Dell complaints

[Frustrated Dell Owner]

July 21, 2006
Extended Warranty Issue
Mr. Michael Dell
C/O Dell Computer Corporation
1 Dell Way
Round Rock, TX 78682-0001




Dear Mr. Dell,

I realize that you’re an extremely busy man but if you could spare the time to read this letter I be very grateful.
On April 28, 2006 I talked with my ISP tech and told them that I couldn't get a certain web site (my girlfriend and I are both using IE6). My ISP support had me plug the main Cat 5 cable (that was carrying the internet connection that was hooked into our router) into my computer instead. I did that and still couldn't get that web site to load. Plus they had me disable my Norton firewall and anti-virus. Still nothing happened. They suggested I call Dell so I did that same night I called Dell's tech support to try and get help with a web site connection problem. (Here's where the fun started) Dells’ (great) tech support never asked me if I was behind a firewall or using a router (both of which I was using). He had me try a few web sites and I was able to hit those. But when I went to the one that wouldn't access it would never load. He then informed me that I had a software problem and promptly transferred me over to the Dell on Call (DOC) section.
After shelling out over $200.00 for a 1 year contract I was transferred to a software support tech. That tech was kind enough to inform me that my extended warranty on my computer had expired back in November of 2005. Their (Great) software tech just had me disable all of my start up list and reboot. He then had me try and access that site and again it wouldn't load. He then said your IE is corrupted. He then had me download Mozilla Firefox and AVG antivirus. It seemed to me that he didn't want to bother with trying to help me repair my IE browser. I then promptly contacted Customer Care and requested a refund for the DOC service. And tried a few things on my own and found out it was a cookie issue. I then reinstalled my Norton’s products.
Well the next day I spent several hours trying to get a live person so that I could obtain a new extended warranty. When ever I did get a live person they would just transfer me to another department. This is not good customer service! This all started around 8 a.m. and I finally got a hold of a supervisor (about 6 hours later) I was told that my problem would be sent to the Escalation team. Now I’m just waiting to hear from them. And all this hassle because they won’t sell me another extended warranty to replace the one that I was unaware had expired November of last year.
As of this writing I haven’t hear from a supervisor or the Escalation team regarding this issue. Because of this I’m writing you this letter. And since I’m still making payments on this system I’d really like to have a warranty on it.
Plus I’d actually like to speak to some one that can fully understand English instead of someone in India or the Philippines where the language barrier exists. At least when I called DOC I got someone in Canada that spoke excellent English. Out sourcing may be cheaper but in the long run it causes more headaches and stress for customers and the technicians due to the heavy accents of both the technicians and most Americans.

Respectfully yours,
_________________
Frustrated Former Dell Customer

Running
Dell Deminsion 2400
Windows XP
Pentium 2.2 GHz
2 80 Gig Hard Drives
Terabyte HD
2 Gig of RAM
DVD/CD-RW
A Firewall
A Anti Virus Program

[Rocke_T_Sinetist]

Yikes! You even PAID for software support and they still couldn't fix THE MOST COMMON KNOWN ISSUE WITH IE6? Geezus! Not only do the cough**techs**cough not know beans, the Dell diagnostic tool doesn't know beans either.

Note to all IE6 users: If you can go to most websites but certain ones won't display, clear cookies and history. There's also a 'repair internet explorer' tool, but I can't tell you where it lives on WXP--it does essentially the same thing. Look them up in 'help', or Google, if you don't know how.
_________________
Rocke T Sinetist
as in, 'it doesn't take a...'

[i_escaped_dell]

I believe Dell On Call is a total satisfaction queue so you could request a refund from them and get it. At least it was before I got out of Dell last November.

[KE7EHA]

Don't bitch about the language barrier untill you get an american call center. The two times I have goten an american call center, I got a woman who talked in slang [like that rap sh!t] and couldn't understand anything besides what she saw on the script, and the other time I got this arrogant [seemingly] 16 year old asshole who thought I didn't know what I was talking about .

I am in engineering school training to be an Electrical Engineer, I have been repairing computers for years [not so much with my Macs, but I have messed around in the guts of every system I own], I live in an engineering dorm with people who have very profitable buisnesses for comuter repair. Needless to say, I have sources, I research my problems and do a little diagnosis before calling Dell. I hate being blatently told that I am stupid, then being given a solution to try [which I already tried, and didn't work] and then got hung up on. F***!

In my experience, Dell made a great move in outsourcing the tech support to India. The tech that I have talked to from India have all been coerteous, respectful, and generally cared about my problem. Also, every time I have gotten a tech in India, my problem was resolved in less than two hours [that's for a parts dispatch, but I can't fault the tech support for slow shipping].

I may have been exceedingly lucky, but I also have two coworkers who grew up in that region. Both of my coworkers can be easily understood, if you are paying attention to them. I can understand that the accent is a little foreign at first, but any accent can be overcome. You just have to put in a little effort.

As for the problem with cookies, you are not a very good diagnostician at all. That's the first problem I always look at if I have problems with my internet. Also, the first "tech" should have had you check cookies as the first thing, and resolved your issue in five minutes. The DOC tech should have known better.

On a side note, why are you using IE? It's a buggy, bloated program, like most everything that Microsoft puts out on the market. Firefox is easily 1/10 the size, it is more secure [less loopholes/bugs], and is actually faster than IE. It's better, at least in my opinion.
_________________
"The art of Engineering is knowing what you can safely ignore." -Dr. H. Hess

[sickofdell]

[Frustrated Dell Owner]

[quote="KE7EHA"]Don't bitch about the language barrier untill you get an american call center. The two times I have goten an american call center, "
I have gotten an American call center for a sales call and the dumb ass that emailed me back couldn't even spell correctly. And as of the writing of this letter I through dealing with Dell forever.
_________________
Frustrated Former Dell Customer

Running
Dell Deminsion 2400
Windows XP
Pentium 2.2 GHz
2 80 Gig Hard Drives
Terabyte HD
2 Gig of RAM
DVD/CD-RW
A Firewall
A Anti Virus Program

[KE7EHA]

I hope to never again contact Dell. In fact, I don't think I ever will, unles my chip goes out, as it [supposedly] did before.
_________________
"The art of Engineering is knowing what you can safely ignore." -Dr. H. Hess

[Rocke_T_Sinetist]

[Frustrated Dell Owner]

[KE7EHA]

standard i915 mobo with a standard intel P4 530 prescott.
_________________
"The art of Engineering is knowing what you can safely ignore." -Dr. H. Hess

[FallenAngel]

[jimreigstad]