Dell vs. the Blogosphere: Round 2
Posted by Harry McCracken | Tuesday, August 23, 2005 7:53 PM PT
Last month, I
wrote of the kerfuffle involving unhappy Dell customers blogging about their problems and Dell's stance, which was apparently that it read blogs but didn't try to respond to them. Today, MediaPost ran a
story reporting that Dell's policy has changed: It's now forwarding issues it discovers via blog to its customer-service department and trying to resolve them.
That's not just good news--it's also the only rational attitude in a world in which every unhappy customer with a blog can share his or her woe with the world, no intermediary needed. If you're not reading the real-world coverage of technology products that can be found in blogs, you should be--I'd never suggest that it's a
substitute for what PC World does (perish the thought!), but it can be an extraordinarily valuable part of being a well-informed tech consumer.
Time was when Dell benefited from a halo effect--the conventional wisdom among savvy PC users was that the company made good products and did a great job of backing them. In todays blogosphere, though, Dell seems to be developing, well, a pitchfork effect: A perception among many of its customers and potential customers that dealing with the company is likely to be problematic.
As I've mentioned before, our
survey of 42,000 PC World readers suggests that the company's reliability and service, while not what it once was, is still very far from the bottom of the barrel. We'll soon be crunching numbers for the next round of our survey, so stay tuned for more hard facts.
But for now, a wholly unscientific poll: What's your perception of Dell? Good, bad, or indifferent?
I must say, I think Dell makes a very quality product of which I own two.
However their Tech support seems inadequate to handle problems when they arise.
I have learned basically to fix my own problems with thw help of a handful of Forums dedicated to resolving technical issues.
I truly believe that everyone who owns or simply uses a computer needs to do a little homework and learn how these systems operate.
we run a dell server in-house, along with dell laptops/desktops, as well as dell computers at home.
i've been very happy with the dell systems from both a personal and business perspective. as for the service (not just dell), i learned long ago that setting up computers for specific users/tasks is difficult, having a third party efficiently maintain them is nearly impossible.
while not practical for everyone, i do agree with tom g that when it comes to support, a little homework and some elbow-grease will give the computer user a much more satisfying experience.
Dell owes me money on rebates.
Their reps have stalled me, lied to me, and just plain ignored me.
I'll never purchase another Dell computer as long as I live.
I had the same problem with H.P. I took me two submissions and 6 months to get my rebate. I believe they hope you just give up.
Now I only buy items on sale without a rebate.
Dell and emachines suck! They own my friends and I a million dollars of rebates that they will probably never pay because we live in canada.
I've had good success with Dell support.
I needed all drivers for my notebook when I installed XP Pro; they guided me to get them and start them.
They've guided me to troubleshoot system settings. No complaints.
Dell might do better if their tech people could speak english.
A friend gave me a $1,500. Dell gift card. I called to place an order for a $5,500. 670 workstation. Dell would NOT accept the gift card because it was from HOME OFFICE division and they don't have workstations. They TOTALLY refused to sell me the computer. Goodbye Dell
I agree with the comment above about tech support not speaking english. It's very aggravating when you call a company based in TEXAS that you get sent to India. I've had fairly good luck when I get people in the US.
I have been told that if you do get a service rep in India, that if you ask them to transfer you to somewhere in the US they will do it. They might not be happy about it, but they should still do it.
DON'T BUY DELL GIFTCARDS!!!!!
by scammedbydell, Jan 30 '06
Don't buy Dell gift cards. My fiance bought me a $300 gift card for christmas. I tried to purchase a computer this weekend from the Dell employee purchase program site. When completing my order I tried to enter the gift card and the system said the card was invalid. So I called the phone number on the back of the card.
This connected me to Dell Home. Dell Home told not to purchase the computer from the website and that they would assist me. During our conversation they said that I could not use a gift card while using a Dell preferred account. (Dell Financing) I spent 30 minutes on the phone with them before they said they could not match the deal I was getting through the employee purchase program and would have to transfer me to that department.
The Dell employee purchase program informed me that I could not use the gift card on the purchase since the gift card was purchased from Dell Home("a seperate division").
They also were refering to the Gift Card as a coupon. I was furious, and told them that it is not a coupon. It is money that I have sitting at Dell that I cannot use.
How was my fiance to know that there was a Dell Employee Purchase Program site and that I was going to use this site to purchase my new PC?
I spent a couple of hours in total talking with supervisors to no avail. So now I have a $300 giftcard that I cannot use without losing $400+ in discount money. DON'T BUY DELL GIFTCARDS, they are a ripoff.
I spent 1.5 hours on the phone with a number of 3-5 minutes hold periods just to be able to get a "Refund Authorization #" and an address to return a laptop. Unlike the sales & marketing department of American employees with smiling picture, any of the "Customer Service" departments are outsourced to India so I am not certain that I correctly heard the return address. I had to be very insistent that I wanted an authorization return # as they kept trying to transfer my call to the techinical department. Of course, we had to "foot" the bill for the return shipment despite my protest over this with customer service as we had the merchandise for only 2 days. Now we are holding our breath & checkbook to see if we get a bill for the returned merchandise, finance charges & restocking fee though I was assured by the customer service supervisor from India that there would be none of these. It's "Buyer Beware" when the refund/return policy and address are not clearly indicated. The were numerous recent (2006) about Dell on the Consumer Union website. I had purchased a desktop from Dell several years ago which works well with no problems, but I would still be leary about any future purchases since it was such a time consuming hassle to deal with Dell's outsourced Customer Service Department. I bet Dell wouldn't sell many computers if they outsourced their Sales/Marketing Department.