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FYI - Letter Sent to Dell
Hello,
I am new to this newsgroup, but I figured I would post this letter which I just sent to Dell. I am under no illusions that it will do anything, but it sure made me feel better writing it! Tim Here it is: Dell Corporate Headquarters Office of the Chair One Dell Way Round Rock, Texas 78682 Customer Care/Tech Support/Customer Service Issues To Whom It May Concern: I'll start off by saying I used to love your company. I have personally purchased three top-of-the line home systems, and involved my father in-law (three systems), my parents (two systems), my sister-in-laws (three systems), my sister (at least five systems - home and office) - all because I recommended your company's products (plus I do all of the "troubleshooting" when there is a problem with everyone else's system). Up until last month, I had enthusiastically recommended Dell to everyone I know. Now, I doubt very much if I would even give you a shot at a new system. I am not sure if you or your upper management is even aware of just how severely deteriorated your customer service has become. I was shocked to learn that most of the Technical Support and Customer Care are now forwarded to India and the Philippines, where the phone connections are horrible and most of the front end customer service people are either poor English speakers or are poorly trained and uninformed of your procedures. Here is my story: I had been having intermittent problems with my CD burner. It finally expired on Wednesday 9/17/03 when the tray completely unattached from the unit rendering it useless. I contacted Dell Tech support and here is what happened: Wednesday 9/17/03: 1.. Case #48182423 - It all started with a gentleman named Pog. I spoke with Pog (Manila) -immediately I had trouble understanding him. He initiated a service request (DPS#038054799). He informed me that a service tech would be contacting me to confirm the part and shipping address. I suggested that all I needed was just the part - I would install the part myself (saving Dell money on the service call and me time) - as I am very comfortable doing this. 2.. Case #48228459 - Spoke with a Dave Olson (TX) in the afternoon when no one from tech support had called me. Dave said that in was unnecessary for a tech to contact a customer over a part and shipping address - that Pog was incorrect - and assured me that the part would be shipped "next-day air" to me. Thursday 9/18/03: 1.. Case #48228459 - After not receiving the part, I called and spoke with Toby Robinson (TX). He apologized profusely, said there needed to be a manager's approval (since I had wanted to install the part myself) - said he personally would get it -and promised, I mean guaranteed that that part would be overnighted to me by Airborne Express. Friday 9/19/03: 1.. After not receiving the part for the second day in a row, I spoke with Jose (Manila) in Customer Service. He claimed that no part could be shipped until a tech came to my house to inspect the unit, and then a part could be dispatched. Stunned, I asked to speak with a manager. 2.. Case #48441142 - Kathryn (Manila) was supposedly Jose's manager, and was quite nice and understandable. She said she would put through the request (actually came back and said it was done) and again assured me that the part would be overnighted, that evidently Toby had neglected to get a manager's approval but she would take care of it. Saturday 9/20/03: 1.. Curiously, I received a phone call from Sam (TX) - who he claimed, was following up for a "senior" Customer Service Manager. It was basically a Yes/No answer questionnaire over the phone. After hearing how upset and frustrated I was, Sam assured me that I would be hearing from someone about this matter. So far no one from Dell has ever called me back regarding this matter! Monday 9/22/03: 1.. Patrick (TX) - After not receiving the part for the third business day in a row, I again called Dell Customer Service. After about 5 minutes of vehement explaining - Patrick just about refused to transfer me to a higher manager. When he did - it was to the wrong department - to a gentleman named Todd. I had been on hold with Patrick for 20 - 30 minutes. 2.. Todd - wrong department - he then transferred me to Jerry 3.. Jerry (India) - I could barely understand a word he (she) said and the phone line was horrible. Jerry then claimed the part had to be manufactured - and would take 2 - 3 days (this was obviously jive!). I asked to speak with a manger - Jerry stonewalled me so, furious, I hung up. 4.. I called back and spoke to Melody (TX) - she actually took my number just in case I was cut off - and after about five minutes of asking/pleading to speak with the highest manager she could find, Melody sent me to a manager named Irish. 5.. Irish (NY) - She called herself a Customer Supervisor, she spoke very poor English - I could barely understand her. After explaining my frustration - she had to put me on hold to "refresh my account" - then disconnected me. Perhaps it was a mistake so I waited, expecting a call back which didn't happen. 6.. I called in again and spoke with Donna (TX). After the customary five minutes of requisite explaining, she put me on hold as I insisted on talking with a supervisor (I waited thirty-five minutes to talk to one - Alfred). 7.. Supervisor Alfred (TX) - after explaining to Alfred how upset and extremely frustrated I was, he disconnected me. 8.. Furious, I called in again for the last time and spoke with an Angela (India). She could not (would not) transfer me back to anybody anywhere - so I hung up. I had pretty much given up any hope for ever getting the situation resolved through Dell. Tuesday 9/23/03: 1.. I finally received the part - a full 6 days (4 business days) from the time of the service dispatch. After installing the CD-R myself, I burned one CD and then CD-R ceased to work. Anytime I would burn a CD it would lock up partway through the burn process and seriously alter the computer's performance. Friday 10/3/03: 1.. Case #49528059: Talked to Al in Tech Support. I think he knew very little about solving my problem - all he did was look up knowledge base info. After about two hours on the phone, and problem not solved, Al told me to try "one more thing" and then call tech support back later on. I convinced Al to call me back. Al said he would "call me back in about three hours". I nailed him down to an absolute phone call - at 7:30PM Eastern time US (he was obviously not from the US). He assured me he would call. At 7:30 PM and for the rest of that evening there were no return phone calls from Al or anyone from Dell. Monday 10/6/03: 1.. Spoke to Hayden (Case #49653471) - he told me to download the newest version of Roxio Easy CD Creator (even though I could not burn in Real One Player either) and this would solve the problem - either way he was to call me back at 4PM EST. I downloaded the "patch" but I still could not get through burning a CD. 2.. Hayden called at 3:30 - I was not home - my wife told him to call back in a half hour 3.. Hayden called about 4:30. Software troubleshooting was getting us nowhere. We agreed to talk on Thursday 10/9/03 at 8AM EST at that time I would need to take apart the computer Thursday 10/9/03 1.. No phone call from Hayden 2.. Spoke with Hailey (dispatcher) who sent me back into the Dell Phone Maze to fend for myself - to Customer Care 3.. Ed, Customer Care (Panama) Ed said he could not set up service - only Tech Support could, so he sent me back into the Dell Phone Maze. 4.. Case #49946399 -Hector (Philippines) Tech Support - when I asked, he said he was not able to schedule a service man -I would have to go to either Customer Care or Customer Priority Service (I told him I had just come from Customer Service!). I asked what Priority Service was and Hector said it was for people who didn't want to troubleshoot over the phone (implying I was one of them!). I told him that I have been troubleshooting - for at least two weeks! After much discussion and pleading to schedule a service man, we began troubleshooting. To my stunned amazement - he wanted to reinstall Windows XP! I told him that that made absolutely no sense at all! He then said that he could schedule a service technician only if troubleshooting had failed. I explained that troubleshooting has failed - compromising, I gave him twenty minutes to solve the problem. We took apart the unit, he wanted to swap the hard disk cable with the CD-R cable -I told him I thought that was above and beyond the call of duty. He FINALLY SCHEDULED SERVICE - but not for another 2 - 3 days (so much for next business day service). Wednesday 10/15/03 1.. Almost a week after service was to be "scheduled" by Hector, a Service Technician from BancTec, Inc. called to schedule an appointment - we chose Thursday at 2:30 Thursday 10/16/03 1.. Service technician arrived early and installed a new CD-R drive - problem solved. Apparently the remanufactured CD-R originally sent to me was defective. Finally a happy ending to this story. Now the bottom line is that since I volunteered to install the CD Burner myself - this took some special procedure (manager's approval) which in the end caused the delay in shipping the drive - I fully understand that. And if it was just that -I guess I would only be slightly angry. But you couple this with hanging up on customers, utterly uninformed (and disingenuous) Tech Support personnel, stonewalling by frontline personnel to reach a supervisor, and obvious stonewalling of customers to avoid the use of the in-home service that they paid extra to have - I think these are huge problems that you ought to know about. After dealing with the Dell Phone Maze, I am sure that this letter will never amount to any internal changes. It has made me feel somewhat vindicated by writing it, though. My future business probably means very little to such a huge corporation such as Dell. But I am sure that I am not alone - that other customers - perhaps business who have invested large sums of money with your company are also having similar problems. Feel free to contact me anytime if you wish to discuss this. My cell number is XXX-XXX-XXXX. It is my intent to be very open with friends and family about the problems I have had with Dell, post this letter on the alt.sys.pc-clone.dell newsgroup (among others I frequent), and be proactive on the internet where necessary about this matter. Certainly these issues need to be addressed before I would ever consider Dell again. Sincerely, Timothy SXXX |
#2
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All to get a defective CD burner replaced huh? Can you imagine if you had a
real *tough* problem to solve? Look on the bright side, you now know every person that works for Dell worldwide. |
#3
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Tim:
Very interesting letter... and very sad as it seems to epitomize what I've heard. About 10 years ago, I bought a ZEOS 386 system. I bought ZEOS because at that time they had the best reputation for quality and service. Well, it came DOA. I called ZEOS on a Saturday night (actually about 2:30 AM Sunday morning). After trying a few things they agreed it was probably the motherboard. They shipped a new board overnight and by Tuesday a service technician showed up and replaced the board for me. I never had any further signifiacnt problems, although I did have to call ZEOS a few times about one thing or another. They always answered right away and I got excellent service. Five years ago, I bought a Gateway. A year after that the CD drive stopped working properly. It kept skipping on audio CDs. I called Gateway and they said it was a known flaw. They sent a new part and also a technician came and replaced the drive. Other minor issues came up and again the service was great, although there was the phone maze!! Rumor has it that Gateway's business is going downhill. A few months ago, I bought a Dell with some trepidation due to the posts I've read on this newsgroup regarding their customer service. Nevertheless, DELL made me an offer I couldn't refuse: $600. after the rebate and free shipping and free assorted upgrades on a Dell Dimension 2400 system. I took a chance, but I also know that my friends who have DELL systems have been extremely pleased with the quality. So far, I have to say that I am pleased. Absolutely no problems; everything works great. But I sure hope I don't have to call customer service! I am hopeful that as this publicity regarding their lousy service increases, DELL will take steps to rectify that problem. Incidentally, note how ZEOS is gone, Gateway is hurting, and DELL is doing well. Coincidence?? I think/fear not. Mel "Tim S." wrote in message news:iCbob.63541$Tr4.169117@attbi_s03... Hello, I am new to this newsgroup, but I figured I would post this letter which I just sent to Dell. I am under no illusions that it will do anything, but it sure made me feel better writing it! Tim Here it is: Dell Corporate Headquarters Office of the Chair One Dell Way Round Rock, Texas 78682 Customer Care/Tech Support/Customer Service Issues To Whom It May Concern: I'll start off by saying I used to love your company. I have personally purchased three top-of-the line home systems, and involved my father in-law (three systems), my parents (two systems), my sister-in-laws (three systems), my sister (at least five systems - home and office) - all because I recommended your company's products (plus I do all of the "troubleshooting" when there is a problem with everyone else's system). Up until last month, I had enthusiastically recommended Dell to everyone I know. Now, I doubt very much if I would even give you a shot at a new system. I am not sure if you or your upper management is even aware of just how severely deteriorated your customer service has become. I was shocked to learn that most of the Technical Support and Customer Care are now forwarded to India and the Philippines, where the phone connections are horrible and most of the front end customer service people are either poor English speakers or are poorly trained and uninformed of your procedures. Here is my story: I had been having intermittent problems with my CD burner. It finally expired on Wednesday 9/17/03 when the tray completely unattached from the unit rendering it useless. I contacted Dell Tech support and here is what happened: Wednesday 9/17/03: 1.. Case #48182423 - It all started with a gentleman named Pog. I spoke with Pog (Manila) -immediately I had trouble understanding him. He initiated a service request (DPS#038054799). He informed me that a service tech would be contacting me to confirm the part and shipping address. I suggested that all I needed was just the part - I would install the part myself (saving Dell money on the service call and me time) - as I am very comfortable doing this. 2.. Case #48228459 - Spoke with a Dave Olson (TX) in the afternoon when no one from tech support had called me. Dave said that in was unnecessary for a tech to contact a customer over a part and shipping address - that Pog was incorrect - and assured me that the part would be shipped "next-day air" to me. Thursday 9/18/03: 1.. Case #48228459 - After not receiving the part, I called and spoke with Toby Robinson (TX). He apologized profusely, said there needed to be a manager's approval (since I had wanted to install the part myself) - said he personally would get it -and promised, I mean guaranteed that that part would be overnighted to me by Airborne Express. Friday 9/19/03: 1.. After not receiving the part for the second day in a row, I spoke with Jose (Manila) in Customer Service. He claimed that no part could be shipped until a tech came to my house to inspect the unit, and then a part could be dispatched. Stunned, I asked to speak with a manager. 2.. Case #48441142 - Kathryn (Manila) was supposedly Jose's manager, and was quite nice and understandable. She said she would put through the request (actually came back and said it was done) and again assured me that the part would be overnighted, that evidently Toby had neglected to get a manager's approval but she would take care of it. Saturday 9/20/03: 1.. Curiously, I received a phone call from Sam (TX) - who he claimed, was following up for a "senior" Customer Service Manager. It was basically a Yes/No answer questionnaire over the phone. After hearing how upset and frustrated I was, Sam assured me that I would be hearing from someone about this matter. So far no one from Dell has ever called me back regarding this matter! Monday 9/22/03: 1.. Patrick (TX) - After not receiving the part for the third business day in a row, I again called Dell Customer Service. After about 5 minutes of vehement explaining - Patrick just about refused to transfer me to a higher manager. When he did - it was to the wrong department - to a gentleman named Todd. I had been on hold with Patrick for 20 - 30 minutes. 2.. Todd - wrong department - he then transferred me to Jerry 3.. Jerry (India) - I could barely understand a word he (she) said and the phone line was horrible. Jerry then claimed the part had to be manufactured - and would take 2 - 3 days (this was obviously jive!). I asked to speak with a manger - Jerry stonewalled me so, furious, I hung up. 4.. I called back and spoke to Melody (TX) - she actually took my number just in case I was cut off - and after about five minutes of asking/pleading to speak with the highest manager she could find, Melody sent me to a manager named Irish. 5.. Irish (NY) - She called herself a Customer Supervisor, she spoke very poor English - I could barely understand her. After explaining my frustration - she had to put me on hold to "refresh my account" - then disconnected me. Perhaps it was a mistake so I waited, expecting a call back which didn't happen. 6.. I called in again and spoke with Donna (TX). After the customary five minutes of requisite explaining, she put me on hold as I insisted on talking with a supervisor (I waited thirty-five minutes to talk to one - Alfred). 7.. Supervisor Alfred (TX) - after explaining to Alfred how upset and extremely frustrated I was, he disconnected me. 8.. Furious, I called in again for the last time and spoke with an Angela (India). She could not (would not) transfer me back to anybody anywhere - so I hung up. I had pretty much given up any hope for ever getting the situation resolved through Dell. Tuesday 9/23/03: 1.. I finally received the part - a full 6 days (4 business days) from the time of the service dispatch. After installing the CD-R myself, I burned one CD and then CD-R ceased to work. Anytime I would burn a CD it would lock up partway through the burn process and seriously alter the computer's performance. Friday 10/3/03: 1.. Case #49528059: Talked to Al in Tech Support. I think he knew very little about solving my problem - all he did was look up knowledge base info. After about two hours on the phone, and problem not solved, Al told me to try "one more thing" and then call tech support back later on. I convinced Al to call me back. Al said he would "call me back in about three hours". I nailed him down to an absolute phone call - at 7:30PM Eastern time US (he was obviously not from the US). He assured me he would call. At 7:30 PM and for the rest of that evening there were no return phone calls from Al or anyone from Dell. Monday 10/6/03: 1.. Spoke to Hayden (Case #49653471) - he told me to download the newest version of Roxio Easy CD Creator (even though I could not burn in Real One Player either) and this would solve the problem - either way he was to call me back at 4PM EST. I downloaded the "patch" but I still could not get through burning a CD. 2.. Hayden called at 3:30 - I was not home - my wife told him to call back in a half hour 3.. Hayden called about 4:30. Software troubleshooting was getting us nowhere. We agreed to talk on Thursday 10/9/03 at 8AM EST at that time I would need to take apart the computer Thursday 10/9/03 1.. No phone call from Hayden 2.. Spoke with Hailey (dispatcher) who sent me back into the Dell Phone Maze to fend for myself - to Customer Care 3.. Ed, Customer Care (Panama) Ed said he could not set up service - only Tech Support could, so he sent me back into the Dell Phone Maze. 4.. Case #49946399 -Hector (Philippines) Tech Support - when I asked, he said he was not able to schedule a service man -I would have to go to either Customer Care or Customer Priority Service (I told him I had just come from Customer Service!). I asked what Priority Service was and Hector said it was for people who didn't want to troubleshoot over the phone (implying I was one of them!). I told him that I have been troubleshooting - for at least two weeks! After much discussion and pleading to schedule a service man, we began troubleshooting. To my stunned amazement - he wanted to reinstall Windows XP! I told him that that made absolutely no sense at all! He then said that he could schedule a service technician only if troubleshooting had failed. I explained that troubleshooting has failed - compromising, I gave him twenty minutes to solve the problem. We took apart the unit, he wanted to swap the hard disk cable with the CD-R cable -I told him I thought that was above and beyond the call of duty. He FINALLY SCHEDULED SERVICE - but not for another 2 - 3 days (so much for next business day service). Wednesday 10/15/03 1.. Almost a week after service was to be "scheduled" by Hector, a Service Technician from BancTec, Inc. called to schedule an appointment - we chose Thursday at 2:30 Thursday 10/16/03 1.. Service technician arrived early and installed a new CD-R drive - problem solved. Apparently the remanufactured CD-R originally sent to me was defective. Finally a happy ending to this story. Now the bottom line is that since I volunteered to install the CD Burner myself - this took some special procedure (manager's approval) which in the end caused the delay in shipping the drive - I fully understand that. And if it was just that -I guess I would only be slightly angry. But you couple this with hanging up on customers, utterly uninformed (and disingenuous) Tech Support personnel, stonewalling by frontline personnel to reach a supervisor, and obvious stonewalling of customers to avoid the use of the in-home service that they paid extra to have - I think these are huge problems that you ought to know about. After dealing with the Dell Phone Maze, I am sure that this letter will never amount to any internal changes. It has made me feel somewhat vindicated by writing it, though. My future business probably means very little to such a huge corporation such as Dell. But I am sure that I am not alone - that other customers - perhaps business who have invested large sums of money with your company are also having similar problems. Feel free to contact me anytime if you wish to discuss this. My cell number is XXX-XXX-XXXX. It is my intent to be very open with friends and family about the problems I have had with Dell, post this letter on the alt.sys.pc-clone.dell newsgroup (among others I frequent), and be proactive on the internet where necessary about this matter. Certainly these issues need to be addressed before I would ever consider Dell again. Sincerely, Timothy SXXX |
#4
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Can I option the movie rights to your post?
Tom Swift "Tim S." wrote in message news:iCbob.63541$Tr4.169117@attbi_s03... Hello, I am new to this newsgroup, but I figured I would post this letter which I just sent to Dell. I am under no illusions that it will do anything, but it sure made me feel better writing it! Tim Here it is: Dell Corporate Headquarters Office of the Chair One Dell Way Round Rock, Texas 78682 Customer Care/Tech Support/Customer Service Issues To Whom It May Concern: I'll start off by saying I used to love your company. I have personally purchased three top-of-the line home systems, and involved my father in-law (three systems), my parents (two systems), my sister-in-laws (three systems), my sister (at least five systems - home and office) - all because I recommended your company's products (plus I do all of the "troubleshooting" when there is a problem with everyone else's system). Up until last month, I had enthusiastically recommended Dell to everyone I know. Now, I doubt very much if I would even give you a shot at a new system. I am not sure if you or your upper management is even aware of just how severely deteriorated your customer service has become. I was shocked to learn that most of the Technical Support and Customer Care are now forwarded to India and the Philippines, where the phone connections are horrible and most of the front end customer service people are either poor English speakers or are poorly trained and uninformed of your procedures. Here is my story: I had been having intermittent problems with my CD burner. It finally expired on Wednesday 9/17/03 when the tray completely unattached from the unit rendering it useless. I contacted Dell Tech support and here is what happened: Wednesday 9/17/03: 1.. Case #48182423 - It all started with a gentleman named Pog. I spoke with Pog (Manila) -immediately I had trouble understanding him. He initiated a service request (DPS#038054799). He informed me that a service tech would be contacting me to confirm the part and shipping address. I suggested that all I needed was just the part - I would install the part myself (saving Dell money on the service call and me time) - as I am very comfortable doing this. 2.. Case #48228459 - Spoke with a Dave Olson (TX) in the afternoon when no one from tech support had called me. Dave said that in was unnecessary for a tech to contact a customer over a part and shipping address - that Pog was incorrect - and assured me that the part would be shipped "next-day air" to me. Thursday 9/18/03: 1.. Case #48228459 - After not receiving the part, I called and spoke with Toby Robinson (TX). He apologized profusely, said there needed to be a manager's approval (since I had wanted to install the part myself) - said he personally would get it -and promised, I mean guaranteed that that part would be overnighted to me by Airborne Express. Friday 9/19/03: 1.. After not receiving the part for the second day in a row, I spoke with Jose (Manila) in Customer Service. He claimed that no part could be shipped until a tech came to my house to inspect the unit, and then a part could be dispatched. Stunned, I asked to speak with a manager. 2.. Case #48441142 - Kathryn (Manila) was supposedly Jose's manager, and was quite nice and understandable. She said she would put through the request (actually came back and said it was done) and again assured me that the part would be overnighted, that evidently Toby had neglected to get a manager's approval but she would take care of it. Saturday 9/20/03: 1.. Curiously, I received a phone call from Sam (TX) - who he claimed, was following up for a "senior" Customer Service Manager. It was basically a Yes/No answer questionnaire over the phone. After hearing how upset and frustrated I was, Sam assured me that I would be hearing from someone about this matter. So far no one from Dell has ever called me back regarding this matter! Monday 9/22/03: 1.. Patrick (TX) - After not receiving the part for the third business day in a row, I again called Dell Customer Service. After about 5 minutes of vehement explaining - Patrick just about refused to transfer me to a higher manager. When he did - it was to the wrong department - to a gentleman named Todd. I had been on hold with Patrick for 20 - 30 minutes. 2.. Todd - wrong department - he then transferred me to Jerry 3.. Jerry (India) - I could barely understand a word he (she) said and the phone line was horrible. Jerry then claimed the part had to be manufactured - and would take 2 - 3 days (this was obviously jive!). I asked to speak with a manger - Jerry stonewalled me so, furious, I hung up. 4.. I called back and spoke to Melody (TX) - she actually took my number just in case I was cut off - and after about five minutes of asking/pleading to speak with the highest manager she could find, Melody sent me to a manager named Irish. 5.. Irish (NY) - She called herself a Customer Supervisor, she spoke very poor English - I could barely understand her. After explaining my frustration - she had to put me on hold to "refresh my account" - then disconnected me. Perhaps it was a mistake so I waited, expecting a call back which didn't happen. 6.. I called in again and spoke with Donna (TX). After the customary five minutes of requisite explaining, she put me on hold as I insisted on talking with a supervisor (I waited thirty-five minutes to talk to one - Alfred). 7.. Supervisor Alfred (TX) - after explaining to Alfred how upset and extremely frustrated I was, he disconnected me. 8.. Furious, I called in again for the last time and spoke with an Angela (India). She could not (would not) transfer me back to anybody anywhere - so I hung up. I had pretty much given up any hope for ever getting the situation resolved through Dell. Tuesday 9/23/03: 1.. I finally received the part - a full 6 days (4 business days) from the time of the service dispatch. After installing the CD-R myself, I burned one CD and then CD-R ceased to work. Anytime I would burn a CD it would lock up partway through the burn process and seriously alter the computer's performance. Friday 10/3/03: 1.. Case #49528059: Talked to Al in Tech Support. I think he knew very little about solving my problem - all he did was look up knowledge base info. After about two hours on the phone, and problem not solved, Al told me to try "one more thing" and then call tech support back later on. I convinced Al to call me back. Al said he would "call me back in about three hours". I nailed him down to an absolute phone call - at 7:30PM Eastern time US (he was obviously not from the US). He assured me he would call. At 7:30 PM and for the rest of that evening there were no return phone calls from Al or anyone from Dell. Monday 10/6/03: 1.. Spoke to Hayden (Case #49653471) - he told me to download the newest version of Roxio Easy CD Creator (even though I could not burn in Real One Player either) and this would solve the problem - either way he was to call me back at 4PM EST. I downloaded the "patch" but I still could not get through burning a CD. 2.. Hayden called at 3:30 - I was not home - my wife told him to call back in a half hour 3.. Hayden called about 4:30. Software troubleshooting was getting us nowhere. We agreed to talk on Thursday 10/9/03 at 8AM EST at that time I would need to take apart the computer Thursday 10/9/03 1.. No phone call from Hayden 2.. Spoke with Hailey (dispatcher) who sent me back into the Dell Phone Maze to fend for myself - to Customer Care 3.. Ed, Customer Care (Panama) Ed said he could not set up service - only Tech Support could, so he sent me back into the Dell Phone Maze. 4.. Case #49946399 -Hector (Philippines) Tech Support - when I asked, he said he was not able to schedule a service man -I would have to go to either Customer Care or Customer Priority Service (I told him I had just come from Customer Service!). I asked what Priority Service was and Hector said it was for people who didn't want to troubleshoot over the phone (implying I was one of them!). I told him that I have been troubleshooting - for at least two weeks! After much discussion and pleading to schedule a service man, we began troubleshooting. To my stunned amazement - he wanted to reinstall Windows XP! I told him that that made absolutely no sense at all! He then said that he could schedule a service technician only if troubleshooting had failed. I explained that troubleshooting has failed - compromising, I gave him twenty minutes to solve the problem. We took apart the unit, he wanted to swap the hard disk cable with the CD-R cable -I told him I thought that was above and beyond the call of duty. He FINALLY SCHEDULED SERVICE - but not for another 2 - 3 days (so much for next business day service). Wednesday 10/15/03 1.. Almost a week after service was to be "scheduled" by Hector, a Service Technician from BancTec, Inc. called to schedule an appointment - we chose Thursday at 2:30 Thursday 10/16/03 1.. Service technician arrived early and installed a new CD-R drive - problem solved. Apparently the remanufactured CD-R originally sent to me was defective. Finally a happy ending to this story. Now the bottom line is that since I volunteered to install the CD Burner myself - this took some special procedure (manager's approval) which in the end caused the delay in shipping the drive - I fully understand that. And if it was just that -I guess I would only be slightly angry. But you couple this with hanging up on customers, utterly uninformed (and disingenuous) Tech Support personnel, stonewalling by frontline personnel to reach a supervisor, and obvious stonewalling of customers to avoid the use of the in-home service that they paid extra to have - I think these are huge problems that you ought to know about. After dealing with the Dell Phone Maze, I am sure that this letter will never amount to any internal changes. It has made me feel somewhat vindicated by writing it, though. My future business probably means very little to such a huge corporation such as Dell. But I am sure that I am not alone - that other customers - perhaps business who have invested large sums of money with your company are also having similar problems. Feel free to contact me anytime if you wish to discuss this. My cell number is XXX-XXX-XXXX. It is my intent to be very open with friends and family about the problems I have had with Dell, post this letter on the alt.sys.pc-clone.dell newsgroup (among others I frequent), and be proactive on the internet where necessary about this matter. Certainly these issues need to be addressed before I would ever consider Dell again. Sincerely, Timothy SXXX |
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WOW!!!!
This has an uncanny resemblance (almost line by line) to my experiences in the last 3 months! I also used to be a huge Dell booster, bought 3 systems in 8 years, recommended Dell to everyone, got a lemon earlier this year, and after 3 months of "Dell Hell", I've given up and scratched it off as an expensive lesson. Any PC magazine that rates Dell anywhere but at the bottom of the barrel now is just appeasing a big advertiser. I doubt they have any plans to get back to what made them a leader in the first place. They will become a classic rags-to-riches-to-rags story. "Tim S." wrote in message news:iCbob.63541$Tr4.169117@attbi_s03... Hello, I am new to this newsgroup, but I figured I would post this letter which I just sent to Dell. I am under no illusions that it will do anything, but it sure made me feel better writing it! Tim Here it is: Dell Corporate Headquarters Office of the Chair One Dell Way Round Rock, Texas 78682 Customer Care/Tech Support/Customer Service Issues To Whom It May Concern: I'll start off by saying I used to love your company. I have personally purchased three top-of-the line home systems, and involved my father in-law (three systems), my parents (two systems), my sister-in-laws (three systems), my sister (at least five systems - home and office) - all because I recommended your company's products (plus I do all of the "troubleshooting" when there is a problem with everyone else's system). Up until last month, I had enthusiastically recommended Dell to everyone I know. Now, I doubt very much if I would even give you a shot at a new system. I am not sure if you or your upper management is even aware of just how severely deteriorated your customer service has become. I was shocked to learn that most of the Technical Support and Customer Care are now forwarded to India and the Philippines, where the phone connections are horrible and most of the front end customer service people are either poor English speakers or are poorly trained and uninformed of your procedures. Here is my story: I had been having intermittent problems with my CD burner. It finally expired on Wednesday 9/17/03 when the tray completely unattached from the unit rendering it useless. I contacted Dell Tech support and here is what happened: Wednesday 9/17/03: 1.. Case #48182423 - It all started with a gentleman named Pog. I spoke with Pog (Manila) -immediately I had trouble understanding him. He initiated a service request (DPS#038054799). He informed me that a service tech would be contacting me to confirm the part and shipping address. I suggested that all I needed was just the part - I would install the part myself (saving Dell money on the service call and me time) - as I am very comfortable doing this. 2.. Case #48228459 - Spoke with a Dave Olson (TX) in the afternoon when no one from tech support had called me. Dave said that in was unnecessary for a tech to contact a customer over a part and shipping address - that Pog was incorrect - and assured me that the part would be shipped "next-day air" to me. Thursday 9/18/03: 1.. Case #48228459 - After not receiving the part, I called and spoke with Toby Robinson (TX). He apologized profusely, said there needed to be a manager's approval (since I had wanted to install the part myself) - said he personally would get it -and promised, I mean guaranteed that that part would be overnighted to me by Airborne Express. Friday 9/19/03: 1.. After not receiving the part for the second day in a row, I spoke with Jose (Manila) in Customer Service. He claimed that no part could be shipped until a tech came to my house to inspect the unit, and then a part could be dispatched. Stunned, I asked to speak with a manager. 2.. Case #48441142 - Kathryn (Manila) was supposedly Jose's manager, and was quite nice and understandable. She said she would put through the request (actually came back and said it was done) and again assured me that the part would be overnighted, that evidently Toby had neglected to get a manager's approval but she would take care of it. Saturday 9/20/03: 1.. Curiously, I received a phone call from Sam (TX) - who he claimed, was following up for a "senior" Customer Service Manager. It was basically a Yes/No answer questionnaire over the phone. After hearing how upset and frustrated I was, Sam assured me that I would be hearing from someone about this matter. So far no one from Dell has ever called me back regarding this matter! Monday 9/22/03: 1.. Patrick (TX) - After not receiving the part for the third business day in a row, I again called Dell Customer Service. After about 5 minutes of vehement explaining - Patrick just about refused to transfer me to a higher manager. When he did - it was to the wrong department - to a gentleman named Todd. I had been on hold with Patrick for 20 - 30 minutes. 2.. Todd - wrong department - he then transferred me to Jerry 3.. Jerry (India) - I could barely understand a word he (she) said and the phone line was horrible. Jerry then claimed the part had to be manufactured - and would take 2 - 3 days (this was obviously jive!). I asked to speak with a manger - Jerry stonewalled me so, furious, I hung up. 4.. I called back and spoke to Melody (TX) - she actually took my number just in case I was cut off - and after about five minutes of asking/pleading to speak with the highest manager she could find, Melody sent me to a manager named Irish. 5.. Irish (NY) - She called herself a Customer Supervisor, she spoke very poor English - I could barely understand her. After explaining my frustration - she had to put me on hold to "refresh my account" - then disconnected me. Perhaps it was a mistake so I waited, expecting a call back which didn't happen. 6.. I called in again and spoke with Donna (TX). After the customary five minutes of requisite explaining, she put me on hold as I insisted on talking with a supervisor (I waited thirty-five minutes to talk to one - Alfred). 7.. Supervisor Alfred (TX) - after explaining to Alfred how upset and extremely frustrated I was, he disconnected me. 8.. Furious, I called in again for the last time and spoke with an Angela (India). She could not (would not) transfer me back to anybody anywhere - so I hung up. I had pretty much given up any hope for ever getting the situation resolved through Dell. Tuesday 9/23/03: 1.. I finally received the part - a full 6 days (4 business days) from the time of the service dispatch. After installing the CD-R myself, I burned one CD and then CD-R ceased to work. Anytime I would burn a CD it would lock up partway through the burn process and seriously alter the computer's performance. Friday 10/3/03: 1.. Case #49528059: Talked to Al in Tech Support. I think he knew very little about solving my problem - all he did was look up knowledge base info. After about two hours on the phone, and problem not solved, Al told me to try "one more thing" and then call tech support back later on. I convinced Al to call me back. Al said he would "call me back in about three hours". I nailed him down to an absolute phone call - at 7:30PM Eastern time US (he was obviously not from the US). He assured me he would call. At 7:30 PM and for the rest of that evening there were no return phone calls from Al or anyone from Dell. Monday 10/6/03: 1.. Spoke to Hayden (Case #49653471) - he told me to download the newest version of Roxio Easy CD Creator (even though I could not burn in Real One Player either) and this would solve the problem - either way he was to call me back at 4PM EST. I downloaded the "patch" but I still could not get through burning a CD. 2.. Hayden called at 3:30 - I was not home - my wife told him to call back in a half hour 3.. Hayden called about 4:30. Software troubleshooting was getting us nowhere. We agreed to talk on Thursday 10/9/03 at 8AM EST at that time I would need to take apart the computer Thursday 10/9/03 1.. No phone call from Hayden 2.. Spoke with Hailey (dispatcher) who sent me back into the Dell Phone Maze to fend for myself - to Customer Care 3.. Ed, Customer Care (Panama) Ed said he could not set up service - only Tech Support could, so he sent me back into the Dell Phone Maze. 4.. Case #49946399 -Hector (Philippines) Tech Support - when I asked, he said he was not able to schedule a service man -I would have to go to either Customer Care or Customer Priority Service (I told him I had just come from Customer Service!). I asked what Priority Service was and Hector said it was for people who didn't want to troubleshoot over the phone (implying I was one of them!). I told him that I have been troubleshooting - for at least two weeks! After much discussion and pleading to schedule a service man, we began troubleshooting. To my stunned amazement - he wanted to reinstall Windows XP! I told him that that made absolutely no sense at all! He then said that he could schedule a service technician only if troubleshooting had failed. I explained that troubleshooting has failed - compromising, I gave him twenty minutes to solve the problem. We took apart the unit, he wanted to swap the hard disk cable with the CD-R cable -I told him I thought that was above and beyond the call of duty. He FINALLY SCHEDULED SERVICE - but not for another 2 - 3 days (so much for next business day service). Wednesday 10/15/03 1.. Almost a week after service was to be "scheduled" by Hector, a Service Technician from BancTec, Inc. called to schedule an appointment - we chose Thursday at 2:30 Thursday 10/16/03 1.. Service technician arrived early and installed a new CD-R drive - problem solved. Apparently the remanufactured CD-R originally sent to me was defective. Finally a happy ending to this story. Now the bottom line is that since I volunteered to install the CD Burner myself - this took some special procedure (manager's approval) which in the end caused the delay in shipping the drive - I fully understand that. And if it was just that -I guess I would only be slightly angry. But you couple this with hanging up on customers, utterly uninformed (and disingenuous) Tech Support personnel, stonewalling by frontline personnel to reach a supervisor, and obvious stonewalling of customers to avoid the use of the in-home service that they paid extra to have - I think these are huge problems that you ought to know about. After dealing with the Dell Phone Maze, I am sure that this letter will never amount to any internal changes. It has made me feel somewhat vindicated by writing it, though. My future business probably means very little to such a huge corporation such as Dell. But I am sure that I am not alone - that other customers - perhaps business who have invested large sums of money with your company are also having similar problems. Feel free to contact me anytime if you wish to discuss this. My cell number is XXX-XXX-XXXX. It is my intent to be very open with friends and family about the problems I have had with Dell, post this letter on the alt.sys.pc-clone.dell newsgroup (among others I frequent), and be proactive on the internet where necessary about this matter. Certainly these issues need to be addressed before I would ever consider Dell again. Sincerely, Timothy SXXX |
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I used to be happy with Dell.
My 1998 Dimension D300 had few problems. And Dell was quick to send out a replacement Zip drive (which one of my kids had broken.) My 2000 Dimension 4100 has had no problems (except Microsoft created ones). My wife's 2001 Dimension 4300 has had no problems at all. My daughter's 2002 Dimension 4500 has had virus problems, but no Dell-related problems. My new Dimension 4600 had a noisy fan. Lucky for me that I skipped the phone-in service method and did it via email. Got a reply saying they'll have BancTec contact me about a PS replacement. He came. He saw. He fixed. All done. I did have a heck of a time ordering the 4300. Twice I was on hold on the phone for almost an hour each time. After hearing about your problems and many others in this forum, I decided to send Dell my own letter. Without going into detail, I told them that the problems that customers have been having makes Dell an unworthy vendor, and that I'd not be buying from them again. Thanks for your post. It got me off my butt to send a message to Dell. If more people do that, maybe something will change. "Tim S." wrote in message news:iCbob.63541$Tr4.169117@attbi_s03... Hello, I am new to this newsgroup, but I figured I would post this letter which I just sent to Dell. I am under no illusions that it will do anything, but it sure made me feel better writing it! Tim Here it is: Dell Corporate Headquarters Office of the Chair One Dell Way Round Rock, Texas 78682 Customer Care/Tech Support/Customer Service Issues To Whom It May Concern: I'll start off by saying I used to love your company. I have personally purchased three top-of-the line home systems, and involved my father in-law (three systems), my parents (two systems), my sister-in-laws (three systems), my sister (at least five systems - home and office) - all because I recommended your company's products (plus I do all of the "troubleshooting" when there is a problem with everyone else's system). Up until last month, I had enthusiastically recommended Dell to everyone I know. Now, I doubt very much if I would even give you a shot at a new system. I am not sure if you or your upper management is even aware of just how severely deteriorated your customer service has become. I was shocked to learn that most of the Technical Support and Customer Care are now forwarded to India and the Philippines, where the phone connections are horrible and most of the front end customer service people are either poor English speakers or are poorly trained and uninformed of your procedures. Here is my story: I had been having intermittent problems with my CD burner. It finally expired on Wednesday 9/17/03 when the tray completely unattached from the unit rendering it useless. I contacted Dell Tech support and here is what happened: Wednesday 9/17/03: 1.. Case #48182423 - It all started with a gentleman named Pog. I spoke with Pog (Manila) -immediately I had trouble understanding him. He initiated a service request (DPS#038054799). He informed me that a service tech would be contacting me to confirm the part and shipping address. I suggested that all I needed was just the part - I would install the part myself (saving Dell money on the service call and me time) - as I am very comfortable doing this. 2.. Case #48228459 - Spoke with a Dave Olson (TX) in the afternoon when no one from tech support had called me. Dave said that in was unnecessary for a tech to contact a customer over a part and shipping address - that Pog was incorrect - and assured me that the part would be shipped "next-day air" to me. Thursday 9/18/03: 1.. Case #48228459 - After not receiving the part, I called and spoke with Toby Robinson (TX). He apologized profusely, said there needed to be a manager's approval (since I had wanted to install the part myself) - said he personally would get it -and promised, I mean guaranteed that that part would be overnighted to me by Airborne Express. Friday 9/19/03: 1.. After not receiving the part for the second day in a row, I spoke with Jose (Manila) in Customer Service. He claimed that no part could be shipped until a tech came to my house to inspect the unit, and then a part could be dispatched. Stunned, I asked to speak with a manager. 2.. Case #48441142 - Kathryn (Manila) was supposedly Jose's manager, and was quite nice and understandable. She said she would put through the request (actually came back and said it was done) and again assured me that the part would be overnighted, that evidently Toby had neglected to get a manager's approval but she would take care of it. Saturday 9/20/03: 1.. Curiously, I received a phone call from Sam (TX) - who he claimed, was following up for a "senior" Customer Service Manager. It was basically a Yes/No answer questionnaire over the phone. After hearing how upset and frustrated I was, Sam assured me that I would be hearing from someone about this matter. So far no one from Dell has ever called me back regarding this matter! Monday 9/22/03: 1.. Patrick (TX) - After not receiving the part for the third business day in a row, I again called Dell Customer Service. After about 5 minutes of vehement explaining - Patrick just about refused to transfer me to a higher manager. When he did - it was to the wrong department - to a gentleman named Todd. I had been on hold with Patrick for 20 - 30 minutes. 2.. Todd - wrong department - he then transferred me to Jerry 3.. Jerry (India) - I could barely understand a word he (she) said and the phone line was horrible. Jerry then claimed the part had to be manufactured - and would take 2 - 3 days (this was obviously jive!). I asked to speak with a manger - Jerry stonewalled me so, furious, I hung up. 4.. I called back and spoke to Melody (TX) - she actually took my number just in case I was cut off - and after about five minutes of asking/pleading to speak with the highest manager she could find, Melody sent me to a manager named Irish. 5.. Irish (NY) - She called herself a Customer Supervisor, she spoke very poor English - I could barely understand her. After explaining my frustration - she had to put me on hold to "refresh my account" - then disconnected me. Perhaps it was a mistake so I waited, expecting a call back which didn't happen. 6.. I called in again and spoke with Donna (TX). After the customary five minutes of requisite explaining, she put me on hold as I insisted on talking with a supervisor (I waited thirty-five minutes to talk to one - Alfred). 7.. Supervisor Alfred (TX) - after explaining to Alfred how upset and extremely frustrated I was, he disconnected me. 8.. Furious, I called in again for the last time and spoke with an Angela (India). She could not (would not) transfer me back to anybody anywhere - so I hung up. I had pretty much given up any hope for ever getting the situation resolved through Dell. Tuesday 9/23/03: 1.. I finally received the part - a full 6 days (4 business days) from the time of the service dispatch. After installing the CD-R myself, I burned one CD and then CD-R ceased to work. Anytime I would burn a CD it would lock up partway through the burn process and seriously alter the computer's performance. Friday 10/3/03: 1.. Case #49528059: Talked to Al in Tech Support. I think he knew very little about solving my problem - all he did was look up knowledge base info. After about two hours on the phone, and problem not solved, Al told me to try "one more thing" and then call tech support back later on. I convinced Al to call me back. Al said he would "call me back in about three hours". I nailed him down to an absolute phone call - at 7:30PM Eastern time US (he was obviously not from the US). He assured me he would call. At 7:30 PM and for the rest of that evening there were no return phone calls from Al or anyone from Dell. Monday 10/6/03: 1.. Spoke to Hayden (Case #49653471) - he told me to download the newest version of Roxio Easy CD Creator (even though I could not burn in Real One Player either) and this would solve the problem - either way he was to call me back at 4PM EST. I downloaded the "patch" but I still could not get through burning a CD. 2.. Hayden called at 3:30 - I was not home - my wife told him to call back in a half hour 3.. Hayden called about 4:30. Software troubleshooting was getting us nowhere. We agreed to talk on Thursday 10/9/03 at 8AM EST at that time I would need to take apart the computer Thursday 10/9/03 1.. No phone call from Hayden 2.. Spoke with Hailey (dispatcher) who sent me back into the Dell Phone Maze to fend for myself - to Customer Care 3.. Ed, Customer Care (Panama) Ed said he could not set up service - only Tech Support could, so he sent me back into the Dell Phone Maze. 4.. Case #49946399 -Hector (Philippines) Tech Support - when I asked, he said he was not able to schedule a service man -I would have to go to either Customer Care or Customer Priority Service (I told him I had just come from Customer Service!). I asked what Priority Service was and Hector said it was for people who didn't want to troubleshoot over the phone (implying I was one of them!). I told him that I have been troubleshooting - for at least two weeks! After much discussion and pleading to schedule a service man, we began troubleshooting. To my stunned amazement - he wanted to reinstall Windows XP! I told him that that made absolutely no sense at all! He then said that he could schedule a service technician only if troubleshooting had failed. I explained that troubleshooting has failed - compromising, I gave him twenty minutes to solve the problem. We took apart the unit, he wanted to swap the hard disk cable with the CD-R cable -I told him I thought that was above and beyond the call of duty. He FINALLY SCHEDULED SERVICE - but not for another 2 - 3 days (so much for next business day service). Wednesday 10/15/03 1.. Almost a week after service was to be "scheduled" by Hector, a Service Technician from BancTec, Inc. called to schedule an appointment - we chose Thursday at 2:30 Thursday 10/16/03 1.. Service technician arrived early and installed a new CD-R drive - problem solved. Apparently the remanufactured CD-R originally sent to me was defective. Finally a happy ending to this story. Now the bottom line is that since I volunteered to install the CD Burner myself - this took some special procedure (manager's approval) which in the end caused the delay in shipping the drive - I fully understand that. And if it was just that -I guess I would only be slightly angry. But you couple this with hanging up on customers, utterly uninformed (and disingenuous) Tech Support personnel, stonewalling by frontline personnel to reach a supervisor, and obvious stonewalling of customers to avoid the use of the in-home service that they paid extra to have - I think these are huge problems that you ought to know about. After dealing with the Dell Phone Maze, I am sure that this letter will never amount to any internal changes. It has made me feel somewhat vindicated by writing it, though. My future business probably means very little to such a huge corporation such as Dell. But I am sure that I am not alone - that other customers - perhaps business who have invested large sums of money with your company are also having similar problems. Feel free to contact me anytime if you wish to discuss this. My cell number is XXX-XXX-XXXX. It is my intent to be very open with friends and family about the problems I have had with Dell, post this letter on the alt.sys.pc-clone.dell newsgroup (among others I frequent), and be proactive on the internet where necessary about this matter. Certainly these issues need to be addressed before I would ever consider Dell again. Sincerely, Timothy SXXX |
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Why didn't you just email them? Last August trying to explain a problem
to some one I guess from India, I ended up breaking the clip on an empty memory slot. I gave up with him and emailed on a Saturday night. By Sunday night I had the answer they were shipping a new motherboard. Wednesday Banctech called to install the motherboard. 2 years ago on another computer my DVD drive went. I called, they put me through some tests and it came up CRC. The tech didn't sound like he was from India but had a foreign accent. I requested they send me the drive as I could install it. You have to give a credit card number so you return the broken one or they charge you. I'm surprised they didn't ask you for that. Joan Tim S. wrote: Hello, I am new to this newsgroup, but I figured I would post this letter which I just sent to Dell. I am under no illusions that it will do anything, but it sure made me feel better writing it! Tim |
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An interesting observation.
As the complaints post to this group get more numerous and better documented, the "pro Dell at all costs" group become more and more absent. g "Tim S." wrote in message news:iCbob.63541$Tr4.169117@attbi_s03... Hello, I am new to this newsgroup, but I figured I would post this letter which I just sent to Dell. I am under no illusions that it will do anything, but it sure made me feel better writing it! Tim Here it is: Dell Corporate Headquarters Office of the Chair One Dell Way Round Rock, Texas 78682 Customer Care/Tech Support/Customer Service Issues To Whom It May Concern: I'll start off by saying I used to love your company. I have personally purchased three top-of-the line home systems, and involved my father in-law (three systems), my parents (two systems), my sister-in-laws (three systems), my sister (at least five systems - home and office) - all because I recommended your company's products (plus I do all of the "troubleshooting" when there is a problem with everyone else's system). Up until last month, I had enthusiastically recommended Dell to everyone I know. Now, I doubt very much if I would even give you a shot at a new system. I am not sure if you or your upper management is even aware of just how severely deteriorated your customer service has become. I was shocked to learn that most of the Technical Support and Customer Care are now forwarded to India and the Philippines, where the phone connections are horrible and most of the front end customer service people are either poor English speakers or are poorly trained and uninformed of your procedures. Here is my story: I had been having intermittent problems with my CD burner. It finally expired on Wednesday 9/17/03 when the tray completely unattached from the unit rendering it useless. I contacted Dell Tech support and here is what happened: Wednesday 9/17/03: 1.. Case #48182423 - It all started with a gentleman named Pog. I spoke with Pog (Manila) -immediately I had trouble understanding him. He initiated a service request (DPS#038054799). He informed me that a service tech would be contacting me to confirm the part and shipping address. I suggested that all I needed was just the part - I would install the part myself (saving Dell money on the service call and me time) - as I am very comfortable doing this. 2.. Case #48228459 - Spoke with a Dave Olson (TX) in the afternoon when no one from tech support had called me. Dave said that in was unnecessary for a tech to contact a customer over a part and shipping address - that Pog was incorrect - and assured me that the part would be shipped "next-day air" to me. Thursday 9/18/03: 1.. Case #48228459 - After not receiving the part, I called and spoke with Toby Robinson (TX). He apologized profusely, said there needed to be a manager's approval (since I had wanted to install the part myself) - said he personally would get it -and promised, I mean guaranteed that that part would be overnighted to me by Airborne Express. Friday 9/19/03: 1.. After not receiving the part for the second day in a row, I spoke with Jose (Manila) in Customer Service. He claimed that no part could be shipped until a tech came to my house to inspect the unit, and then a part could be dispatched. Stunned, I asked to speak with a manager. 2.. Case #48441142 - Kathryn (Manila) was supposedly Jose's manager, and was quite nice and understandable. She said she would put through the request (actually came back and said it was done) and again assured me that the part would be overnighted, that evidently Toby had neglected to get a manager's approval but she would take care of it. Saturday 9/20/03: 1.. Curiously, I received a phone call from Sam (TX) - who he claimed, was following up for a "senior" Customer Service Manager. It was basically a Yes/No answer questionnaire over the phone. After hearing how upset and frustrated I was, Sam assured me that I would be hearing from someone about this matter. So far no one from Dell has ever called me back regarding this matter! Monday 9/22/03: 1.. Patrick (TX) - After not receiving the part for the third business day in a row, I again called Dell Customer Service. After about 5 minutes of vehement explaining - Patrick just about refused to transfer me to a higher manager. When he did - it was to the wrong department - to a gentleman named Todd. I had been on hold with Patrick for 20 - 30 minutes. 2.. Todd - wrong department - he then transferred me to Jerry 3.. Jerry (India) - I could barely understand a word he (she) said and the phone line was horrible. Jerry then claimed the part had to be manufactured - and would take 2 - 3 days (this was obviously jive!). I asked to speak with a manger - Jerry stonewalled me so, furious, I hung up. 4.. I called back and spoke to Melody (TX) - she actually took my number just in case I was cut off - and after about five minutes of asking/pleading to speak with the highest manager she could find, Melody sent me to a manager named Irish. 5.. Irish (NY) - She called herself a Customer Supervisor, she spoke very poor English - I could barely understand her. After explaining my frustration - she had to put me on hold to "refresh my account" - then disconnected me. Perhaps it was a mistake so I waited, expecting a call back which didn't happen. 6.. I called in again and spoke with Donna (TX). After the customary five minutes of requisite explaining, she put me on hold as I insisted on talking with a supervisor (I waited thirty-five minutes to talk to one - Alfred). 7.. Supervisor Alfred (TX) - after explaining to Alfred how upset and extremely frustrated I was, he disconnected me. 8.. Furious, I called in again for the last time and spoke with an Angela (India). She could not (would not) transfer me back to anybody anywhere - so I hung up. I had pretty much given up any hope for ever getting the situation resolved through Dell. Tuesday 9/23/03: 1.. I finally received the part - a full 6 days (4 business days) from the time of the service dispatch. After installing the CD-R myself, I burned one CD and then CD-R ceased to work. Anytime I would burn a CD it would lock up partway through the burn process and seriously alter the computer's performance. Friday 10/3/03: 1.. Case #49528059: Talked to Al in Tech Support. I think he knew very little about solving my problem - all he did was look up knowledge base info. After about two hours on the phone, and problem not solved, Al told me to try "one more thing" and then call tech support back later on. I convinced Al to call me back. Al said he would "call me back in about three hours". I nailed him down to an absolute phone call - at 7:30PM Eastern time US (he was obviously not from the US). He assured me he would call. At 7:30 PM and for the rest of that evening there were no return phone calls from Al or anyone from Dell. Monday 10/6/03: 1.. Spoke to Hayden (Case #49653471) - he told me to download the newest version of Roxio Easy CD Creator (even though I could not burn in Real One Player either) and this would solve the problem - either way he was to call me back at 4PM EST. I downloaded the "patch" but I still could not get through burning a CD. 2.. Hayden called at 3:30 - I was not home - my wife told him to call back in a half hour 3.. Hayden called about 4:30. Software troubleshooting was getting us nowhere. We agreed to talk on Thursday 10/9/03 at 8AM EST at that time I would need to take apart the computer Thursday 10/9/03 1.. No phone call from Hayden 2.. Spoke with Hailey (dispatcher) who sent me back into the Dell Phone Maze to fend for myself - to Customer Care 3.. Ed, Customer Care (Panama) Ed said he could not set up service - only Tech Support could, so he sent me back into the Dell Phone Maze. 4.. Case #49946399 -Hector (Philippines) Tech Support - when I asked, he said he was not able to schedule a service man -I would have to go to either Customer Care or Customer Priority Service (I told him I had just come from Customer Service!). I asked what Priority Service was and Hector said it was for people who didn't want to troubleshoot over the phone (implying I was one of them!). I told him that I have been troubleshooting - for at least two weeks! After much discussion and pleading to schedule a service man, we began troubleshooting. To my stunned amazement - he wanted to reinstall Windows XP! I told him that that made absolutely no sense at all! He then said that he could schedule a service technician only if troubleshooting had failed. I explained that troubleshooting has failed - compromising, I gave him twenty minutes to solve the problem. We took apart the unit, he wanted to swap the hard disk cable with the CD-R cable -I told him I thought that was above and beyond the call of duty. He FINALLY SCHEDULED SERVICE - but not for another 2 - 3 days (so much for next business day service). Wednesday 10/15/03 1.. Almost a week after service was to be "scheduled" by Hector, a Service Technician from BancTec, Inc. called to schedule an appointment - we chose Thursday at 2:30 Thursday 10/16/03 1.. Service technician arrived early and installed a new CD-R drive - problem solved. Apparently the remanufactured CD-R originally sent to me was defective. Finally a happy ending to this story. Now the bottom line is that since I volunteered to install the CD Burner myself - this took some special procedure (manager's approval) which in the end caused the delay in shipping the drive - I fully understand that. And if it was just that -I guess I would only be slightly angry. But you couple this with hanging up on customers, utterly uninformed (and disingenuous) Tech Support personnel, stonewalling by frontline personnel to reach a supervisor, and obvious stonewalling of customers to avoid the use of the in-home service that they paid extra to have - I think these are huge problems that you ought to know about. After dealing with the Dell Phone Maze, I am sure that this letter will never amount to any internal changes. It has made me feel somewhat vindicated by writing it, though. My future business probably means very little to such a huge corporation such as Dell. But I am sure that I am not alone - that other customers - perhaps business who have invested large sums of money with your company are also having similar problems. Feel free to contact me anytime if you wish to discuss this. My cell number is XXX-XXX-XXXX. It is my intent to be very open with friends and family about the problems I have had with Dell, post this letter on the alt.sys.pc-clone.dell newsgroup (among others I frequent), and be proactive on the internet where necessary about this matter. Certainly these issues need to be addressed before I would ever consider Dell again. Sincerely, Timothy SXXX |
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Joan wrote:
Why didn't you just email them? Last August trying to explain a problem to some one I guess from India, I ended up breaking the clip on an empty memory slot. I gave up with him and emailed on a Saturday night. By Sunday night I had the answer they were shipping a new motherboard. Wednesday Banctech called to install the motherboard. 2 years ago on another computer my DVD drive went. I called, they put me through some tests and it came up CRC. The tech didn't sound like he was from India but had a foreign accent. I requested they send me the drive as I could install it. You have to give a credit card number so you return the broken one or they charge you. I'm surprised they didn't ask you for that. Joan Tim S. wrote: Hello, I am new to this newsgroup, but I figured I would post this letter which I just sent to Dell. I am under no illusions that it will do anything, but it sure made me feel better writing it! Tim When my DVD+RW stopped reading / writing DVDs after a couple of weeks, I e-mailed. Tech said I needed a replacement, but I'm in Canada and he can't send here. I called. "Tech" obviously had no idea what I was talking, didn't even understand that I had a DVD+RW and a DVD-ROM drive in the system (sounded like he couldn't figure out why I wanted a new drive when I could read the DVDs on the "other drive"). I made a very simple statement "the drive does not recognize DVDs at all, but CDs work. He asked me to insert my driver disk. I assumed there was something on it that would maybe help. No, "i just wanted to check that it will read the CD - it does so there's no problem, right?". It took me 48 minutes to get him to understand I needed a new drive, 6 minutes to get him to understand my address. Took me several minutes to do the system restore (because one of his steps made all my burning software cease to recognize the drive (CD-R/RW worked fine and I wanted it to stay that way)while I was waiting on hold for him to "verify my address". I, too, had some trouble convincing him that I didn't want a tech to come to my house - just send me the drive. I got the drive a couple of days later, installed it in 10 minutes and everything's OK. I had that drive sitting in my living room for more than a month before they sent me the pruolator package to send it back. I e-mailed Canada Customer Service (tech support only goes to the US sIte and they can't help us up here) 4 times and got 3 canned replies telling me to go through the forms on their web site. On the 4th try I got someone who could understand that what I wanted (to give them back their drive) was not covered by their forms. Still had to go back and forth with her for 3 messages before I finally said, "if you don't want it back confirm that to me in writing and I'll be happy to throw it out, but I don't want it in my house anymore". I got the return package 2 days later. I don't recall anyone asking for my credit card number in case I didn't send it back. It took over a month for them to let me send it back and my card was never charged anything. It all seemed rather pathetic. But, the conversations I had with Compaq when my very first computer literally had smoke coming out the back - the first time I turned it on were much worse. They didn't want to do anything, said it's not covered by warranty (this is day 1!). Costco, where I bought it, didn't want to give me a refund, but eventually agreed to give me a replacement system - with which I had no real troubles (except of the upgrading - rails - kind) it still runs for my brother-in-law 5 years later. I would not even contemplate another Compaq purchase. Cynthia -- Please delete REMOVE to reply directly |
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