Dell Tech Support Experience.

I have delt with dell tech support on many occassions lately (I've been having issues with my XPS M170 and my fiancee's Inspiron 6000), and I have to say my experiences have been great. I usually only see the threads involving bad experiences, so I will post mine for anyone interested.

3:08:16 PM System Welcome James ...
3:08:16 PM System Connecting to server. Please wait...
3:08:16 PM System Thank you for using Dell Chat, a representative will be with you soon.
3:18:33 PM System You are now being connected to an agent. Thank you for using Dell Chat
3:18:33 PM System Connected with T-------------
3:18:45 PM T------------- Thank you for contacting Dell Technical Support. My name is T------ and rep id is 1####. May I have your telephone number, along with the area code?
3:18:56 PM T------------- Meanwhile, I would like to inform you that you might get an invitation to participate in a survey at the end of this session. You will be asked to rate our interaction on a scale of 1 to 9 with 9 being very satisfied In order to participate in the survey, you must close the chat by selecting the "Exit" button.
3:19:04 PM You 9##-###-####
3:19:33 PM T------------- Thank you James.
3:19:40 PM T------------- Please give me 2 to 3 minutes to pull up your account information. In the meantime, please let me know how may I assist you today ?
3:20:47 PM You I have just recieved my fiancee's notebook back from the repair depot. While all of the hardware problems seem to be fixed, we are both very upset about the physical condition of the notebook.
3:21:28 PM You She takes very good care of this notebook, an there are pretty deep scratches all over the top casing.
3:21:41 PM You caused while at repair
3:22:35 PM T------------- Okay, I see..
3:23:13 PM T------------- Please accept my sincere apologies for the inconvenience caused because of your recent experience with us.
3:24:21 PM T------------- I shall do the needful so that this issue is resolved today.
3:24:33 PM You ok
3:25:28 PM T------------- James, I shall initiate a request the replace the covers which has deep scratches .
3:26:24 PM You ok, will she have to be without the notebook again?
3:26:42 PM You her college is starting soon
3:27:29 PM T------------- In case the parts that are scratched are factory replaceable units , then we shall have to send the laptop again to the repairs.
3:27:58 PM You can I make a suggestion?
3:28:06 PM T------------- Sure.
3:29:30 PM You since it is not a hardware issue, a quicksnap cover might be the best option. It would cover up the scatches and she won't have to be without for colege
3:31:24 PM T------------- James,Allow me to check if there is a quick snap cover for the Inspiron 6000
3:31:42 PM You ok, thank you
3:34:11 PM T------------- James, we have the following options available with us.Please remember that this is an exception that I doing for you as a special case.
3:34:24 PM T------------- LCD Insert, MEDITERRAINEAN BLUE
3:34:31 PM T------------- LCD Insert, CARBON FIBER
3:34:39 PM T------------- LCD Insert, CHERRYWOOD
3:34:46 PM T------------- LCD Insert, NATURAL LEATHER
3:35:01 PM T------------- Please let me know which one would you like.
3:35:22 PM You Thank you very much. I believe she would like the blue the best
3:36:54 PM T------------- Okay. I shall initiate the request right away.
3:37:08 PM T------------- Kindly stay online for the confirmation #
3:37:23 PM T------------- If I am unable to respond you promptly, please understand that I am working on the dispatch. Your patience is much appreciated. Thank you.
3:37:41 PM You ok, thank you
3:38:24 PM T------------- Please provide me the following details, so that I can setup the service to send the part: --1) Complete address (with zip code), 2) Land line telephone number, 3) Cell phone number if the landline phones number is not available.
3:39:22 PM You (Address was here)
3:39:40 PM You ###-###-####
3:43:06 PM T------------- Thank you James.I appreciate your patience.
3:43:27 PM T------------- It is our endeavor to not just fix the customer’s problem but also make him happy during our interaction.
3:43:52 PM T------------- Case # -----------
Dispatch/ confirmation # -------------
3:43:57 PM You You have made us very happy. I really appreciate it.
3:44:18 PM You Thank you
3:44:20 PM T------------- Anything else that I may assist you with?

Are you satisfied with the level of support provided to you in this chat interaction ?
3:44:30 PM T------------- You are most welcome
3:44:51 PM You Nothing else. I am very satisfied. Thank you.
3:45:03 PM T------------- We at Dell firmly believe that Dell has reached such heights only because of customers like you.Our endeavor has always been to improve customer satisfaction with each experience and provide the best possible support and service. Your feedback is therefore, very valuable to us and will enable us to identify our deficiencies and work upon them.
3:45:18 PM T------------- Thank you for contacting Dell Technical Support online chat for laptops and allowing me the opportunity to assist you.I have included your case#---------- to reference our interaction today. Please keep this on file; it will assist you when contacting Dell Inc in the future.


It’s my pleasure and anything for Dell Thank you for chatting with us today. You have a wonderful day and a better one tomorrow!!
3:45:34 PM T------------- Bye and take care James
3:45:58 PM You you too thanks
3:48:07 PM System The session has ended!

While still kind of upset about the scratches, the rep honored my suggestion and let me choose a quicksnap cover (which I am having airbrushed for her). Now she won't have to be without her lappy. Very good service.

 

ANOTHER post on good Dell support ... this time, sales support.

Today is day two of the "overseas 'Boxing' " process. And yes, I know what Boxing means. However, I called sales support today; I was HOPING that MAYBE they'd tell me more details -- if it's enroute, if it's actually arrived, or if it's departed at all.

FYI I wasn't mad at all when I called. BUT, I asked the Dell person "How long does it take to box a laptop? I bought an XPS desktop and Boxing took less than a day! Is there a problem with my order? Problem with my card? Is it delayed because of the battery recall?" Again, inquisitive, not angry.

She put me on hold for five minutes. When she came back she assured me that there was NO problem with my order ... BUT, she said she'll upgrade my shipping to NEXT DAY!!!

Didn't ask for it, didn't plan for it, just hoped she would give more details than "Boxing". It was her idea!

Thanks Dell!

 

I have contacted Dell a number of times for small things, the only big thing was the DVD drive was not working right. All of the times I called I was treated well, respected and I have nothing bad to say about Dell. Sometimes I have trouble understanding them, but I am patient and I understand the situation. They are actually taking the time to learn our language, which I think is a great thing. Usually it is just that their phone isn't very good.

Good job Dell!

 

I'm afraid my experience wasn't nearly as good as yours. I received my Dell refurbished outlet laptop yesterday. Immediately upon booting up after I removed it from the box I noticed that the screen seemed to flicker. At first I just assumed it was the lighting or some other minor reason, but it continued to get worse. After taking all the small steps I could take, reinstalling the drivers, little things like that, I decided to just reformat and reinstall windows in the hopes that would magically cure the problem, since I had planned on doing a reformat to get rid of the dell preinstalled junk in the first place. I did this, no problems, and the screen still flickered, and even flickered during the boot up/install screens, which I think means it's not a software issue.

I placed my first call to Dell tech support, explained that I hadn't even had my computer for 3 hours yet, and that my screen had a severe flicker problem. I was given a url on the Dell support site that showed me how take my laptop apart so I could "re-attach the lcd cable." I thought it was absurd that they expected me to doing physical hardware corrections myself, but it seemed simple enough so I thanked them and attempted to follow the instructions. Here is where my first infuriating problem cropped up. I couldn't get past step one, removing the screws behind the battery, because one of them had been completely stripped. It looked like someone had used a flat-head instead of a phillips, and just twisted and twisted until it was completely shot. I called back, explained what the previous tech had told me to do and why I couldn't, and proceeded to have a one hour conversation trying to explain why I couldn't remove the screw. After we re-established that I couldn't take the screw out, the support person proceeded to walk me through every mundane process I could think of, software wise, even though we had established with the previous tech that it was a hardware issue. I kid you not, I did everything from re-install the drivers, three times because she wouldn't believe me that this didn't fix the issue, to changing the font size in internet explorer and windows. At one point, she had me continually rebooting my pc as if that would fix it. Three hours later, keep in mind this is three hours of "Change your screen resolution. Still flickering? Change it again." she decided my only option was to reinstall Windows. I was extremely frustrated at this point, in my mind the stripped screws implied that this was a known problem previously and my computer had been damaged attempting to fix it, and I knew it would take even more time to reinstall Windows, so I pointed out to her that I had already done this, something I mentioned at the beginning of the phone call, and that restoring the laptop to factory settings was meaningless because it had been flickering straight out of the box, something else I explained repeatedly. She then chastised me for not calling them before I did this, even though from the quality of expertise demonstrated here if I called ever time I had the smallest problem I'd spend more time on hold than using my computer. Finally she agrees to send a box so I can ship the computer back, which is all I wanted in the first place, and by the time we were done I had wasted four hours of my time because she also would not believe my warranty was still valid, even though I explained that at this point I had spent more time with her on the phone than with my computer. I don't know how else to say "It just arrived TODAY."

Also, I spent so long on the phone with her that by the time I got off, it was my birthday. Some present.

I think it's also worth mentioning that even though I did not purchase a scratch and dent product, there were several noticeable scratches across the lid of the computer, which I would be completely willing to ignore if everything else worked correctly, but combined with this other problem, really annoys me.

Essentially, this makes me want to return the computer and be extremely wary of ever recommending a Dell product, as so far, this is my only experience with the company. Dude, you're going through hell.

Insert apology for long dissatisfied rant here.

 

I think you can call them and ask for an exchange. You may get a new computer. I think you are still in your 21 day return period correct?

 

I used to like Dell support. They can be good at times. Yet when they suck they really really suck.

I bought a Dell X1 nearly half a year ago. After a few month it had overheating problems and the rubber feets fell off (glue melted). Dell wanted to replace the entire laptop which I really appreciated. They sent me a laptop with a larger hard drive and a floppy drive (normally only get a optical drive). Everything was fine until I tried to use those drives and they refused to work. I tried my old drives with the old X1 that I was going to send back in...no luck. Turns out to be a bad motherboard. Dell sends a technician over who literally just tore the computer apart. I winced at every thing he did. Computers are delicate instruments after all. Anyway after like 30 mins of work he put it together and said bye while I was busy. I went to check the laptop later and found that the CF slot cover was installed wrong and the audio port cover wasnt placed in it at all. I had opened this laptop up on previous occasions to install an Atheros wifi card so I knew it pretty well. Installed the stuff and thought Im done. Nope not yet. The replacement motherboard was even worse. BSODs left and right. It even BSOD while formating. Called Dell they said its RAM issue. Ok fine however I tested the ram already by pulling out the add-on stick. Then they say its like the hard drive problem and I said it was working fine before the new motherboard was placed in. I told them its obviously the CPU overheating due to the symptoms and the Dell guy wasnt convinced. Im a freshman and CS major at UIUC and I can tell from his attitude he thought a 18 year old has no freaking clue what a computer is. Anyway after like an hour and consultation with his senior tech I got the motherboard, ram and heatsink all sent to me (no thanks to Dell technician). Fine now right? Well no they sent the stuff to the wrong address after I told them 3 times to send it to my dorm address. This is the last Dell for me ever. I bought it through my father's hedge fund and Dell can say good bye to like 40 computer orders annually (I buy the stuff for the company lol so I can get some fat discounts on hardware).

 

Correct. Heck, I'd qualify for a 1-day return period.

They said they'd have to replace the video card and screen. Do they have to try that before I request another computer? I've never had to return a piece of electronics like this before. Otherwise, how do I say I want a new computer?

 

The installation should not be heavily blamed on dell. The reason is that dell outsources installations by Banctec. They dropped my processor on the floor. Though I know dell can be blamed for the horrible people the come out to service. Plus I find dell online tech support to be much better then phone support. But this is all my opinion.

 

I think you can ask for an exchange the reason being is that you are in the 21 day period. And when I asked for my exchange for a desktop they said fine since I was in the time period. Also the 21 period day starts from the day of the invoice was made. If you have any problems I would talk to them over the dell chat.