Friday, April 17, 2009

Update

After 5+ hours on hold, being transferred to different departments, I decided to cancel the order.
Guess what? I was transferred another 3 times before I was hung up on. Each transfer took at least 10 minutes, some as much as 20+ minutes. 
So 3 times, someone told me, "OK, you can cancel, let me get you to the right department." Then I was hung up on. Total wait time just to try and cancel? 2 hours 15 minutes.

Still trying to cancel this worthless service! On hold once again as I called in.

Lesson 1- never buy a dell in the first place.
Lesson 2- never use Dell tech support unless you plan on wasting several hours.

I think Dell customer support used to be OK, but that is not the case for anytime I've called.

Dell runaround

I initially ordered software support for 1 year this morning. After 5 hours of being put on hold, talking to several different people, and not having my issue resolved, I requested a refund.
It seems that each rep I talked to had no idea of my issue, we started from scratch, and I was passed around to different departments. I am actually about to purchase a new computer for my business expansion. I'm not sure who I will go through, but based on my bad customer experience, it will NOT be  a Dell.

I don't think it's a personnel competency issue as much as a communication issue, and a lack of people on staff. Why does it take 20-30 minutes to go from one department to another? Why does the customer have to restate their entire history to each new rep on the phone?

I just wasted 5 hours of my time I will never get back. This has me angry enough that I'm considering sending out emails to all the work associates and friends I know, JUST TO SAVE THEM THE PAIN I JUST EXPERIENCED.

All this AFTER paying for a 1-year contract for support. Ridiculous. I'd expect companies like Dell to try harder during a recession. So, who to go to instead? Who has customer support in the USA? Or better wait times?

P.S. This blog was created/marketed while I was hold with DELL to cancel my initial tech service order I placed this morning.