Posted on 07/13/2005 5:11:44 PM PDT by Mike Bates
Dell's customers are lamenting about the company shutting down the Customer Care message boards that have long been part of its Dell Community Forum, with some wondering about Dell's service commitment.
The moderated message boards, which allowed Dell customers to post and reply to questions about general order support, rebate status, warranty information or invoice questions, were shut down July 8. The company notified customers of the change on Monday with a posted message that referred customers to Dell's Order Status Web site or its online chat feature that promises to link consumers with a Dell Customer Care representative.
Longtime contributors such as "Rick," who also runs a site called DellTalk, expressed sadness at the changes.
"For those of us that have spent the past few years on these forums, we know the tens of thousands of people that the moderators have helped," Rick said in a post this week. "Shutting down the Customer Service (non technical) forums will only further the belief that Dell is focusing on business customers and doesn't care about the consumer."
(Excerpt) Read more at news.com.com ...
Will the 'customer care" be able to type in English (that is understandable?)
Sikh and Ye Shall Find
Dell had a forum?
Mike, I knew your dad, Norman~!
Yeah, he was the pride of the family.
Regards to Mom!
They used to be a forum.
Now they are agin'um.
My son's computer had a keyboard freeze going on. Tried reloading the driver, etc. Called India, who walked me through what I had done on my own.
India/Dell said, you need a new motherboard. Ben was able to get on a Nintento board and communicate with character keys, and found a kid who found and sent a driver to fix his problem.
Bottom line - no more out of the box iron here. I am buying local.
To hell with Dell.
Probably, the AOL folks who do live customer care on the internet type in perfect english, the only give away that they ain't american (besides the lack of typos and too perfect english) is their names.
Bought a Dell but will never buy another one. Too much trouble trying to get help on a problem that was THEIRS and it took us weeks to get it solved. Not Dells, no thanks, no more.
So, these were effective, efficient and enjoyable?
I can see why Dell shut them down. I had been considering a Dell the past few months. This doesn't help me want to purchase a Dell.
A couple of years ago I called on a problem with what was then a new HP. Talked to a guy who claimed his name was Bob Smith. Sounded a lot like Jawaharlal Nehru, so I asked him what time it was in Bombay. He was seriously offended and told me he lived in New Delhi.
Dude got a cell for posessing weed.
Dude, You're Getting a Cell!
Dell is following the loser model. Provide good products and service until you have a large share of the market. Then cut qualiy and service to maximize profits.
If amyone reading this post is ever in the market for a PC, I would strongly urge buying locally from a dealer that provides local service.
I have a Dell laptop that is just over a year old. It is now junk. It will cost more the fix than it is worth.
In my opinion .. Dell SUCKS.
Followed or replaced with, "Dude! You're goin' to JAIL!"
i met an upper level dell manager about a year ago who told me that their goal was to develop software that would allow even the novice computer user to solve their own problems.
if that didn't work, then the user would have to pay for assistance.
That's why I always buy from Dell Business. Their business and server support units are in the US. Home and general sales are in India.
If you call them, "Dude, you're going to support HELL!"
I am not expecting to have to replace iron soon, I hope. I have learned enough to do repairs and upgrades, But, when time comes to buy a new box, the local American company gets my business, Screw a bunch of internationalist bs.
I have a Gateway laptop on order, so I don't wanna hear no negative vibes about that outfit! Please?
Now THAT is funny. . .(and true).
Right.
Hi, my name is Punjab, how I may help you?
I get the crap at work, my company's helpdesk recently went overseas. I call Dell support for my home PC....
Hi, my name is Punjab, how I may help you?
Just sickening.
LVM
I've been buying Dells for desktop use for ten years. No more. The one I got a couple of months ago will be the last Dell I buy.
I could go into the reasons why, but there's no need. Just go to Google and put in "Dell customer service".
I called customer support for a pressure washer!!!! made in America!!! and the support line was answered by someone so incomprehensible and stupid that when I aksed to speak with someone I could understand, she hung up!!!!!
I called back 5 times and talked with 5 different managers who all said 'so sorry' in 5 different accents. All Indian/something.
And they never answered my question.
As for Dell, buy from the business side, get great service. Only buy a Dell.
"Dude, you're getting shafted by Dell!"
You're thinking of Ben Curtis. He's performing on Broadway now.
Yuppers. Screw the multi national bs. Support your local geeks.
It's a very good machine....other than my BIOS battery being dead: if I swap battery packs without having the machine plugged in I loose all my BIOS settings.
Like any new machine from a major company like Dell, Sony, IBM, etc - if you're comfortable with computers don't even bother booting to the OS when you get it.
Just get the media out of the box, reformat the hard drive and reinstall the OS how you want it.....
Otherwise, you'll never know how fast the machine actually was before being bloated by the manufacturer.
Wow, am I the only one here who is happy with my Dell desktop? ;-) It is just over a year old and I have had no major problems--until now. The DVD player will not play certain DVDs. It will play others though. I don't know if the problem is with hardware or software. I contacted Dell personnel through their online chat service. None of the people I chatted with spoke English as a first language but we could at least understand each other. Unfortunately I have not solved the problem yet. My warranty lasts another year but I'm not sure how to get the thing serviced, if it comes to that.
Apart from the DVD, everything else has worked well. But then, almost anything would be an improvement over the generic, "off-the-shelf" PC I had bought from a local computer store b4 I got the Dell.
It will help with all the problems of losing a driver. It will give you a list of the drivers that are installed (or should be installed) on your machine.
Just click on the missing driver from the list and voila...it will take you to the appropriate site to download that driver.
Very handy to have J
(BTW, the name of the little program is Unknown Devices)
Anyway; I build my own systems now. Initial prices may be a bit more than a whole system from Dell, but upgrades are cheaper. I just buy a new motherboard, processor and memory. All other components get reused. And I know what's going on with my system.
There is not Dell service with out buying their warrenty.
That's what made us mad. We PURCHASED the warranty and STILL went round and round for weeks on end. We were repeating our problem over and over and over again and they kept telling us to do something we were not qualified to do. We told them it was THEIR job because they were the technicians not us and that is why we purchased the warranty on the hard drive in the first place. Got sick and tired of the hassle when we spent one saturday on the phone for four long hours. They DID fix our problem but only after we would NOT GIVE UP and kept calling and getting names and times, etc. Never again. The product in our mind is simply not worth the effort. We will buy local with local service.
Dell's prices seem reasonable though, I would say.
Local service is not always that good either though. My mom had to bring her PC to Best Buy once and we waited in line for like 2 hours because only 1 technician was there.
When I had this DVD problem the Dell person on the chat was telling me I had to open up the side of the computer to check things out, and the instructions he gave were not that clear. If I knew I was going to be told to do my own repairs I wouldn't have paid more for the warranty.
Yea, I only have like 43 Dell servers at work. The plus side is that when we have to call Dell support (about 5 times in the last 4 years) we do get someone that speaks English...with no accent!
LVM
I had a problem with my 2 year Dell today. With great hesitation I tried their live chat.
I was pleasantly surprised by the professional way the individual walked me through the process and found a problem that was not even Dell's fault.
I was very impressed. It was much easier to use the live chate because I could understand every word, rather than trying to interpret an Indian accent.
I just bought my wife a new Dell last week. May be I am a sucker, but I have had fewer problems with Dells than any other computers I have owned.
"a Gateway laptop" ? ....*shakes head, rolls eyes, and sighs* .....ya,.....sure,.....it will work out fine....
I agree with that.
Thank you
It'll be OK. Got my hammer ready in case there are any probs.
Carolyn
Not all of us were fans, but that - and love - make the world go 'round.
I'm building my own, but the Wife uses a Dell. Never any problems.
The Dells they use at my job, however.....
Worst customer service in the world/India.
"Dude your gettin' a Dell-hi"
I have 3 dells, and I'm happy with them.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.