Want to speak to an American when calling customer service? For you, extra price!

Tech support is one thing, but when my credit cards and student loans have their call centers and accounting departments outsourced, I start to get really mad! I don't want to give out account information to someone who could take that info and rob me without any worry, but if you have Sallie Mae or American Express accounts, it could happen!

Reply

Are you kidding me? I have noticed this the last few times I have had to call Dell, I sit on hold for what seems like a lifetime, and then I can barely understand the person on the other end. Most of my conversation goes a little something like this, "excuse me can you repeat that again?" Or they ask me to constantly repeat myself! The last time I spent 30 minutes on hold, and about 75 minutes trying to get the person on the other end to understand that my charger stopped working for my laptop and I needed a new one, and since I have the extended warranty they needed to send me one. A conversation that should have taken maybe 10 minutes took forever because most of the time neither one of us could understand the other. I was 2 days late with my payment also 3 months ago and they called me and could not understand me when I told them I had mailed out the payment, how much it was and what check number it was. They still hit me with a $25 late fee on a $27 payment!!! Oh well, I guess we are shipping everything overseas. I lost my job at Hershey Chocolate so they could send my job to Mexico, since they will work for $1.38 an hour! Of course they offered most of their workers the chance to move there and make that much. I really dont think anyone took them up on their offer. But I have noticed all of their candy says it is still made in Hershey, but we had our plant closed since late August 2007, and stopped producing chocolate in the beginning of that month. What companies will do to save a few dollars, welcome to America!!!

Reply

The problem with Indians is their accent and grammar/spelling mistakes no matter what their level of education is. Even foreigners like me (from the Netherlands) have problems understanding them. Why not opt in for the # 1 call center outsourcing country in the world ? In this #1 country the customer service representatives speak even better American English than the Americans themselves ! Name: the Philippines.

Reply

When my laptop wouldn't power up, I emailed Dell's service tech chat and was connected to a young man named Ajay (uh oh...). I told him my problem. Ok....waiting....waiting....he finally came back and asked me if I was currently on the computer I was having problems with.....HELLO!!!! I told him at the beginning that it wouldn't power up so how could I be chatting with him on that computer???? Needless to say, everything went down hill from there and I finally just ended the chat. Absolutely ridiculous.
I ended up taking it to a local repair guy. And found that Dell parts are specific to their products and require special tools so pretty much only authorized repair places can service them. They have good products but almost the worst customer service I've ever seen...second only to Circuit City (which is going out of business). Hmmm....

Reply

We have the same problem with Hughesnet, and regardless of what the technical problem might be, they always blame it on our computer.

But I must admit, Hadji, Mumbali and Kitjanya have always been nice and polite.

Reply

Dell stinks. Never buy a Dell computer. Bad enough that you can't understand them, when I had trouble with mine, I was told it was out of warranty. I explained to them that I bought it in April, 2008 and that mit was only November, 2008. Their answer was that the computer was delivered to the store in 2007 and was out of warranty as the warranty starts when they deliver the computer to the store. American auto makiers are in trouble, imagine if they started their warranty when the car was delivered to the dealer.

Reply

OMG! I thought I was the only person ready to scream when I reach Dell customer service in India or wherever they are out there. But worse than Dell (if you can imagine that..) was Earthlink. Earthlink charged my elderly mother's bank account for 9 months after she ported her number to another provider. I myself called to make sure everything was cancelled. When she made the discover months later we called Earthlink to get refunded. It took more than 4 months with countless calls to India, then countless calls to Atlanta, and a threat to call the media to get fully refunded. I have to admit...when there are no other alternatives, I would consider paying for US or Canadian customer support.

Reply

its funny(?).... that this would come from AOL.......... of ALL places...i have made 19 calls to AOL SINCE LAST JUNE and never spoken to anyone with even close to a american accent....and when i ask,request, and then demand some one who speaks and understands English they hang up on me...! (and i am a $29.95 a month dumb***)...and of course the problem is always MY computer ..even though both of my computers act the same way...duh!!!>>>LISTEN UP! DELL AND AOL ..U ARE LOSING CUSTOMERS BECAUSE UR CUSTOMERS ARE BEING TREATED LIKE CRAP..i refuse to buy another Dell! and getting ready to drop AOL.com

Reply

Is there an attorney or law firm out there that wants to take the lead on a class action suit to force Dell (any many other companies) to honor their claims about customer service which are an integral component of the sales pitch e.g.the "service after the sale"...if the buyer and technician cannot understand each other, the seller is not upholding its end of the sales agreement which is a written contract between the seller and the buyer. If the seller promises it, it becomes part of the sales contract, doesn't it? Or in the alternative, shouldn't the seller be required to disclose before the sale that the call center is offshore and that the technicians may or may not be fluent in Standard English?

Reply

I have had the same problem with Dell! I had 2 Dell computers before I purchased the newest laptop. I think the real issue is that the quality of their products is declining which results in more calls to customer service. My newest laptop has crashed twice(blue screen), ordered a new latch because the orginal broke after a few weeks and it wasn't covered by the warranty(?), I upgraded the warranty, replaced the hard drive at my cost, ordered copies of my wireless software and even ordered a new router from Verizon because my wireless wouldn't work (it turned out to be a Dell problem) and probably spent over 12 hours on the phone with customer service speaking to someone I couldn't communicate very well with. I will NEVER by another Dell and have told everyone I know about this. I would be glad to join a class action suit and try to recover some of the 2k I spent on a "high quality" laptop. Boy those $495 generic laptops are looking better and better to me!!!

Reply

Dell customer service might as well not exist. No wonder their stock is in the dumpster. I've had Dell products for years and no longer do because of the lack of even nominal customer service. Many people I know are Dell employees and the way Dell consumes their employees is outrageous - asking them to take time off without pay? What has Michael Dell given back to "help the cause"? I live within walking distance of Dell and own a Sony monitor, a GE keyboard, a Microsoft mouse, a HP printer and my computer was made by my then 16 year old son and his friend (3 years now and no problems). My son's laptop is an Apple. What does this say? Just think of how frustrating it is for people who live in this area who own Dell computers and have to deal with a customer service rep half ways around the world who may or may not understand the customer?

Reply

I saw that on the Dell website recently concerning the customer paying extra for "American Based Support". Excuse me????? I dont use the phone support any more. I use the live chat if I have to contact them. Honestly, for me, its faster and it works better. The customer service person only has to read what you say, and then write back to you. They seem to understand better when you use chat; or maybe I have just been lucky. There are no accents to listen to and try to decipher on both sides. Truly, I can understand how it must be frustrating to an Indian person trying to listen to me. I am from the South, and have a rather pronounced accent. Nothing anyone in the US wouldnt understand, but still. The outsourcing is getting ridiculous. A branch of Coca-Cola closed down in my town. They outsourced customer service to India, and get this, collections to Guatemala. Now that makes no sense AT ALL. From a cultural standpoint, this is going to be interesting. Most people I know from Central and South America are taught that the level of brashness and pushiness needed to do collections is rude, impolite, and something they should NEVER do. Theirs is a very polite, gentle culture; generally speaking.

*Sigh*

Reply

When I complained (by US Mail) to the Procter and Gamble retirees service center about my health care service I learned that my letter ended up in a dead letter file in "Costa Rica". How's that for great retiree service!

Reply

Can anyone out there help me to get a phone number for:

1: An American Dell CSR?
2. The Dell CEO?

I will never buy another Dell after so much bad customer service that I cannot even write it all.

Reply