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Recourse For Poor Customer Service?
eleventypie writes "I am in the Army and currently stationed in Afghanistan. Recently I found myself without a laptop so I decided to build a studio 17 from Dell. I designed/customized my laptop on 2008-09-17 and placed my order, which totaled approximately $1,700. The laptop was built and apparently shipped on 2008-09-28. Given my APO address, I know mail can sometimes take a little while to get here, though 7-10 days is normal. Dell said to give my laptop 6-8 business days and occasionally, it might take as much as 4-6 weeks. So on 2008-11-12 I sent another email to Dell informing them I still had not received my laptop. One person said to give it more time, while another person responded to my message telling me to send my address again and they would send me a replacement. So I sent my address immediately and never got a response. It is now the 30th of November and I still have no laptop and Dell seems to have quit responding to my emails. This is very frustrating being out $1,700 and not having a laptop to talk to my friends and family and do school work. Phone calls aren't easy so calling them is pretty much out of the question. Any advice on what I can or should do at this point to get the computer I ordered or get my money back?"
consumerist.com
If I can not smoke in heaven, then I shall not go. -- Mark Twain
It would be really great if they would send you an e-mail telling you that they were shipping you a replacement motherboard and firing the representative who handled your case initially.
That would probably make you feel better, but a lot of these drones are restricted in what they're allowed to do and they're forced to go through standard scripts and procedures.
I've been through similar trouble with other companies. I had one idiot drone ask me what version of the operating system I was running four or five times in a row, when I was answering him each time. I finally asked for a supervisor and directly asked the supervisor to fire this moron.
I'm sure that the supervisor appreciated some random asshole telling him how to do his job and manage his staff.
Most companies care not even the slightest bit for providing non-terrible customer service.
Bingo. Customer support is expensive, and usually carried out by a third party who have a vested interested in "processing" you as quickly as possible, regardless of whether or not it solves your problem.
There might be some stupid and/or lazy staff, but the fundamental problem is at the top.
"Slashdot - News and Chat Sites Deviant". (Click "homepage" link above for details).
I'd agree that you should know your card company's chargeback procedure, and understand how to do this. But don't start with the chargeback.
Disputing the charges is "the nuclear option" in terms of working with a customer service department. It will generally make all future conversations adversarial. It will rarely help you get your order fulfilled--at best, the company might grudgingly agree to cancel your order. It can also in some circumstances result in getting a collection agency placed on you (and the resultant damage to your credit rating).
Keep this in your back pocket, but if you have other options (see other suggestions about trying to escalate to someone senior in the customer service department), try them first. If you still want your Dell, you need Dell to be willing to work with you. Don't burn any bridges until you're convinced the transaction is beyond saving.
or pretend to be one and ask them if there is some problem shipping laptops to asscrackistan
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I'd go on a Vegan diet but the delivery time from Vega is too long. --brownkitty
Yup, I'm going to agree here. When I worked a lowly tech support job, people who were jerks were instantly added to the very bottom of my "shit to take care of" pile, if I even wrote down their contact info.
In a job where you deal with asshats all day, you tend to actually want to help the few who are pleasant toward you.
Bottom line is: they aren't getting paid enough to deal with you being a dick. You can complain to their bosses if you want, but most of the time the boss is going to agree with the employee: you're just being a dick.