Although Dell, Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) has reportedly committed $150 million to improving the quality of worldwide customer support services (along with product quality), apparently that money has not yet had an effect. Proof may be in the pudding with a recent rating of PC makers that was conducted by the University of Michigan, in which Dell's customer service ratings slipped by 5% at a time when it should have improved.The ratings have Dell near the bottom of all PC manufacturers, with an overall score of 74 out of 100. It's the same rating Dell earned in 2005 when it was under fire to improve customer quality and technical support. An experiment to outsource these positions to India backfired, when customers were infuriated by the sloppy English skills of those Indian employees and the breakdown in communication it caused.
The latest study that has been released from the University of Michigan concludes that Dell's customer quality really has not made any significant improvements since 2005. The question then becomes: with all the changes the computer maker has made to improve customer handling quality, where have all these efforts gone? Why are they not showing results? Perhaps not enough time has gone by, although with the hiring of 2,000 U.S.-based service employees this year, some tangible results should be evident -- if not now, then very soon.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-16-2008 @ 7:07PM
betsy said...
Dell customer service is a night mare! When you call you are talking to people in Central America and they just do not want to listen. It's like the service reps are all robots, they repeat the same thing over and over again. When i requested to speak with a supervisor, you got
i was disconnected. All I wanted to do was pay my bill in full before the 24% rate was applied. I will nevr buy or deal with this company again. It SUCKS!
12-18-2008 @ 10:37AM
robert said...
My wife and I ordered a computer for my daughter on Dec 9th after seeing in bold letters "ORDER TODAY SHIP TOMORROW" expecting to have the computer before Christmas. Expecting it to take a day or 2 longer since we did some upgrades we were still expecting it well before Christmas. Now we have rec notice that it wont be here until the 1st or 2nd week of Jan. Frankly this is BS. This is the 5th computer I have ordered from Dell and never has it taken this long. All the others had upgrades also so that shouldnt be a problem. Customer service was no good. They told me the same thing I was getting online but took 20 min to do so. I told my wife to cancel the order and we would go buy and HP computer and could get it by Tues the latest, but she wouldnt do it. I will however assure you this is the LAST dell that will be ordered from this house.
8-16-2007 @ 6:26AM
Lloyd said...
Dell's customer service is saging in part that they have moved away from using U.P.S. to DHL shipping. The DHL package service SUCKS! Part of the total customer experience.
8-22-2007 @ 7:01AM
Marc said...
Dell customer support nightmare!
I ordered a Dell desktop in Spain on the 7th of August with several additions and without the monitor as I had already bought a 24" screen for home use 2 months ago. First thing they do is request I fax or email a copy of my phone bill to verify that the address really belongs to me!!! What an intrusion of privacy...and I am already a customer Anyway, delay notification on August 11, seems to be rather common. I check in the status and on Monday I get a picking list description, monitor included....
Quickly call customer support but it seems: nothing can be done, the order is placed and 'the mechanism is already working and can't be stopped'. The monitor is not yet shipped so I tell them, PLEASE! do not send it, I don't want it. No, I have to receive it first before I can return it.... what a waste.
Anyway, Sat. August 18, I receive the invoice per mail, monitor is still included but no extra RAM, no TV card, not the cable-free keyboard and mouse. Standard configuration all individualizations ignored...Funny, my original order was considerably more expensive than what they are invoicing me for...
Monday Aug 20 on the phone with customer support. Nothing can be done, I have to take this desktop the way it is. I can return the monitor but pay for the shipping costs, which will be higher than the cost of the monitor, so I better just keep it. I protest and to compensate they will send me the keyboard and mouse for free. I tell them I don't want this, reply is that I can always cancel the order, a take it or leave it situation. The guy's called Osama and doesn't let me talk or explain and only says no no no, so I request to speak with his manager, he doesn't want to but I insist.
Guy called Adil says to be the manager, I explain, basically you are sending me the basic configuration in your offer, not taking into account the additional ordered extra's but including the monitor. He promises to call back but doesn't, so I call a few more times but never get him on the phone again.
August 21, trying to talk to Adil one more time, no use, a girl gets on the phone, Fatia or Fatima, says Adil's offer is as follows: you can buy the additional components from them (how nice) and return the monitor. So I ask how much will this be, who will install the components, what about the returning of the monitor, who pays for the shipping, no concrete answers, this is customer support, not sales, but I can call sales if I want. I request them to send me by email all the details, if someone opens the PC will the warranty still be valid? etc. Just to make sure they understand what I want I write to customer support via the Dell online form to customer support, no answer no acknowledgment of reception. Yes, I mean the same link that is at the bottom of this page....
August 22, nothing in the mail, no calls from Dell. I'm pretty scared now so I call them, try Osama again; the no no no guy: I want to cancel the order. OK fine, all I need to do is reject the order.... sounds too easy.
Just to make sure I print out Dell's only communication piece I have with the delay notification and all their numbers. On this document I write that I want to cancel the order, fax it to several numbers I could find and also send it to their offices in France. I also call VISA to explain what is happening and that I don't want this payment to go through, they tell me that they will send me documents to initiate a dispute with Dell. I seriously hope I have not been scammed and nothing more is to happen.
Conclusion: this is the first time I have problems with an online supplier, it is also the greatest customer support nightmare I have ever had. I feel very disappointed and will never ever buy anything from Dell again. I have been a Dell customer since 1993, bought my first PC from them (486SX), since then I bought my father a desktop, my mother a laptop and 2 huge 24" screens.
Goodbye Dell.