Dell customer support rant

So I decide to call Dell customer support and as always I talk to somebody with limited English proficiency. I just wish Dell would stop outsourcing customer support to India. That's not the main problem my problem is when I purchased my laptop I was promised a $75 gift card in 10-20 days which I never received. Then I ordered a 24 inch monitor and I was supposed $50 gift card. You see I'm the sort of person that if I say I'm going to do something I will do it. The sales person told me when I purchased my laptop that I would get the $75 gift card. Then after almost 2 months I call customer support and ask where is my gift card they said they have no record of it and that I was supposed to set up some sort of preferred account in order to qualify and nobody told me that I would have to do this .
After this experience I will never buy another Dell product again because I do not like to be lied to.

I bought the following.


Alienware 17 $1750


Dell UltraSharp 24 Monitor - U2414H $324

 

Can't hold sales representatives to their word, you need to get it in writing (chat / email). They do lie to you and tell you things you want to hear. The more they sell, the more money they make. And in India, they don't make squat. This has happened to me twice - promises made and never kept. I've also had sales representatives completely ignore my emails and avoid putting their direct contact information in the order details.

Hopefully this year some things change with Michael Dell back in the drivers seat. According to articles online, Q2/2014 is when he officially takes over.

 

If you're in the USA you shouldn't be talking to anyone from India as an Alienware customer. That's definitely going to diminish your customer satisfaction level. I do what I can to avoid speaking to those representatives. They're very polite, but seldom know anything and usually cannot assist me effectively.

If you live in the USA you should only be dealing with North American and Costa Rican employees. You may be dialing the wrong phone number. Call 1-800-ALIENWARE. If you end up on the line with someone having an East Indies accent, politely say goodbye and call back or ask them to transfer your call to Costa Rican Alienware Support. It's easier to call back using 1-800-ALIENWARE because the transfer usually doesn't get routed correctly.

The other thing is that I seriously doubt you were lied to. This is probably evidence of someone making a mistake or simply being incompetent rather than deceptive or malicious intent. Incompetence or simple human error is not the same as deception. Do you have any record of your entitlement to a gift card? If you do, then don't get too stressed out. If the only thing you have is your recollection of a verbal statement, you might be screwed unless you can find someone willing to go back through the call recordings for that specific salesperson on that specific day and listen to the conversation you had with him/her. I try to use chat or ask that they send me an email confirming the offer prior to the transaction. If they cannot send me an email to back up their special deal then I don't accept the offer.

 

I do have record's confirming my statement. I save all my emails and invoices.

 

I thought DELL was a goner and being closed down or sold or going private in the early 2013. Can you guys update me on what is going on exactly?

 

Supposed to go private this year. It was sold back to Michael Dell and Silverlake in 2013. It doesn't happen overnight, there's a process. I'm sure things will be on track for 2015, and hopefully by 2016 there will be more Dell call centers in the USA than India.

 

Mr. Fox, I always get East Indian folks for my support and I live in the U.S. now sales I've had a u.s. Rep but never for support lol.

 

Really? When you call 1-800-ALIENWARE and hear the automated greeting that clearly indicates you've reached Alienware? Or, when you erroneously contact Dell Support and the automated greeting for Dell that doesn't mention the Alienware name in the initial greeting? The only time I have ever spoken to an East Indian after calling 1-800-ALIENWARE is when my call got misrouted. I questioned the dude about where he was and whether he was Dell Support or Alienware. He said Dell, and I said buh-bye. Called back and got Costa Rica on the first try.

If you are calling outside of the normal hours for Costa Rican support, your call might get routed to India as a matter of necessity. I only call them between 8AM and 6PM CST, so that might have something to do with it.

 

I wish there there was an outlet where we could voice our opinion to upper management.

 

I'd say the last five times I've called Technical Support, 2/5 of those times I was speaking directly to someone in Florida/USA, and the other times I was transferred to someone in India, but was later transferred to someone in the States for further support. I think it depends on what you need assistance with, where you're located, and perhaps who's available. It's quite random.

For sales, 8/10 times it has been someone in India or outside of the US. "Hello, my name is Bob, how may I help you today?" Yeah...sure.

 

YEAH , lets face the fact Dell support sucks. And Alienware support is nearly unheard of....

anywayswhats going private supposed to do for the company or is it more about what its going to do to someone's personal bank account... at the cost to the consumers. ?

Lets face it too, that things don't ever get better, they only spiral downhill. Can anyone ever think of a company that got better in the short run ? Long run sure, maybe took a decade... but 2-3 years ? Not me, I can not cite a proper reference.

 

Ahh yes I always call way after that, that explains it XD. But good to know that I just need to call in the mid day.

 

I live in Florida and whenever the technician broke my computer (Which was every time.) he would call and it was always a person from India because the support here in Florida is Spanish I believe (Or that's what I get from their accents on the phone. XD). I have more beef with the technicians (More like the same technician that has broken every single computer that I have gotten and could care less if he left me with a working computer.) that come from World Wide Tech than the support people.

 

This would correlate with Mr. fox's Puerto Rican support.

 

This forum is my form of technical support. I do hope when dell takes charge things will change. As it stands right now I have no faith in their technical support abilities because when a remote to my computer almost every single time I have to pull the plug because they're doing something to mess up my computer but that's another story.

 

I've had to do this as well.

 

Nobody is allowed to make changes to my system through remote connection. I'll share my desktop so they can see things and listen to their suggestions, but they don't get control to do whatever they want to do without a full and detailed explanation of their proposal before anything is changed. I've had to say no a couple of times, too.

 

Yeah one time I had a argument with a tech support . Pretty much it lead to one thing trust which I had no trust in them . When me and the tech support guy were talking he asked me why did and I trust him and that tech support people for the most trustworthy people LOL.