Sep 27 2008
Desktop Computer - Dell vs third party tech support
Dell is an example of customer support that has gone bad. Customers seem to be caught in the middle – between Dell’s customer service/tech support and their third party tech support providers.
I am not writing this post just to complain about Dell Tech Support. I am writing this post to help anyone that is confronted with this situation.
After talking to Dell tech support for nearly 2 hours last Thursday I was told that my computer would be repaired at my home by the next day (Friday) or possibly the day after that (Saturday). I understood and agreed since they had to ship a graphics card and a hard drive.
My Dell warranty is a Next Business Day On-Site Service Plus Nights and Weekends and XPS First Class Service.
That same day (Thursday) afternoon at approximately 4PM I received a call from Dell confirming that the parts had been shipped. The call from the tech however never came. Friday the same and by Saturday (today) afternoon I called Dell tech support to find out what happened.
I won’t bore you with all of the details but I will tell you that I feel shafted. Today’s time line is below.
• Dell told me to call the dispatch center myself
• The CSR was rather rude
• I called Dell back and ended up asking for a Supervisor
• A conference call was set up between Dell, dispatch and me
• Argued with CSR - asked for Supervisor
• Argued with Dispatch Supervisor and Dell Supervisor
It is unfortunate that I had to wait through all of the “your call is important” messages just to be told that it was no fault of theirs that my warranty was not going to be fulfilled on the terms that I paid for.
Everything boils down to a mismatch of warranty terms. Not with me of course – but between Dell and the third party. The Dell Supervisor did not understand that their contract with the third party tech support says “if the part is not received by 10AM Friday the tech support is shifted to the next Monday. We are not talking about the appointment we are talking about the call to setup an appointment.
If I had understood the situation on Thursday I would have pushed Dell to ship the parts Next Day Priority (by 10AM). Dell did ship next day but it took 24 hours which caused my warranty terms to be discarded by the third party tech support.
