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General discussion

Advise about Dell support

Jun 3, 2009 11:50AM PDT

Are there any shortcuts or easy ways to get anything done with Dell support.
Case being, I bought a Dell XPS 435T that was delivered today. 1st thing I noticed was on of the optical drive doors was broken. 2nd the other drive wouldn't even come out. This was minor and didn't bother me that much.
I then tried to start the computer to get it set up and it quits right after the Dell splash screen and that's a far as it goes.
I have been on the phone and online chat for the past 8 hours, done every test they asked me to do and still nothing. They don't seem to have a clue.
One lady said I had to send it back to Dell for repair at my expense? I have the 3+1 warranty with next day on site repair, so I am confused.
This is my first Dell so I don't know what to expect from them.
Any advise would be very much appreciated.
Wayne

Discussion is locked

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support
Jun 3, 2009 1:34PM PDT

At the bottom of most Dell web pages is a contact for unresolved issues. That will get you to people who should fix every issue. rcfrgf

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Thank you
Jun 3, 2009 3:23PM PDT

I will look for that next time.
Since I posted, I got a call from Dell tech support and was told they are sending a local tech out Friday and he will take what ever steps are needed to get things fixed.
That made me feel much better and now I have better thoughts of Dell.
Thanks again
Wayne

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Update
Jun 5, 2009 1:29AM PDT

I got the call back from Dell support and that turned out to be a experience in futility
I explained to at least 6 different techs what the problems were and it appears that they didn't listen or have very little or no training.
I personally, don't care if these people are in India,Pakistan,Iran or what ever country as long as they can speak English and provide good tech support.
One female tech I spoke to sounded like she had marbles in her mouth and I had to literally spell things out.
After 17 hours over a two day period of this I finally gave up and e-mailed the person who setup the sale.I told him if something didn't get done soon, I would be sending the computer back, get a refund and buy a different brand computer.
It wasn't even an hour that he e-mailed me back, gave me a number that I called and to my great relief the person who answered actually spoke English as their native tongue and was in the USA.
He looked at all the notes from the past two days and said the computer needs to be exchanged.
It took him 10 minutes to get the exchange approved, get me an order number and it was done.
I checked my account at Dell an hour later and it showed the new order number, that the new computer was in production and would be shipped next business day once it was built.
To the people who work for Dell who visit these forums, What training do these people who live in foreign countries and work for Dell or their contractors get get? I can tell you 1st hand it is not enough.

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support ll "Everything you say"
Jun 6, 2009 1:53AM PDT

Dear Mopscare 42
When you call Dell Support (usually India) the first person is the lowest least trained Tech. You can tell they don't know much when they pause or put you on hold. Besides asking others what to do, they are typing into the computer in front of them everything you say (sometimes clicking is heard) and waiting for an answer to come up. Too, in these poorer countries the techs don't have their own computers in their homes.
Then, after loads of misunderstanding they offer you the other plans like "Dell on call", $129 + fees per incident. ("Our software section").
More persistance gets you finally to 2nd tier techs who know a little more. Once I got the most senior tech in Banglore. I said the problem, there was a 2 minute pause then a little talk then a 5 minute pause.
He'd run out of ideas.
In poor countries they have a tough time thinking "outside the box". I,now, go to the Microsoft forum and Cnet.
The art of the FORUMS is trying to explain exactly the problem. That's why often it takes a number of exchanges because you are trying to adjust to each others knowledge of technical language. rcfrgf

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Thanks for the reply
Jun 6, 2009 11:24PM PDT

I see what you are saying about the people who they hire in poorer countries doing tech support.
English language we use in the United States is one of the hardest there is to learn.
We were born and raised with it where the 20 year old techs in India was given a 6 months crash course not only learning our fractured English, but put into a job trying to help impatient people like me fix a difficult computer problem.
After reading what you have said and just watching the movie Slumdog Millionaire, I will be more patient and understanding next time I call any tech support.
Thanks again.

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WE ARE GOOD
Nov 4, 2009 9:53PM PST

HI,
This post it to all the people in US who think India is a poor country and all tech representatives who take calls to solve American customer's issues are not well trained.
guys we r TRAINED well and we know every thin about computers ok! Its not decision to make about sales! dell wants revenue through calls so we have to sell all those plans. they are beneficial if u think over it. we work in night shifts to help u guys and this is wat we get back. U have no idea how the pressure is to perform here. but we all try our *** out to solve our customer's issue. we just want him to be satisfied with the service. The bugging procedures r mane by our bosses who r Americans same as u. but nevertheless we try to help u out wit your issues. we enjoy our work so stop cribbing about Indians and use ur own brains.

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Support and Studio 17
Sep 18, 2009 4:27AM PDT

I agree on being able to communicate with the support techs that are outsourced to Inda. I bought a studio 17 computer and have had so many problems with it. I have been working with dell for over two weeks to get the problems solved. Every time I get to a update for drivers and utilites it always leads to another issue. The operating system is Vista home prem. It also had dells media software installed and it is conflicting with windows media. Has any one else having these same issues. Do I need to dump dell products and purchase HP.

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I know ...
Oct 4, 2009 2:46PM PDT

I understand your frustration, if you are like me I start something and never stop until it is done but usually get it done.

I have had a Dell since 98 and called several times when I had no experience but I was told to learn how to reformat my hard drive Dell XPS-450 so I could do things myself and I did with Win 98 but have done little since 2006 with a new XPS-410 9100 I think.

I made my first post tonight about what is pTech Support as I had 2 days left on 2 years extended and got in over my head (really too tired to think) but called for support expecting it to be free ? I had tried for 2 days to get to the page to update my support before I did the work but the site did not want to load when it did & I tried switching pages I could not compare or shop around within their site.

I had a good woman help me & she installed a lot of programs after the blue screen & I bought 3 incidents for 1 year, all seemed well then my mouse began to go all over the place again and another call the person shut things down in msconfig, this worked well all day now it is acting up again, no curser to tell me where I am (now it is back) ?

Now gone ? friendly people but if someone fixed my car by jumping a fuse I would not feel safe and the accent is so difficult for someone in the mid-west as I rarely hear anything else except our distinct southern dialect due to northern migration after the civil war, go 40 miles and people speak different.

I wish you well and rest as I know it is draining.

Hooty