"Trade In" Program
Advertising and Marketing, Environment, Sales Strategies submitted by john_saddington
02/19/07
I'd love to see a "Trade In" Program and/or initiative, where a customer who's been a long time customer could trade in an old system for a new one, or at least, a good sized discount.
I've got an old laptop and seriously need a new one. It's been out of warranty for a long time, but, would love to get a discount for a new one if I could trade it in.
This would also be environmentally healthy!
6215
The Clutter Is Forming: We Need A Moderator
Dell Community, IdeaStorm submitted by googideas
02/17/07 **IMPLEMENTED**
Approximately 48 hours into its life, and Ideastorm is filling up with repetition and senseless comments. Since moderation cannot be exercised by the participants a moderator a la Dell Employee must put up her hand. Or his hand. We aren't picky!
One: Repeating the same ideas from earlier posts is a pain to the reader and a waste of space and time. These should be removed.
Two: Suggestions which are without applicability to the issues at hand should be removed: one post states that "Dell should set up Dell Pay to compete with Paypal." Sigh. Why?
For what unique purpose? Dell's business is not online payments, in the same way Apple's is not selling music (they sell music at a loss to sell iPods at a gain). There is no benefit to Dell and it meets no need.
Since this format is experimental and fully funded by Dell, I encourage Dell to cut the wheat from the chafe and remove as much as they see fit. For all of the "I have rights" and "freedom of speech" advocates, you don't. This is a place where the good keep going and the bad go out.
The less posts the better. It provides Dell what they want: the opportunity to test strong ideas properly. Without the removal of clutter, the good ideas will by dint of the time they are posted (e.g. 3am) and the increasing volume of posts, inevitably suffer at times the forest's size despite the grandeur of the tree in question.
I may be going against the grain of popular opinion, but you add your vote to this post if you believe in the goal of this site, and not the freedom it offers to utter the first inane thing which comes to mind.
jackie_c is IdeaStorm's moderator. Also, for any mod updates, check out the talk with the moderator blog at the top of the page.
12547
How To Lower Dell's Service Costs
Service and Support submitted by googideas
02/16/07
True story. I bought an Inspiron in December. The plastic hinge somehow ended up cracked (I had bought the full warranty).
I called Dell (I live in Singapore). The next day they came out to see me and replaced the hinge. The woman on the phone had asked me if I had any other problems and I mentioned my CD-drive had frozen a couple of times. I also honestly told her that I wasn't sure if it was Microsoft software doing this, MusicMatch Jukebox, or what. I am not a techie.
They replaced the drive without even asking me about it.
I don't think there was anything wrong with the drive itself. The service guys were from an outsourced company (not Dell service techs but contracted). Since they had no stake in Dell they didn't care whether they gave me a new drive or not.
My question is this: what cost control measures are in place to mitigate the "giveaways" as per the above? Do you test returned components? Do you provide your outsourced service companies around the world stats on what the likelihood of failures for each component are, or are you leaving it entirely up to their own discretion?
I wonder what would have happened if I'd complained about other components? Would I have a brand new computer? It shouldn't be this easy, and it must drive the consumer price of your products up. Now you know.
adam
79
allow/force representatives to deviate from prepared scripts
Service and Support submitted by f4ll0u7
02/21/07
i have spoken and chatted with MANY dell support representatives. i've had lots of bad ones, and occasionally a few good ones. one complaint about the bad ones is that they stick to the script like glue. they refuse to listen/understand the problem i'm having, and will only repeat word for word what appears on their script.
the good representatives speak to me as a human being. i feel like i'm speaking with a person who actually understands me and cares about what i have to say. i don't feel like i'm talking to a robot. i always make sure to commend representatives like that to their superiors.
26
Gold Support Option for Consumers
Service and Support submitted by earthwirm
02/22/07
I see lots of commentary about moving Dell's support to US or North America. I myself have dealt with the 30+ days it takes to replace a defective printer. The indian call centers don't seem to believe in case management, follow through, etc. I don't think they really care for the customer like someone who is closer to the company / more invested in the company. In India no one is really "dedicated" or loyal to their line of work. Attrition is high, and I think this is the problem.
Anyways, when I finally got an American, they knew the processes, frustrations and had sincerity about their company, thus my issue was resolved within minutes. This would have been nice the first day, it took 30+ days to get there.
Anyways, not to rant, but my idea is to offer premium Gold Level support to the consumer that guarantees them someone in North America who has a vested interest in dell success handle my issues. I would gladly pay extra for this level of support, jsut like it is available for the business lines. That way, you can still sell low end, low cost systems to people who don't require the support, but also have an option for those of us who don't mind spending a few extra dollars for better support and someone who is more likely to empathize with us when hw goes awry.
Also, moving away from spyware infested OSs will reduce your support costs :).
140
"Developed on a Dell" Community
Dell Community submitted by john_saddington
02/19/07
It would be cool to develop a community and/or program called "Developed on a Dell," where people could post and share software and development ideas that have been developed on a Dell machine.
It would be a place where creative thinkers, designers, programmers, dev, could gather and share ideas about new software, etc.
It would be pretty cool if the new "gootube" was developed, collaborated, and shared in and through the "Dev on a Dell" program!
What great PR.
76
Ed
Service and Support submitted by emarchant
02/17/07
I have been a Dell customer for a good number of years. Bring back that original customer serviice I have told many of my students why they should buy Dell products. STOP THE OFFSHORING OF YOUR SERVICE IN INDIA AND BRING IT BACK TO USA.
Thanks for letting me voice my comments.
Ed Marchant
CIS Professor
Washburn University
Topeka, Kansas
92
You want to increase your sales, sell to women
Service and Support submitted by newavenue
02/18/07
No offence to workers from Dell India but trying to get decent sales or customer support from them is dreadful. First of all their English is somewhat doubtful and as a customer I do not like to repeat myself over and over again. Don’t get me wrong, English is not my first language, but then I’m not trying to sell computers.
Me second experience is that, on average, I now have to call in 4 to 5 times to get an issue resolved, which is something I never experienced when the call centre was done locally. The bigger the issue, the easier they drop the call. From the moment they notice that the call will take longer then 10 minutes they drop me. This is even on sales calls!
Because of this, Dell management must get s skewed view of the performance of the Indian call centre. Not to forget, the constant begging and blatant manipulation around the customer survey. One Indian even used his 5 children to get me to fill in the survey positively. He said that he would lose his job if he got another bad review.
Therefore I would suggest, id Dell is interested to increase sales, to hire local sales and support staff. It is always more pleasant to deal with someone locally, someone you can relate to. Does this have to be much more expensive? Not at all!
Follow the example of other blue chip companies; let your call centre staff work from home. A recent survey in the UK indicated that over 74% of woman would take a pay cut if they could work from home. It would also reduce green house gases, as you would reduce staff travel time by a massive amount.
As it are primarily woman you could hire to work from home, you immediately tap into a social network that does nothing else then sell to each other. Don’t forget Sony has discovered this untapped market of, Women buying computers. This would be a great way to beat them at that game.
Tap into the market of young women buying computers, not necessarily by making them pink but definitely make them an accessory.
54
Service centres
Dell, Service and Support submitted by pallav
02/21/07
Hello DELL.
I think DELL has made good decisions in FEB when Michael Dell moved back into the co. but i think they made a big mistake when they decided to break up their business venture with a leading Indian BPO( i wont name that CO.) some time ago.I work with DELL & believe me its a loss for DELL & its customers that they will be losing out on such a good tech support centre that saves them billions of dollars a year !! anyway its upto DELL to find out ways to save money & at the same time compromising on their after sales service to certain extent.
20
Grammar
Service and Support submitted by pcl17
02/23/07
Over the past two months I have had the most horrendous experience with Dell support representatives for whom English seems not to be their native language. Dell could use a grammar checking, present in Word, to help these people express their ideas more coherently. Often they do not understand what I am communicating in my support request and just as often they do not communicate what they are trying to say with proper English grammar. It is an awful experience, on top of sending wrong software, wrong directions and overlapping technical errors. A simple request results in two or three emails to support on each issue to clarify a simple statement.
120
customer service phone menus
Service and Support submitted by pp113
02/19/07
As you guys have stated publicly, customer service the first thing you should fix. So please get rid of the long phone menus. And I believe you can't even use the keypad to select them. (only voice recognition). You can get so frustrated calling Dell customer service even before speaking to anyone. And yes, you should minimize overseas call centers...
105
Call Centres
Service and Support submitted by mami3874
02/20/07
STOP IT. STOP IT. STOP IT.
If there is anything that makes me think about buying hardware elsewhere its the offshored call centre. They may be cheap for Dell, they will show metrics of service in high ninety percentage points. Your customers HATE them. They are painful. They dont work. They cause huge amounts of frustration and dissatisfaction. Move them back, train the staff properly - not 1 week induction programmes - put them through the DCDE courses. Then remove the infernal scripts that really annoy everyone.
118
Standardize and regionalize tech and customer support
Service and Support submitted by digigato
02/21/07
It would be great, for us Dell clients, and for Dell itself, to regionalize and standardize their protocols for customer and tech support to avoid: frustration, time spent on calls, rage and all that feeling mix that usually builds up after a person made a support call.
I have read that people in the US/Canada are quite angry with their current QoS on this topic since they seem to be attended by people in India and all the problems and lack of initiative that Dell personnel (tech. support) usually incur.
What's most amazing is that, in my case, I live, work and use Dell computers in Mexico (my homeland) and when I require support for desktop/laptops or servers, evn thou my initial path is redirected to Panama (or some place in central america) I end up talking with, yeah you won't believe, people in the US!! so, my mind starts to go freak and thinks:
a) Why in all heavens the people that took care of my case in the US cannot be available for the US/Canada clients
b) Why Dell cannot have technical personnel in my country (I mean the guys at Texas and Colorado are just great and I am really in debt with them for helping me out of my server problems) that understand a little bit more about how things are done in Mexico (and I bet every country/geographic area has its own culture and "way of doing things") or, for example, Is Japan also been taken care by people from India??
So, Dell, if you are going to give tech support and want to be part of a globalized world, be it, but do respect your customers and their needs and culture, please, please pretty please.
Btw: I am sorry for any mistakes that my english may have lead to all native english speakers! :D cheers!
240
No Offshoring
Service and Support submitted by khess
02/22/07
Michael Dell, do you want to breathe new life into your company? Stop Offshoring the support. There are plenty of small towns in Texas that would love the chance to provide that support for Dell.
Want some good PR? Do this and see what happens. Make Dell the leader in ONSHORING and Rural Sourcing.
It is funny that big companies are saying that they have to go to India to compete..HA! That is really not the case at all...nor is the excuse that there aren't enough technical grads...there is an easy solution to that too: Provide scholarships, endowments, and trusts to provide that education and jobs for Americans.
I won't buy a Dell product until your products are:
1. Made in the US
2. Supported in the US
Once our economy is destroyed with all this offshoring, who the hell is going to buy your products? Indians? Chinese? Russians?
If you want to conduct business over there...then relocate your company there as well. American companies should hire Americans or lose their tax advantages.
290
Call center follow-up
Service and Support submitted by hourog
02/17/07
On Saturday, Feb 10, 2007 I had to call for service.
After being placed on hold for over an hour, even with a XPS expedited phone number, the prospect of providing feedback through the automated call survey center seemed a reasonable way to convey my displeasure to Dell, not only about the hold time but, also, the unreasonable script process used during the call.
Alas, the techs in India have figured out a way to thwart the survey. They refused to hang up and, when queried why I was not hanging up, they asked if I was holding for the survey. When I answered in the affirmative, they disconnected me.
Dell should, as standard operating procedure, use an email address as part of the service sign-in. This way, an automated survey could be emailed outside the control of the subject under review.
Until Dell is able to improve the terrible communications with the India call centers, you will see a further erosion of your customer base.
332
Make Service reps speak better english
Service and Support submitted by henryat1140
02/20/07
I really was disappointed in Dell's customer service when I could not understand what the person was saying. YES, they were trying - that was evident - YES, it a technical meatter, and in many cases is complicated. Their Indian or Pakistani accent was so thick I just couldn't understand what they said.
On three or four calls it was embarrasing to me to have to ask the person to repeat themselves so often just because I couldn't understand their Indian or Pakistani (or whatever) accent.
I think to myself "you bought an Ameicna computer from a company in Texas, WHY do I have to listen to someone who doesn't speak in a manner they can be understood. "
Hire Americans for your customer service is my suggestion. That way at least the language barrier will be removed.
419
Fixing Dell
Service and Support submitted by tweetannette
02/18/07
After being forced to deal with Dell's customer service due to several of our clients purchasing Dell desktops -- against our recommendations, is it any wonder Dell's market share has shrunk?
Dell's customer service is a nightmare. Every service call made on behalf of our clients has resulted in excess of at least 8 transfers. We were forced to try to understand people with thick accents, who haven't a clue how to turn a computer on, let alone fix one.
We encourage our clients to purchase HP and will continue to do so, until Dell brings their customer service department back to U.S. soil. When a consumer purchases a computer in the U.S. of A., they should be able to get service here in the U.S. of A. and not have to call India and be passed around to 15 other people.
Dell's sales will continue to fall and it has nothing to do with their product. It's the service stupid. It's the service.
272
Restore Useful Technical Support
Service and Support submitted by hawk473vt
02/17/07
Michael Dell's Job 1 as he resumes his CEO position should be to restore Dell's technical support service back to a level where it can be considered a true "Dell Value".
I've been using Dell products (laptops--7000, 8000, 8200) for many years and the one thing that will push me to another producer will be the sorry technical support practices to which Dell has lowered itself.
I plan to buy another laptop system this year and I'm looking elsewhere. I'd rather pay more up front knowing that when I call for help, I'm not going to have to suffer through someone in India recording the same information about me and my system over and over and then telling me in essense to get lost. I have had to do this (go to India via phone) even though I bought a dedicated technical support contract for $300 and, because of it being so cumbersome, I elected not to renew it. Dell needs to get real with its technical support plan, promote it to its consumers and maybe then Dell will regain some of the market share lost to HP, Sony, and Acer. If Dell doesn't fix its technical support service and convince me that it has indeed adopted a Stateside capacity for technical support, don't expect me to buy another Dell product.
And while you're at it, get technical support for Microsoft Outlook--Outlook Express is not used by me nor by many others with whom I interact.
493
ENGLISH
Service and Support submitted by bbaker7958
02/20/07
It would be sooooo nice to be able to talk to a tech who spoke MY kind of English and not one with an accent so thick I cannot understand a word they are saying. Bring JOBS back to the United States or start loosing business is my new motto for dealing with businesses.
BBaker7958
388
 track my votes
|
|
