Monday, August 22
Wow, how wrong can you be?
I'm on hold with Dell Support this morning.
Dell recently implemented a Voice Activated system when you call for support.
So far, they are 0 for 6 in connecting me to the appropriate technician for the product on which I am calling.
Even a broken clock is right twice a day. Dell can't even accidentally get me connected to the right tech in six tries.
I've called for support on:
Dell Printer
Dell Dimension
Dell Latitude
Dell JukeBox
Dell Dimension
Dell Precision Workstation
I have just been informed by the disembodied voice that I am in the Dell Dimension Queue, and I should hang up and try again. Yeah, right, I'm going to get a human on the phone and have them transfer me to the correct queue.
The system has a failed CD-RW drive. This is a $20 retail part. I spent about 15 minutes troubleshooting it with the customer on Friday. I'll bet that Dell makes me spend 30 minutes with their tech before sending me a new one. Then it will take about 15 minutes to swap out the drive when it arrives.
Our billing for the job? Probably around $100.00. To get a warranty part replaced for free. I don't know why anyone buys extended warranties for Dell products other than servers. By the time you invest the required time to get a part from them, 9 out of 10 times, it would have been less expensive to just buy a new part and install it yourself. It would also be faster.
Ok, this just go better:
I'm on hold with Dell, listening to the incessant disembodied voice, when I hear the following, "Dell does not install, nor support, spyware or virus software on your computer."
Do they really have to tell people this? "Hi, I'm having trouble with my virus, it's not sending out enough copies of itself, or rebooting the computer as often as the code requires. What did I do wrong when I installed it?"
Or, "Yes, my social security and bank information has only gone to half the crooks in the world, I need to hurry up and get it to all of them."
And even better:
After being on hold for an eternity, I finally get through to a human who informs me that Dell Workstaions have a special phone support number, 800-456-3355, instead of the main number, and they can transfer me to this number. I got transferred, and now I am on hold again. One improvement to this Queue: Instead of the disembodied voice, I am getting some nice classical music.
Dell recently implemented a Voice Activated system when you call for support.
So far, they are 0 for 6 in connecting me to the appropriate technician for the product on which I am calling.
Even a broken clock is right twice a day. Dell can't even accidentally get me connected to the right tech in six tries.
I've called for support on:
Dell Printer
Dell Dimension
Dell Latitude
Dell JukeBox
Dell Dimension
Dell Precision Workstation
I have just been informed by the disembodied voice that I am in the Dell Dimension Queue, and I should hang up and try again. Yeah, right, I'm going to get a human on the phone and have them transfer me to the correct queue.
The system has a failed CD-RW drive. This is a $20 retail part. I spent about 15 minutes troubleshooting it with the customer on Friday. I'll bet that Dell makes me spend 30 minutes with their tech before sending me a new one. Then it will take about 15 minutes to swap out the drive when it arrives.
Our billing for the job? Probably around $100.00. To get a warranty part replaced for free. I don't know why anyone buys extended warranties for Dell products other than servers. By the time you invest the required time to get a part from them, 9 out of 10 times, it would have been less expensive to just buy a new part and install it yourself. It would also be faster.
Ok, this just go better:
I'm on hold with Dell, listening to the incessant disembodied voice, when I hear the following, "Dell does not install, nor support, spyware or virus software on your computer."
Do they really have to tell people this? "Hi, I'm having trouble with my virus, it's not sending out enough copies of itself, or rebooting the computer as often as the code requires. What did I do wrong when I installed it?"
Or, "Yes, my social security and bank information has only gone to half the crooks in the world, I need to hurry up and get it to all of them."
And even better:
After being on hold for an eternity, I finally get through to a human who informs me that Dell Workstaions have a special phone support number, 800-456-3355, instead of the main number, and they can transfer me to this number. I got transferred, and now I am on hold again. One improvement to this Queue: Instead of the disembodied voice, I am getting some nice classical music.
Number of people who will never get their time back from reading this page:
