Gizmodo 
Enter your username and password.
-
posts about #dellcustomerservicesucks more → 
My Girlfriend's Call to Dell: 90 Minutes, 10 Customer Service Reps, Nothing Accomplished
Tip your editors:
Editorial Director:
Brian Lam | | Twitter
Editor:
Jason Chen
| AIM | Twitter
Features Editor:
Wilson Rothman
| Twitter
Senior Contributing Editors:
Jesus Diaz
| AIM | Twitter
Mark Wilson, Reviews
| AIM | Twitter
Contributing Editors:
Matt Buchanan
| AIM | Twitter
Adam Frucci
| Twitter
Sean Fallon
| Twitter
Jack Loftus
| Twitter
John Herrman
| Twitter
Dan Nosowitz
Chris Mascari
Kat Hannaford
| Twitter
Rosa Golijan
| Twitter
Chris Jacob
Columnist:
Brendan I. Koerner
Interns:
Don Nguyen
Kyle VanHemert
Comment Account Questions:
| posts about #dellcustomerservicesucks more → |
My Girlfriend's Call to Dell: 90 Minutes, 10 Customer Service Reps, Nothing Accomplished |
Original material is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution.
11/13/09
11/13/09
How do you Google a new battery? #dellcustomerservicesucks
11/13/09
"no, I just want to know if I can swap out my 6 cell battery for a 3 cell battery."
hence the just should have googled it #dellcustomerservicesucks
11/13/09
I thought she was calling so that she could get Dell to replace her 6 cell battery for a 3 cell one. I think she was calling for service, not for information. #dellcustomerservicesucks
11/13/09
11/13/09
She couldn’t get on the internet, that was it, and while my Mom couldn’t convey exactly what had happened I found out when I came back up for a friends wedding. I went down to my Mom’s office at the house and on the desk I saw a Dell XP CD… I almost shit and asked her where it came from and she said that Dell said she needed it and charged her $40 for it. $40 for a cd that came with her computer… Ok well whatever, so I said "you didn’t put this in the computer did you?" and she went on to tell me that Dell had her put it in while the computer was off, turn it on, and go through some stuff. I freaking flipped out because I knew they just wiped out my Mom’s computer when the router was just flaked out.
I immediately called, was transferred to a manager and I let them have it. They credited her for the CD and offered to give her 2 more years of support for free. I’m sure you know what I told them to do with their support…
I had shown my Mom how to backup her stuff, she worked as a secretary (exec assistant I guess they call them now days) so she wasn’t a fool and for a long time she was great about backing up her stuff, but long story short she hadn’t in a very long time (and I wasn’t around to check up on it).
She told me she had a word doc with over 500 recipes in it that she had created herself (her own work not from cook books), I literally thought I was going to throw up. Luckily I was able to get piece a copy back together for her, but almost all of the other stuff was gone, no biggie that file was the only real important thing.
I couldn’t believe some MORON had my Mom (r.i.p.) format and reinstall her computer because it wouldn’t get on the forking internet… They got theirs we didn’t renew our lease with them at work because that was the last straw. I enjoyed that conversation with our sales rep.
After that my Mom wasn’t even upset. She was like "Oh it’s ok, I have it all on papers scattered around I’ll just re-enter it all", but her tone changed while I was trying to restore her stuff because she couldn’t find half of the papers. Oh and the best part? The idiots at Dell still didn’t get her internet working nor did they give her the drivers to load so her printer didn’t work, it was at 256 colors, and I forget what else. After doing all this with Dell she called me and didn’t tell me about all of this, I just talked her through getting the internet working (2 minute conversation) and I saw the aftermath when I came up shortly after.
Dell support is full of straight up morons, but that is what you get when you pay people minimum wage, even if they do know what they are doing, they don’t give a crap.
11/13/09
Especially the low level drones who answer the phone at your ISP.
Me to Charter: Our internet connection is out.
Charter to me: How many little icons are in that bar at the bottom of your screen? They might be using too much memory.
I would not have believed that response if I hadn't heard it myself. #dellcustomerservicesucks
11/13/09
My sister dropped her laptop, and the damage was so bad to the screen, that you could not see anything. She called customer service to see what they could do, but she was transfered many times just like this guy's girlfriend. One robot to another, they all washed their hands, and only hoped that someone else would have to do something truly humane. Anyways, it was under the warranty still, but Dell did not cover this damage, she was on the phone with them for over 3 hours, cried to a representative begging to fix this, just because it was hard for her to earn that money to pay for the laptop. No help at all, a few months later the laptop got the permanent blue screen of death. So she switched to mac a few years later and problem solved.
With HP:
I called HP once about this wireless mouse I bought. I really forgot what the issue was, but it wasn't very bad. So I called them, and I gotta say, so far, it has been the worst customer experience in my life. First of all, they were Indian's for a fact. I am not racist at all, because I trully believe there is just one race, but these people could not speak. I would say "what did you say again?" and they repeated it and still I could not understand them. I finally gave up after being on the phone with about 10 customer reps cause everyone washed their hands, and problem was not solved. HP really needs to put more money into customer service to better improve it. #dellcustomerservicesucks
11/13/09
Not to say I haven't gotten superior tech support from people in India. I have. But if these cheapass
American companies want Indians answering their phones, they should put call centers on American reservations. Not all Native Americans are rolling around in piles of casino dough. #dellcustomerservicesucks
11/13/09
11/13/09
On the other hand if you don't get commissions you're more likely to be honest and up front with the customer. Often at the detriment of your employer though. #dellcustomerservicesucks
11/13/09
Turns out quest didn't support Me #dellcustomerservicesucks
11/13/09
Yes, we were too far from the switch. I told them to forget about it. And then they tried to charge me $99 for early termination of a service we never got. #dellcustomerservicesucks
11/13/09
Turns out the fix was simple, too simple for me to realize it. Driver reloads fixed problems like a dead speaker and dead wireless. It's possible they had drivers I didn't have access to but none the less I followed their instructions (with much skeptisism) and low and belold problems solved.
Wait time was very short, less than 10 minutes. Total time on phone was less than 30 minutes.
As much as I hate to admit it Dell did a good job, at least this one time. #dellcustomerservicesucks
11/13/09
Because of this and because my experience can often blind me to the simple things I always do what they say (within reason).
Basics like "WHY CAN'T I GET INTO THE BIOS!!!! THIS MOBO IS SMOKED WTF I JUST GOT IT!" and you forgot to plug in the keyboard...
Often times we think "psh that can't be it some moron didn't put this thing together" and of coarse we are indeed morons because we did something so stupid that we never suspected it... Thinking about those times even now makes me laugh.
That bios incident was real, I thought for sure the motherboard was dead... haha #dellcustomerservicesucks
11/12/09
I tried buying an HP computer a few months ago-- that was hell. I couldn't understand the tech on the phone. They kept disconnecting the call and the phone tree was non-sensical. They sent the wrong parts (with five day shipping ) and then couldn't understand that I needed the correct part for my computer to function correctly. I sent the computer back for a refund, but only after another 45 minutes on the phone, several disconnections and a bunch of sales pitches.
I think HP hardware looks nice, but I can't imagine putting myself through that support nightmare again. #dellcustomerservicesucks
11/12/09
11/12/09
They did have relatively quick service though. If not for the major shortcomings of failing to fix one and running down the non defective product return period while fixing the other, I would actually consider doing business with HP again... #dellcustomerservicesucks
11/12/09
11/12/09
11/12/09
If one thing is for sure, they sure have made their way into overcrowded server rooms and cubicles around the world. #dellcustomerservicesucks
11/12/09
11/12/09
But heck, I don't own them. #dellcustomerservicesucks
11/12/09
11/12/09
11/13/09
11/12/09
11/12/09
11/12/09
11/12/09
11/12/09
11/12/09
11/12/09
11/12/09
11/12/09
11/12/09
But if she received the right part ordered, and wants to replace it for cosmetic reasons, that's not a valid reason. That is explained in her system's warranty.
People complain about long call times, and most of the time it's because the customer does not want to accept the facts, your girlfriend should have been more aware of the product she purchased. #dellcustomerservicesucks
11/12/09
ps
you didn't just have an extra battery lyin' about? #dellcustomerservicesucks
11/12/09
11/12/09
11/12/09
Sorry I had that typed out but I guess I removed it #dellcustomerservicesucks
11/12/09
11/12/09
Quit yer whingeing. #dellcustomerservicesucks
11/12/09
11/12/09
So they were supposed to open up the package...take out the 6 cell and then put in a 3 cell? What would they do with the 6 cell now? Put it in the 3 cell box and sell it to someone else??? Open box it?
Sorry non-issue...someone purchased a product at a NON CUSTOM price and apparently wanted to "customize" it.
Sorry companies just don't open up boxes and switch parts out...nor should they expect to.
Oh and I hate DELL....but this is not even 1% their problem. #dellcustomerservicesucks
11/13/09
11/13/09