Friday, November 23, 2007

Dell ranked 25th out of 36 in Canadian Customer Service

Way to go Dell, despite the best efforts of Michael Dell and all the propoganda pouring out of Round Rock touting the supposed "turn around", Dell managed to place a lowly 25th (out of 36 companies reviewed) in a recent survey of customer service in Canada.

So much for all the bullshit coming from Lionel Menchacha and Richard@dell and the propoganda machine known as Direct2Dell.

The survey, titled "How may I help you?" was conducted by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and here is a summary of the survey as quoted from the CBC website.

QUOTE

Working with the CBC Research Department, we developed a unique set of standards that evaluate everything from the interactive voice response system that answers most calls these days, to the time you're left waiting on hold. We also measured the effectiveness of the operator - how well they understood the caller, how well the caller could understand the operator, and their demeanour.

We called each company three times: once during a weekday, once at night and once on the weekend. Our call researchers kept detailed notes of each call and then scored the company's performance out of 100. You can see how each company performed by clicking their name in the chart below.

END QUOTE

Saturday, November 17, 2007

Think Dell is Back on Track?

Don't let the successes on the business side of Dell con you into thinking that things are better at Dell for the average guy... this exchange today on the Miami Herald website is clear evidence that without friends in high places, your chances of getting A) A machine that works, and B) Customer service that works, are Buckley's as my Australian friends would say... and imagine if they didn't have the extended warranty with "next day service".

BEGIN

A formula to mess up computer: two video cards
Posted on Sat, Nov. 17, 2007

• Q: About two years ago, we bought a top-of-the-line Dell computer for our small business. We also purchased a three-year extended warranty; it's supposed to give us next- day service if there's a problem.

Everything was fine until Oct. 10 when the computer crashed.

We called Dell. After going through extensive troubleshooting, it decided to order a new power supply and motherboard. A few days later, a tech arrived to install them; it still didn't work.

Dell sent out a tech and parts twice more. Once, we got the computer running, but it crashed again the next day.

Dell sent us a refurbished replacement. After five days, it wouldn't power up. Dell said it would send us our third motherboard and power supply. The tech still couldn't get it to turn on.

Spending so much time on this isn't exactly helping our business. Perhaps Action Line can persuade Dell to fix it once and for all?

Jane Firebaugh,

Miami

• A: We can. It's working now; this time, we hope it's a permanent fix.

We forwarded your e-mail to Dell, which responded promptly. Another tech was dispatched, and, for a while, he couldn't get it to work, either. Then, he had an idea: Maybe the problem was caused by having two video cards. He took one out, and the computer worked. He tried with the other one; the computer still worked. It seemed that having two working cards installed was at the root of the trouble.

Dell followed up and gave you a better number to call if it happens again. We all hope you won't need it.

END

So... to sum up, DEll sold a flawed design to a customer and then proceeded to offer "refurbished motherboards" among other repair solutions to them on an ad nauseum basis... seems awfully familiar!