I talked to "Thomas", a Business Controls Manager from Dell today. He contacted me last week after I posted about my sons bad experience with trying to order a Dell XPS M1330 Laptop and subsequent cancellation of that order. Dell made us an offer that I think is kinda fare ( They would match a competitor's price on a laptop with similar components, and he would also work on getting it shipped quickly ). I would think with all that we went through last week that the offer would be better than that for someone serving in the military, but I digress. I will have to talk to my son and find out if this is the route he wants to take. He really had his heart set on a Dell XPS but the bad experience left a bad taste in his mouth, and mine.
After talking to "Thomas" from Dell today I talked to my Father ( a retired Physicist ) and he was telling me that a friend of his just got a new Dell Desktop and the LCD monitor didn't work when he set it up. After 45min on the phone Dell agreed to send him a new monitor. My Dad said to me "I thought they "Dell" would have tested the monitor before it was shipped". He also conveyed that another of his friends had spent 4 hrs on the phone with Dell tech support trying to get another problem resolved. This is really sad for a company that was always a leader in their filed of Direct to consumer sales. Hopefully Dell can pull itself out of this slump and come out on top again. I currently own two Dell computers and have had others before these. With the exception of a few minor problems in the past I have been very happy with them. By the way, Dad has two Dell computers also...
I am hesitant on recommending Dell to my friends and family at the current time but hopefully that will change in the near future. I will let you know how this all plays out.
2 comments:
John:
I’m at Dell Headquarters in Austin, Texas and I just came across the posts about your 1330 order. I'd like to apologize for the delays as well as the customer service difficulties. I hope that he ends up going with the 1330 and that yourself and the salesman are able to strike some sort of a deal.
As for the overall product quality and service goes, I would encourage you to look at the entire picture. Dell as a whole is doing a lot of good things in both areas and I realize this isn’t the perception one would get having just been through a customer service ordeal himself and then hearing horror stories from several friends but chances are still slim that you’ll have an issue with an order. Technology can be difficult at times and hardware failures will occur but when swapping stories about this sort of thing with others, it’s likely that you’ll hear ones involving Dell products for the simple reason that we have a huge market share. Our LCD’s are tested and the packaging seems fairly sturdy but a tiny fraction of them will probably still be DOA.
I hope that you and John do decide to stay with Dell in spite of the order gone wrong and the current delays and if you have any questions or there is anything I can do to assist, feel free to contact me.
Neil
Dell, Inc.
Replying to Neal from Dell, First of all thanks for taking the time to read and respond to my Blog post. I'll start with what you said last. I don't know your e-mail address or phone number so there is no way for me to contact you. If you want to give me that info you can by signing my guestbook privately ( so everyone doesn't call and e-mail you ). I have looked the the entire picture and I just got off the phone with my son and he told me that one of his room-mates just bought a Toshiba Laptop and had it within TWO days of placing the order. That's what I call service. By the way he configured it himself.
I have been dealing with Dell for years and have personally been involved in helping people order well over 50 Dell computers and all of them, with the exception of one was over $1000.00 . Until "recently" I never had a "major problem". The sales person that my son talked to was in Malaysia and didn't even know what the U.S. Navy was. I find that to be incredible in itself. I will tell you that I wouldn't mind paying a little more for a computer that has all North American sales and support. I hate calling India and having the support person telling me their name is Tom. That is laughable. I could relate a few other horror stories about Dell that have happened recently but I won't ..."Yet". I think the problem is that Dell is trying to compete with Wal-Mart and such places. Too bad... I don't buy my computers from Wal-Mart for a reason but you are taking that away.
My son John said today that when he orders a computer he "HAS" to have it fast. If there is a long delay he might not even be at the same address. Remember he is in the United States Navy. He will be going on a Ship soon and I don't think you will deliver to the middle of the ocean. Will you? I look forward to your response.
Again, I am typing this on a Dell computer and I love it. Hope the company can get itself back up to par, I would love my next computer to be a Dell also.
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