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Living in Indonesia and learning to Weblog via Radio (along with many other very random thoughts and stories).

Dell Support fiasco

I've been a loyal and happy Dell user for about 4 years. I've bought two laptops and one desktop from them and have been very happy with all three, until a few weeks ago. My current laptop, a Dell Inspiron 8000, is just under a year old. A couple months ago the mini-pci modem/ethernet card stopped working. I knew it would take a bit to get resolved with Dell since I live in Indonesia, so I bought a combo-pc card from Xircom for the interim. In the meantime, my battery started to die. Fully charged it lasts about 15 minutes. So, I figured it was about time to contact Dell and get both things fixed.
 
Here's the progression:
  1. The first step was getting my US warranty transferred over to SE Asia. First mistake was not paying the extra for a international warranty.
  2. On June 22nd I contacted an email address (actually several addresses) that a friend suggested to me, since he'd just gone through the same thing.
  3. It took until June 28th to be given the okay to contact Dell Support in Singapore.
  4. It took me a bit to get an email address and then the email address bounced, but finally by July 1st I'd been referred to a working email address.
  5. On July 2nd I got the obligatory first batch of troubleshooting suggestions, most of which were obviously not applicable.
  6. I more clearly explained the problem, and on July 3rd I got more suggestions, again unhelpful. (BTW, why is the minimum turn around time about 24 hours? I'm dealing with someone that is only one time zone away, one hour ahead.)
  7. That same day I tried to clarify my problems and why none of the suggestions were helpful.
  8. Strangely communication then went dead. I resent my last reply on June 6th.
  9. On June 7th I got an email from a different address (Dell Australia Support, I think). This email said:
Sent: Sunday, July 07, 2002 6:43 PM
To: joe@<SPAN class=352160105-10072002>****
Subject: ET20020707_0000001005 None
 
Please include the following line in all replies.
Tracking number: ET20020707_0000001005
 
 
> Dear Joe,
>
> I sincerely apologize for the delay in our response to your e-mail.
> At Dell, we strive to exceed expectations and provide the highest
> levels of service to customers.
>
> Joe, I tried many times to access your system database, but since you
> had purchased the system in US, it is not possible for us to setup the service to replace the Mini PCI card.
>
> I would have been glad to setup the service but since we do not have
> access to your database, you need to purchase a new Mini PCI card for
> your system from our Dell Spare Parts Department since they will be in
> a better position and will be happy to help you in this matter.
>
> Below I have given the contact number of Dell Spare Parts Department
>
> 1-800-505-180.
>
> This will help you.
>
> Regards,
> Technical Support Team
> Dell Services &#150; Australia &amp; New Zealand
> Technical Services Hotline(Toll Free)1800 633 559 (Aus) Technical
> Services Hotline(Toll Free)0800 444 617 (NZ) Visit the Dell Service
> and Support center at: http://support.ap.dell.com Great Tools, Tips
> and Information on Supporting Dell Equipment.
 
    10.   The email actually came like that with all the > characters. The tech obviously copied and pasted it from another email or database and didn't even bother to clean it up.
    11.    I didn't realize it was from a different group and my email response was none too polite.
    12.    On July 8th the Singapore support center got back to me and ask for some information, which I quickly sent to them, in order to go forward with the service.
    13.    Later that same day the Australian support center sent me the same email, which I ignored.
    14.    Today I received the following from the Singapore support center:
 
Sent: Wednesday, July 10, 2002 11:37 AM
To: joe@<SPAN class=352160105-10072002>*****
Subject: RE: ET20020701_0000002137 RE:INTERNATIONAL_UNIT_LOCATION_TRANS_FORM - CRSHQ01 - NEEDS SV C
 
Please include the following line in all replies.
Tracking number: ET20020701_0000002137
 
Dear Joe,
Thank you for writing in. I hope you are doing fine.
Joe, with respect to this issue I would like to let you know that the database has not yet been transfered.
Hence I have forwarded the mail to Ap_Warranty@dell.com to transfer the database.
Joe, i would alos like to inform you that we provide only a years warranty for Battery, in case the 1 year warranty(From the shipment day is over) is expired then you will have to buy one.
Thank You.
.
    15.    My reply pointed out that the tech could have simply gone to the Dell support website and looked up my service tag number to see that my unit was purchased on 7/18/01 and was within warranty. Not to mention that I have a 2 year added warranty on it. It also, pointed out that there job was to solve the problem and they were taking ever to do so. I found this article about Michael Dell on the FastCompany website and used the email address from it to cc: the CEO.
 
So, now I'll wait and see if I'm going to continue recommending Dell computers.

Copyright 2002 © Joe Friend.
Last update: 7/18/2002; 5:25:47 AM.
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