Enough Of The Dell Bashing

Despite my own meltdown over a frustrating mishap with Dell’s chosen shipping agency, Dell provides the services they promise - a PC built to your specs. Those looking to buy a PC for bargain basement prices who then have the audacity to expect semi-local reps to answer the phone instead of someone who happens to be offshore is living in a land of make-believe. As I discovered recently, and I am a dummy for not realizing this earlier, you get what you pay for. So let’s see how the local support pans out before exclaiming that it is something to be scoffed at.

When I read articles like this, I have to object as the razor thin margins on selling full PCs may make a lot of money in bulk, but seeing Dell trying to correct a customer service problem only to be booed for it makes me angry. Dell has ticked me off in the past, yet the same time, they have made many others into happy customers.

I may disagree with the way they handle things, but I will never hold the desire to charge for US based customer support. Linux companies have been doing this for years, so why are we getting all twitchy when seeing the same level of support for Windows users?

In the end, we must remember the following:

• You have the right to not use the additional service.
• You have the right not to use a local tech for assistance, perhaps at a better rate.
• And you have the right to vote with your dollars and stop whining. Speaking for myself, I was getting nowhere complaining about my past Dell experience, so I voted with my dollars and spent MORE and ended up with a better match for my own needs elsewhere.

I would encourage anyone to voice their distaste with any customer service experience that is specific and went badly. But to do so about something that has not even happened yet, is just plain silly. I say give Dell a break on this one. Don’t like it, buy elsewhere. That is the beauty of a free market.

With the exception of Apple, I have never had a good call-in experience from a super-large (US based) PC manufacturer. So if the Dell move potentially changes this, I applaud their effort.

Tags: Dell, outsourcing, technical support