Topic: Dell Customer Support

[knightstorm]

I've never dealt with dell customer support, but i have dealt with others.  I found in my limited expierence in calling that if you explain the troubleshooting process you went through they normaly shut up cause the realize you probably know more than them .

Dell doesn't.  They have a checklist that they're required to go through whether the list fits the problem or not.

Yep.  That has been my experience as well.

As does any properly run help desk.  You guys forget what advanced users you probably are.  Imagine helping your grandmother with her computer.. over the phone.

The problem is that their checklist is poorly designed.  It doesn't suit the problems, and their diagnostics lead to false results.  When my motherboard failed, they told me it was the hard drive.  However I wanted to be certain it was the hard drive before I had to recover my important files.  I took my computer in for an independent evaluation which I paid for.  They actually examined my computer and told me it was the motherboard.  Dells Diagnostic said it was the hard driveI had a huge fight with them for hours before they relented and replaced the board.

[Cyberkada]

I was a DELL on-site customer service agent - and number one problem was INDIAN technical support - both from the Technician POV and the customer POV.  I'm had many customers tell me that Indian DELL support told then to reformat and reinstall Windows when it was clearly an LCD screen problem (a 15 minute repair job - it I was really taking my time).   We were specificially told that any software problems will be handled from India (and later the Philippines).  We were not allowed to troubleshoot and test.

I hated when I had to deal with Indian clients on-site (this was Northern Illinois).  Refused to talk directly to me (and other field technicians as well) and demanded that Indians fix their problems.  I told one (and was written up for it) because he was railing against Americans and proudly stating the fact that him and his budies have replaced American IT workers that my time was next.  I told him to have an Indian come there and fix his laptop then.  I called my supervisor and left.

[Beeblebrox]

Dell Customer service sucks.  That is the reason I will never buy another dell product.  When I had an Inspiron, I sometimes had to wait on the phone for four hours to get simple repairs.  Another thing I hate about them is that their representatives are very unresponsive, and seem unable to comply with simple requests.  Here is a call from a guy who has had the full dell treatment.  Admittedly its a stupid problem, but after getting bounced around and put on hold for hours he's doing what I dreamed about doing. 
http://www.ebaumsworld.com/2006/10/dell-support-call.mp3

I've interviewed, trained, and coached customer service people for endless years and I have ZERO tolerance for a poorly trained agent.  When I was renting to own this computer I had to call Dell support for some issue or another.  I was told by them that, despite the computer having a full warranty, he (an Indian support agent) could not do anything for me because any and all uses of the support/warranty had to be done by the store I was renting from.  In other words:  disconnect everything, lug it out to the car, and drive over to the rental store (during business hours) and then the store could access the live support features of the warranty. 

First things first:  As soon as the agent answers let them know you're recording the phone call---even if you're not.  Your first question needs to be the name of the agent and his/her operator/agent ID number.  Always, always, always verify the least amount of information possible.  When the agent is asking for things like your phone number and/or email address he is doing so for purposes of telemarketing/spamming you.  Remember:  Despite what the agent tells you personal information like email and phone numbers are entirely unnecessary to the resolution of your technical issue.  Your second question needs to be the name of the call center the agent is working for. 

Agents are required to identify their employer by Federal law.  Once you know which center they work for you can then hop online (assuming your computer isn't fragged) and surf right over to the call center's website.  Once there you can get all sorts of information such as the names of the Operations manager, the Quality Assurance manager, etc..  You can also get reviews of the center's performance and reputation.  If there is any dirt to be found in that arena you've got a definite edge in the call.  You'd be surprised how quickly you can get a manager on the phone when you start mentioning the lawsuits/state investigations being aimed at the call center.   

Nine times out of ten you will wind up having to demand to speak to a manager.  Most call center hierarchies are structured thusly:  Group manager (handles roughly 30-60 agents); Floor manager (handles the Group managers); Senior supervisor (handles day-to-day activities of the entire program (i.e. almost all call centers are operating as agents for multiple programs like Dell customer support, Chase-Manhattan customer support, etc.) group); Operations manager (handles operations of the entirety of the call center).  If the agent is giving you grief you should skip the first two levels and immediately demand to speak with the Senior supervisor. 

If the agent refuses (Due to poor training most agents will refuse--properly trained agents will attempt to de-escalate the call and retain control of the call through one request for a manager.  Upon the second request a properly trained agent will immediately ask to place you on hold and will bring a manager to the phone.) then start demanding to speak to the call center's Quality Assurance department.  Most agents have a phobia of their Quality Assurance department since no one likes to listen to themselves sucking on tape and absolutely no one wants to have to go through a full review of their QA recordings.