OT: I Don't Think This Company Should Go Bankrupt But - Good Lord!

[Tom Watson]

Dell has the worst customer service of any company that I have ever dealt with.

My journey into Dell Hell began a little over a week ago, when I ordered an Inspiron 8600 from the Dell website. I wanted a unit with the newest in processor technology and wireless capabilities, while having parallel and serial ports to run some of my older peripherals. The 360 degree product tour showed that the 8600 had the required ports.

A couple of days later a Dell catalog came in the mail. There was a chart in the catalog that showed the 8600 as not having parallel or serial ports. I went back to the Dell website to look at the 360 degree product tour and, sure enough, the ports were there. I took a screen shot of the rear view shown in the product tour.

Then I called Dell customer service to see what they had to say about the ports. I was passed around to a number of different people, none of them could give me a definitive answer concerning the ports.

After many emails and phone calls it was established that the 8600 no longer ships with parallel and serial ports, although it apparently did so not too long ago. I asked what they were going to do for me, given the fact that I had ordered the unit based on information from their website. The woman who was handling my call put me on hold and never came back on the line. This was the first of three times that I would be treated this way by Dell customer service people.

Finally an email was sent to me apologizing for the confusion about the ports and offering a discount of $75.00 on the purchase of a port replicator, which would give me back the ports that I had already paid for. When I called to purchase the port replicator, I was told that the $75.00 would be taken off the full price of the unit ($199.00) and not the price of the unit that I would have paid if I had ordered it with the 8600 in the first place ($119.00). Through Dell's generosity, I was now going to pay $124.00 for a unit that would have cost me $119.00, if ordered with the machine that I already thought had the ports on it that the replicator was replicating.

It turned out not to matter, anyway - because the guy that I placed the order with lost the order and nobody can find any record of it. I figured I'd just wait on that until the 8600 came.

Today, April 5, the day that my 8600 was supposed to ship - I got an email telling me that it would not be shipping for up to two weeks. When I called to find out the specific problem that was holding up completion of the order, no one could give me any information. During two separate phone sessions the customer service people put me on hold and then never came back on. I was never able to determine what was causing the delay. If I had gotten that information perhaps I could have substituted another component that was in stock and thus get the order out in a timely manner.

But I was not given the opportunity to do this. The customer service people were unfailingly polite while failing entirely at their duties.

This experiment with using offshore customer service people is a failure. The people do not extend themselves to help remedy the situation. They are not confrontational but allow the customer to hang on the line until they go away. They are very difficult to understand.

I feel that I was lied to by Dell about the shipping date. I feel that I was deceived by Dell about the ports contained in the unit. I feel that Dell's commitment to customer service and satisfaction is beneath contempt.

I am not going to make any further phone calls or send any more emails. I am going to wait twenty four hours to get a satisfactory reply from Dell, and then I am going to go out and buy an IBM.

I am also going to post this message on the laptop forums and send it out to a number of the computer magazines. And every chance I get I will badmouth Dell. You deserve it.

(Sent yesterday to Dell "Customer Service" and again this morning to [e-mail])

(coda: the port replicator that no one could find an order for showed up today - now I have a port replicator for a laptop that was supposed to have the needed ports - but don't got no laptop to go with it - sheesh.)

(but they seem to keep making money.)

Thomas J. Watson-Cabinetmaker (ret) Real Email is: tjwatson1ATcomcastDOTnet Website:

[Chuck B.]

after talking to an offshore fella for 3 hours, we gave up and returned it and got an HP. Much better machine and have had no problems. The offshore phone call was long distance and we were not told it was. It took a long time to get IBM to reimburse the phone bill.

[Pop Rivet]

Careful of IBM: The way the set up the machines isn't necessarily what you expect ubnless you're used to the IBM methods. I can recommend Gateway - their CS is considerably improved and the order process a lot simpler and more detailed than Dell. They also give you actual CDs with the software on them. Only, well,Gateway's talkng about minimizing their PC business now, so for tomorrow-protection? Guess it's all a crapshoot anymore. Only thing they have left they can sell to distinguish themselves is service and most of them don't know what the word means.

Dell: I would go to a Thomas Register, get the president's name, address, etc. and send a couple of well placed registered mails to them, asking for a win-win remedy because you "know they're so good, but ...". You might get a quick response and an unexpected break on the costs.

[Ian Wheeler]

Tom,

I feel sorry or your trip to Dell Hell - but I have to say I've purchased two machines from Dell since the new year. Both shipped on or before the day they should have (3 days after order i think), both arrived quickly and both functioned properly out of the box.

I think you just got unlucky on the delivery, but the CSR's not knowing if the machine had ports is unexcusable.

Ian

[John Flatley]

Tom, I'm sorry you had such a difficult time ordering a system. However, I would have expected with your name you wouldn't do business with anyone but IBM. Are you related to THE Watsons?

(In case someone forgot or didn't know: Thomas J. Watson was the founder of the Computer Tabulating Recording Company. CTR was the forerunner of IBM. Tom senior was the President/CEO of IBM for many years. His son, Tom, Jr., followed him in the business.)

After pulling your chain, I must admit, as a retired IBMer, I am a committed Dell user. When OS/2 bit the dust, I gave away my PS/2 and moved to Dell. I've had four Dell desktop systems and my wife has a Dell laptop. I have not had any problems with hardware ordering from Dell. I had one minor hardware support problem. I allowed an overseas tech support person, for whom English was a third or fourth language, to convince me that the answer to my problem was to reformat my hard drive. It did not fix my problem, but it was an almost simple task to rebuild my hard drive. Simple, because at that point, I was already trained/conditioned to keep everything backed up!! So I'm happy with Dell and wouldn't buy anything else at this point. One close friend buys IBM, another buys Gateway and a third builds his own.

Everyone has had a problem with Dell/Gateway/IBM/Woodcraft/Rockler/Lee Valley/Delta/Jet/Harbor Freight/Oak/Walnut/Maple. Problems are just another opportunity.

Variety and choice. Politics and Pizza. Cars and Clothes. Women and Whiskey. Variety and choice: The spices of life!

Jack Flatley Jacksonville, Florida

[TeamCasa]

SNIP? Tom, I once hired an IT guy, friend of a friend. He said and produced all of the right things. Within two weeks, I fired him - dumber than sack of hammers. Found out later tat he moved to TX and went to work for DELL Customer Service!

I have 10 laptops - all SONY. I have tried and used them all over the last few years. I am very satisfied with all of the Sony's. We had one problem, our fault, one call, sent it to SONY in San Diego, two weeks and $300.00 later, its back and works perfectly.

All USB ports plus a parallel port.

Dave

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[Larry Blanchard]

Tom, I haven't dealt with them for a year or two, but I've always gotten excellent service from JDR

Usually I've bought a motherboard and the pieces to build my own, but they also sell complete systems. Unfortunately I don't think they sell laptops, although they do have some very small desktops. As well as some industrial stuff that will live forever bathed in sawdust :-).

[Tom Watson]

Actually, my drivers license has the name on it of: Thomas J. Watson, Jr.

Don't I just wish.

I am gratified that your experience has not been the same as mine.

This seems to be a favorite fix of Tier One Tech Dudes. I was taught that this was a Nuclear Level Option. I almost never call Tier One guys - they don't seem to know any more than me. The difficulty is in getting to the people who actually do know something.

Is it really all that simple to rebuild a hard drive, when al the patches are lost and all the tweaks are lost?

Yeah, me too - having been using this crap since the CPm days, but backups are tricky and prone to errors - that may not show up for a good long time.

There's a guy who builds his own laptops - He must be a God. I've "built" two desktops - about the same as assembling your own stereo components - but never saved any money and don't want any further education in this direction.

OK, but promise vs. performance has gotten out of hand with some of these people. If I order a unit online, with the expectation of it being delivered at a specified date - I don't expect to get an email telling me that I "might" get it at a date that represents a 200 percent error.

Thank you for the reply, Jack. I'm just a little pissed at the whole situation right now.

Real Email is: tjwatson1ATcomcastDOTnet Website:

[Ron Angel]

Tom, I recieved my Inspiron 8600 in late November of last year. It has both serial and parallel ports.

Their pre-sales support was pretty helpful.

Their post-sale 'offshore' tech support has not been much help, big suprise huh?

It been pretty decent. Use it with my eCabinets design software a good bit.

BTW, If you plan on dual booting w/Linux check out the hardware compability guide with the 'flavor' you choose. Some are picky about notebooks, but, they are much better than the used to be.

Also, this goes back about 10 years though. I used to work for a company which bought a lot of Gateway tower PC (I think they liked the cow boxes). We would install Unix on them along with our own system software. Gateway was absolutely NO HELP with *nix. We were definetly on our own. Dell, up until recently at least shipped some systems pre-installed w/Linux, not sure about laptops. IBM being big on Linux may do the same, or offer support at least.

Good Luck, Ron

[CW]

You've got this customer service thing all wrong. It's not there to help you, it's there so they can say that they have it. Makes for better advertising.

[Charlie Self]

Pop Rivet notes:

Michael Dell, IIRC.

Charlie Self "It is not strange... to mistake change for progress." Millard Fillmore

[Charlie Self]

Uh, if you say so. But what do I do with a Dell using an NEC CD burner that works weirdly when it works. My singsong boy on the phone used up over 4 of my hours re-installing XP and other fiddlefarting around, which did absolutely nothing beyond giving me a headache. Actually, the headache was from trying to understand a singsong accent from an overpolite Indian with my worn out American ears.

He called back the next day--unlike Tom, I didn't lose him--and left a message, but I didn't respond because I was not about to format my frigging hard drive to make such a repair. What I need, chances in my favor being roughly 999 to

999.1--is a new CD burner. Wanna bet? My warranty has about a month to run, which makes me nervous.

Charlie Self "It is not strange... to mistake change for progress." Millard Fillmore

[Mike in Mystic]

Hey Charlie,

I've dealt with these "tech support" weenies before. The quickest and easiest way to get a part replaced is to simply tell the person that you've already done whatever it is they are suggesting you do. If this guy tells you to format your hard drive, say "I did, didn't fix it". It doesn't take them too long to reach the end of their pre-scripted troubleshooting list, at the end of which is usually the authority to RMA a defective part. Just my $0.02.

Mike

[Tom Watson]

What I do is call and ask to speak to a second tier tech support person or a tech supervisor. I explain that I realize that such an august personage cannot be immediately produced and provide my cell phone number, with the explicit expectation that they will call me within the hour.

Sometimes this works and sometimes it doesn't.

Most people who can turn on a computer can derive no benefit from Tier One Tech Support.

("Have you checked to see if your computer is plugged in?")

Thomas J. Watson-Cabinetmaker (ret) Real Email is: tjwatson1ATcomcastDOTnet Website:

[Nate B]

"Tom Watson"

Are you leaving out the part of the story where the specs clearly had no mention of the ports, but you ordered it anyway hoping they would be there because of some picture?

- Nate

[Tom Watson]

No, I'm leaving out the part where the ports were not described at all in the system specs when I ordered and the only clue was the pictorial representation of the back of the unit.

Would you like to characterize my assumption that those ports would be included, based on a Dell provided product tour, that I screen shotted, to be without merit?

Thomas J. Watson-Cabinetmaker (ret) Real Email is: tjwatson1ATcomcastDOTnet Website:

[Roy Smith]

I take it you've never worked a help desk? Believe me, making sure it's plugged in (and turned on) is a vital part of any tech support call. The first rule of tech support is never assume anything. The second rule is don't believe anything the caller tells you that doesn't make sense unless you can verify it yourself.

I work for a company which develops network management software. You've probably never heard of us, but you probably know many of the companies who are our customers. There's a reasonable chance that the software I wrote is used by your ISP to help manage your DSL or Cable Modem connection. You'd think we'd be able to figure out if something is plugged in or not, right?

A while ago, I had a test system set up in an unused office at one of our remote locations. Every once in a while, it would go off the network, and we couldn't figure out why. Eventually we tracked down the problem. Some folks at the remote location needed a room for a meeting so they just used the empty office. They also needed a place to plug their laptops in, so they would unplug the (apparently unused) PC that was sitting there and use the network jack.

So, yeah, "Is it plugged in?" really is the first question to ask when trying to diagnose a computer problem.

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Been there a long time ago, never again.

Now I use a local one man shop. I've bought my two home computers and about

10 at work. If there is a problem, I drop it off when he gets in the shop at 10 AM and pick it up at lunch time, all fixed. Network problem? He comes to me. Price is very competitive with Dell, Gateway, etc. Customer service is fantastic.

Plenty of small shops around like that. My experience is that this is the best way to go. Ed

[Nate B]

"Tom Watson"

I just clicked my way over to the site.

Under "Tech Specs", the IO ports are CLEARLY listed.

I don't see a parallel or serial port on the list, therefore I would assume they were not there.

Especially for high tech products, the picture doesn't mean jack squat. How long have you been in this world? Did it ever occur to you to pick up the phone and call about a possible difference between the CLEARLY LISTED I/O SPECs and some picture? Did you zoom in and get some processor and throughput specs from that picture too?

Dell runs a pretty good show, IMO. Send that puppy back if you don't like it and see what your money buys you in ordering ease, support and customized hardware configuration over at the competition.

- Nate

[CW]

I'll agree with that. You have to be careful and check into a place but when you find a good one (there are plenty out there), they are far better than namebrand. Someone you can talk to, knows your system inside and out (because they built it) and often will come out and fix it. Again though, be careful. There are enough lousy ones out there to keep the good ones doing good business.