Wednesday, October 18, 2006

A Hopefull Conclusion to the Dell Nightmare

There comes times in one's life where one ponders if he's experiencing reality, or trapped in some sadistic episode of the Twilight Zone. I have to say, this final episode in the Dell "Customer Lack of Service" saga has plunged me into such a time.

Turns out if you've got a blog detailing your experience at Dell, they actually end up reading it, at least if you submit it in support requests, fax it to some fax number a support rep gave you that was supposed to be another service department, and email it to the customer advocacy department at Dell.

So I'm home sick from work, and here our tale begins. The phone rings, caller ID informs me it's an 800 number. Old ingrained anti-telemarketer instinct almost prevents me from answering, but I'm feeling lucky, so I pick up.

It turns out to be Debbie, from Dell's "Customer Advocate" department. Seems after a couple of weeks of plowing through Dell phone support numbers, submitting support requests, and writing an entire blog about your experience that you spread all over the web, you are entitled to a Dell person who will "share your pain" and try to get your problem resolved.

This must be the gold standard of Dell's service personnel, a person who will be available on a direct line, and will absolutely not stop working with you until your problem is resolved.

So Debbie, fresh with apologies and optimism, embarks with my wife and I on the journey to the find the Holy Grail, by which I mean closing a "Dell Preferred Account".

First, Debbie asks me to forward her our original Dell order confirmation emails. O.K., I dig them up, and forward them along.

We wait... Hmm, doesn't seem the email is making it through... Seems this is not entirely uncommon, you know how funny those Dell email servers can be, so she suggests a different email address.

Presto! Almost instantaneous delivery! Excellent, we're on our way.

Then I explain that my wife is away at the moment, and she's had to be on the line before to get things going with some of the support departments involved. She says we'll proceed anyways, that we can pick up later if my wife needs to be involved.

So we start the 3-way call into the department Debbie believes can solve our problem. As soon as I hear the teleprompt service start up, I realize Debbie's in for a ride.

Sure enough, the first number's a dud, nobody can help. We try another, teleprompts, hold queue, she asks if I want to remain on hold while we wait for someone. Sure, why not, I have nothing to do as the Flu has knocked me out for the day.

...waiting... ...waiting...

Debbie's back, says she's still on hold, she hasn't forgotten me. ...warm fuzzies, I feel special... Back on hold

...waiting... ...waiting...

Debbie returns, she needs to do more research it seems, and will call me back when she knows more. I thank her, we part again.

Around 20 minutes later, my wife is back home, and we're peaking with anticipation of Debbie's return call.

..ring...

Debbie's back, cool. Turns out our account is "On Hold"..

I pause here to remind the reader that my very first call to Dell maybe almost a week ago was to try and find out why the account was "On Hold"

She tells me that an account cannot be closed before it is first gotten off the "On Hold" status. For this to happen, an "Account Verification" needs to take place.

My warm fuzzies start to evaporate as Debbie tells me that the "Account Verification" people are a funny bunch who get nervous if the "Customer Advocate" is on the line at the same time as an "Account Verification" is happening. We have to go this one alone, but she'll be waiting to hear how it pans out.

...deep breath...

We call the number, (800) 624-9897, extension 7268826.. A friendly gentleman answers, asking how he can assist us. We say we'd like to "Verify" and then "Close" our Dell Preferred Account.

He says he cannot help us, can he forward us to someone who can?

!!! Oh no!! We've been there before!!!

..click... calling Debbie...

Debbie is shocked and dismayed to hear that the number she gave us won't do the deal... She's gonna find out what's what, can we hold?

Sure...

Debbie's back again, fresh new number to try. She's rooting for us!!

(866) 228-9620...

ringing...

We enter our SSN at the new prompt that greets us. Another guy comes on the phone, asks us how he can assist us.. Um, "Verify" and then "Close" our Dell Preferred account.

Hmm... He can't help us, but can he transfer us to someone who can?

Sure, we bite, it's GOT to work one of these days...

So we get transferred through. Brand new teleprompt, enter SSN, cool...

..beeping noises..
"We're having technical difficulties"
..click.. bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Time to call Debbie Back. She's very sorry that the latest round of Dell phone number roulette didn't work out for us. She promises that she'll figure it out, can we hold?

Sure...

...waiting...
...waiting...
...waiting...

Now, usually I've got a pretty good tolerance for bladder control, but this flu bug is killing me.. I just HAVE to take a leak...

I am forced, in terror of losing our chance to get this account closed, to take a wiz while cradling the phone on my shoulder. Meanwhile I get to hear my wife chucking at the other end, seems she's had the other phone on speaker and the whole bathroom event is quite a show.

...flush...
...rinse...

...waiting...
...waiting...

...Did I like run over some old lady and this is my punishment or something???...

...waiting...

Debbie's back. She says there's an issue with the Billing Phone Number on our account. She's going to hack into the mainframe at Dell Central Command and flip it to our home phone number so when we call, Big Brother will know it's us.

O.K., Cool...

Back to (866) 228-9620...

Guy answers, he asks us... you get the idea... Says he can't close accounts, but he's just rip roaring sure his supervisor can..

holding...

Enter Mr. Supervisor. Can he get our name? Well, hmm... The name on the shiny new credit card you sent us has the name misspelled on it, do you want the RIGHT spelling, or YOUR spelling? He says the account number will suffice.. Cool.. We give it...


...back on hold...
...waiting...
...waiting...

Supe says he cannot verify our phone number because it is not showing up on their caller ID... Seems our IP Phone (Like Vonage Folks) is the problem. Can they change the account to another phone, like a cellular.

O.K., we feed the supe my wife's cellular phone number. Bingo! The cell phone rings, the verification happens, we're in business!

It is at this point, amazing as it may sound, that the representative on the phone asks us if we want to resurrect our original order..

No!!!!!!!

Alright then, we're told we can finally go about the business of closing the account.

but...

Not with this representative. They do, surprisingly, offer to get the appropriate party on the line while they put us on hold... O.K., sounds groovy.

...waiting...

...waiting...

...waiting...

Rep comes back to tell us they're working their way through a confusing teleprompt system, and to hang in there. Classic..

...waiting...

...waiting...

...waiting...

Rep comes back and says their call got dropped, they're gonna try again. Even better..

...waiting...

...waiting...

...waiting...

Rep returns to say that their call got dropped again.. They are at a loss, can't figure out how to get our account closed, seems to be some "glitch" in the system.. They're confused... JOIN THE CLUB!

So we call Debbie back, we're on a first name basis now, I feel like she's a distant relative or something. We relay the recent turn of events, and she promises she'll get to the bottom of it, again... She'll call us back..

Maybe 5-10 minutes later the final call arrives. Halleluiah!


THE ACCOUNT

HAS

BEEN

CLOSED!!!

We're free! Free from the tentacles of Dell Financial Services and the monstrous bureaucracy that has ensnared us, holding us hostage for the last couple of weeks! Free at last!

Debbie also seems jubilant, I feel like sending her a fruitcake. But I remind myself, this should never have happened. It should never have taken days of vigilant effort, numerous phone calls, many form submissions, endless transfers and holds and ultimately a great deal of stress to:

1) find out why our account was on hold and,
2) to cancel our order and close the account

This has been, without a doubt, the most bizarre, frustrating, and at times infuriating customer service experience I've ever had. I have oscillated between puzzlement, rage, frustration and stark disbelieve in the inadequacies in what has to be a deeply flawed company approach to customer service. It should NEVER take a public blogging, hours of hard work and considerable frustration to get through a simple hold based on an account verification.

For all of this, Debbie offers me a $100 discount code that, get this, can only be used on orders of $100 or more. So the company that has robbed me of many hours of my life in a seemingly futile attempt to close an account, wants me to use a discount code that ultimately guarantees I will actually have to spend more money to use!

I have to say Debbie was helpful, she seemed as trapped as we did in this maze of telephone teleprompt systems and helpless support reps.

We're not going to use the code that will be emailed to us on principal. If it can be transferred, we're going to give it to a brave friend of ours who plans on buying a Dell monitor in the near future.

I would strongly caution potential dell customers out there to take heed. It took this customer a great deal of effort to do what should have taken a single phone call to clear up. A company I once revered for having some pretty stand up support for solid, well priced hardware, seems to be crushing itself under the weight of a very poorly designed system of service and support.

We have yet to receive the code, or verification that the account is closed, but…


Hopefully, The End.

13 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

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11:31 AM  
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Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hahahahhahah. Ahhhhh!! I'm going through this right now! I'm actually still on hold :( The reason I found this post is i made a search in google for 866-228-9620 and surprisingly you're the only result for this search. Wish me luck

12:39 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Heh I'm going through this right now....I'm trying to find out what needs "verified"...

3:29 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I notice this is dated 2006. I'm doing the same thing in 2008. Got to your blog from a google search.

We oughta form some sort of insurgent group to address this sort of thing. Wait a minute, I take that back -- I just realized we'd just be talking to Dell.

Oh (sigh) well...

2:18 PM  
Blogger future1investor said...

My dear friend is on the phone now with Dell as I type this comment.

He purchased his laptop in December 2007 and last night was the 3rd re-load of the Windows OS as directed by Dell Tech Support.

His calls last not minutes but literally hours and hours! One case # lasted a total of 14 hours before all was resolved, after loosing his family pictures including a wedding; until last night and the horror started yet again.

I stepped in for the first 2 1/2 hours last night on his behalf. You see, I used to be a service technician myself and all Dell problems go through this same nightmare. I gave up my business working with people with Dell computers because it was almost immoral to have to charge people for my time when Dell was prolonging the issue. They should have been paying me to act as the on-site technician instead of the customer. The very customer who had purchased on-site support and never got it!

As I write this, he is being stonewalled by a Dell representative. He has asked repeatedly for an RMA# today. He has been infinitely patient (beyond reasonable). Perhaps Dell customer and technical reps have been trained by AOL specialists who are proven specialists at stonewalling and ignoring the customer's requests to cancel an account.

Anyway, last night after several levels of tech support; and then for the 3rd time of reloading Windows Vista in as many months...They tell us they'll call back in 1 hour. Call came in with the ID input of our own phone number. But upon answering the phone the other party immediately hung up. We called Dell Tech Support back no less than seven times, each time going back to voicemail.

This process started in the early evening and by Midnight, the re installation of the OS locked up and now won't reboot. Dell Tech Supt. won't return our call as promised.

Its now the following day as my dear friend is on the phone again. They tell us that the log indicates that they attempted several return calls. Only we know that this is a lie. Whomever entered that into the log did so fraudulently. They didn't even try to call the secondary contact number we gave them. His cell phone did not ring as both phones sat in front of us till it was finally time to give up (as Dell hopes?).

They offer him a refurbished computer now?????

They want to give a customer a used/refurbished computer after hours and hours and days of frustration.

They (tech support) last night started off the conversation before diagnostics by blaming the Trend anti-virus software for a possible problem with Windows. They encourage the purchase of Norton 360. They encouraged the purchase of a one-touch back-up external drive for safe keeping of data. What about the problem with this Dell purchase? It is apparent that Dell is avoiding refund/new system replacement at all costs. Rather they would further degrade customer relations to save a few bucks on their end. Meanwhile here is a good man; patient beyond belief, spending days on the phone, endless transfers, more Dell Reps ,repeatedly telling his Dell computer problems to each and every Dell Rep.

Needless to say, Dell has gone far far over the line with not only this customer but with many, many customers...

Coming from a Quality background, I can tell you that the number one priority for every business is Excellent Customer Service. #1
Product is second to customer service. If a customer can not be comforted in the fact that they will be taken care of... that resolution will be quick...then you have lost a customer, lost future purchases, lost future customers who read these many blogs and letters.

The only thing a customer has left is their voice. The voice to tell others their Dell Nightmare. In hopes of saving countless others this very same horrible experience.

Okay folks: Call now ended, two hours as a follow-up to last night's fiasco. Dell won't refund his money, they want to give him a refurbished computer. Huh? They cite 21 days even though there has been issues from the start. It was they who would not take it back. Of course its beyond 21 days.

The Dell Rep asks for the case # so that he can look up the original order. My friend asks with humor: "Which of the 21 case numbers would you like"?

Okay, he said that this person has agreed to exchange this flawed product with another new computer of the same model.

If this replacement proves to be an issue, it can not go any further than a total refund next time. My friend's patience has finally reached its end.

The Dell Nightmare will never be forgotten. The pure mention of the name Dell will illicit not positive but negatives and a story each listener will find movie-worthy!

3:48 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I am currently a Dell subcontractor and what a nightmare this is. I've had this one laptop job where the Dell tech is basically having me rebuild the laptop - new motherboard, new LCD, new case, new bezel, etc...so after rebuild #1 the laptop screen boots up gray - Dell tech sends out all new laptop parts to be REBUILT a second time! At $50.00 a rebuild - I have spent mega gas money and time to rebuild a Dell nightmare.

Then there is the Dell network printer that I spent 5.5 hours on troubleshooting and repairing (4 hours on phone with Dell tech) only to have the tech order another new system board for the printer and another part that is buried way in the bowels of the printer. Fixing this printer is paid @$30.00 a pop! So I could spend another five hours with this printer...

Don't EVER subcontract for Dell. You will lose massive amounts of income and spend your days in Dell hell.

sighned,
A disgruntled Dell Subcontractor trying to get out of subcontracting...

7:00 PM  
Blogger Future1investor said...

Wow! You mean there really is such a job? Are you the on-site that people purchase in the warranty? Now I can see why Dell had never sent an on-site tech to my friend's home to troubleshoot....there simply wasn't any technicians in his area that could be dispatched. No One Wants This Job!!

I was my own business it just so happened that a few of my customers purchased Dell systems and they became my problem too. LUCKILY though I was being paid by the hour from the customer and not by the job from Dell.

BUT IT IS EXACTLY WHY I QUIT the business! Dell was just indirectly giving me all kinds of business but which I felt wrong to charge for so I chucked it all in and finally gave up my business on the side of moral integrity!

I know some of my clients miss me and I miss seeing them on occasion when they had a software problem or needed a new computer setup or satellite installation for their commodities trading.

But I felt I did the right thing. Now I'm back in business but this time I just work for myself in the stock market. I no longer service computers.

I am very tempted to buy a top of the line Alien Gaming system. However Alien is now owned by Dell, and that SCARES the Living Hell out of me!

8:24 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Yaar..i also havecancelled my order of studio laptop inproess of its manufacture only...
Dont know what will happen..

6:50 AM  
Blogger Nicole said...

I've been having a NIGHTMARE experience with Dell for the last three weeks that sounds very similar. I ordered a Dell laptop and applied for financing, which I got. Everything with that order went fine. It shipped a week after I placed the order and was delivered last week. The day after I placed my laptop order I saw that Dell had a fantastic deal on a LCD TV so I thought, "I'll just order form dell on my spiffy new 'preferred account'". I happily ordered my TV via phone with 'Raymond' who was very helpful. In order to finalize my order, Raymond sent me an email quote. This email quote contained a phone number that hasn't been active since 2003. I imagine it was somehow pulled from my credit history. I mentioned it to the him, but he told me not to worry about it. In any case, I finalized the order and looked forward to my shiny new HDTV. The next day Dell called to say that they were unable to verify my identity and that I'd have to wait for a letter in the mail from them before they could proceed. I thought to myself, "So I ordered a laptop one day with no problem but am unable to be 'verified' the next?" So I wait 7 days for the freaking letter to arrive. A few days prior to my receiving the 'verification' letter, I get a letter from Dell congratulation me on my new Dell Preferred account. How fucking hysterical is that? Anyway, I called the number on the letter and was able to get approved and my account was taken off hold. They tell me that my first order has been canceled and tell me to reorder on the Dell site. I immediately reordered. A few hours later I get an email telling me that my order can't be verified. I then slip into a twilight zone span of ten days where I speak to no fewer than 20 customer service and Dell financial reps (none of whom speak English well) and I get NOWHERE. I finally begged a rep last week to please help me. She told me no problem my account is off hold and the order will ship asap for delivery this Wednesday. YIPEEE!! I think to myself. I check the status today and what do I find? You guessed it, the freaking order is on hold, again. I called again today and talked to three people. The final person said that my order was DEFINITELY going to ship and I'd have no other problems. Somehow, I bet I end up ordering a TV from Amazon. This process lasted THREE weeks...just trying to buy a TV!!!!

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