Dell Chat Technician is unhelpful, misleads, then LIES to me [updated]

[Kalmah]

This is amazing. I'm speechless.

It's as if there job is to purposely not give support.. they are just playing pretend support staff. That has pretty much been my experience with chat technical support from just about anyone though.

 

[James Bond]

This is amazing. I'm speechless.

It's as if there job is to purposely not give support.. they are just playing pretend support staff. That has pretty much been my experience with chat technical support from just about anyone though.

It's funny because in the past I've actually talked Dell up some for their business support. Like someone mentioned above, their 4hour business support is pretty decent (although they are just contacting anyway).

buying the lowest quality crap (i.e., dell), and then expecting quality customer support, is the very definition of stupidity.

Didn't know that, thanks for the heads up. Who does your company use? Just curious.

 

[JD50]

Great story OP, keep us updated.

 

[moshquerade]

 

[James Bond]

This is amazing. I'm speechless.

It's as if there job is to purposely not give support.. they are just playing pretend support staff. That has pretty much been my experience with chat technical support from just about anyone though.

Yeah. I really think that it's more of a problem with chat as a medium rather than Dell themselves.

 

[rasczak]

I've never had an issue with Dell support. We call in or go on chat, troubleshoot the issue and if a part is needed it's in our mailbox the next day. Too bad about your issue. I hope it gets better.

 

[CrackRabbit]

You know once you finish with your little adventure you should send it on to the Consumerist. I'm sure the guys over there would get a kick out of it.

 

[MrPickins]

well, I know Dell has a large tech support call & apparently internet chat support center in Oklahoma City, which probably, explains the OKC in his user name.

Not sure how it helps. Unless you wanna send some guys over there to hang out in the parking lot, waiting for him to get off work.

512-946-XXXX is a north Austin, TX phone number. It's probably not coming from Dell's main campus, but definitely within a few miles of there.

I know because I used to have a 512-947-XXXX number.

 

[GoPackGo]

You should send your story off to the CEO of Dell...

 

[darkxshade]

Aren't chat conversations logged? Seems like he's leaving a huge trail of breadcrumbs if he's going out of his way just to waste time to lie and avoid actually providing customer service. All it takes is the right call to the right people and it's game over for him, especially if he's giving you his number and pretending to be a manager to avoid getting a complaint call.

 

[hanoverphist]

Didn't know that, thanks for the heads up. Who does your company use? Just curious.

we have all konica/ minolta here. got them locally with service agreements, but own the machines outright. once the agreements are up, we negotiate for better contracts and have others maintain them for us. overall it was cheaper than having me spend time trying to fix shit i dont know anything about. but we do a ton of tech manuals/ submittals and basic printing, we have put most copiers to their "end of life" in 2 or 3 years.

 

[None23]

So I have quite a few issues with this post, it sort of grinds my gears, if you know what I mean. I have been on both ends of the tech support line (tech/agent and customer) many times. I know this post will be long winded, and I know not all will care to read it, but I feel very strongly about this (I have been in tech support way too long), so I have to rant a bit..

Since Dell makes it impossible to find their phone number, I decide to start up a live chat.

Dells phone numbers are fairly easy to find. It takes a few clicks, but it’s very intuitive. Dell.com > Click Contact (bottom of basically every page) > Click Contact Tech Support > Click Telephone (since you want to “Call Tech Support”) > Click Home/Biz as appropriate > Bang – There are the numbers!
Also keep in mind that almost any Dell number you call, can get you almost anywhere you need, if you have the express code of the system you are needing help with. Further, I don’t know about anyone else, but when I find the most direct number to use for a particular warranty issue or system type, I save it so I can always have it on hand – regardless if the issue is with Dell, HP, ATT, etc.
So, you talk to a hardware warranty support technician (that’s right, as one other has mentioned, Dell only truly supports hardware, and might “attempt” to help you with software support after that). You ask this hardware warranty support technician about a software feature. So A) he most likely has less experience with the software than you do, if you have used it even just a few times. B) He is not supposed to support software issues, he replaces defective hardware only – most likely his response to 99.9% of software issues are – did you reinstall it yet? if not then lets. if so, then he is beyond the realm of his support and you can contact the software vendor. In no way is this “bullshit”, this is his job, he is not lying to you, that’s his job.

I ask for his supervisors email address, and he replies: "You will receive an email automatically with that information.". I find that very odd, so I ask again, and he gives me an email address to bobjohnson@dell.com. I'm thinking "oh, sure, fake email, nice".

I sign off and my chat transcript comes immediately. Oh, and there was no email or contact info included, surprise. I wrote a short email for Bob Johnson, and immediately received a kickback.

If he provided you an email address like bobjohnson@dell.com he most likely just miss typed it (maybe intentional? Who knows). As someone who has contacted dell a time or two, and as anyone who has would know, all dell employees are Firstname_Lastname@Dell.com (with an underscore). As someone who has contacted dell chat support several times, there is no email or contact information in the chat summary email. It is only the basic transcript of the chat. So, if he told you his contact info was included, then yes, he lied about that. I saw some various replies about this as well, saying a second email comes through with the contact information. This varies depending on the type of support and the product. Every group at dell will do it just a bit different. Some send follow ups and personal contact info, some don’t.

I signed into Dell Chat, and lo and be hold, I get the same fucking guy! Jeremiah! Our conversation this time was much shorter:
12/03/2009 12:33:28PM Session Started with Agent (OKCp_Jeremiah_160210)
12/03/2009 12:33:33PM Agent (OKCp_Jeremiah_160210): "Thank you for using Dell Printer Hardware Warranty Chat Support, My name is Jeremiah, how may I help you?"
12/03/2009 12:33:56PM James Bond: "Hi Jeremiah"
12/03/2009 12:34:05PM Session Suspended

Yep, he killed my session right then and there.

I find it hard to believe that an agent would have closed or suspended your session without any notice, at least not on purpose. I think we may have missed some of the conversation, but that’s ok. I have only been treated poorly by dell tech support once, and it was not a chat agent.
So when you talked to Erica, yes, I’m sure she was checking with the previous agent. That is a normal process. You want to look over notes and talk to the previous agent when possible to gather any details on the issue that might help the current chat/call/issue. I would not flatter yourself, thinking they were scheming or coming up with any kind of “master plan”. More than likely they were just chatting and laughing at how ridiculous you were being about the situation.
Also, when you asked to talk to a manager, why would you assume an agent would be pretending to be a manager, or this person would not exist? That’s the managers job. Agents talk to customers - Managers make sure the agents come to work, and take escalations. Most managers I have dealt with are more than happy to work with you, and are interested in getting things handled as quickly and professionally as possible. Further, if the agent had tried to call you back, he most likely would have been fired for not taking chats as he should have been, let alone impersonating a manager. In call centers (/chat centers?), agents are easily expendable, there is always another techie in line that needs the better pay/benefits of a larger company over the crap they get at the local computer repair POS (AKA GeekSquad).

Not saying they are right or wrong, but the chat section is often the worst area to get product support because those guy have 15 windows open at once. Also you were in hardware warranty queue, which is not the printer support queue. Teaching you how to use the unit is not really "warranty support."

Chat agents in technical support could never handle 15 chats at a time. Even if they only take 2 at a time, they are already twice as productive as a phone agent. But you are correct that what Bond was asking was in no way covered by his warranty.

You have to realize that 90% of the tech people at Dell are idiots then go from there.

If I am not mistaken, dell tech support agents have to have at least 1 major industry certification to be considered for a job. So, depending on the department they are in, they may be more qualified than 90% of the customers (like in printer), or maybe the same or even far less qualified ( in server, high end storage/networking/etc).

Jeremiah, eh? I bet his real name is Prakash or Kumar or Srinivasan or Dipu or something to that effect.

I think one other mentioned this as well, but OKCp most likely stands for Oklahoma City, where dell has a large tech support site. Further, the chat agents that I have received follow ups from, or ended up working with via email, the names always match in Chat/Email.

Yeah... their online chat support sucks. For an example, I once asked them if their E2210H display supports a screen resolution of 1680x1050. It said that it did, even though the native resolution of that screen is 1920x1080. I found out later that 1680x1050 isn't listed an available resolution in the drivers for that screen. Bastards.

So, put yourself in the shoes of the tech. They support maybe 30-60 (or more?) different systems that could ship with who knows how many different makes/models of monitors. They cannot be an expert at everything. You may be an expert on your systems, but you most likely don’t cover nearly the scope that a standard agent at dell/HP/etc will cover. Once again, they are not supposed to be there to help with software and specs and hold your hand while you learn how to install a driver. They are there to replace defective hardware after you prove it is actually broken, and that you are not an idiot.

buying the lowest quality crap (i.e., dell), and then expecting quality customer support, is the very definition of stupidity.

I have recently purchased and owned many dell products, I have supported thousands of dell products, not one of them was crap. Also consider, especially for printers, Dell does not truly make any products. It’s going to be a Samsung/Canon/Lexmark/Xerox rebranded item. So think about what/whos products you are really calling crap – it’s not really dell.

Yeah. I really think that it's more of a problem with chat as a medium rather than Dell themselves.

So how is chat a bad medium for tech support? The only issues I have had with chat support is on the tech side, when the idiot customer chats in from the same PC with issues and a reboot is needed. Chat is great because you can multitask (both as customer and as tech). You get very plain and easy to read instructions without having to worry about any language barriers or anything like that.

Aren't chat conversations logged? Seems like he's leaving a huge trail of breadcrumbs if he's going out of his way just to waste time to lie and avoid actually providing customer service. All it takes is the right call to the right people and it's game over for him, especially if he's giving you his number and pretending to be a manager to avoid getting a complaint call.

You are right, if what JB is saying was true, Jeremiah is most likely already fired!
Ok, well if anyone read that, thank you. Sigh… now I can breathe again.. good luck on your software issue JB!! And try not to take it out on the hardware support agents that simply do what they are told/trained to do!

 

[theprodigalrebel]

OP, you are super paranoid if you think some support representative is going to have the time or energy to call you pretending to be a manager. Chat representatives at our call center (different company) have 4 sessions open at any given moment. Experienced CSRs (voice) take over 100 calls a day, back-to-back, not a second between calls to catch their breath. TSRs take about half as many calls but that's only because resolving technical issues takes about twice as long on average.

You really think someone will have the time to actually stay back after work or waste their 15-minute break prank calling you? I can't log out from my computer or go on an unscheduled break for a minute before there's an announcement on the PA and frantic phone calls made by Work Force Management to my supervisor and my cell. Erica probably asked for your number to submit to a callback form. It's something we do as well when a customer has gone through Operations Supervisor -> Operations Manager-> Executive Team CSR -> Executive Team Supervisor -> Executive Team Manager and the customer still wants to further escalate the call.

I don't know why your second session the next day ended though. If he really recognized you and ended the session to get rid of you, wow, how much of an ass were you the previous day? Because people in the customer service and tech support industry usually have an incredibly high threshold for annoyance, pain and misery. 😛

 

[gorcorps]

OP is a paranoid nutcase IMO

lay off whatever you're on

 

[Nik]

cool story bro

I get a kick out of this line every time

 

[Number1]

OP is a paranoid nutcase IMO

lay off whatever you're on

That's what I am starting to think also.

 

[HannibalX]

I have recently purchased and owned many dell products, I have supported thousands of dell products, not one of them was crap. Also consider, especially for printers, Dell does not truly make any products. It’s going to be a Samsung/Canon/Lexmark/Xerox rebranded item. So think about what/whos products you are really calling crap – it’s not really dell.

Ahahahhahahahahahahahahhahaha *rest* BBwhhahawhahhhahahahaha.

I guess you have never worked on any GX260/270/280 desktops.

The 270s specifically are almost guaranteed to fail within two years due to cheapass capacitors. This is a known issue. I have personally dealt with over 1,000 270s with this issue and Dell replaced the motherboards in every single one of them.

If complete failure of a product on a massive scale doesn't constitute being a peice of crap I don't know what does.

Pull Dell's cock out of your ass.

 

[SunnyD]

Ahahahhahahahahahahahahhahaha *rest* BBwhhahawhahhhahahahaha.

I guess you have never worked on any GX260/270/280 desktops.

The 270s specifically are almost guaranteed to fail within two years due to cheapass capacitors. This is a known issue. I have personally dealt with over 1,000 270s with this issue and Dell replaced the motherboards in every single one of them.

If complete failure of a product on a massive scale doesn't constitute being a peice of crap I don't know what does.

Pull Dell's cock out of your ass.

Haha... GX270's oh yeah. They extended the warranty on them 2 years for that exact reason. They would fail right around the 3 year mark, nearly every single one. I could tell what was wrong with it just by walking up to one while it was powered on and listening. I'd call a Dell tech, give him the service tag, s/he would look it up and say, "So, this is a GX270? What is the nature of the problem." I'd reply, not joking, "Do you really need me to tell you?" The tech would normally say not really, but yes because I have to put what you say on the service ticket.

 

[None23]

Ahahahhahahahahahahahahhahaha *rest* BBwhhahawhahhhahahahaha.

I guess you have never worked on any GX260/270/280 desktops.

The 270s specifically are almost guaranteed to fail within two years due to cheapass capacitors. This is a known issue. I have personally dealt with over 1,000 270s with this issue and Dell replaced the motherboards in every single one of them.

If complete failure of a product on a massive scale doesn't constitute being a peice of crap I don't know what does.

Pull Dell's cock out of your ass.

Yep! I was also responsible for many systems with the same issue. Often times, for the affected systems we had, the motherboard replacement did not resolve the issue. There were also issues with the power supplies in many of the same units. But really this was not a dell issue, it was a manufacturing issue. And as mentioned above, dell was generally good about replacing the problem parts.

Oddly enough, this was the exact reason I said I was once treated poorly by dell. As mentioned, we had as many issues, or more, with the power supplies. When we contacted dell for the old capacitors issue we would always ask for the both motherboard and power supply, and always got it. But once, the tech refused my request for both parts. I did not have the opportunity to swap power supplies while on the line, and he would not honor my request based on my experience. I literally told him, fine, send the motherboard only, and I will call you back tomorrow for the power supply. So big surprise, ended up the motherboard did not resolve my issue, and the unfortunate call number two. I ended up taking the system back to the end user with the power supply out of my system, and replaced mine the next morning.

 

[KeithTalent]

Updates?

KT

 

[imagoon]

Ahahahhahahahahahahahahhahaha *rest* BBwhhahawhahhhahahahaha.

I guess you have never worked on any GX260/270/280 desktops.

The 270s specifically are almost guaranteed to fail within two years due to cheapass capacitors. This is a known issue. I have personally dealt with over 1,000 270s with this issue and Dell replaced the motherboards in every single one of them.

If complete failure of a product on a massive scale doesn't constitute being a peice of crap I don't know what does.

Pull Dell's cock out of your ass.

I called Dell on this and they showed up, 45 system boards, an unknown number of PSUs (techs told me they were replacing them based on serial number) in hand. 2 Techs walked around my office replacing everyone of them. What your comment is really about above = good service not "crap product." Crap products would be if you have 1000 of them bad and Dell told you to go get bent. Every company has manufacturing issues.

 

[M0RPH]

ORIGINAL POST:


"Red flag, red flag" I'm thinking to myself, and "MOTHERFUCKERS" I say out loud. I start looking around me. My coworkers are staring at me wondering what's going on. This has got to be a conspiracy, I just know it. I don't know exactly what they are planning, but I figure that if I give her my number, Jeremiah will be calling me and pretend to be "Bob Johnson" or "Wayne".

Paranoid much?

Every support staff has some bad apples. If the guy was that unhelpful then you hang up and call again and talk to someone else.

 

[OutHouse]

Dells tech chat is a complete joke.

1-800-234-9999
Options 3,2

that is the only number you need for dell.