Dell: My nightmare with Dell customer "support" and "sales"

My nightmare with Dell customer "support" and "sales"

I am sincerely hoping that Bill from Dell is going to read this thread, because I just had the single worst customer experience I have ever had with a company. I'm really sad that it was Dell, because before today Dell was my number 1 recommendation whenever anyone asked me anything about systems. This will now change since I cannot in good conscience recommend a company with such incredibly bad back end support.

Here's the background. I own an Inspiron 1525 laptop which I bought a few months back as a second computer. It's not my primary machine, so sometimes I let my (2 and a half year old) daughter watch TV shows on it. This proved to be a mistake, as she managed somehow to pull off my "V" key and get rid of it. Unfortunately this all happened while I wasn't home, so by the time I arrived, my V key was long gone. "No problem," I thought - "I'll get in touch with Dell and buy a new key - or at worst a new keyboard".

My first attempt was to go through the website. I connected with an agent, who spent 18 minutes (I timed it) ignoring my repeated requests to direct me to Sales, gathering my information to look up my account before glibly telling me that my problem wasn't covered under warranty (I already figured that out, of course, that's why I was trying to reach SALES) therefore he couldn't help. I'd need to call. Sales.

I didn't quite take him at his word, and took a look around the site to double check. Indeed it seemed that there were in fact no replacement keyboards available in the right model.

Que this morning - or rather this afternoon. Three calls, EIGHT agents and two people who hung up on me later, I still haven't ordered my keyboard yet. Here's why:

CALL NUMBER 1: (11:00AM)

I call 800-999-3355.

"Welcome to Dell, yours is here. To serve you better your call may be recorded. Por servicia en Espanol, diga Espanol...."

After some wrangling with the speech recognition system, I am pleased to be able to direct myself over to the Sales department. I spoke with a gentleman who was pleased to help, but let me know that unfortunately he could only sell me a full system, not individual parts. I'd need to speak with someone from Spare Parts.

"Ok, no problem, can you transfer me?"

"Sure, please hold for me."

14 minutes later in silence, I gave up and disconnected the call - it would be quicker just to call back!

CALL NUMBER 2: (11:30AM)

I call 800-999-3355.

"Welcome to Dell, yours is here. To serve you better your call may be recorded. Por servicia en Espanol, diga Espanol...."

After some wrangling with the phone system, I get transferred to sales again. I quickly let the rep know that I need to go to spare parts, and she transfers me to spare parts.

I have a brief conversation with a pleasant Indian lady during which I explain my problem and let her know that I want to buy a new key, or keyboard. She quickly informs me that she is transferring me to technical support and puts me on hold.

Confused, but still willing to play along, I wait.

A Spanish speaking rep answers the phone. I ask if they can speak English, yes they can. I explain my situation again and receive the following reply:

"WHY are you calling Technical Support? This isn't covered under warranty!!"

".... I kno-"

"UGH hang on I'll just get you to someone who ca-" *click*

I disconnect the call. It will be quicker to transfer myself back to spare parts than to risk another bad transfer.

CALL NUMBER 3: (11:50AM)

I call 800-999-3355.

"Welcome to Dell, yours is here. To serve you better your call may be recorded. Por servicia en Espanol, diga Espanol...."

After some wrangling with the phone system, I get transferred to sales again. I quickly let the rep know that I need to go to spare parts, and she transfers me to "John".

"John" is about to be worst sales rep I have ever dealt with.

"John": "In case this call gets disconnected, please call me back at extension 7244161."

I explain my situation to "John". He again reiterates that it is not covered under warranty. I am pleased - this is an improvement. Of course, I am already well aware that it is not covered under warranty, but at least I am still talking to "Spare Parts". "John" places me on hold to go and look up the part number and availability.

"John" comes back. My replacement keyboard will be $53.95.
Me: "Okay, and what's the part number on that John?"
"John": "Why?"
Me: "I want to know the part number please, so that I can call you back in a few minutes to finish this order up."
"John": "Why do you want to know the part number? We can order it right now. Let's order it now."
Me: "I'm sorry, I am not ready to order it at this exact second, please give me the part number."
*click*

John has hung up the phone. Very annoyed now, I progress to...

CALL NUMBER 4: (12:15PM)

I call 800-999-3355.

"Welcome to Dell, yours is here. To serve you better your call may be recorded. Por servicia en Espanol, diga Espanol...."

Again after some quick wrangling I get myself back to "Spare Parts". Frankly at this point I'm no longer interested in just buying the keyboard. I want to complain about "John". "Andy" answers the phone.

Please note that at the start of EVERY SINGLE ONE of these conversations I was asked to repeat my name, phone number, service tag, and physical address. I've edited this out of the transcripts for brevity.

It's apparently impossible to transfer that information between different reps at Dell.

Since they're a technology company.

And everything.

Me: "Hi Andy, can you please transfer me to a supervisor?"
"Andy": "Sure, but maybe I can help you."
Me: "No, I don't think so, I need to complain about one of your coworkers."
*account information gets pulled up*
Me: "Can you get me to a supervisor now please?"
"Andy": "Okay, I will transfer you to a supervisor, please hold."

*hold music* (7 minutes)

Rep: *fast paced Spanish greeting*
Me: "Hi, I'm sorry, do you speak English?"
Rep: "Yes, sorry, how can I help you?"
*account information gets pulled up*
Me: "Are you Andy's supervisor?"
Rep: "....No, I'm not a supervisor, this is customer care. How can I help you?"
Me: "I was trying to get to a supervisor for spare parts, can you get me to one?"
Rep: "Yes, please hold."

*hold music, and what sounds like two lines and two different menu systems being conferenced together* (8 minutes)

Jen: "Hi this is Jen in Business Care, how can I help you?"
Me: "Hi Jen. Are you a supervisor in spare parts?"
Jen: ".... no I'm not. Can I get your service tag number please?"
*account information gets pulled up*
Me: "I am trying to complain about a rep who just hung up on me from spare parts. Coincidentally I'm also trying to buy a new keyboard, but that is neither here nor there at this point."
Jen: "Oh, okay, well let me get you with someone from sales, please hold."

*hold music* (6 minutes)

Nicole: "Hi this is Nicole in Sales, how can I help you?"
Me: "Hi Nicole. Are you a supervisor?"
Nicole: "No I'm not, but let me see if I can help you. Is this a new order or an existing order?"
Me: "It's a new order. I'm trying to get a new key for my Inspiron 1525 - my daughter broke my V key."
Nicole: "Okay, can I get the service tag from it please?"
*account information gets pulled up*
Nicole: "Okay hold on for a minute let me see if we can get just the key for you..."

*hold music 9 minutes*

Nicole: "Hi, are you still here?"
Me: "Yes, any luck?"
Nicole: "No, I'm sorry, you will have to order a new keyboard. Let me transfer you to spare parts."
Me: "............... Okay."

*hold music 4 minutes*

"Amy": "Thank you for choosing Dell, this is Amy, what can I order for you today?"
Me: *re-explains situation yet again*
"Amy": "May I have your service tag number please?"
*account information gets pulled up*
"Amy": "Okay, sir, the part which you will need will be $53.95 and we have several in stock which we can ship to you."
Me: "Okay, well before I go ahead with this order, I would like to finish dealing with discussing "John" from earlier. Do you know anyone called "John" in your department?"
"Amy": "No I do not sir."
Me: "Okay well, can you give me a reference number, or part number so that I can get back to you after you transfer me to a supervisor?"
"Amy": "Certainly, the reference number is xxxxx and the part number is xxxxx. We can place the order now."
Me: "No. I want to talk to a supervisor now, please."

(Now, I could, and probably SHOULD have gone ahead and placed the order at this point, but I was already upset, and felt even more annoyed that she was trying to push me into a sale when I had other business to attend to)

"Amy": "Okay, please hold for a moment while I get a supervisor."

*hold music* (3 minutes)

"...he number you have dialed has been disconnected. *tones* We're sorry, the number you have dialed has been disconnected. *tones* We-"*click*

I give up.

You people are useless.