BloggingStocks http://www.bloggingstocks.com BloggingStocks http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/http://www.bloggingstocks.com/media/feedlogo.gif BloggingStocks http://www.bloggingstocks.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/<![CDATA[Dell announces call center layoffs in US and Canada]]>http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2008/02/01/dell-announces-call-center-staff-layoffs-in-us-and-canada/http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2008/02/01/dell-announces-call-center-staff-layoffs-in-us-and-canada/http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2008/02/01/dell-announces-call-center-staff-layoffs-in-us-and-canada/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

Dell, Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) announced yesterday that the company will finally bring last year's layoff announcement to its customer service operations in a few contact centers. Over 900 employees in its Canadian Ottawa operations will be let go, along with approximately 300 in Dell's Oklahoma City customer contact center as well. In the case of the Oklahoma call center, consumer sales and consumer technical support are being hit hard, but the center will also take on more business technical support responsibilities.

Today is the last day of Dell's fiscal year, and it's a time when the company wants to take charges on its books instead of carrying them over to the new fiscal year, so the timing of these layoffs makes sense financially. However, the company was trumpeting growing both contact centers just over a year ago -- and now headcount reductions are happening. My, how a year can change things drastically, yes?

The company still has a long way to go in order to catch market leader Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ), which passed it last year as the world's largest computer maker. Dell responded by bringing in a bunch of new blood and by entering the retail market as quickly as possible. Perhaps when it bolsters sales back up, it may need to support those new customers with customer service employee re-hirings. Until then, it's just another zany day in the tech worker layoff arena.

Dell announces call center layoffs in US and Canada originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 01 Feb 2008 11:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>Dell customer serviceDell layoffsDell RetailDell, Inc.Dell,Inc.DellCustomerServiceDellLayoffsDellRetailinthenewsMichael DellMichaelDellFri, 01 Feb 2008 11:20:00 EST<![CDATA[Not advised: ordering a non-Dell (DELL) product from Dell]]>http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2007/08/17/not-advised-ordering-a-non-dell-dell-product-from-dell/http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2007/08/17/not-advised-ordering-a-non-dell-dell-product-from-dell/http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2007/08/17/not-advised-ordering-a-non-dell-dell-product-from-dell/#commentsFiled under: ,

Although Dell, Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) likes to trumpet that it carries a whole selection of non-Dell products -- from digital cameras to GPS devices to projectors -- does it sell a lot of those items? Hard to say really, and it's hard for me to think that customers go to Dell when considering an electronic item purchase. Well, unless they are assembling a PC at Dell's website all all the upsells of these items are presented up front as available to the millions of customers who build and order PCs from Dell's website every quarter.

Does Dell have these items in stock in warehouses all over the U.S.? If a recent order for a digital camera is any indication, that's hard to imagine. I ordered a Canon TX1 Monday of this week from www.dell.com, expecting some kind of status on if the item was in stock before the order was placed. Since I could not find that information, I placed the order. After then determining (again, after the order) that the camera was constrained to Dell -- with an expected ship date at the end of this month -- well, I was a tad miffed.

I turned to Buy.com the same day and ordered the same unit. Buy.com did indicate inventory levels, with an expected ship date of 1-2 days. The unit showed up on Wednesday afternoon. Dell's order page (on an order which I will be canceling), still indicates a status of "In Production," which strikes me as odd since Dell is not "producing" anything -- simply shipping a ready-built, non-Dell product. Now, if Dell's system would have indicated stock levels before the order was placed -- or used better language to describe inventory levels -- that would have been fine. But attaching an order status that is meant for a custom-built PC instead of a non-Dell electronics item (where it has no meaning at all) leaves me feeling that Dell's carrying of other items is not a priority for the company -- or its customer-facing system would be quite a bit more clear. Moral of the story: it's hard to imagine ordering anything but a PC from Dell after such a non-communicative experience here.

Not advised: ordering a non-Dell (DELL) product from Dell originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 17 Aug 2007 18:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>Canon TX1CanonTx1DELLDell customer serviceDEll orderingDell productsDellCustomerServiceDellOrderingDellProductsFri, 17 Aug 2007 18:14:00 EST<![CDATA[Dell's (DELL) customer service ratings fall again]]>http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2007/08/15/dells-dell-customer-service-ratings-fall-again/http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2007/08/15/dells-dell-customer-service-ratings-fall-again/http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2007/08/15/dells-dell-customer-service-ratings-fall-again/#commentsFiled under: , ,

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.

Dell's (DELL) customer service ratings fall again originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 15 Aug 2007 12:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>customer serviceCustomerServiceDELLDell customer serviceDell ratingsDellCustomerServiceDellRatingsinthenewsWed, 15 Aug 2007 12:15:00 EST<![CDATA[Dell sued over customer complaints]]>http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2007/05/16/dell-sued-over-customer-complaints/http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2007/05/16/dell-sued-over-customer-complaints/http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2007/05/16/dell-sued-over-customer-complaints/#commentsFiled under: , ,

Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) continues to face swashbuckling from customers and their advocates over its customer support procedures and processes. Now, New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has sued the second-largest PC maker over consumer complaints. While Dell's reputation on the customer support front has regained some semblance of competence lately, are there still lingering problems at the computer manufacturer?

The NY lawsuit is specifically related to consumer complaints in that state, so it's not indicative of an overall customer support problem, at least, not in this lawsuit. The AG's litigation stipulates that Dell and its financial services unit engaged in deceptive practices to sell computers. This, in effect, does not sound like a true "customer support" problem at all -- related to hardware or software support -- but to possible wrongdoings that include misleading promises of financing terms and interest rates.

Dell said that it would vigorously defend itself. Of course. A company representative also stated that "our customers are our top priority at Dell ... while even one dissatisfied customer is too many, the allegations in the AG's filing are based upon a small fraction of Dell's consumer transactions in New York." Was Dell really trying to boost profits in its service sector by fattening up warranty income costs and selling unnecessary contracts and parts to customers? It will be interesting to see what proof the New York AG comes forward with here to prove this case.

Dell sued over customer complaints originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 16 May 2007 09:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>DellDell customer serviceDell supportDell support levelsDellCustomerServiceDellSupportDellSupportLevelsWed, 16 May 2007 09:56:00 EST<![CDATA[Dell sees service improvements, but the party ain't over yet]]>http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2007/01/30/dell-sees-service-improvements-but-the-party-aint-over-yet/http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2007/01/30/dell-sees-service-improvements-but-the-party-aint-over-yet/http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2007/01/30/dell-sees-service-improvements-but-the-party-aint-over-yet/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,

Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL) has had some customer service missteps in the past few years, and its ratings in that arena have plummeted as customers apparently did not like the "after-the-sale" support one of the world's largest PC companies provided (yes, that title switches among Dell and HP regularly).

After a disastrous move in which Dell outsourced higher-level technical support positions to India, only to see a huge backlash from business customers (its lifeblood), many of those positions (if not all) have moved back into the U.S. This is where Dell's biggest market is -- and where the customers need in-depth help with an English-speaking support representative who understands the nuances needed to fix problems and make customers happy.

Dick Hunter -- Dell's vice president of customer experience and support -- says that Dell is making great strides in the area of improving customer support across the board. In all fairness -- and this goes for any company that acknowledges its mistakes -- pointing out recent successes is always a good thing for the marketplace. Dell's recent slide in share price is strangely (or not so strangely) correlated with the downhill slide its support levels have taken. Coincidence?

Dell sees service improvements, but the party ain't over yet originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 30 Jan 2007 15:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>DellDell customer serviceDell outsourcingDellCustomerServiceDellOutsourcingTue, 30 Jan 2007 15:25:00 EST