The Computer Guy

So I’ve been complaining lately about various tech support blunders by various big name companies. Lately Dell has taken first place as a company with terrible customer support.

One of my end users broke his laptop.  While the machine is still under warranty for failures in components, it’s not under warranty for accidental damages. Such as the heavy object he dropped on his laptop!

So I called Dell to arrange an out of warranty repair. We’re shelling out the dough to get this fixed.

First call to Dell appears to be promising, the Dell rep took all my info, explained the cost (remember I said COST here, there’s more later!), and took out company credit card info to pay for the repairs.

She explained that it would be $199 + tax to fix the laptop. I was surprised it was so low but I wasn’t going to argue.

It was explained to me that I would be receiving a box to ship the unit back within a couple of days. I ended the call with a thanks and went on about my business for the next week.  I started to wonder whether or not I was going to get a box, so I called up Dell.

The previous rep gave me no confirmation, order, case or any other number for which to reference the previous contact.  All I had was the service tag #.  After getting transferred no less than 3 times and having to be put on hold while the current rep “read the case notes”, I finally got a hold of a nice young lady who explained that the previous rep did not complete the depot request, thus there had been no box shipped out.  She said she was going to take care of that and I thought we were done, but alas that’s just the beginning.  She also explained that the previous rep did not do the order right.  She explained that the $199 was only a diagnostic fee, and covered shipping the machine back to dell. As well as any miscellaneous parts that might be needed.  She explained that the LCD repair kit was another $169 and if the main board was damaged, it was another $140 for that. So my costs just went to a possible $350 to $510 depending on the extent of the damage to the machine. I explained that I wasn’t happy this wasn’t explained better but relented and confirmed the costs.

I shipped the unit back, they received it and called the day after. Unfortunately I was out-of-town.  They left a voicemail and also sent me an email. It was a Friday so I had to wait till monday to get in touch with them and sort it out.

Fast forward to monday, 3 voice mails left, 2 emails sent. Not a peep. Tuesday, 3 calls made, 2 voice mails left, 1 email, no response. Wednesday, I ring this reps extension again but do not get an answer, SURPRISE. So I call back and use the automated menu to try to find someone who can shed some light on the subject.

Keep in mind that to date, I have never been given a case, order, reference, or any kind of number from Dell. I only have the service tag.

I finally track someone down and give them the service tag number, he in turn, puts me on hold for 10 minutes while he reads the case notes, then comes back to tell me that I’ve called the wrong department and hands me off to another department. Again, I am put on hold while someone reads the case notes and wastes another 10 minutes of my time.

Finally after 3 transfers and 43 minutes on the phone I get another lady whom I tell I am not letting her off the phone until I get answers and I refuse to let her transfer me to another department unless she checks with them personally to make sure she is transferring me to the right department. I keep this gal on the phone for a solid 30 minutes while she tracks someone down in the right department. Things look promising, she comes back and says ” I have so and so from where ever on the line and they are going to make sure your case is handled”. She then proceeds to ask the other rep if they are on the line and is met with silence. “Hello, are you there?”

So she has to put me on hold again while she tries to find someone else to take care of me. 20 minutes later she finds one of the 5 people in the CSR department of Dell with an IQ higher than a toothbrush!

This single CSR decided to take complete ownership of the situation and made sure the depot request to repair the laptop was handled. She also made sure that the previous bill was rectified and added the new charge of $169 to the original $199 to fix the machine. When it was all said and done, the cost of the repair was $369+tax.  When I finally got the laptop back they had pretty much replaced everything on the damn thing.

All the bezels were replaced, the keyboard, the main board, the LCD, the LCD lid & bezel, etc.

I could understand a company dragging it’s feet if it were something they were on the $ hook for. But I wanted to give them MY MONEY to fix the laptop. To me, it seems like a win-win situation. You know if you walked into a car dealship with wad of cash ready to buy a car, the sales reps would be beating themselves and each other up to make the sale.

Dell needs to step it up.

They get a 3 out of 10 for support.