What has happened to the companies of today? I understand that the mantra of “The customer is always right” has almost completely died but the new era of corporate apathy and customer abuse has gotten me riled!
Since this is my blog, and you are reading it, I would like to turn your attention to Dell. Ahh, Dell. Dell's story is a riches to riches story (the only kind that exists anymore) of deception and intrigue, lies and betrayal. Sound harsh? Keep reading… if this doesn’t sound harsh then I guess you can quit now. But if you quit now you’ll never know what I was going to say. It’ll eat at you while you sleep, slowly draining your will to resist reading my posts. Soon every waking moment my blog will consume your thoughts, your will to live will be lost in the overwhelming desire to search out the obscure corner of the internet (assuming the internet has corners (ooooooo…wrap your brain around that one)) that plays host to my illustrious web journal and then you will be mine, mine, MINE!!!!! *achem* right….so….Dell….
Recently I purchased two computers (count them, 1 … 2) from Dell, more specifically these were laptops. They were configured exactly the same, with one notable exception. One of the laptops needed an expansion card for mobile broadband. This is a completely external component; no change needs to be made to the computer its self Dell need only to put an extra box in the shipment. My mistake was to assume that Dell, being the multi-billion dollar conglomerate it is, could make a simple change to the order and add the needed accessory. I was wrong.
It took 3 ½ hours on the phone with eight, EIGHT, different people to finally get the necessary change made. Of the eight people who attempted, but failed most miserably, to help SEVEN had such thick Indian accents that doing business with them was impossible! I was to the point that when the seventh transferred me, yet again, I had made up my mind that if the next “representative” I spoke to could not communicate with me effectively I was going to cancel my order swearing loudly. This is largely due to the fact that the last person took literally 15 minutes to tell she could not help me, not 15 minutes on hold mind you, oh no… she spoke to me in broken English phrases with an accent so think (and her grasp of English so poor) that it took that long to relay my customer and order numbers! The eighth man to my immense surprise spoke perfect English, and was based in Round Rock!!!!! I could have driven down there, walked in through the doors to the facility with my handy dandy visitor badge, changed my own order, and driven back 45 minutes quicker than we did it over the phone!
Oh, it gets better! How, you ask? Well, continue on brave reader. And if you didn’t ask…you should of…I mean how do I even know if you are paying attention…you know what…you can just leave…now for the rest of us who are interested I will continue.
Unless you are a hermit and have no exposure to the outside world (in which case how did you find my blog) you have surely heard some news about the new version of Microsoft Windows that has been released, Windows Vista. Well, during the process of buying the aforementioned laptop computers I was given the option to upgrade to Vista when it became available (for a nominal fee of course). And, being the techno nerd I am, I went for it…big mistake. It was a long arduous process filled with unanswered phone calls and unanswered emails, they were sure quick to take the money out of my account though!
The whole issue came to a cusp when I attempted to call the Dell division handling the Vista upgrades. I called them three times about an hour apart each time, and there was no answer each time. I did get through the automated system; I was able to navigate the incomprehensible menus to find secret hidden options. But when it came time to finally talk to a human the phone would just ring forever and there was no answer. After this is sent a scathing E-Mail to dell and sent a copy to the Dell rep. I use for work. Amazingly a few days later I had a copy of Vista in the mail…and a few days after that my second copy arrived.
The moral of this story: “Don’t buy anything from Dell!” Their customer support is an abomination, and seven out of eight people can’t/won’t help you, or be able to speak comprehensible English.
I could rant on about how this is just another symptom of corporate apathy toward the consumer but I really must go… Until next time. AND DON'T EVEN GET ME STARTED ON FRIGIDARE!
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3 comments:
My husband had such a bad experience with Dell that he'll never go back. In fact, when we get fliers in the mail from them, they hit the recycle bin and never ever make it in the house. After working with Apple computers at school, I bought a laptop for home use and will never go back! Their customer service is first rate, although you do get the occasional tech with an English or Australian accent (but they're not hard to understand). The other added bonus is that all warranty work can be done through the stores or they'll send you packaging to send your computer to them through the mail (and they pay the postage). I've only had to call ONCE in the past year that I've owned it, whereas my husband probably calls once a month about his HP laptop!
That's right.....
The moral of the story......
GET A MAAAAAAAAAC!!!!
What problems I have had have been no fault of Apple itself, just the 3rd parties they use for such things like Optical Drives. When I did have a problem, the first person I spoke to was a very competent American. We troubleshooted trying to fix it, and when everything failed, he said he would send a box for me to ship my computer to them. Now, this happened on a Wednesday afternoon after 5 o'clock. The box to hold "my precious" (to be referred to as such for the remainder of this "I told you so" reply) arrived Thursday morning. I shipped my precious that day. One week later, my precious arrived back to me in tip top shape
Verizon is just as bad. You call to tell them your internet isn't working, and their evil little menus and the voices that talk to you while you're waiting for a real, live person all tell you "go to this website: www.longimpossibletorememberwebsitename.com to do your troubleshooting." How are you supposed to go to a website if you're internet isn't working? But once you finally get a real person, after at least 15-20 minutes of your life has been wasted yelling in frustration at the cheery and vaguely condescending on-hold voice, they will tell you to unplug your modem for 20 seconds, then restart your computer and plug your modem back in. Like you didn't already try that nine times, because calling their "tech support" was the last option on your list.
Anyway... I don't have a Mac but have heard so much good stuff about them that I am tempted sometimes to get one myself. The only bad thing is, I have to present at lots of conferences, and the computers there are always PCs and the Mac users' presentations always get messed up.
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