try to clarify.
When Dell ships a system out, we know exactly what is loaded on it. When we are told that in order for us to get a good performance evaluation, our call times have to be under 20 minutes. (this is changing, but barely. when I first started there 3 1/2 years ago, yeah, I was wet behind the ears. I have seen everything now I think)
Take into account some of the crap people load on their computers and WONT tell you about because THEY dont think it will be a problem. (anybody ever try to use PC Anywhere 10.0 on Windows XP? No? because it will NOT work!!) This all adds up to a poor customer experience. When I first started there, there were posters everwhere about out award winning support. I haven't seen one of those posters in 3 years now. I still have that job mostly because these so called IT managers and in house help desks have even less of a clue than most of our techs. (there are some brilliant people here at Dell, but not many) If people only had a clue as to how many policies we had to deal with on any given call, they would cry.

So, when you need to have some hardware replaced, be prepared. Sound like you know what you are doing, and you will most likely be treated accordingly. Also, do NOT blame the tech on the phone when you receive a wrong part. Keep in mind,WE are not the ones packing that part in a box and putting it in a box. We leave that to the illegal immigrants that only speak spanish and have gang tats. (I am kidding about that part) There is a reason those people work in a warehouse though.

So, if anybody else has any complaints, feel free to ask me why things happen the way they do. I will be more than happy to discuss it in this forum since my boss has absolutely no control over what I say here.

Oh and Ya_know, here's a link jsut for you! (see, I am not *****ionless, and I don't tell people to reinstall on every call. Sometimes though, it jsut isnt worth your time or mine to repair a corrupt OS!)

http://www.lavasoftusa.com

Dells support still blows goat nuts

[nomas]

Dells support still blows goat nuts

No we don't...well..ok...but only in India..


Qwatch managers blow H-P nuts!! today coulda been better..damn I hate Q-nazi's...

[geeksRus]

So, when you need to have some hardware replaced, be prepared. Sound like you know what you are doing, and you will most likely be treated accordingly. Also, do NOT blame the tech on the phone when you receive a wrong part. Keep in mind,WE are not the ones packing that part in a box and putting it in a box. We leave that to the illegal immigrants that only speak spanish and have gang tats. (I am kidding about that part) There is a reason those people work in a warehouse though.


http://www.lavasoftusa.com

apparently they aren't good at geography either...they sent my last replacement part to friggin JAPAN!!!

[nomas]

apparently they aren't good at geography either...they sent my last replacement part to friggin JAPAN!!!

haha..yeah..you should hear the comments we get about the other companies...real easy to complain when you're not number one....also helps to know how to dial the right number..

[Escape_Driver]

Two Words :

DELL SUCKS

[nomas]

Two Words :

DELL SUCKS

two more intelligent words.. you swallow

[jwhart]

I had a client that had a Dell and it just stopped working. Toubleshooted it and found out that it was a dead mobo. E-mailed dell about getting a replacement,Mind you I fully expected to pay for this but could't get a price or info how to get one. I was told that I would have to try this and that to find the "actuall" poblem with this system. After several e-mails and phone calls they determined that yes the mobo was the culprit but since I wasn't the name on the original purchase order they would'nt send it to me. (Remember I was trying to buy this) After again calling their "customer service" and getting more and more pi$$ed off. I decided a different plan of attack. I contacted the client who got the original name and oder number which I used when i called back to Dell. They informed me that the system was purchased with an extended warrantee and that the part would be at my shop the next day. Dumba**es, They just screwed themselves out of the cost of the replacement motherboard and overnight shipping

[flackt]

I relize that all the problems at Dell Customer Support are not the fault of the people on the phone.

I also think there is no excuse for the person on the phone, wiping out 2 GB of an Old Lady's Grand Kid pictures, because they don't know that IE 6 sp1 turns off attachments in OE by default.

I personally consider reloading an OS a failure on my part, anyone can do that.

In the two examples I have posted in this thread, it DID NOT solve the problem.

Jerkweed: did Dell install this magically nonworking app?? NO! sure, we do "best effort" on pretty much anything you install or attach to your Gold Supported system, but do you think they pay us enough to care about saving your data? NO! If you have ever worked a call center, you would know that everything is "hurry up and take another call!" So, I have some advice for all of you suckers out there that like to complain about the support we give you: A reinstall will fix every software problem every time!
Some people actually call in and are nice, they are patient while we try to figure out what they have done to make the computer stop working, and they recognize the FACT that the reason they need to call someone for help is because they have no clue what the consequences are for installing something that isnt compatible with everything else they have installed on their machine. I sincerely hope I get the call from every one of you little whiners...I will show you how bad it can get when it comes to troubleshooting. I can see to it that we spend an hour troubleshooting...and you will still reinstall. and dont think about calling back in to just talk to someone else...yeah..thats right...i'll tag your system with notes indicating there is all kinds of viruses and corrupted registry entries... you WILL reinstall if you dont cooperate...

Then she called me, I got the name of the program did a Google on it, noted that it needed Java to run.

I went to her house installed Java Virtual Machine, and started her program.

She had sp 1a which kills windows virtual machine.

When I explained what I did to fix it, she was furious at Dell.

I suggested she call her credit card company, and charge back, the Gold purchase.

When I left she was dialing the phone.

Customer: "Thank God someone finally answered! There is Smoke coming from my new Dell!"

Dell award winning Customer Service: "Okay Ma'am Listen carefully, put in your Recovery CD , and restart the Computer."

[/QUOTE]

[Radical Dreamer]

If the Dell techs would deviate from their flow chart for one second and realise that reload is not the answer every time then I wouldnt give them ****, but until that I stand firm by my belief that THEY SUCK DICK!!!

The worst dealing I've had is when I called and let them know that my wireless router was dead so they send me a wireless card...... I understand that router and card sound alot alike but if you open your ****ing ears you can hear the difference

[nomas]

If the Dell techs would deviate from their flow chart for one second and realise that reload is not the answer every time then I wouldnt give them ****, but until that I stand firm by my belief that THEY SUCK DICK!!!

The worst dealing I've had is when I called and let them know that my wireless router was dead so they send me a wireless card...... I understand that router and card sound alot alike but if you open your ****ing ears you can hear the difference

hahah..yeah..that's an original one....we do that on purpose to people that have no social skills and for some reason think the world owes them something...but that's not the real treat..the real treat when that happens is for the NEXT tech on the phone...we then see how truly selfish and adolescent that particular person can be..and usually end up putting you in the penalty box...

and for the guy that ended up getting the motherboard..you did not screw Dell. That warranty was paid for. All we ask is that you verify ownership. We do that for two very good reasons. One, so that Dell does not end up sending parts to someone that stole that particular system. And two, imagine your surprise when you start getting invoices for parts YOU never ordered. So yeah, be as smart as you think you can be.....

my favorite type of call about that goes like this:

Me: I'm sorry sir, I am not going to be able to ship any parts without ownership verification.

You: well, how the f*ck should I know that info?!! I jsut bought this computer from a guy at Circuit City.

Me: sir, I think you got ripped off. Dell doesn't sell computers from Circuit City. However, you are free to submit a transfer of ownership from our website. (provided you can produce the original order number)

[jwhart]

[QUOTE=nomas]hahah..yeah..that's an original one....we do that on purpose to people that have no social skills and for some reason think the world owes them something...but that's not the real treat..the real treat when that happens is for the NEXT tech on the phone...we then see how truly selfish and adolescent that particular person can be..and usually end up putting you in the penalty box...

and for the guy that ended up getting the motherboard..you did not screw Dell. That warranty was paid for. All we ask is that you verify ownership. We do that for two very good reasons. One, so that Dell does not end up sending parts to someone that stole that particular system. And two, imagine your surprise when you start getting invoices for parts YOU never ordered. So yeah, be as smart as you think you can be.....


Yeah that's what I do. I steal broken computers only to fix them. Some people call it a fetish, I refer to it as my hobby
If you would have read my post closely you would have seen that I fully intended and planned on paying for this motherboard. I would have been happy to replace it with a different board but the Dell front panel connectors are not compatible with others and she didn't want to replace her case