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I worked in one of Dell's outsourcing partners' call centres (admittedly I left almost 15 years ago), and back then it was the same people manning both consumer

I worked in one of Dell's outsourcing partners' call centres (admittedly I left almost 15 years ago), and back then it was the same people manning both consumer and business support lines. Towards the end of 2007 Dell started separating the two segments and that's where the problems started (edit: not sure about the exact date -- processes like that tend to take a while to plan) : * Dell European consumer division was centralized and controlled from Ireland (IIRC). * Consumer models like Inspiron and Dimension had a noticable drop in build quality. * Support agents were forced to adhere to strict scripts during support calls, rather than use their own brains. * Support agents had to convince a certain percentage of customers to replace parts themselves, rather than getting the on-site service they paid for. Agents not fillin their daily quotas were disciplined. * Exceptions to the scripts had to be escalated. In many cases, Dell would outright ignore local consumer laws when handling complaints. I'm sure things might have changed since then. Personally, I'm not taking the chance and will never buy a Dell product again, if I'm given a choice.

BiteCode_dev 4y ago
Unfortunately the credibility of your testimony is diminushed by the fact you are using a throwaway.
- jbirer 4y ago
  I am an account from 2017, I have a bridge to sell to you.
- rchaud 4y ago
  If anything, the credibility is diminished by the timeframe being 15 years ago. You would have thought their market share would have collapsed underneath the weight of all these quality control issues.
  - throwawayMMXXII 4y ago
    Well, Dell _did_ end up being targeted by Danish public TV for breaking consumer laws and having ridiculously long wait times for support calls. That's about the time I got out. Unfortunately, DR seems to have removed older seasons of "Kontant" from their online player. I'd be surprised if Dell didn't do something to improve things after that, but as I said I'm not taking that chance. Edit: Found a reference to the TV show from a Danish tabloid. It's as much as I can say without doxing myself: https://ekstrabladet.dk/forbrug/dinepenge/article4181606.ece https://ekstrabladet.dk/forbrug/dinepenge/article4181606.ece Edit 2: An article about the affair in ComputerWorld: https://www.computerworld.dk/art/54886/dell-faar-taesk-for-daarlig-kundeservice https://www.computerworld.dk/art/54886/dell-faar-taesk-for-d... Another one about Dell trying to spam DR's comment fields with positive comments after the show was aired: https://www.computerworld.dk/art/127000/dell-bruger-lyssky-kommentarer-mod-dr-program https://www.computerworld.dk/art/127000/dell-bruger-lyssky-k...
tmerc 4y ago
I worked for a Dell outsourced tech support center in America (Sitel, then ClientLogic). We only handled "busines" lines. In reality, it's a mix of business and consumers who used an employee purchase program. Systems are given a company number (might not be the correct name). The company number determines if a support queue handles that system. If it's not your numbers, transfer. This was circa 2005-2007. I was in the pilot program for chat support in America. Dell did not directly manage agents. They give a call center average metrics and it's up to the call center to hit them. Call centers are terrible places and want to cut corners and make money. 1 in 10 agents on our floor could actually fix your computer without help. Level 2 agents walk the floor to help the level 1 agents. We did not have scripts past a greeting and maybe a closing. I don't think it was required, but you just start doing it. There's an internal support decision tree from Dell. Once you follow it enough, you learn the shortcuts. For example, if a customer says they swapped a part to a new system and the problem follows the part, we can skip troubleshooting and replace. Parts are split into cru and fru (customer vs field replaceable units). We tried to get customers to work with crus. Crus wouldn't get on site service. It can happen but takes approval. I never heard of a quota around this. Second tier escalations were handled in house. That was me for technical and sometimes the customers bad day. I don't remember if there was a third level of escalation that got you to dell if you were out of technical options. If you were out of warranty by more than a grace period, I was your last stop. Consumer systems are not as good as business grade. That's why their standard warranty is shorter. Business systems are easier to work on. There is a level of support above business if you spend enough money where we will have a part leave the warehouse in 4 hours (maybe less). Usually, these companies have their own company numbers and presumably better agents. I only buy Dell Latitude and above, though would consider business products from other companies. I buy them for my "business" which doesn't need any kind of proof.
- throwawayMMXXII 4y ago
  > They give a call center average metrics and it's up to the call center to hit them. Call centres taking contracts with the lowest bid is definitely a part of the overall problem. > Second tier escalations were handled in house. We even had a third in-house. Dell had an in-house team handling things like replacing entire systems due to legal requirements (usually due to on-site techs being unable to solve issues despite multiple visits). > Crus wouldn't get on site service. One of the chief complaints back in the day. Sure, you and I can replace a faulty stick of RAM, but many customers didn't agree. > Consumer systems are not as good as business grade. Earler Inspirons were really good systems. They were pretty much identical to Latitudes and Precisions, but with lower specs. The Build quality was on par with the higer end systems.

BiteCode_dev 4y ago

Unfortunately the credibility of your testimony is diminushed by the fact you are using a throwaway.

jbirer 4y ago
I am an account from 2017, I have a bridge to sell to you.
rchaud 4y ago
If anything, the credibility is diminished by the timeframe being 15 years ago. You would have thought their market share would have collapsed underneath the weight of all these quality control issues.
- throwawayMMXXII 4y ago
  Well, Dell _did_ end up being targeted by Danish public TV for breaking consumer laws and having ridiculously long wait times for support calls. That's about the time I got out. Unfortunately, DR seems to have removed older seasons of "Kontant" from their online player. I'd be surprised if Dell didn't do something to improve things after that, but as I said I'm not taking that chance. Edit: Found a reference to the TV show from a Danish tabloid. It's as much as I can say without doxing myself: https://ekstrabladet.dk/forbrug/dinepenge/article4181606.ece https://ekstrabladet.dk/forbrug/dinepenge/article4181606.ece Edit 2: An article about the affair in ComputerWorld: https://www.computerworld.dk/art/54886/dell-faar-taesk-for-daarlig-kundeservice https://www.computerworld.dk/art/54886/dell-faar-taesk-for-d... Another one about Dell trying to spam DR's comment fields with positive comments after the show was aired: https://www.computerworld.dk/art/127000/dell-bruger-lyssky-kommentarer-mod-dr-program https://www.computerworld.dk/art/127000/dell-bruger-lyssky-k...

tmerc 4y ago

I worked for a Dell outsourced tech support center in America (Sitel, then ClientLogic). We only handled "busines" lines. In reality, it's a mix of business and consumers who used an employee purchase program. Systems are given a company number (might not be the correct name). The company number determines if a support queue handles that system. If it's not your numbers, transfer. This was circa 2005-2007. I was in the pilot program for chat support in America. Dell did not directly manage agents. They give a call center average metrics and it's up to the call center to hit them. Call centers are terrible places and want to cut corners and make money. 1 in 10 agents on our floor could actually fix your computer without help. Level 2 agents walk the floor to help the level 1 agents. We did not have scripts past a greeting and maybe a closing. I don't think it was required, but you just start doing it. There's an internal support decision tree from Dell. Once you follow it enough, you learn the shortcuts. For example, if a customer says they swapped a part to a new system and the problem follows the part, we can skip troubleshooting and replace. Parts are split into cru and fru (customer vs field replaceable units). We tried to get customers to work with crus. Crus wouldn't get on site service. It can happen but takes approval. I never heard of a quota around this. Second tier escalations were handled in house. That was me for technical and sometimes the customers bad day. I don't remember if there was a third level of escalation that got you to dell if you were out of technical options. If you were out of warranty by more than a grace period, I was your last stop. Consumer systems are not as good as business grade. That's why their standard warranty is shorter. Business systems are easier to work on. There is a level of support above business if you spend enough money where we will have a part leave the warehouse in 4 hours (maybe less). Usually, these companies have their own company numbers and presumably better agents. I only buy Dell Latitude and above, though would consider business products from other companies. I buy them for my "business" which doesn't need any kind of proof.

throwawayMMXXII 4y ago
> They give a call center average metrics and it's up to the call center to hit them. Call centres taking contracts with the lowest bid is definitely a part of the overall problem. > Second tier escalations were handled in house. We even had a third in-house. Dell had an in-house team handling things like replacing entire systems due to legal requirements (usually due to on-site techs being unable to solve issues despite multiple visits). > Crus wouldn't get on site service. One of the chief complaints back in the day. Sure, you and I can replace a faulty stick of RAM, but many customers didn't agree. > Consumer systems are not as good as business grade. Earler Inspirons were really good systems. They were pretty much identical to Latitudes and Precisions, but with lower specs. The Build quality was on par with the higer end systems.