Dell Customer Service

We got a Dell Laptop and we even bought extended next business day service on it so that when things go wrong we can quickly get it fixed.

So now there was a problem with our DVD burner it would burn fine but our Dell would not be able to open any of the files that it burned while other DVDs would be read without problems.

We guessed a call to Dell would be a good start to get our burner fixed.

Calling to the Customer Service ends up to be one of those calls that travel the world all the way to India. And although i don’t have anything against Indians (my wife is Indian) i am not very fond of the call centres they dumped there.

This time again not to good of an experience. The lady on the phone was friendly and started by making us install software on our laptop so that she could get access to our system. There is nothing wrong with that but what is wrong is that they think they know what they are doing but they don’t.

The first 30 minutes she was trying to get codex installed because she said that we didn’t have the right software to open the files. Yep the files open without problems before I burn them to a DVD so why would i need this codex?

After that she starts going though the system trying to make all kind of changes that I am not happy about and that makes her even more agitated then me.

So then I ask here why are you doing this all for a hardware failure? and she answers Yes it is a hardware problem but still we need to try this.

And then we are already almost 1 hour on the phone, i get a bit mad and tell her that she doesn’t seem to know what she is doing. Then she puts me on hold(again). When she comes back she says it is a software problem and you just need to install the software you Dell came with. OK this Dell got Vista deleted the day we got it but still all the XP drivers come from Dell and the system worked OK for 6 months. So i tell her again that i think it is hardware and then she gets defencive and says No it’s not but if you don’t agree you can talk to my Manager and of course that was the cue i was waiting for

After being on hold for 10 minutes I get her Manager, a nice guy that of course keeps on the sites of his colleague but after a bit of talking we come to the conclusion that it only can be hardware.

So now a new drive is on the way to our home.

I don’t mind call centres in India but please train the people that man the phones! Most of them don’t really have a clue what they are talking about and maybe don’t even know what my laptop looks like.

This call cost me 1.5 hour and OK maybe the people in India are cheaper then here but I am not and does that make me rethink my purchase the next time i need a laptop? I know for sure it will.

Written by George on February 22nd, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on Reviews and Service.