I have a love/hate relationship with Dell. I love them because their computers are top notch and their prices are reasonable. Whenever I have to recommend a computer to a friend or family member, it’s always Dell. I hate Dell because of their customer service. It used to be fantastic. Then they offshored their CS and all hell broke loose.
This summer, my father needed a new computer. He uses his computer for work-at-home purposes, so he can’t go a day without it. He had been having computer issues for some time, and it was an old computer anyway. So, it was decided a new computer was in order. I identified a refurbished model on their website (a good way to get a cheap computer). I then called, had the operator reserve the refurbished item, and asked him to ship it next day. He told me that was impossible, since the credit check and paperwork took a couple of business days. Unbelievably, no matter what negotiation methods I used, there was no way for him to ship it overnight. So, my father and I took a trip to Wal-Mart, yes, you right right: Wal-Mart, to purchase a Dell. They had two boxes: a model without keyboard/mouse/monitor, and the same model without said peripherals. It was a great machine for a great price, so my father got a new computer.
But that’s not the point of this post, believe it or not. This summer, I reformatted my computer in the name of starting the school year fresh (it got abused with installs last year). I thought I had reinstalled everything, but evidently, Dell does not make the PowerDVD codec available for general download. I did a chat session with a Dell technician yesterday who informed me that there was no way to download the software and that she’d have to ship one out to me. Fine, just send the software. I expected to get it in a few weeks. When I came home today, there it was on my doorstep. They shipped it DHL next-day. Perhaps Dell is starting to realize that their customer service used to be a competitive advantage that they had lost and are now working on fixing it.
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