Dell's "agents" are useless

[CrashandDie]

Just need to share, part hilarious, part revolting.

15:32:47 Me: Initial Question/Comment: I need to buy a company laptop (budget USD 1600) that will run a 4GB Virtual Machine, so 6GB of RAM minimum
15:33:08 System: You are now being connected to an agent. Thank you for using Dell Chat
15:33:08 System: Connected with Evelyn
15:33:19 Me: Hi Evelyn
15:33:19 Evelyn: hi to assist you better
15:33:53 Evelyn: could you please help me with your email address
15:34:19 Me: I don't see why you need my email address, you already have my first and last name, that should be sufficient for identification purposes
15:34:23 Evelyn: and phone number
15:34:38 Me: I just need some help regarding your offers, not support
15:35:03 Evelyn: i though i can help you wiht a quote ok
15:35:41 Evelyn: please have a look at the studio xps model it might help you wiyh detAILS
15:35:52 Me: sorry?
15:39:33 Evelyn: OK i`ll attach
15:39:43 Evelyn: a link for the studio xps
15:39:58 Evelyn: please have look at the details
15:40:10 Me: Sure, thanks
15:40:46 Evelyn: http://www1.ap.dell.com/au/en/busine...=bsd&cs=aubsd1
15:42:15 Me: Hmm, yes, I saw that one, and it is very close to what I need, however it is a bit short on RAM... If I upgrade to 6GB of RAM, the price shoots up to AUD1900+, which is way over my maximum budget of USD1600
15:43:28 Evelyn: http://www1.ap.dell.com/au/en/busine...=aubsd1&~ck=mn
15:43:33 Evelyn: HAVE LOOK AT THE DETAILS
15:44:33 Me: That's what I'm doing, no need to shout
15:45:23 Me: What's your last name, and where are you based?
15:45:42 Me: Under Australian and US law, which are the laws under which Dell Inc. is operating, you are required to provide me with either Employee Identification Number or full name and city, in case I wish to make a complaint.
15:47:52 Evelyn: there was error while tying
15:48:07 Evelyn: i did not realise that the caps were on
15:48:21 Evelyn: my misrake
15:48:43 Me: Ok, nevermind
15:49:06 Evelyn: was the link help ful
15:49:20 Me: Just answer me this: Are you aware of any laptop that Dell sells, and which would be under USD1700, INCLUDING 6GB of RAM.
15:49:26 Me: sorry, AUD, not USD
15:51:02 Evelyn: i`ll check the details for you3
15:51:06 Me: thanks
16:01:43 System: The session has ended!

Oh, and their website seriously sucks, see attachment.

[bandora]

LOOK AT THE DETAILS GODDAMN IT! lol

[fms]

You have just crashed her! She dumped core!

[jaysire]

How or why did she write in red at 15:47?

[CrashandDie]

I added the colouring

[sandybeach]

disgusting service and Dell and HP wonder why people get frustrated talking to their sales and support lines !

I've heard worse... a friend of mine called Dell and got through to their call centre in India, where - for some inexplicable reason - the agents were attempting to fake Texan accents. It did not end well...
...and don't even get me started on HP! I got more done in about 2 minutes when they accidentally sent me to Enterprise Support in California (it was a personal laptop), than in the preceding week or so dealing with the support centre I was actually supposed to deal with.

[cyeung]

This is one of the things where the mantra of "if you want something done right, do it yourself." When it comes to hard disk and RAM, two things: (1) They're easy to install yourself and (2) It's cheaper if you go out and order them yourself.

[CrashandDie]

Originally Posted by cyeung

This is one of the things where the mantra of "if you want something done right, do it yourself." When it comes to hard disk and RAM, two things: (1) They're easy to install yourself and (2) It's cheaper if you go out and order them yourself.

Yeah, I do realise that, and would do it without snapping a breath if it were for my own personal computer (upgrade my mbp to 8gigs less than a week after getting it). That being said, when it comes to a company laptop, I'm not actually allowed to do it.

Plus, after checking the prices, if the laptop only has two memory slots, finding a 4GB of memory isn't necessarily cheaper than what Dell offers...

[geneven]

I would say that in general statements saying that all the representatives for a company are worthless are themselves worthless. I have found good reps at all companies I have ever dealt with -- it's just that they are harder to find in some companies.

It is usually not the quality of the representatives, it's the kind of information/non-information/mis-information that the company employing them gives that is at fault. Some companies give customer service reps 20 questions and answers and expect that to result in decent help for customers. Of course it doesn't.

I dealt with customer service for Rhapsody a lot; at first I got a bunch of India reps who were skeptical that something called an N800 at the time even existed, but eventually I found someone at the company who even HAD an N800 and was able to help me.

The best advice for someone experiencing bad customer service or tech support at any company us usually this: call back and talk to someone else.