Customer service trumps quality: why I like Dell

[Piratecat]

My laptop has had an ugly history. Mind you, I've banged on it more than a little, but its repair record is worse than any computer I've ever had...

and when I told Dell this today, they offered to exchange it for a brand new laptop for free, just to make me satisfied.

Yay! Let's hear it for good customer service.

 

[Cloudgatherer]

Hm... I think I'm of the opposite opinion here. If my Toshiba had problems like yours, then my next laptop wouldn't be a Toshiba. I value quality over customer service because I can fix the majority of my own problems and I have a low tolerance for not getting it right the first time.

Congrats on the new machine. Curious to see if you have any problems with that one.

 

[Psionicist]

Either you are just very lucky (unlikely) or you have a knack of dealing with corporate support departments.

I remember a thread a while ago describing how Morrus had to wait about 3 hours in phone to get to the customer support department for a web space provider, unable to fix a certain problem. Later someone (cough) called the same customer support, which somehow fixed the problem within 20 minutes.

Howdidyoudothat?

 

[Vocenoctum]

I like my Dell well enough, but when I got it:

I paid for second day, they shipped regular.
The computer arrived, with the motherboard having slipped from it's brackets in the case. several components were loose inside.

I called Dell, got put on hold for a half hour, then connected... to an answering machine telling me the hours of operation. It seems I'd been on hold so long, they closed, so they disconnected me.

Several emails, where they answered only half of my questions/ concerns. (They credited me for the shipping, never got a response for the other mishap, nor any apology for the customer service.


Gateway: my previous computer. Had many problems with it upon arrival. They eventually replaced the motherboard, HD, video card. Everything went fine after that though.

years later, they replaced a lightning fried modem, and a bad HD. I got a new computer when the HD went bad again.

 

[jdavis]

That's the great thing about building your own, you never have to wait on the phone with customer support ( because you have no support ).

Dell's built their reputation on customer support. Of course it's not hard to have the best customer support service in the computer industry. I remember the good old days when Packard Bell was still around, talk about poor customer support, the mind boggles at just how bad they were.

 

[Piratecat]

Their customer support is pretty good; I rarely have to wait on the phone more than 5 minutes, and often get connected immediately.

I've used Dell laptops for years, and until recently was VERY pleased with them. Then I bought one 3 years ago. It worked pretty well for the first year, with the exception that a bad power converter fried my batteries (which Dell replaced.) Then a year after I got it, it began to smoke. That's a bad thing. Dell immedeiately shipped me out an upgraded, significantly faster replacement unit.

Unfortunately, it's this unit which has been such a problem. The speaker had odd feedback, and the only cure for that is to change the motherboard.

The nice thing, you see, is that my laptop is almost three years old... and they're replacing it with a new one. Can't argue about that.

 

[KnowTheToe]

So you took them up on thier offer?

 

[Datt]

I have been a happy customer of Gateway for almost 6 years now. I went to one of thier Gateway Country stores two weeks before Christmas and they had it at my doorstep by Christmas Eve! Talk about a happy Christmas that year! That same computer is now my wifes photo editor/scrapbook machine. I gave it to her last March when I ordered my new computer. Both are working wonderfully.

 

[DMFTodd]

How'd you convince them to send you a new one?

My Dell Ispiron is on it's 4th harddrive and 2nd motherboard in something like 2.5 years. Can't get them to give me a new one.

On the one hand, they are very good on the support. Easy to connect to, explain the problem, "sure Mr. Landrum. We'll send you a new harddrive right away." (Fortunately I know enough to bypass tech support BS like 'you need to upgrade your bios' that I can get the new drive reasonably quickly).

On the other hand, I'm on my 4th friggin harddrive in 2.5 years.

Will my next laptop be a Dell? Don't know. Do I go with the devil I know or the devil I don't know?

 

[Drawmack]

I very rarely have to call tech support for my computer and when I do I give them my credentials, tell them it's broken and I need a replacment and anything other then a yes receives a give me your boss. One time I had the president of Packard Bell on the phone over a friend modem/sound card. Got a whole new system delivered next day for free on that one.