So I ordered a deal for my gf (http://www.slickdeals.net/#p7414)

And I use my American Express since it's new they limit you to $1000. I had forgotten I placed an order for something else so I was overlimit on purchase. I get the email and pull out the wallet to use a special check card and I find out I have to call.

So I do and speak to some guy named Doug... no problem right? He sits there and tries to sell me on another system, printer cables etc... and I eventually go "I just want the computer system I ordered. Nothing else, nothing more... just that. Stop selling me crap that I won't buy". He does the transaction and I think all is well.... WRONG

This morning I get a call about my order having an issue. The check card I use for online purchases only has enough money in it to cover the cost of what I'm buying. So I'm thinking that's what must have happened. Dumbshit salesman changed my order or something because it was done wrong. Needless to say when I call I get an indian.

"Thank you for calling Dell Support" in thick Apoo like accent. Not a big deal right? sigh... in my dreams.

"Yup I need to check on an order I made." I give him my phone # because I didn't write down the order #.

"So that's 323-981-0606"...

"What? where did you get that. My number is ##"

"So that's 652-981-0101?"

At this point I'm laughing because it's funny to me. The kind of shit you see on TV. So I give it to him again and he still can't get it right and then he says this

"If you would speak clearer english i could understand". It ain't funny anymore...so I ask to speak to another rep without making any easy remarks I could.

*DISCONNECTED*

Now mind you I had been easy going and very nice to this point. Not rude at all. I call back and guess what? Another indian...

"Thank you for callin.."

"Yes yes here my phone #" he amazingly gets it right. I explain the situation where I did what I did.

"So you want me to charge your Amex now?"

"No... no I gave him a new card the Visa"

"Yes, I see the visa. So you want me to charge your Amex now?"

"NO I want you to charge the visa."

"Can you give me the number?"

"I thought you just said you had it"

"No sir"

"Sigh... " I give him my Visa #.

"Okay sir your Amex has been denied"

I'm thinking he said the wrong thing

"You mean my visa?"

"You want it on your visa?"

"YEs why else would I give it to you? You know what... just stop. Give me your supervisor"

"Sir there is no reason to get angry..." I cut him off.

"Supervisor... SU-PER...VISOR. Gimme" I'm being 110% asshole at this point.

I'm put on hold and then hear "Welcome to Dell. If you would like to purchase a computer press 1"

*SCREAMS OF RAGE*

I go through the menu and randomly hit a bunch of numbers... through some act of god I hear "Dialing operator"

"Dell operator"

"English based, english speaking support agent please"

"Please hold" I wish I could remember what I pushed. It wasn't 0.

"Hello this is Kevin." PHEW! This will be easy now... sigh...

I explain my problem.

"Well I have a similar system for $699".

"Kevin..."

"Yes sir?"

"I want the computer system I originally ordered. Nothing else... just that. I don't want to hear about new deals or old deals or anything else. I just want that. Understand?" I say in a very tired and annoyed voice.

"Well that deal expired yesterday"

"Yes Kevin I understand that but I placed it two days ago and through your companies screw ups it wasn't done correctly in time."

"I understand your anger and we at dell are " OOOOO that god damn script shit...

"Just give me a supervisor. Please"

"Okay man, hold on" Puts me on hold.

DISCONNECTED

Hell hath no idea of the fury that ensued... I actually broke a keyboard in half. It was a $2.99 keyboard... but still.

I call in again.

"Thank you for calling Dell Support this is Habib" the anger almost subsided for the fact that I was talking with a Habib.

"Hello Habib, lemme tell ya story bout the past 2 days..."

"Uh oh" he actually said this. I explain what had happened

"Well I can explain what's going on. You have two active orders. The one you originally placed has gone through fine and you'll be charged to your visa after it's recieve it since you are a business account holder. The other order is with an American Express card and it's on hold. This is what put you in the que for the automated phone message and since the item was no longer available the sales guys are supposed to sell you whatever deal is available"

"So the past 3 hours were for nothing?"

"No you get to yell at me as much as you want for free."

"So my order is fine?"

"Yep and I killed off the Amex order so you won't be called by that anymore. Your computer should ship at the latest by May 2nd."

"..."

"Sir?"

"I'm sorry... I'm not used to compitent support"

And here's the kicker... where I lost my drink out my nose...

"It's okay sir... I'm still new here".

God bless Dell.

4/27/2006 11:53:19 AM

It seems that you need Anger Management classes.

And avoid road rage.

4/27/2006 11:57:45 AM

funny...but i still cant believe i read all of this

4/27/2006 11:58:32 AM

Wow....just wow

4/27/2006 11:59:29 AM

Quote :

""So that's 323-981-0606"... "What? where did you get that. My number is ##" "So that's 652-981-0101?" At this point I'm laughing because it's funny to me. The kind of shit you see on TV. So I give it to him again and he still can't get it right and then he says this "If you would speak clearer english i could understand"."

wow. just wow. i'd straight choke a bitch after that.

4/27/2006 12:00:09 PM

sounds like the only reason there was a problem was because you didn't have enough money in the first place - had you been responsible and prepared - none of this would have happened - i hope you learned your lesson

4/27/2006 12:02:59 PM

eh I don't get road rage... and I only take anger out on keyboards.

4/27/2006 12:03:11 PM

Maybe the line was at fault. If I were him, I would have politely said that maybe there's something wrong with the line and called back again.

But then I wouldn't be Raige.

4/27/2006 12:03:20 PM

Quote :

""It's okay sir... I'm still new here". "

if he really said that, thats fucking funny

4/27/2006 12:09:25 PM

From that transcript, you have a 50% success rate with the indians, and a 0% success rate with the whiteys.

4/27/2006 12:33:07 PM

Basically, Raige sucks.

4/27/2006 12:33:44 PM

there have been better dell deals out there than that...namely, the dual-core deal less than a month ago

4/27/2006 12:54:32 PM

True, there were better deals but I didn't want to spend that much for a computer my gf would use for writing papers, chatting online and basic stuff. It would be like buying her a porche to go to work and back.

Quote :

"From that transcript, you have a 50% success rate with the indians, and a 0% success rate with the whiteys."

Well I guess 1 out of 3 isn't bad. Technically I had a 33% success with indians as the previous one didn't do his job correctly. Of course if you take that zerg approach to tech support you're BOUND to get someone good eventually.

[Edited on April 27, 2006 at 1:17 PM. Reason : !]

4/27/2006 1:15:56 PM

Quote :

""So the past 3 hours were for nothing?" dell guy - "No you get to yell at me as much as you want for free." "

haha

4/27/2006 1:51:13 PM

hahha

Dell prolly has Raige in their roster as a "problem customer"

4/27/2006 2:02:01 PM

^... perhaps...

4/27/2006 2:22:14 PM

classic

4/27/2006 2:27:23 PM

Someone else think that Dell pulled a prank on him by naming the rep "Habib"?

4/27/2006 2:28:36 PM

Did you purchase this through Dell Home or Dell Small Business?

Clicked the link ... NEVER order through Dell Home. Read some other TWW threads and you'll find similar stories. Dell Small Business will NOT screw with you if an order is messed up in any way, shape, or form.

[Edited on April 27, 2006 at 3:16 PM. Reason : .]

4/27/2006 3:15:46 PM

that shit is standard for Dell home support.

i'm sure you saw my thread, great shit there.

Quote :

"http://brentroad.com/message_topic.aspx?topic=373772"

i think they make it a pain in the ass to call (hold times, labyrinth voice menus, constant disconnects) to discourage people to call in. thats the only explanation for the piss poor service.

4/27/2006 3:18:10 PM

btw i think you can fill in $900 or something for the daily credit card limit and they will charge your card on successive days

4/27/2006 3:19:33 PM

UPDATE:

Even after Habib made my world happy... Dell is still trying to charge my AMEX for ANOTHER system even though my account says it's cancelled. This is due to dell's Jenkie (tm) billing system. Apparently even though the order is cancelled it may take 5-10 business days to credit the account.

This isn't an issue as I called Amex and explained the issue and they are stopping the charge... but jesus... I bought this thing on the 26th. You'd think they would have gotten it straight by the 2nd.

5/2/2006 4:52:14 PM

took 8 days or so for an order of mine to be really cancelled and charges refunded

5/2/2006 8:07:38 PM

That is amazing...I hate Dell, but this has renewed a tiny bit of faith in their customer support.

5/3/2006 9:52:49 AM

I hate Dell's tech support. Their customer support isn't much better.


I had a short in my AC adaptor (figured this out waaaaaay after the fact) and my battery died - my HD also starts to choke up occasionally, so I wanted to treat two problems at once. I figured I'd take it one by one; when they ask if I had any other questions, I'd mention the HD's choking.

I get esgargs' uncle.

He tells me to*

- with everything as is, try to turn on the power. I do so. Nothing.
- try to turn it on again. Again, nothing.
- remove the battery, press the button thing, tell him how many lights light up. I do. No lights come on. Battery is completely drained.
- disconnect everything from everything else, and re-assemble it. plug adaptor into new source. I do. Still, nothing.
- try another wall outlet. I do. Nothing.
- take the battery out, and try the LED lights again. Nothing.

* - after each suggestion, he'd put me on hold for many minutes to figure out what to do next. Between steps 4 and 5, he took 15 minutes. I shit you not.

Now this is where the motherfucker pissed me off. I've still 8 months' warranty left on this computer - this dumb shit asks me to flip my laptop over and disassemble it! So just to see how far he will go, I go... "looking for a screw driver... okay... that screw right there? or the one next to it?" talking shit... of course I'm not touching anything. He wanted me to remove the hard drive, my CD drive, the battery, and something else he had too much trouble describing (obviously not helped by my not having the slightest clue what he could've been talking about).

I wasted well over an hour on the phone with a stupid Dell techie who didn't know what to do about my problem, incorrectly diagnosed the problem (said the motherboard was fried), attempted to get me to void my warranty, and left me on hold more than he talked.



Fuck a dell. I called up a little chop shop in Chicago, took my computer in, and had a new AC adaptor in 25 minutes (including the drive to and from his shop).

[Edited on May 3, 2006 at 6:57 PM. Reason : .f]

5/3/2006 6:55:54 PM

Quote :

"I get esgargs' uncle."

made me chuckle

5/3/2006 7:09:23 PM

^^
Dell Home or Dell Small Business? If the former, its your damn fault for not research a product/company before purchasing from them. If the latter, send your case # through some channels and you'll receive several apologetic notes/etc.

[Edited on May 3, 2006 at 7:10 PM. Reason : .]

5/3/2006 7:10:11 PM

^ Isn't blaiming the victim of bad customer service kind of assinine? It's like saying "it's your fault dell sucks."

I mean these guys aren't telling their stories for pitty. They're doing it to warn people about dealing with dell home.

[Edited on May 3, 2006 at 9:29 PM. Reason : ]

5/3/2006 9:27:24 PM

seriously, you shouldnt have to research which branch to buy from in order to not regret your purchase.

5/3/2006 9:36:50 PM

This is prevalent for just about any company these days. Maxtor, Dell, Gateway, etc. Cisco by far makes Dell look like heaven.

5/3/2006 10:19:31 PM

Quote :

"Dell prolly has Raige in their roster as a "problem customer""

So they have charts like doctors? Remember that Seinfeld?

5/3/2006 10:44:57 PM

LOL, thats why I don't buy Dell. It took me several days to just get my tax refund back for tax exempt weekend.

There CS is horrible

5/3/2006 10:57:40 PM

Cisco tech support sucks majorly, and I have never had an Indian d00d pick up the phone there.

5/3/2006 10:57:56 PM

That said, I don't get why you people have to use tech support so much.

I have bought a desktop, a laptop, a PDA, and an MP3 player from Dell within the last 2 years and never had the need to call tech support.

Pretty robust products.

5/3/2006 10:59:05 PM

Quote :

"If the former, its your damn fault for not research a product/company before purchasing from them. If the latter, send your case # through some channels and you'll receive several apologetic notes/etc."

I'm not so sure on that any more...I've delt with a couple Small Business support cases over the last few months and had the same shitty dimwit tech support experiences as detailed by Sleik...I used to think there was a difference but now I'm not so sure. Of course when I deal with Dell through the business i work for they treat me like a king and i actually talk to people who earn more than $2.50 per hour...but thats the larger business account for you.

Quote :

"This is prevalent for just about any company these days. Maxtor, Dell, Gateway, etc. Cisco by far makes Dell look like heaven."

I'm not so sure. I've dealt with a huge variety of tech companies over the last 4-5 months and Dell is by far the worst. I've dealt with Gateway, Maxtor, Antec, Western Digital, PNY, Simpletech, HP/Compaq and each company was much better than Dell.

Dell support (at least the first couple tiers) is the Jiffy Jube of tech support departments. They staff them with complete idiots who earn crap and just run thru scripts. At least the other tech companies staff their departments with people who are capable and allowed to actually think. THeres probably some cultural forces at work too but I think the hiring of idiots has a larger effect.

5/3/2006 11:01:57 PM

wow

i didn't read any of it, but here's how to handle dell

1) say you're sorry you have to do this

2) YELL at whoever is not cooperating

3) threaten to send back whatever shit you bought

4) demand to talk to their supervisor using lots of cursing

5) YELL at supervisor

6) get whatever you need for free

i don't even screw around with being nice and it works every time

5/3/2006 11:02:27 PM

Like I said, they prolly have a list of "problem customers" trying to screw Dell

5/3/2006 11:02:47 PM

Quote :

"they prolly have a list of "problem customers" trying to screw Dell"

you think they have a flag in their DB indicating a customer who is trying to cheat Dell? Anything to back that up?

5/3/2006 11:12:30 PM

I have a feeling.

It's not that hard to implement seeing that they have transaction and customer IDs. All that is needed is a binary bit in the database, and I am sure they log all tech support calls anyway.

5/3/2006 11:13:54 PM

oh sure, its possible that theres a field on each account record which indicated if they're a "problem" customer. but i doubt its used as a "people trying to screw dell" field...ntm you couldn't trust the peons of tech support to identify those customers since they aren't allowed to use their brains.

5/3/2006 11:26:54 PM

i gave up on getting my problem fixed.

i bought one of the widescreen monitors and the usb ports don't work.

i call in and talk to 3 different people...ALL 3 wanted the service tag number, but those aren't put on monitors (or at least this one).

i was transferred 2 more times and after 3 hours i said to the guy "Screw it" and hung up.

i don't need any extra usb ports, but i would still like to have them work...doesn't look like that will happen though

5/3/2006 11:32:53 PM

well, it's easy to identify problem customers. It's based on statistics.

Statistically, less than 3% of all manufactured products have manufacturing defects. Now, if the same customer has issues with a variety of products throughout the year, then coupled with other basic statistical data, it's very very easy to make out a problem customer.

5/3/2006 11:32:54 PM

Billing and accounting could flag people who consistently buy loss-leader sale items. Some retail stores were actually accused of discriminating against customers who habitually only took advantage of money-losing sale items. Netflix similarly targeted customers who took full advantage of the number of dvd's they could rent by what some have considered harassment. Dell wouldn't be alone in companies that try to annoy customers who basically make them lose money if they did something like that. They wouldn't have to be "trying to screw" anyone nescessarily either.

Although Dell's true genius has always been cutting the fat and minimizing sources of loss, I wouldn't jump to think they'd do something that would basically ammount to targeted harassment though. If they did it wouldn't be any worse than what many companies do already. Of course, if you were concerned about getting the best support and kindest customer service, then that dell slickdeal wouldn't be the obvious choice anyways.

This kind of targetted treatment of customers is an annoying trend though. One week netflix delays your dvd's because you're just not "good renter," next week Dell flags customers who buy sales items and complain when stuff goes wrong for extra-shitty customer service? Maybe harris teeter will start causing registers to crash whenever someone who uses too many coupons scans their VIC card.


^3% seems pretty high even.

[Edited on May 3, 2006 at 11:38 PM. Reason : ]

5/3/2006 11:36:46 PM

well, from a pure business point of view, it makes sense to separate problem customers from regular customers. Even BestBuy maintains lists of customers who return stuff more often than the average customer.

3% is the industry average, even in the microprocessor industry, btw.

5/3/2006 11:41:49 PM

^^^well in my experience, i have called in under a large number of accounts (when doing consulting work for individuals and small businesses) and always get the same idiots reading scripts.

as far my personal account, which has a shitton of purchases over the last few years thru home and SB, i have only called a couple times but received the same crappy service as when I'm calling in under customers accounts.

I don't think its account related. i think its indicitave of the low quality of people they put behind the phones of the first couple tiers of Home and SB support. Though honestly i have had much better Dell support on the rare occasions i get english speaking reps. i think they actually pay their people something reasonable over here.

[Edited on May 3, 2006 at 11:47 PM. Reason : ]

5/3/2006 11:47:41 PM

Quote :

"Statistically, less than 3% of all manufactured products have manufacturing defects."

out the door maybe, but that stat can't include non-customer-induced hardware failures within the warranty period (three years and beyond for many computers)

5/3/2006 11:51:28 PM

First off, tech support is PROGRAMMED to read scripts and help Dell, not the customer who might very well be wrong. You'd be surprised how many people actually forget to plug in their machines before calling tech support.

Secondly, this issue of English speaking tech support people providing better support is like swallowing some placebo. Nothing more than that. Experiences matter, but the one time I called Dell tech support, the American dude assigned to my purchase was never on the line. I always got his voice mail and he never cared to get back. It wasn't a tech issue, anyway. It was more along the lines of a billing issue. Anyway, I call again, and instead of asking for his extension, seek the help of anyone I could get. I get an Indian, and he solves my issues, apologizes for the previous incompetence, and sends me a questionnaire by email asking for my opinion on his services.

That's just one experience. As a business owner, I wouldn't even think about hiring $15 an hour English specialists with nice voice mail messages for a job that only 3% of my customers would even require.

5/3/2006 11:53:58 PM

^^ Heh, I thought that when we were getting a 1% repair rate on the laptops we sell that it was alarmingly high. I guess not? And yeah, I remember hearing about best buy. When I worked at radioshack they also had ways of keeping track of problem customers. Most companies do that to track down fraud. I remember best buy specifically though because their program actually seperated out desireable and undesireably customers. They sorted them into "angels" and "devils." Basing treatment of customers on that kind of classification, beyond merely trying to discourage fraud, is what I find so distasteful. I still don't think Dell's really doing anything that specific or targeted yet though for the same basic kind of customer.

5/3/2006 11:56:02 PM

For the XBOX 360, according to Microsoft, the fault rate has been less than 3%. It's just that the same people have too many issues throughout the year. It's not hard to single them out at all.

5/3/2006 11:58:57 PM

Quote :

"out the door maybe, but that stat can't include non-customer-induced hardware failures within the warranty period (three years and beyond for many computers) "

anything is either born defective or not born defective. Those hardware failures are always induced by the user. If something is manufactured defective, you don't need a warranty to get it replaced. Those 3 year warranties are a profit making business for Dell because just by putting in simple exclusions, they are able to offer the same undefective product for about $200 more than the standard price and thereby giving the customers some protection against wear and tear.

5/4/2006 12:04:32 AM