Dell Customer Support

No bad reports from me, but we are a member of an extremely large buying group. Also I am Dell certified so when I call I get gold support. Mostly though I can just order warranty parts direct.
I have heard horror stories such as yours though.

Only had outstanding support from DELL. Better than I've ever had from any other company selling any other product. But then again, DELL's Canadian support is in Canada.

My mom has a Dell. Everytime I called for her, I had to put up with "Scripts" Q&A,

On night was getting a 16 digit error message number. Help at Dell wanted the number, I gave it.
Once the message was acknowledged, a new one would pop up. Help want that number, I told them it was exactly the same except the last 2 digits changed. They wanted all 16 digits. 9 messages, 16 digits and only the last 2 changed, but I had to give all 16 digits on each one.

I don't know how their customer support is...but I didn't have much luck with their sales rep. I was shopping for a new laptop and called them to ask questions about custom ordering one. The guy refused to answer any of my general questions without first getting a lot of personal information...so I hung up. I waited a few days, then just ordered a laptop from them, not really the way I wanted it.

ama02 - I would have ordered mine online. That way I could customize it the way I want it.

But usually I just build my own.

But then again, DELL's Canadian support is in Canada

not according to a friend in nova scotia who told me that she spent an hour getting something resolved with them before asking if it was raining where the support guy was...he replied maam i am in india. without thinking, she said 'holy cow'

.he replied maam i am in india. without thinking, she said 'holy cow'

hahahaha thats so sweet

Dell Support is a joke! I even tried the paid support because I was told I would be speaking with someone in the U.S. that speaks english. But on the very first call I was routed to india again.

And the commercials you see on TV for dell are a joke as well. Never once do they show you anyone in india...it's always someone in the U.S. False advertising!

Needless to say I have had to figure out any problems I had on my own or by asking someone here in the forums.

keegbee, I don't know, maybe it was in India, but both times I called, the person had no accent. It's not so much the qualifications of the person that I praise but the speed of the service. One time, I had problem with the battery, and they shipped me a new battery the next day! The second time, it was for a laptop I had problems with the screen. They sent me an empty box the next day, I sent the laptop right away and 3 days later the laptop was back. I was very impressed.

But usually I just build my own

You build your own laptops huh ? Ama02 was shopping for a laptop, not a desktop so if you build your own laptops I'd be interested to know where you get your parts.. I've been building my own desktops for years but I don't think I know anyone who builds their own laptops.

Well, my Dell escapades have been well documented both online and in newspapers around the country from a few years ago. I bought a Dell laptop and it was a trying experience because the thing kept locking up after a couple minutes. The support people - still in the U.S. at the time - were very nice, but the techs actually working on the machine were clueless. One called me up to ask me some questions and he wasn't even using the installed OS, but a DOS boot disk! Since the problem was caused by poor BIOS compatibility between it and the video card drivers in WinXP, no kidding he couldn't find the problem.

Anyway, long story very short, I finally got movement when I went to the NYS attorney general and complained, but by then Dell had finally put out a working BIOS and drivers to workaround the lockups.

No I don't build my own laptops. I heard it can be done but I haven't looked into it. I was talking about building desktops.

Be that as it may I try to stay away from mass built pre configured systems.

Dell support sucks ass. My Dell's motherboard fried 2 days after the warranty had expired, and trying to get anything remotely resembling 'technical' support was a fucking joke. I actually asked the guy if he had the same manual as I did in front of him and was just reading from that, because that's how it seemed.

Outsourcing sucks too.

I Built my dell online I wanted everything, suround sound for my tv, home stereo, gameing,dvd burning, cd burrning, the works, and whene I recieved it there was stuff I had no clue what it was or how it was to preform, so I called spoke with hobeeb, he was clueless, called my sales rep. he asured me it worked.I was setting up my surround sound to mu tv, and I was getting audio/video out of sync. It was like watching a bad movie wher the lips moved with out sound. after about 3 months of playing and calling, I e-maild dell support my exact problem and how I thought it was suposed to be hooked up, and they replied with service bulitens on everything to do with my problem. today it works fine. I found it easer to read english than it was to try to understand hobeeb.

I have a Dell laptop. I've had it a little over a year. The best thing I did was to pay extra for a Complete Care Package. It was an extra 300, very expensive as far as I'm concerned. I've had my usb connectors loosened to the point they were not working, and they picked up the laptop, on a Tuesday and had it back to me with a new motherboard by Thursday. The laptop was just picked up yesterday because the bottom fourth of the screen it white, I mean just white! Nothing else. They are replacing the the screen, and are guarunteeing it will be back here by tomorrow. I live in Massachusettes and it was shipped to Texas. It arrived in Texas at 4 am this morning. But I PAID for this!!

The thing that bugs me is that you have to pay for manufacturers to guaruntee their product. They should guaruntee it... period!! If I hadn't paid for the extra 2 years for this special service, I'd be up a creek without a paddle so to speak. After just 1 year! I've also had the dvd drive replaced twice, which they hjust sent me in the mail to replace myself. And get this...if you get that home care service, they do not come to your home unless they have spent HOURS on the phone with you and have tried everything short of having you check out everything possible while talking over the phone. And I mean HOURS!! Many times they have to call you back on another night to continue troubleshooting! One time I sat there talking to a tech from Indai and after each step, which included everything from "click on the start button" to "now go to your control panel" she actually paused for at least 30 seconds to a minute to READ a freakin' manuel!!

Anyways, the bottom line is, if you want good service, you've got to pay for it first!!

My friend had like huge difficulties and all they would do is send pieces for his machine to his house.He was really frustrated.

I would just like to ask Joeusers to watch their language a little when posting to threads that are shared with Wincustomize.

Anyway, long story very short, I finally got movement when I went to the NYS attorney general and complained, but by then Dell had finally put out a working BIOS and drivers to workaround the lockups.

Sometimes I wonder why they just don't give you a new computer and take the messed up one after a while.

As I wrote earier, the only problem was getting a 128 instead of a 256, but I really didn't tell anyone because it was too late anyway.

My sisters computer is SOOO SLOW. Plus she has all this spyware on it.
WinTools??? MyWebSearch... you name it, its on there.

Wintools is sneaky. I end the process and it restarts itself!!! In 2 places!

So between the 128 ram and the spyware... oh boy what a mess.

if you build your own laptops I'd be interested to know where you get your parts.

Me too..::laughs:: I have a couple laptops here that I wouldnt mind rebuilding...I dont know why they dont make the parts more available, I have taken mine apart and put it back together..there is nothing very hard about it..
Im guessing it's probably because when people find out how easy it is to build your own, they will stop paying the inflated prices for the deflated PC's..( I mean smaller..LoL..)
I have seen a few parts here and there for laptops, but nothing like they have for desktops..I do hope it changes soon..

Zero.

Well... Me and my friend live in New Zealand, arond 30km from a small town and about 10 hours from the nearest "City". We both own a Dell Laptop (I have Inspiron 8600, and he has Inspiron 9200). Before, when he still had an Inspiron 8500, there was a small faint white line in the right edge of the screen, and there was only a few days warranty left. He called Dell Support and told them issue. They asked him to do a couple of "tests" to help them see what the problem is. So they said that they will send a technitian over to fix the problem. And do you know what happend? It happend just as they said.(!) The Dell guy was here in two days. They sent him on a mission to drive 10 hours just to replace his screen (which took him about 10 min).
And after seeing that, I will always buy from Dell!

Bottom line is:
I dont think that any other company would do that (because we live so far from town, they would probably tell us to send it to them to fix it).

Dell is the best!!!

I've also had the dvd drive replaced twice, which they hjust sent me in the mail to replace myself

For that kind of "user serviceable" problems, I prefer that they tell me how to fix or mount parts myself, rather than they send a person to do that

That is a good story, Mr. Debeli. I'm glad you had great succss with Dell. I have too (I have an Inspiron 8600 as well!), but I think only because I paid extra for that service up front. And the reason I mentioned the two dvd drives is not so much because I had to fix them myself, but because within the first year of owning this laptop, I've had multiple problems with it. If the laptop was built with the proper quality, perhaps I wouldn't have needed so much warranty assistance in the first place.

If the laptop was built with the proper quality, perhaps I wouldn't have needed so much warranty assistance in the first place.

That is a good point, I was also thinking about that.

But still, some people that I know had Toshiba or Sony laptop, and if they had a problem they had to send it to another country and stuff like that.

For me, service is on the first place (because no company makes "rock solid" computers, and one can never know what can happen).

I don't know, maybe it was in India, but both times I called, the person had no accent. It's not so much the qualifications of the person that I praise but the speed of the service.

my friend hadnt noticed an accent either...in fact she was convinced she was talking to someone in the same province if not closer. unfortunately the reason she was on the phone for so long was dell's refusal to send a replacement modem for one that had obviously failed unless and until she jumped thru a whole buncha hoops.

hmm... that's weird... I've never bought a Dell before, but my dad works in this petrochemical company in UAE that has contracted Dell to furnish them with all the imperative tech, and he's always singing about how nice Dells are and how he's never had a scintilla of discomfort since Dells came blah blah...
My university here also has contracted Dell to provide them with state of the art equipment including powerful workstations (more like LCD's on top of shoe boxes) around the campus.
To make my point, I feel that Dell pays more attention to their corporate customers, and leave the average joe out to grope in darkness on their own. Obviously, they know that the big balls are in the corporate's courts, and to appease them is probably a major priority. But since I don't have any experience with this, I'm jus spitballin here...

Another thing if someone could clarify it for me: I've heard that Dell doesn't actaully manufacture their own products, but rather imports Chinese/Taiwanese parts, put em together, slap their label on and sell em for a couple 100 bux more than their actual price. In all fairness, most, if not all companies follow this practice of importing parts from other places, but Dell seems to have acquired a notoriety for being exemplary in this convention.