We have all been there: 25 to 30 minute waiting times through automated phone systems to finally struggle with interaction through a noisy phone line, talking to customer service with only a rudimentary grasp of the english language and a slippery fumble of the comprehensible aspect of the accent.
I wont mention any names, but we’ll call this particular computer company Dingly for the sake of argument.
Oh sod it. It was Dell.
1 week lead time turned into 2, then 4 then 8 weeks when they told us it would be another 6 weeks so we cancelled that order, and re-ordered something that was in “stock”, and finally 11 weeks later things started to happen. When they finally arrived they were incorrectly addressed, returned, then re-addressed and finally delivered to our offices. Missing one of the systems.
Logisitics aside, the main problem was that for some reason our systems were spread across two orders, and the address issue pertained to both, however when I called up, the “customer service technician” (I think thats what she said) missed a fairly important trick and only re-addressed one of the orders. This meant that - thanks to their automatic systems - by the time I realised and called again, they had cancelled the order and refunded it…..without asking us.
There really is considerable difficulty with communicating with these people, some to the point of them being extremely rude to a female member of our staff. Don’t get me wrong most of them are very helpful, but they tend to misunderstand most of what you say. Having spent hours now chasing these two computer systems, and having the FD delegate to the sales department to chase it because he’s lost patience with them, I can firmly say I will never buy Dell again.
How long will it be before companies like Dell realise they can’t outsource the entire company to a 3rd (or 2nd) World country AND provide the services that they promise to? Heaven forbid the 3 year Next business Day Warranty; They don’t even call you back within 24 hours, let alone visit your company!
The only answer is : Talk with your feet, go elsewhere. Buy British. Or at least British based. Support our economy. If you buy British beef, then you should buy British pcs…….
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