An Impatient consumer should never – never – come away feeling exploited
So, I had the temerity to buy a new computer from Dell, anxious to get a faster, better, hotter machine that also had all the wonderful new features of Vista. The experience has been horrible from beginning to end. First, the laptop was delayed in production, so that I had to wait three weeks for Dell’s vaunted production capability to perform. I suppose I should have expected such delays, since much has been written in the business press lately about production snafus at Dell. In any event, I refused to cancel the order; I’ve tried to be loyal to Dell since the early days of our firm, MCAworks, when we were quite IMPATIENT to get set up and wanted a bunch of computers right now. In those days, Dell delivered.
For the preceding several months, after all, I had been a classic PAINSTAKING consumer, spending a lot of time researching exactly which model of laptop I would want, focusing on the electronics, the software performance, the ergonomics (having just written a book on the last laptop, I was quite sensitive to keyboard and screen size) and, of course size and weight – I’m on an airplane every week.
It was after I received the laptop, however, that the real nightmare began. I won’t bore you with all the details, let’s just say that many of the promises of faster, better, and most importantly, ease of transferring data from the old computer were – how to put this? – over-promises. I called Dell’s 24-hour warranty service 800# and they, of course, could not help. My problem was “escalated,” as they say, several times and I was finally turned over to something called “Dell On Call.” Dell On Call, of course, wouldn’t let me explain my problem – again – until they had charged me $230 to work with this supposedly PREMIUM service. After two weeks – yes weeks – of escalation and unsolved yes unsolved problems, Dell On Call convinced me to block off an entire Saturday (SATURDAY!) when their top person would call me at precisely 9:00 AM and work with me all day if necessary to get this all fixed.
You guessed it; he did NOT call at 9:00. By 9:19, I had given up and was playing with my children when his call came in. Obviously quite skilled at this maneuver, he managed to leave a very quick “sorry I’m late, call my voicemail and leave a number” message before I could get to the phone.
For the record, all I was – am – trying to accomplish is to get Outlook to perform as promised. Or, as I finally screamed at one of the many many service reps, “I am just trying to send an email on my $3000 computer for which I have had to pay an additional $230 just to get you to tell me you don’t think you can solve this!!!!!”
This personal experience shows how a misunderstanding of consumer needs can be exploited by a company to achieve short-term gains at the expense of long-term business strength. No one was more IMPATIENT that I when faced the need to send an email on my new computer and found that I was unable to do so. In true IMPATIENT fashion, I was willing to pay even more than the $230 to get the $3000 PC working. Dell, desperate, apparently for short-term revenue gains, exploited this unmercifully and pocketed the $230. What they missed, of course, was that I felt forced by Dell and Dell alone into the IMPATIENT quadrant. Having already purchased the PC, I should have been in the Recreational quadrant – “Oh, let me see some more new gizmos and thingees in Vista and the new PC. That looks like fun, I’ll buy that add-on!”
To summarize, Dell capitalized on my impatience to pocket some short-term revenue. Long-term, their forcing of me into that quadrant has lost them a customer – whose company has purchased multiple Dells over the years – for life. This was a profound misreading of the consumer. When I should have treated RECREATIONALLY, happy to part with money for a new functionality, I was treated…badly.
So, having PAINSTAKINGLY researched and committed to the purchase over the summer, I am willing – forced – to remain patient while Dell fails to help me optimize this current laptop. When the time for the next purchase rolls around in a couple of years, I will again PAINSTAKINGLY research alternatives from a range of manufacturers, but my stopwatch for Dell will have precisely zero ticks. I look forward to revisiting this blog two years from now and comparing my experience with Sony or HP in 2009 with my experience with Dell way back in ‘07.
My name is John, and I work at Dell headquarters as a support analyst.
While I realize that production delays have caused many problems for Dell customers these past couple of months, in no way is it acceptable to compound this for anyone by charging for software configuration help and not delivering as promised. In this case, it sounds like a refund may be in order. If you’d like me to look into this, feel free to send me the order number of either the computer or the Dell On Call service, and I would be happy to investigate.
I am sorry this ended up being a horrible experience from begining to end. If your problem wasn’t solved or the service you received was substandard, there is no reason you should be forced to pay for it.
John
Dell Customer Advocate
This is, apparently, a very professional and appropriate response by the Dell Customer Advocacy team. I have responded privately with what I belive to be a similarly professional missive.
In our consulting practice, we have had “Customer Advocacy” departments as the direct clients, so I fee competent to make the following comments:
1. It is very impressive — and should be much admired and emulated — that Dell’s CA team monitors the bolgoshpere for unhappy customer postings such as mine and provides an intelligent response.
2. We shall have to wait and see, however, if the final response is appropriate, i. e., do I get a refund or some other such consideration?
3. The REAL effort of a CA team is to solve ROOT CAUSES of problems. Since the specific software issues I am experiencing have not gone away, the final determination of Dell’s effectiveness will rest on whether they can fix those problems.
Here, now, the final word on Dell on Call. As noted in my earlier update, someone from Customer Advocacy at Dell reached out to me, researched the ongoing “debacle” (Dell’s word, not mine) and offered me my money back (for the premium service, of course, not for the computer). Indeed, he followed up today to be certain that my refund had come through. So, once again, kudos to Dell for having an effective Customer Advocacy group that is empowered to make good on “debacles.”
I had terrible experience with Dell customer service. I had to return Dell Laptop. Dell received it on 11/8/2007, but still after 6 weeks, there are no signs of credit refund.
Customer service keeps giving standard reply that it will take 6-8 weeks, then 30 days, and now, no definite period.
I have sent several dozen emails/calls, but no satisafactory answer.
I feel like filing a criminal report with state Attorney General for this dubious practice. It is very shameless, and I don’t know how Dell expect to retain customers.
RN
rnahta:
I’m sorry I can’t be f much help…but, here is the email address of the Dell Outreach person who finally helpedme resolve my issue: John_Blain@Dell.com
Good luck.