Dell Gold Tech Support - WOW!!!!

I just got off of the phone with them and I can not believe how awesome the lady was that I spoke with.

I explained to her that I am currently on my second Vostro 1500 because the first one died. This current one just had the screen replaced (Samsung WXGA Truelife) because of backlighting, dead pixels, and graininess. The new display (Samsung WXGA Truelife - again) is better, but has a massive brown hue coming from both the lower left and lower right corners. She was very receptive to what I told her.

I then explained to her how I have come across all of the threads here discussing how people were having problems with the SEC and AUO models, but the LG's seem to be golden. She documented everything I told her about this website and told me she would put it in the case file as well as pass it along to her superiors. She told me she was going to go down to the lab and talk with the people there to see if they were aware of any of the issues going on with the screens because she was not. She also told me that she would see if she could get me a LG screen. She said she would call me back.

She called back about a half hour later, if that. She told me that she couldn't find a part number that looked like a LG part number for the WXGA screen, but she thought she found one for a WXGA+ screen, but she could not confirm the manufacturer. She then told me that she had been authorized to give me a higher res screen for free if that meant I could get a LG screen.

I then searched this forum for the part number that she gave me and found out that it is a AUO screen. I then read to her the part number that I came across for the WSXGA+ LG. She checked her internal part numbers and it matched. She told me they are going to send a tech out with that exact screen. I then mentioned to her that going from the WXGA to the WSXGA+ is a obviously major upgrade and if that was even going to be possible, warranty wise. She told me that they are only concerned about my satisfaction at this point and the upgrade of the screen would be free of charge.

She even told me that she will send me the tracking number once the screen ships. She did mention that seeing as this screen is different than the one that I already had, that there may be a delay of 1 business day in getting the screen here.

In short, I am getting a higher res screen, made by the manufacturer that I asked for, and they are doing it for free! I know that alot of people have had trouble with Dell's customer service, and I just wanted to say that I just dealt with possibly the nicest lady that works at Dell. There are good people there!

 

There are good people anywhere, but I'm happy to hear you found one .

 

Dell FTW man.

 

wow congrads must be nice i had nothing at all like that with dell.. wish i did cause i miss my inspiron i really liked it a lot minus the screen

 

Gold support rocks, and you get what you pay for. (I got Mobility warranty which is Gold + Complete care on my M90).

 

Sounds like everything worked our for you. Lets hope they get rid of the crappy lcds or get samsung to make some good quality ones

 

What I meant by "good people" was that there are techs at Dell that are actually very good and are very nice. I know a lot of the people here can't say that their experience with them was positive.

I also know that you were just being sarcastic.

I certainly hope so!

 

I actually wasn't being sarcastic. Even the worst company has one or two gems that are knowledgeable, polite, and/or both working for them, and Dell wouldn't still be so popular if they didn't have some good people mixed in with the support horror stories. From what most people say, though, it's really hard to get one of Dell's good people, so I'm quite pleased that you did.

 

Pretty much had a similar experience about 2 hours ago. Dell has always been pretty good in customer support (to me anyways) The guy I talked to earlier was great. Though he did tell me he can't guarantee a certain part number, he said we will keep replacing until we I a non grainy/blacklight bleeding lcd.
Definitely dont think youll be getting the LCD manufacturer according to the part number. My original order number had the item number [320-5566] which means the LCD should have been an SEC4457. Instead I got an AUO1447. Good luck.

sOnIc

 

Just checking the shipping of the new lcd...its item number is WK097. I think thats the whole replacement kit. GL to me too...


sOnIc

 

I quoted this part number and description to her:

XK309 LIQUID CRYSTAL DISPLAY, 15.4WSXGA+, VIDEO ELEC. STDS. ASSOC., TLF, LGP 1

I got that from this thread:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=167789&page=30

The guy posted that he did in fact receive the LG screen. So hopefully, seeing as the tech entered that part number into the order system, that's what I will get.

 

that's funny

 

Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't Gold just direct access to tier 2 support and a garaunteed less than 5 minute wait on phone calls?

That's what they told me when I asked about it... basically you are paying not to have to deal with an Indian rep first (the exact phrase was "you will get directly to a second level North American rep with ful training).

If that's true there isn't anything particularly special about gold other than bypassing the first level guy, which can be a pain sometimes but often you can just tell them you need to speak to a level 2 tech.

 

That may be true. I am not sure. All I know is my employer insists on having it.

 

definitely gold support rocks

 

Gold Supports are domestic, and shorter wait time - atleast from my experience.

For example, if I go on chat right now on my M90 which has the warranty, I'd be suprised if I wait more than couple of minutes.

Last time I called for a O/S disk, the tech was asking if I need any cosmetic problems on my M90 which needs to be replaced.. now, that's the support I was looking for lol.

 

Does the Gold support come standard with the Vostro line? Or is it an upgraded support for an upgraded price?

 

It's an upgraded support.

Not sure on how much though.

My M90 came w/ it when I bought it from Ebay.

It also came w/ "Keep your hard drive" service which I haven't got a chance to use yet, but basic idea is I get the keep the hard drives if it needs to be replaced.

 

Great thread! I'm the person w/the ongoing cpu whine/noise issue.
And, all the Dell support professionals have been awesome to me. I believe that they too want this noise problem fixed.

 

Are you simply being politically incorrect here, or has Dell North America officially outsourced (and/or formed a subsidiary) level 1 support (call center, Helpdesk services) to a subsidiary in India?

I was surprised (but not necessairly concerned) to find out that the Notebook I ordered from Dell's Austrian contact number, officially associated with Dell's offices in Frankfurt (DE) was actually sold to me by Dell's Bratislava (SK) Sales & Finance center. It appears that Dell is shifting their EMEA sales & finance center from Frankfurt to Bratislava (along with their German-speaking call center) in line with today's typical business trends (cost savings and improving their presence in the emerging-markets regions):

"DELL Bratislava is currently undergoing an important transformation into a Business Center. Its main task will be providing a broad range of services for Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA), in areas such as financial management, marketing, and technical support. In fact, Bratislava is fast becoming the finance headquarter for DELL EMEA."

I've however no idea where EU's level-two center might be, assuming there's only "one" loction, as is the case for their manufacturing center in Limerick (IE)...

 

MOST larger computer (and even internet) companies, at least in the US, have outsourced level 1 support to off-shore locations, primarily in India and/or Pakistan, if memory serves correctly. My employer is a USA-based outsourcing group, and about 50% of NEW calls begin with an exclamation of relief that we are North Americans.


USA racism being what it is, there are plenty of customers out there who will base their decision to purchase primarily on whom they will be calling if they ever need support (about 5% of our calls are pre-sales customers who are just calling the company's support number to see if an American picks up)

 

Sigh... I've been all over the globe and there are competent and not-so-competent (to put it diplomatically) people everywhere, no exceptions.

If it's a question of understanding the person based on their command of the English language, then sure, I can certainly appreciate that. As long as the call-center personnel's not from Brooklyn. J/k, I meant Boston. J/k again, I was referring to Arkansas. J/k, I meant...

P.S. But hey, Georgia's cool, I mean, who can resist that Southern drawl...

 

:yes: I've certainly dealt with (and, in a former job, worked with) my fair share of Americans who aren't competent in any way shape or fashion, and I've also worked with a few off-shore techs who ARE.

A previous call center I worked for has the slogan, "Tech Support with a southern accent." Though I was, to quote Brer Rabbit, "born and bred" in Georgia, I don't really have a Southern drawl (or accent, for that matter), an accomplishment I've worked hard at .

 

The quote was from a representative at Dell when I was asking about Gold support. Their words were you would get a North American Tech who was fully trained... and the emphasis was strongly made such that you couldn't miss out on the implication that otherwise you would get some Indian guy who just read scripts and didn't know what he was really doing.

But yes, for the most part US tech support calls end up in an Indian/Phillipines/somewhere outside US call center most times.

 

The tech just got here and I did in fact get the LG screen that I was told I would get. Hopefully once the machine gets turned on it will look like it should!

 

okay Gold Support offers the following pluses:

24 Hours Chat Support (this alone is money)

Shorter Waiting Time

Highly Trained North-American Technicians

When i asked for a replacement, they can request a LG screen, which means that Dell wont' ship it to me until they find a LG screen for me. (not sure if this is true, but this is what the rep told me)

I have never had any of the INdian chat supports get back to me like they said they would, well, Gold Support actualy calls you back. Amazing.

 

Cha Ching!

The new screen is beautiful. Exactly like I had heard it would be.

 

Congrats & enjoy the moment