Dell's customer support is so bad

Hi Guys- I'm a newbie on here and due to being let down by Dell-I saw this forum-and wanted to check out which would be a good lappie to buy. I couldnt believe it when I saw that dell's Customer Support has an area all of its own
WEll just to recap my experience with them. Ive been a customer of theirs for over 10 years, I genuinely liked their build of pc, but unfortunately, here in Ireland we only have recourse to their customer support in India.
Now on september 16th I bought a replacement lappie from them- Studio 17, high def display, as I do a lot of graphics work...there was a three week delay which was acceptable. Last Friday i went online again to check the progress of my order (just under 1600 Euros) to find it had been changed from 'work in progress'(!) to 'cancelled'. No emails from them no communication -de nada
I sent three emails- two to customer support and one to the sales rep. Monday morning by midday hadnt received any communication from them, so spent the usual difficult task of trying to ring Customer support. Finally got throught to them ont he third try and the lady told me that it was me that had cancelled the order(Blatant lie) and when i told her this was not so, she then told me that there was a problem with my part number- the display that I orderd wasnt available but she could give me the number of another department to ring.
Well guys as you can imagine I was thinking, hang on a minute, surely Dell should be contacting me if they cant fulfill an order.
I also noticed that my credit card ahd not been debited for the amount which i thought was strange but maybe they only debit it when the lappie is being made?
So anyway i told her just to keep it cancelled and I would get one somewhere else as I needed it for work as an adjunct to the desktop xps that I had purchased from them. All she said was 'Fine'. No apology, no offer to put things right or do anything. I have to say, I found this attitude absolutely staggering. No wonder there is a whole area on here devoted to customer support.
Anyway theres more!! Monday evening I get a call from Sales to tell me they have had a problem with a part on my order-and the specs are 'some worse and some better' according to the sales guy. So I told him that as far as I was concerned the order was still cancelled and lesser specs were unfortunately no good to me in this instance.he told me I should have got in touch with my sales rep when this happened to avoid problems like this in the future Soi tell him I did that friday night but hadnt heard back from anyone. Silence on line.
So thats my experience of Customer and after Sales service.
I went into the Sony shop in our town and ordered the Sony Vaio F13-the new one- identical specs high def screen all the bells and whistles for 40 Euros cheaper. The guy in the store even rang head office to check it out and sort out a good deal for me. How different from Dell, and such a shame because Dell has laid off over 200 of their staff here in ireland and we really wanted to support the local economy!
So guys sorry for the long first post but had to share my experience. Never had problems like this , but did notice a downturn in Tech Support over the last year or so. So am now waiting on my Sony! i dont understand how Dell can turn businesses away like this due to their poor sevice.

 

That was almost a wall of text. Anyway, until your Sony is fully assembled, shipped, and in your possession, I'd hold off on the accolades.

FWIW, Dell's business-class support is excellent. However, you ordered a Studio 17 - a consumer-grade media laptop that is subject to consumer-grade sales support.

 

I cant argue with that Woofer. I have no quibble with Dell's build-just post sales support. But thanks- this is a great forum and have learned loads since looking in. Lets hope my Sony purchase goes a bit smoother!

 

The problem isn't with Dell, the problem is with outsourcing. You can't compare local and outsourced support, and it's likely that Sony has outsourced as well. The only advantage they had was a live sales rep in a local store (generally, you can get better deals online though, rent for the store and the employees' salary has to come from somewhere).

On the other hand, you can't beat Dell ProSupport. Consumer support has pretty much gone down the drain regardless of the manufacturer, so I'm glad I've always purchased business-grade computers.

 

Thats good advice Robin- I have always loved Dell's pcs and laptops, I ve always found them powerful and reliable for my type of work. its the outsourcing of CS that is the problem I guess. I know all pc manufacturers outsource their support but just found it so hard to get to speak to anyone -department after deaprtment with Dell this time. I was told that Sony have CS here in Ireland and if I had a problem just to take my lappie back into the shop where I bought it- the guys would have a look at it for me and failing that send it back to be repaired. Maybe I just got a ' bad Dell day
Will definately take your tip about Dell pro Support next time though!! Thanks!

 

I think regular Latitude support is already better than regular consumer support, but ProSupport will be the cream of the crop. Glad I could help, and good luck with the Sony.

 

Thanks Robin, I'll bear that in mind as I have always liked Dell's onsite tech support. I suppose I have calmed down from 'seething' mode now lol!! I will definately go ProSupport next time though. Darn it.
I'll see how I get on with the Sony. Sometimes its good to have a company comparison-Sony Vs Dell for example,to see each ones good and bad points. Hope I dont have to eat humble pie though regarding my choice now! Cheerio from damp Ireland, and many thanks again for your help.

 

I would highly suggest that next time if u buy a laptop/desktop from dell, try to do it through EPP. EPP has its own tech support line and the service is outstanding with the reps speaking in the accent that can be understood. I actually had a hard time realizing that I was talking to someone oversea! I thought he is from the US/canada lol.

 

Thanks for that-I didnt know what EPP is!! But next time I order from anything from Dell I will look for that- I dont know if we have EPP here in Ireland though lol
Just to let others know-Sony shop told me I could expect my new laptop from approximately between16th October to the 22nd-its the new F13SO one. Well they phoned me on Thursday evening(14th) to say it had just arrived. I know it will be off topic on here but this Sony is a beast. As fast as my XPS desktop quad.Still trying it out-looks very high quality all the same. Guess time will tell!!