So I got a Dell laptop for Christmas and last night I somehow managed to get the power cord caught in the workings of the reclining portion of my desk chair. (yeah I have no idea how I did that either…) When I got it out I found that the cord was torn. A buddy reminded me that I had the accidental damage plan and Dell might replace the cord for free!

So checked the Dell website for the number 1800-999-3355 and gave it call, first call 2:08am. Chose option 3 for support and was quickly connected to a guy whose primary language was not English. He asked for my express service code which I provided and asked for my name email and phone number which I also provided. He then told me he showed different information, I informed him that the computer was a gift and provided the valid information of who gave it to me. He then told me he could not help me because I was calling for laptop support but I had reached the desktop support line. But he would transfer me. A couple beeps, then music, a click and my phone indicated that they had hung up.

Second call 2:10am Option 3 gave my service tag to another guy with a heavy accent. He tells me to hang on a second and the phone tells me he hung up.

Third call 2:11am. Pushed option 3 again for support and again was quickly answered by a person with the same accent. I was again asked for all the same information and again had to tell them it was a gift. Same story this time as well I had reached the desktop line but I would be transferred to the correct department. Couple beeps then hold music. If you want to call it music just same short melody over and over with voice break ins giving me tips to fix my problem myself, none of which applied. After about 15 minutes of music it sounded like someone picked up the line then my phone again indicated that they had hung up!

Fourth call 2:27am Same thing option 3, bad English, service tag, wrong info, correct info given, and told wrong department. I told her that this was the forth time I had called and they kept hanging up on me when they transferred me and asked if she could just answer the question. She could not but told me she would transfer me but give me the direct number just incase. Several minutes of hold music, they hung up on me again.

Fifth call 2:37am I called the number provided and was prompted to type in my service tag number. Figured I might actually be getting somewhere. Little bit of hold music a few clicks and I was hung up on yet again!

Sixth call 2:40am typed in my service tag and after holding for a while of all things got a guy with an accent! Went through with the verifying the information again. And would you believe it! This guy could actually answer my question! All though it took me a few times explaining it for him to understand the problem and him a few times to re-ask questions cause I had no clue what he was saying. Finally he said they would replace it and asked for my mailing address and other info. Then he told me he had to put me on hold to go get approval for the replacement. This time it was different hold music. I put the phone on speaker and well… I fell asleep! 25 minutes later I’m awakened by “ok sir are you still there!” course at that point I had no idea it had been that long till after I looked at the clock and saw it was 3:20am. It was approved and I should have a new one by Wednesday he said. Which is nice of them to replace it but to be hung up on 5 times spend an hour and 10 minutes on a what in the end took only about 15 minutes to resolve is just unacceptable!

I’m guessing they have all the calls forwarded to another country. Anyone know for sure?

Yeah, for sure they're forwarded to India. Dell is one of the "horror" story companies of outsourcing.

This, along with lots of other similar stories, is what's keeping me from getting a laptop through them. Too bad, I like their financing.

I thought Dell had reversed their decision to outsource support? Or did they change their minds again?

Philips does lots of business with Dell, and we had been told that they changed the outsourcing to only after hours in India. I haven't seen that change come though.

They went from the top of customer service to the bottom. What a mistake that they made!

They moved their Hardware support back to the states

Admittedly, I had to chuckle when I read your story, Ramness. I had a similar experience a couple weeks ago when I called Dell Tech Support about the CPU fan in my new Dimension 8400 (the one I posted a message about before).

Ironically, the one person who seemed to fully understand my problem (and grasped it on the FIRST attempted explanation) was also someone who couldn't actually help me because he was from the Business PC side instead of Home PC. By coincidence, it was also the only male I spoke with - all the Home PC Tech Support and the 2 Customer Support techs were females.

All I wanted to do was get replacements for the CPU/heatsink and CPU fan. First Tech Support tech immediately wants to just do a full system swap. Transfers successfully to Customer Support tech, who tells me she can't do it because I haven't done any troubleshooting with T.S. Transfer back to TS, but cuts me off - end up back in call queue. Re-explain problem to 2nd TS tech, who somehow transfers me to aforementioned Business TS where tech immediately knows the problem, but can't help me directly, then somehow transfers me to some receptionist, who obviously has no clue what I'm talking about. Back into call queue. Third TS tech tells me I have to do full diagnostics, even though I explain to her, in detail, what happens when I run the CPU fan diagnostic. Doesn't matter - unplug all peripherals, one at a time, and reboot in between. Gee, no change. Now run full diagnostics which will take at least 90 minutes. Says she will call back in 30.

Thirty minutes later, a different TS tech calls. I have to re-explain to her what the problem was. She has at least heard of this problem before and also wants to simply do a system swap, but we have to wait for the diagnostic to finish. Odlly enough, she's also the first tech that can hear the air noise from the fan when I walk into the room with phone. I don't know how the others could claim they couldn't hear it - it's so loud, I can't stay in the room when using the phone. Anyhow she says she'll call back in another 45 minutes. She doesn't call back for 2 hours. Diagnostics have obviously finished and, gee again, no faults or errors. Says she will recommend system swap in the case file and will transfer me to Customer Support. I already know it's going to happen...yup, cutoff.

Call direct to CS and tech looks at case file and doesn't see recommendation for system swap. I'm on hold for 20 total minutes (at least she came back every 5 to make sure I was still there) and finally she tells me that it's confirmed and I will get a new system. I ask specifically if the configuration will be the same and she says that it will.

Jump ahead 10 days and the replacement system shows up. I look at the packing slip and immediately see that this system isn't exactly the same as the original. However, I've decided not to complain because even though the processors and video cards are the same, the HD is twice as big, the RAM is 533 vs 400 MHz and the secondary CD drive is a DVD drive instead of a 48X CDROM. Most important, the CPU fan doesn't go into hyperspeed.

Oh, and I ran into the same problem with their not having my name as the "owner" on file when I first called since it was a gift, but it was probably easier to take care of in my case since it was purchased by my brother, who I live with, so all they had to change was the first name. Hehe.

I sure hope I don't have to call them again.

I've had the same problems as everyone here has had with Dell support.

Just recently, I've had a problem with my Gateway Notebook. In two months, I would have had this laptop for 3 years. It has taken somewhat of a beating. (I'll admit it. Good thing for Accidental Damage Protection. ) I'd say these people are probably the best tech support that I've had to deal with so far (Dell, HP, Compaq).

The techs at Gateway were not hard at all to understand. They did have a little accent; the techs were Canadian. Very helpful and very friendly. They wanted me to pay $44 to ship my laptop to them. After a little talking to the tech, the $44 box turned into a free box. The tech said 10-20 days I should have my laptop back. We'll see about that. However, so far I'm very pleased with Gateway support.

At this point, I'd highly recommend Gateway PC's, if tech support is a key in buying your next PC. My opinion may change if I don't see my laptop 3 weeks from today.

My only complaint with Dell is that they haven't delivered my laptop yet! :p I'm going crazy waiting. It's been in shipping since the 15th!!!

Agreed, my Dell PC has been "In Transit" the last 3 days. I know it's only been three days, but I'm eager, dammit!

JC, while Gateway may have great customer service, their product has gone downhill the last couple of years from every tech magazine/newssite I've been keeping up with. Too bad, Gateway used to be pretty damn good.

yup, there is a big difference between their business and home divisions...

I ordered a small server on special in November to host a family web site and it showed up in three days (!!) If I call for support on it, they answer on the second ring and I get someone on this side of the pond :rolleyes:

Hmmm.. I did order mine through their small business section.

It will be here in 2 days, according to UPS.

Bummer for those of you waiting on your PC's from dell... I ordered on the 16th and had it on the 20th. Good news is, if you ordered a 3.2ghz desktop, you likely got a 3.4ghz processor, at least that was the case for me, and apparently quite a few others.

All my experience with Dell support has been craptacular in the past, but I haven't dealt with them since '97 or so when I worked tech support.

I've only ever bought Gateway desktop boxes, and have always had good luck with them. The first one I bought was a 486-66 way back when, and the mainboard let it's smoke out about 2 days after I got it. GW support next-dayed a new board and offered to have someone install it. The only other problem I've ever had was a flakey monitor, and they replaced it as well. It was also nice that they used to let you pick up your machine in Souix City, a few hours drive was better than the wait for it to arrive via UPS for me.

I went with Dell because they just had a deal too good to pass up. 19" LCD, 3.4ghz, 512@533, 250MB drive, DVD & DVDRW drives, 5.1 speakers for 1,100 shipped.

Comp came in today!

I got a budget. 3Ghz with HT (800 FSB), 512@400, 80 gig HD, 17in Flat Panel, CD-RW, etc. for $820 after rebate.

Not too bad. It's for home, and it's all I need.