22 Confessions Of A Former Dell Sales Manager

I read this article today and thought should share it with you...
There are a few useful bits in there

http://consumerist.com/consumer/insiders/22-confessions-of-a-former-dell-sales-rep-268831.php

 

That one's funny. I wonder if it'll really work...who wants to test it?

 

Nice find

The article has nice info on Dell Direct(kiosk)

 

Interesting read

 

It does and I've been pushing these techniques often with a lot of people calling me an idiot and giving me bad rep.

Complete care is an beautiful took if you know how to use it.

 

lol... better make sure the refurbished units of your model are all sold out first though.

 

I should clarify I never recommended and personally never would break a laptop on purpose just to get another laptop.

 

Alright, Sirius. I will. Go break your laptop, spill coffee on it, do something stupid and you might get a new one.

 

rofl,

I checked it out and the nine different prices is very true. Quite funny

 

That's not something I'd like to test. The rep said "new laptop" but the language of the Complete Care contract goes as follows:

The way I read this, if they can't send you the exact model you had, they can still send you a refurbished computer of a different model as long as that model is "equivalent or better". The laptop also has to be broken in such a way that just replacing a part won't fix the problem.

I'm wondering if that story about dropping the laptop and getting a **new** one (rather than refurbished) is not just part of sales pitch to get customers to buy Complete Care. I have not heard horror stories about Complete Care in particular but the general business of extended warranties is rife with stories of bull****ting sales people. Best Buy in particular is a frequent offender. There have been reports on Consumerist of salespeople saying "with this warranty, if you break it, you can bring it back to us and walk out of the store with a new unit". Then, when time comes to cash in on that warranty, the customer has to go through hoops to get satisfaction. Walking out of the store with a new replacement unit sure ain't happening. They have to ship the unit to a national Best Buy location, the unit has to be evaluated, etc. etc.

 

Do you have to use Complete Care to do that ?
Or you could do it with the regular 3 Year Mail-In Warranty?

Just out of curiosity

 

You will get a refurbished one, even if you get a new model. My 700M was replaced with a refurbished M1210.

 

I'd say that was a decent deal nonetheless.

 

I wasn't exactly complaining, just responding to the question . I sold the very baseline M1210 they sent me for $700 and put that money towards buying the computer I *really* wanted. I wish Dell had the option to get a credit instead of a refurbished system with Complete Care--THEN we'd be in business!

 

haha, good idea.

 

New developments: shortly after the initial Consumerist post was published, Dell sent a cease and desist letter to Consumerist. A pretty crappy response from a company who claims to be pro-costumer. Jeff Jarvis posted a very insightful comment on Dell's response. Basically, he says the event was a missed opportunity for Dell to listen to their customers' concerns. Well, yesterday evening, Lionel Menchaca admitted as much on the Direct2Dell blog. The post begins with a very humble statement:

So there you have it. Dell's initial response was admittedly a knee-jerk reaction. They are listening to their customers and to Jarvis' analysis. They are readjusting their stance and learning from their mistake. Nice to see.

 

Maybe I'm missing something, but isn't encouraging someone to intentionally break a machine in order to get it replaced some sort of insurance fraud or something?

-Zadillo

 

Yes.

In fact I believe CompleteCare is actually 'licensed' (err not sure what the proper word is here...) as an insurance package and that's why it's not allowed to be sold in some states, where I presume Dell isn't allowed to sell 'insurance' packages.

 

Someone there in the comments pointed out that when you do make an accidental damage claim, Dell actually does take the information down and passs it on to the insurance company to make the claim.

Personally I wouldn't want to encourage insurance fraud. Although I guess the point they make there is, if your accidental damage policy covers even things like dropping a laptop down a flight of stairs, it probably would be hard to distinguish between an accident and an intentional drop.

 

DELL really messed up this time...
Thanks for the link.

 

The real fraud is the extended warranties that businesses push in your face at the checkout line. I'm not going to comment on the "get a new laptop for free every 2-3 years."

If it's true that Dell is listening to its customers, it begs the question, "how did you screw up so royally with the new Inspiron line of notebooks?!"

 

No, the real fraud is when consumers abuse the crap out of every and any warranty policy they can, making the price of such warranties ridiculously high in order for the provider to make any money from it.
An extended warranty is a product that the seller hopes to make a profit from. Unfortunately "negligence" is too subjective, and a warranty provider would lose their shirt if they offered them at any kind of reasonable price.
The only thing they can do is sell a full coverage "yer a moron" plan at a higher price. This eliminates the whole "Negligent? Who, me?" junk.
The price is then readjusted for all the punks who do their best to scam Dell into giving them a new notebook.

 

Yup. 'Nuf said. And a particular member condoning this practice then complaining because other members think it's unethical and immoral, is asinine.

 

very good post.

 

Dell's 'new' laptops are pretty junky. No way am I going to try this.