On Dell Tech Support.

[mynameisnotreal.livejournal.com]

I've been trying to get help from these wahoos for some time now. I am discovering it is an exercise in frustration. What follows is my Nth letter to Dell tech support. This is the only time I have abandoned the purely business attitude. Needs of frustration demand it.

They keep sending me a link to a driver which failed on the FIRST motherboard I was using.

Gawd... Why do people buy Dells?

"This has taken FAR too long to resolve! It has almost been two weeks since I started going to Dell for help. You have had me online in chat for many, many hours, over the course of three days, with three representatives who keep repeating the same failed steps (is it plugged in? Yes. Did you install such and such driver? Yes.) without even bothering to find out what the three techs before him/her did. You even went so far as to send me a new bloody motherboard, which I installed, and the same bloody problem still occurs! Now, you won't even bloody well answer my emails more than once a day, nor call. In all my years of repairing computers, I have never seen such a slap-dash operation as this. This is awful, incompetent and back woods operation I've seen short of a Hollywood comedy.

You guys suck. And not in a good way either."

Comments

[random-c.livejournal.com]

Sounds about normal to me. Acer just managed to really boggle me. I phoned up telling them that my new laptop had developed crackling sound some time since I bought it Monday night. No diags, nothing, just 'take it back or post it to us'. So, OK, booked train tickets - because idiot here bought the thing at the boyfriend's gaff and left all the boxes there - and restored it and oh look, the sound works fine now...
So it's got until Sunday to go wrong again. What's the betting it does so on Monday?

[reddragdiva]

I have a Dell Latitude D600 for work. So far it's had replaced the case, the lid (twice), the hard disk (twice), the hand rest (for the trackpad), the system board, the keyboard and the power brick. It still has the original LCD and (I think) memory - that's it. I'm never having a Dell that doesn't have a large and relatively efficient IT department to fix it for me. I have Compaqs at home, but that's because I know how to fix them - and you need to know how to fix them.

[xforge.livejournal.com]

Dunno why people are surprised at Dell incompetence. The CEO is a fervent supporter of the guy whose picture appears in the dictionary next to "incompetent."

And vice versa of course. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B628CifhR_8)

[lillyflowers.livejournal.com]

Oh. Foamy feels your pain.

[jcaswell.livejournal.com]

I don't know if Dell UK is run differently, but I've only ever had excellent customer support from them - maybe I've just been lucky.

Acer, on the other hand, took something approaching six months to fix an issue last year...a relatively simple problem that just needed the LCD cable replacing. Their head office is about 5 miles from where I live; as soon as I threatened to turn up on their doorstep with it and refuse to leave until it was repaired they burst into action and sorted it for us. And they completely forgot to charge us for the repair as it was out of warranty :)

[canray.livejournal.com]

Gawd... Why do people buy Dells?

Because Dell has great Marketing.

[spooforbrains.livejournal.com]

... and they're cheap. People never seem to stop to enquire why.

[bitterfun.livejournal.com]

Wait a second... is this a consumer complaint about techsupport or a techsupport complaint about another techsupport department?

I'm so confused on who I should be snarky too....

[jecook]

He's one of us.

[mynameisnotreal.livejournal.com]

*sniffle* You made me feel like I belong!

[mouser.livejournal.com]

Users, always!

Users, all ways!

[jecook]

Stupid question: was this the consumer support, or their business support?

Strangely enough, the only machine we've had repeat issues with from dell has been a 745 desktop form factor with an add-in video card. It's on #3 as of this writing, and I'm waiting for when it melts that one as well. (Seriously- a passively cooled ATI X1300? WTF?!)

[liber-cogito.livejournal.com]

Ugh. 745 black screen issues! Get rid of symantec.

[jecook]

not in this case, unfortunately. the machine lives in a cabinet, and although we've tried a number of things, the machine gets quite warm where it's placed.

I think I need to get a thermometer with a remote on it and try a few more things before I have out maintenance group duct an A/C vent into the thing...

[ngtmagicks.livejournal.com]

And you expect what from that letter?

Just asking....

[mynameisnotreal.livejournal.com]

It'll keep me from killing my cat. I really like my cat.

[greenmansgrove.livejournal.com]

Historically, I've gotten absolutely crappy service from Dell's basic and home support network. However, using their high end support (which is a paid upgrade, and used to be called something like "Gold Standard"), I've pretty much always had very good luck.

On the other hand, no matter WHAT warranty I've had, HP is even worse.

On the Gripping Hand, I've had amazing services from IBM/Lenovo over the last few years.

[major-error.livejournal.com]

...and people act all surprised when I say I like IBM laptops >.>

'cause when I call with a problem, they say, "we'll overnight a shipping box. Turnaround will be about a week." <3

[mattcaron.livejournal.com]

The only issue I've had with them is that I wish the R series was as solid as the T series. Mine flexes when I pick it up and thus it has developed a large crack on the underside. I've unmounted and remounted all the structural bits, and doped it up with lots of loctite to stop the screws from working loose, and that helped a bit, but it still flexes.

That said, I've had the laptop for 3 years, and it was 1 year used when I bought it (didn't have the crack then), and the most I've ever gotten out of a brand new dell was 2 years before the screen hinges broke (7500 and some 8000 series, both Inspirons)

[jecook]

IIRC, the inspiron 7500s had the magic breaking hinge as a partial design flaw, as that seems to be the biggest thing that breaks on them.

[dysan27.livejournal.com]

he he he, geeking out over here as someone actually using a griping hand reference in actual conversation.

[mynameisnotreal.livejournal.com]

Heh... Gripping hand...

[redqueenmeg.livejournal.com]

I know I've said it before, but as a former answerer (multiple times a day! And in real English, not in scripts!) of support at dell dot com, I apologize.

Actually, no, I don't. Those jerks sold my job to India.

[geekgrrl-ca.livejournal.com]

mine too.

[jimpossible84.livejournal.com]

Mine three! I must add though, I've had fairly good luck with old Dell latitude C-series lappies. Still got 2 CPxH's and a C840 vintage early 2000, that in daily use & working great. My C800 was a lemon though and keyboards don't last long :( Their outsourced tech-support is useless, but it's uber easy 2 get parts for 'em though!