[ILUG] RE: Dell "next business day warranty" problems

[Joseph Kiniry]

Hi Damien et al,

--On 31 March, 2005 8:56:30 +0100 "O'Sullivan, Damien" 
<damian.osullivan at hp.com> wrote:

>> If the customer has paid money for a service, informed Dell
>> of the problem, has not acted in any way to frustrate the
>> performance of the service by Dell, and Dell have failed to
>> perform their part of the service, then Dell's actions are fraudulent.
>>
>> Dell will, of course, have a different view of the matter,
>> but failure of customer service like this would be considered
>> fraudulent by the majority of people, would be an accurate
>> description of the events to most people, and would not lead
>> to any liability on the part of the person who names it fraud.
>>
>> REgards,
>>
>> Daniel
>
> Would have to agree. I feel ripped off. I feel a hell of a lot worse
> actually because I had no reason not to trust a company like dell. I
> guess this can happen to any company but being led around the garden
> path all the time is annoying. I was promised at 5 PM yesterday I would
> be rang back by 5.30. Still waiting. And this has been the same story
> all the time. A lot of Indian customer care reps who are programmed to
> say "I understand". Feels like they just want you off the phone. I can
> understand technical/supply difficulties in repairing something but
> being told lies is just down right rude. I have carried this laptop to
> work numerous times for collections, brought my phone to meetings etc in
> case they called for two weeks now and still I have to keep doing it and
> just can't see how it could be resolved now without legal wrangling.. I
> hate legal wrangling as much as I now hate Dell.

We use Dell pretty heavily here in Computer Science at UCD and many of our 
machines have a comparable level of service.  I have seen Dell technicians 
visiting us on more than one occasion and I have never heard and big 
complaints about their service here in Ireland.

I hope their service here is high quality for me because I too have started 
purchasing Dell machines for my research group.

My standard resolution even after one mistake (not weeks or months of 
mistakes!) is to simply ring their main office, ask for the name and 
address of the (at least) V.P. or Director-level person responsible for 
customer care in your area, and write them a single page, to the point 
letter explaining your situation.  Make sure to explain how this has 
impacted your work, business, and/or personal life and make sure you say 
how *disappointed* you are with the service.  Make no threats, do not try 
to use logic, just say that you are upset.  I usually CC the letter to the 
better business bureau or appropriate comparable organization where the 
company is doing business with me. In my experience, this has nearly always 
worked in getting my specific problem resolved and improving nearly all 
future interactions with the company in question[1].

I had to do exactly this because of horrible customer service interactions 
with AIB and Bank of Ireland over the past few weeks.  It is my first time 
doing it here in Ireland.  We'll see how it goes.

I would be very surprised if Dell customer care has fallen this far this 
fast, as they have always been very good to me in the past, but then again, 
I've not used them here in Ireland.

Joe

[1]  The only companies from which I never received satisfaction, or 
sometimes even a response!, are Alaskan Airlines in the US and Chello in 
NL, with whom I no longer do business as a result.
-- 
Joseph R. Kiniry
Dept. of Computer Science, University College Dublin
http://secure.ucd.ie/