What's that old adage...it's easier to keep a customer than find a new one? That might not be exactly it, but the idea is there.
Obviously Dell hasn't heard that one. I can understand the battery problem. They purchased their supply of batteries from Sony. It's not Dell's fault that Sony has a design/manufacturing problem. It's not the battery recall that has me ticked...it's the way they handled it. 20 days, they promised. Yeah...right. It's not like I actually believed that anyway. After all, they couldn't even bother to merge the date and time into the form letter they sent confirming the letter. The first line of the email read "/datetime/".
I did not get the promised notification that my order had shipped, so I didn't bother checking until it was already late. Of course, you can't look up your order without the well-hidden and irretrievable order number they assigned. I finally found the page I printed, and discovered that Dell thinks they shipped the battery almost a month ago. Great, except when I entered the tracking number at the shipping company's website, they don't have the number in their system.
When I called Dell customer support, the rep has access to no more information than me. He tells me he will "escalate" the order. I'll get an email, he says.
The next time I call, I have to explain the problem again...yes, I know your system thinks it shipped, but no, it isn't here and the shipper doesn't have a record of the package. She tells me she'll "escalate" the order and I should get an email. And what is the service tag from my computer and the PPID from the battery? Hello?! I provided all of that when I placed the order...maybe you can just look it up?
Again I called. And explained myself all over again, but this time I had the the service tag and PPID. She, too, tells me she's going to "escalate" my order, and as she's retyping all of the information into the system, I'm asking myself why a computer company requires so much duplicate data entry--could this be why Dell's quarterly financial reports haven't been looking particularly upbeat lately?
I haven't gotten my "escalation" email yet, so I guess I'll be calling again tomorrow. I suspect, however, that the next time I need a new computer, I won't be calling them.
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