My husband and I have been using Dell computers for many years. I worked as a school librarian and my library was full of Dell computers. My husband works for a large company and has been using Dell computers for about 15 years. We have also purchased one Dell desktop computer and two Dell laptop computers for our personal use. We have been good Dell customers.
I bought a Dell Inspiron 1526 laptop computer in May, 2008. A few months ago, I noticed that the battery would not hold a charge. I ordered a new battery but that did not help. The computer was just out of warranty but my husband thought we should try to get it repaired. He called Dell Customer Service and received authorization to send the computer to a local (Houston area) Dell contractor and have it repaired. Dell sent us a FedEx box and we shipped the computer to the repair facility.
We waited one week, two weeks, three weeks....still no computer. My husband had been on the phone for hours trying to find out why the computer had not been returned. Each phone call resulted in hours of being put on hold, transfers from one customer service rep to another and calls being cut off. My husband was becoming more and more frustrated. He said he would NEVER buy another Dell computer.
I was getting impatient. One night my husband said that the Dell rep on the telephone told him that my computer was on "hold" because of a "payment problem". That sent me over the deep end because I knew that Dell had charged my credit card over $400.00 BEFORE they ever received the computer for repair. They talked to my husband on the phone and then charged me $400.00 before they even touched the computer! Now, they are saying that they are holding the computer because of a "payment problem" and putting the blame for this mess on us. I don't think so.
I am an avid Twitter user so I started tweeting and retweeting all kinds of trash about Dell customer service. (YAWN) It wasn't long before I attracted the attention of the Dell Online Community Escalations Team??? I was contacted by DarrenAtDell and he said that he would have someone from the team contact me. I was skeptical. I thought it might be a hoax or just a ploy to get me to stop posting nasty remarks about Dell Customer Service on Twitter. However, I soon got an email from a gentleman named Bradley who said he would try to "expedite" the matter.
Well, the past 4 or 5 customer service reps that my husband talked to said the same thing. They were all "expediting" the matter but still no computer. So, I continued to tweet on Twitter. Again, I attracted the attention of the Dell social media people. This time, billatdell shot me a direct message and asked me to call him. I called him and he seemed sincerely interested in helping me resolve this problem. He accessed my account and said I should have the computer within the next 3 or 4 days. He also said he would investigate the charges on my credit card and make corrections as needed. I also received several emails from Bradley (from the online community team) keeping me posted on what was going on.
The computer was delivered 3 days after I talked to billatdell and it seems to be as good as new. I have to say that DarrenAtDell, billatdell and Bradley were all top-notch professionals. They responded to my frustrations and they had the authority to get results.
KUDOS to the Dell Social Media Team! This story has a happy ending because of you.
1 comment:
Glad we could help, Janette. Sorry about the frustration. In the end, it looks to have been a clerical error on our end (obviously, now that we have the benefit of hindsight). As far as why you were charged for the whole shootin' match before we had received and diagnosed the problem, I am still following up on that internally, and will make sure to pass on the specifics of your case to the management team who runs the out of warranty repair process. Thanks for hanging in there with us.
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