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.