Dell customer service

[wdwmom2]

My computer is starting to make a strange noise. Now I am going to have to call Dell's customer service and I am TOTALLY dreading it. Not that they have been mean or rude or unhelpful. This is not the problem. The problem is understanding the person that is trying to help you. They must all be foriegn with EXTREMELY strong accents. Now, I have no problem with them being foriegn, my problem is that you might understand every 3rd word, IF you are lucky. The problem is compounded by the fact that I have basically no understanding of the inner workings of a computer, so it is not always easy to explain exactly what the noise is or where the noise is coming from.

Has anyone else ever had this problem with Dell?

 

[Nancy]

Not with Dell but I have it with Compaq. I think the call center is in India now.

 

[chadfromdallas]

Dell moved their call center back to the US, odd.

 

[lapinluv]

Dell Customer Service is one of the worst out there. Seven years ago or so, when we bought our first computer from them, they were great and I recommended the company to everyone I know. Now, I would never buy another computer from them because of their service.

I do know that they outsource their customer service to India, but it's not the accents that bother me. It's the hanging up on me when my question is too complicated or in depth. It's the telling me to erase and reformat my whole hard drive when the problem was with the processor. It's the "yeah, you have the warranty, but we don't cover that." It's the hours on the phone waiting and being transferred to end up with no resolution. It's just the general lack of concern for the customer or the credo that "the customer is always right."

 

[Dan Murphy]

I have talked to Dell in India, Texas, Tennesse and Panama. IBM in the Phillipines, Acer in the Dominican Republic. They can be tough sometimes to understand, but, just have them go over it for as long as you need. They will work with you for as long as it takes.

I have spent the past week with them for MANY hours, regarding a new Dell PDA and synching problems. Turned out it was a Norton problem in what it eliminated on when that was installed some time ago. I was able to uninstall Norton (I prefer panda anyways) and reinstalled a Windows script writer and problem resolved. But, they did spend countless hours with me trying to troubleshoot it, finally did it.

Put your head down, shoulders back and charge ahead.

 

[Donalds_best_pal]

I think Dell lately has improved customer service, We have had several problems with our new computer and only waited on hold 10 minutes and all call centers are now back in the usa!
Matt

 

[wdwmom2]

Dan

You are right, I just need to call them and get it over with. Believe me, I'm not complaining about the service I receive, I have needed it before WITH someone hard to understand and we still got it worked out.(Bad video card). It's just that I'm actually embarrassed to say, "I'm sorry, I can't understand what you just said. Could you please repeat it." And that doesn't happen just once, it happens again and again and again........ I feel like a moron.

 

[Amberle3]

Well thank goodness they moved the call centres back to the US. I had to call them a few months ago and it was terrible. They obviously had a set script and were told to listen for specific responses, I might as well have been talking to a recorded menu.

"Hi, I'm having a problem with <whatever> and I've already done this, this and this."
- "Have you made sure the cable is connected?
"yes, I have. It works, it's just not doing <whatever>"
- "have you turned on the computer?"
"Yes, I've already gotten to X point, and it does <whatever>"

very frustrating.

Mind you a few years ago, before they outsourced the call centre, I had a heck of a time with them then too. I was having a problem with networking and ended up spending 2 hours on the phone with them being transfered to something like 10 different departments. At one point they transfered me to printers! My problem had nothing to do with printers! When I finally got through to the right department I was told that particular person didn't really have experience with the desktop units, and besides they only support the software that comes installed or with the computer. I said Yep, that's fine, I need to know how to configure WinXP to do this, and since YOU folks put it on the computer then you support it right? WRONG. Sure they'll sell you all the equipment you need to set up a home network, but they won't tell you how to do it.

 

[Elwood Blues]

I just talked to Dell yesterday and I noticed a Texas twang in the persons voice. However, I was calling the business support line which might be in a different area than the home group.

 

[WebmasterAlex]

They moved the BUSINESS support to back to the US because they were losing big customers. Consumer support is still outsourced to India last I heard

 

[christineann]

I bought a Dell computer in 1999, and when I started having problems with it this summer, I called Dell for tech help. I sent them about $39 to get the Spyware removed, and the computer almost completely stopped working. Over the next 5 weeks, I called Dell at least 5 times a week (average 3.5 hours per night on hold or with a service rep), reformatted my computer per their instructions 9 times, and then they told me that my computer was too old to fix. I know that you get better results by being pleasant, so I was very nice every time I called. Each time I was told that I would get a customer service survey that would rate their assistance. I demanded my $39 back and had to go to a supervisor to get it. I bought a Compaq. I have never received a customer service survey even though I should have received over 30 of them. I took notes every time I spoke with them and showed them to our computer tech at work, and he said they really didn't know what they were doing.

My son's Dell laptop has been returned to the company twice in the 15 months he has had it because the fan is not strong enough, and it has overheated.

Never again!

 

[FonFon]

Every time I call Dell for support (for the laptop that I own that isn't even a year old yet!), they usually run through the questions with me, "Have you done this, this, and this" and then tell me that I have to wipe my hard drive and reinstall everything.

Uh, thanks for the "solution"; I'll take it to CompUSA and let them play with it for awhile, and it always seems to do the trick.

 

[Disney_1derland]

Uh...my dh works for dell and their calls are still being outsourced to India. Unless of course something has changed in the last two days since he's been off work

Anyhow, the trick with Tech Support is to call early in the morning and hopefully avoid getting India that way. If you do get India, get them to take all your info, get an incident created and try a few of their solutions. DO NOT allow them to 'call you back' because they never will. Demand that they tell you their name and the name of their supervisor. Make them spell it for you. If they say that they need to go and will call you back. Refuse. That is one of the major tricks the India outsourcing use to get out of calls. We've been there/done that just last month on our computer. When they start saying they need to go just tell them that you will not be getting off the phone until your problem is fixed. Do not go to reformatting your hard drive until you have talked to at least 3 or 4 people. It is usually not necessary. Demand that they help you, it is their job. If you have the supervisor's name then you have a recourse in email and supervisors are NEVER happy to be contacted about their reps screwing up.

Dell has a special call queue for people who have called in multiple times in a short period(say over the course of a week or less). The computer assumes nobody has been able to help you and re-routes you to this special queue which is located in the texas offices. So call, then call again, then call again then call again. Talking to multiple people about the same problem seems to get faster results than talking to one person for a long time.

I hope this will help, I know all too well how frustrating they are. It took 4 weeks of fighting with them to get a solution to our problems. Good Luck.

 

[DebbieB]

I got a new Dell last month. When I ordered the system, I also ordered a surge protector and a PC Replacement Program. I got an e-mail saying those 2 items were delayed a couple of weeks. I called and said I didn't want to wait, just cancel them and I'll buy them locally. I got someone who barely spoke English. She was helpful, but it was difficult to understand her. She followed up with me very prompty, turned out they couldn't cancel those 2 items, I had to wait until them came and she arranged for them to be returned (at Dell's expense).

 

[WDWHound]

Customer suport for Business clients has been moved back to the USA. Support for home users is still based in India.

 

[wdwmom2]

Wow, I guess I'll just have to suck it up and speak to someone in India! Wish me luck!!!