Dell Closes Overseas Call Centers amid Complaints

[voicegy]

After an onslaught of complaints, direct sales computer king Dell has stopped routing corporate customers to a technical support call center in Bangalore, India.

"Every time I see a Dell commercial on TV, I just cringe. They make it sound so easy and it's been a nightmare," [upset customer Ronald] Kronk said. "I even said to them once that I'd like to speak to someone in the U.S. They gave me a number but it's a recording and I can't speak to a human being."

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2003-11-24-dell-support-home_x.htm

 

[MoparShaha]

That's pretty interesting. I once called Dell support (for work) and spoke with someone with an Indian accent. Now I know why. In any event, my experience was very positive, and I got the help I needed. I'm sorry to hear others are having a difficult time.

 

[Stelliform]

...

I called Dell 3 times while it was located in India. I knew it wouldn't last. People are generally pissed already when they call for Computer support. And at least one of the Indians I got spoke english pretty poorly.

The best around the globe call I had was to Cisco late at night. I spoke with an Egyptian who was in Australia at the moment. OK, it is true, I do my global travel by talking to tech support.

 

[pivo6]

My employer (a division of GE) stipulates that I must call tech support in India first, and if they can't fix it, then I get to talk to someone in St Louis. After some growing pains, my experience hasn't been all that bad.

Of course I'm not the average consumer that saw an ad on TV saying how easy everything is.

 

[Paenis]

Does dell charge for tech support like apple? (or atleast apple Australia)

 

[Stelliform]

Originally posted by Paenis
Does dell charge for tech support like apple? (or atleast apple Australia)

Yes, it used to not be an option, but to drop there lowest price models they had to start offering a 1 year and then an upgrade to a 3 year. They also have several different levels like next day on-site is more, 4 hour on-site is a lot. However, if you get 4 hour on-site, you still have to start on the phone with them and then if they place the order after 2 or 3, you won't see it until the next day... (your 4 hours doesn't start until the tech on the phone determines that it needs to be an on-site call.) there are a lot of unspoken rules that I have run into.

 

[Kid Red]

Is Dell doing this because the (oral) labor is cheaper in India?

Do they make their boxes in South America too?

 

[spinner]

Gateway was doing this too, while I worked there. I seen a lot of seasoned techs get laid off only to be replaced by inexperience Americans (for half the wage) or more calls from our friends across the globe (which could be quite snotty). We got more complaints from people "wanting to talk to someone who speaks English" then was worth the cost savings in my opinion.

 

[themadchemist]

Yeah, my dad's had this experience with other companies as well. It's really kind of funny, since my dad's side of the family hails from Bangalore. I hear that their training & maintenance includes watching US television programs and keeping up with US sports, in addition to accent conditioning, in order to seem more "authentically" American.

Of course, the strength of English in India makes it one of the best places to which to farm off tech support.

Personally, I'd rather have the company hire someone in India for half the price and twice the experience. At the same price, you'd get Americans with almost no knowledge. If we assume the amount the company is willing to spend on tech support is limited, I think it would better to have someone in India with a lot of tech experience. After all, India is the IT/software capital of South & Southeast Asia.

On a side note, I once received tech support from a gentleman in Scotland. Fortunately, his accent was not terribly strong and also fortunately, his tech knowledge was terribly strong. I wouldn't have minded someone with even a more pronounced foreign accent if meant that the person knew what the heck he/she was talking about.

 

[MrMacMan]

I know of a few companies who do this.

They try to save money...

The maker of my router was Tech Support Located in India...

It was a little annoying...

My Beef with apple tech support is its not 24/7... but that is just me.

Ah well.