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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

your post is unfortunately yet another waste of your time. this group can
help you solve a problem and even help you navigate dell technical support,
but not after the fact.
send that as an email to and you will get a response
(hopefully one that satisfies you, but probably not). save your breathe as
people here can typically be lumped into two groups; those that don't care
and can't help you or those that commiserate with you and can't help you.
good luck.


"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