Dell support story

One day, I went to their site to see if there were any upgrades to drivers
that I should get. I tried one but got a notice from my browser that the file
was corrupted. I tried again, with the same result.

So I wrote to Dell support, saying that I wasn't asking for anything under
warranty, that instead I just wanted to report that they had a bad file on
their server. I gave the exact URL.

They wrote back saying that I had to give my Service Tag. I replied, saying
that I wasn't asking for anything particular to my computer, that I was just
reporting a bad file on their server.

They wrote back, saying that they needed the Service Tag so they could know
exactly what file I was referring to. So I copied the Service Tag from the URL
string that I had originally given to them. I pasted it at the top of my email
reply to them and also said, "this is my service tag" so they wouldn't miss it
anymore. (My Service Tag had already also appeared as being quoted in every
correspondence back and forth with them, as part of the URL string.)

Being naive (I guess), I thought that somebody there might have replied saying
"oh yes, your Service Tag was there, given to us by you in the Dell URL all
along".

Instead, they replied: "sorry, your computer is out of warranty and we can't
help you".

Seems funny now, but not then

"Tom" <> wrote in message news:iuam0f$c89$...
> One day, I went to their site to see if there were any upgrades to drivers
> that I should get. I tried one but got a notice from my browser that the
> file
> was corrupted. I tried again, with the same result.
>
> So I wrote to Dell support, saying that I wasn't asking for anything under
> warranty, that instead I just wanted to report that they had a bad file on
> their server. I gave the exact URL.
>
> They wrote back saying that I had to give my Service Tag. I replied,
> saying
> that I wasn't asking for anything particular to my computer, that I was
> just
> reporting a bad file on their server.
>
> They wrote back, saying that they needed the Service Tag so they could
> know
> exactly what file I was referring to. So I copied the Service Tag from the
> URL
> string that I had originally given to them. I pasted it at the top of my
> email
> reply to them and also said, "this is my service tag" so they wouldn't
> miss it
> anymore. (My Service Tag had already also appeared as being quoted in
> every
> correspondence back and forth with them, as part of the URL string.)
>
> Being naive (I guess), I thought that somebody there might have replied
> saying
> "oh yes, your Service Tag was there, given to us by you in the Dell URL
> all
> along".
>
> Instead, they replied: "sorry, your computer is out of warranty and we
> can't
> help you".
>
> Seems funny now, but not then

Not at all surprising to me. I had a similar experience last year.

JD
>

Tom wrote:
> One day, I went to their site to see if there were any upgrades to drivers
> that I should get. I tried one but got a notice from my browser that the file
> was corrupted. I tried again, with the same result.
>
> So I wrote to Dell support, saying that I wasn't asking for anything under
> warranty, that instead I just wanted to report that they had a bad file on
> their server. I gave the exact URL.
>
> They wrote back saying that I had to give my Service Tag. I replied, saying
> that I wasn't asking for anything particular to my computer, that I was just
> reporting a bad file on their server.
>
> They wrote back, saying that they needed the Service Tag so they could know
> exactly what file I was referring to. So I copied the Service Tag from the URL
> string that I had originally given to them. I pasted it at the top of my email
> reply to them and also said, "this is my service tag" so they wouldn't miss it
> anymore. (My Service Tag had already also appeared as being quoted in every
> correspondence back and forth with them, as part of the URL string.)
>
> Being naive (I guess), I thought that somebody there might have replied saying
> "oh yes, your Service Tag was there, given to us by you in the Dell URL all
> along".
>
> Instead, they replied: "sorry, your computer is out of warranty and we can't
> help you".
>
> Seems funny now, but not then

They're not trained to provide support. They are trained to read their
script and to follow the procedures they were given, one of which must
be not to provide help out of warranty. It doesn't matter whether their
response makes sense - they're not getting paid to make sense. Their
'phone calls and emails are being monitored. They /must/ follow their
script and procedures or they will lose their jobs. And Dell is no
different in this regard from any other company that has this setup for
support.

I would have posted the URL in the Dell Community Forum, where it would
have a better chance of eventually being corrected.

Daddy

On Jun 27, 1:34*pm, Tom <n...@no.com> wrote:
> One day, I went to their site to see if there were any upgrades to drivers
> that I should get. I tried one but got a notice from my browser that the file
> was corrupted. I tried again, with the same result.
>
> So I wrote to Dell support, saying that I wasn't asking for anything under
> warranty, that instead I just wanted to report that they had a bad file on
> their server. I gave the exact URL.
>
> They wrote back saying that I had to give my Service Tag. I replied, saying
> that I wasn't asking for anything particular to my computer, that I was just
> reporting a bad file on their server.
>
> They wrote back, saying that they needed the Service Tag so they could know
> exactly what file I was referring to. So I copied the Service Tag from the URL
> string that I had originally given to them. I pasted it at the top of my email
> reply to them and also said, "this is my service tag" so they wouldn't miss it
> anymore. (My Service Tag had already also appeared as being quoted in every
> correspondence back and forth with them, as part of the URL string.)
>
> Being naive (I guess), I thought that somebody there might have replied saying
> "oh yes, your Service Tag was there, given to us by you in the Dell URL all
> along".
>
> Instead, they replied: "sorry, your computer is out of warranty and we can't
> help you".
>
> Seems funny now, but not then

Had a similar experience when I purchased a new laptop. When I turned
it off, it would turn itself on in few minutes. Very annoying. I
talked to several tech support people, who would hang up on me after
spending time trying unsuccessfully to figure out the problem.
Finally one person worked several hours with me. She was persistent
but still unsuccessful. So I googled the problem and found a solution
in a few minutes.

All that was required was to change a setting in the Power Management
tab on the Wireless card in device manager.

I tried to contact the gal who spent so much time working with me to
pass that information along so that they could make changes in their
manuals, however I was not able to reach her, nor was anyone I
contacted through chat was interested in passing the information
along.

Larry

On Jun 27, 2:34*pm, Tom <n...@no.com> wrote:
> One day, I went to their site to see if there were any upgrades to drivers
> that I should get. I tried one but got a notice from my browser that the file
> was corrupted. I tried again, with the same result.
>
> So I wrote to Dell support, saying that I wasn't asking for anything under
> warranty, that instead I just wanted to report that they had a bad file on
> their server. I gave the exact URL.
>
> They wrote back saying that I had to give my Service Tag. I replied, saying
> that I wasn't asking for anything particular to my computer, that I was just
> reporting a bad file on their server.
>
> They wrote back, saying that they needed the Service Tag so they could know
> exactly what file I was referring to. So I copied the Service Tag from the URL
> string that I had originally given to them. I pasted it at the top of my email
> reply to them and also said, "this is my service tag" so they wouldn't miss it
> anymore. (My Service Tag had already also appeared as being quoted in every
> correspondence back and forth with them, as part of the URL string.)
>
> Being naive (I guess), I thought that somebody there might have replied saying
> "oh yes, your Service Tag was there, given to us by you in the Dell URL all
> along".
>
> Instead, they replied: "sorry, your computer is out of warranty and we can't
> help you".
>
> Seems funny now, but not then

Similar thing when I tried to find if my new rig had USB 3. But when I
had a "real" problem to them (a bad touch pad), I got the part the
next day.

Bob Villa wrote:
> On Jun 27, 2:34 pm, Tom <n...@no.com> wrote:
>> One day, I went to their site to see if there were any upgrades to drivers
>> that I should get. I tried one but got a notice from my browser that the file
>> was corrupted. I tried again, with the same result.
>>
>> So I wrote to Dell support, saying that I wasn't asking for anything under
>> warranty, that instead I just wanted to report that they had a bad file on
>> their server. I gave the exact URL.
>>
>> They wrote back saying that I had to give my Service Tag. I replied, saying
>> that I wasn't asking for anything particular to my computer, that I was just
>> reporting a bad file on their server.
>>
>> They wrote back, saying that they needed the Service Tag so they could know
>> exactly what file I was referring to. So I copied the Service Tag from the URL
>> string that I had originally given to them. I pasted it at the top of my email
>> reply to them and also said, "this is my service tag" so they wouldn't miss it
>> anymore. (My Service Tag had already also appeared as being quoted in every
>> correspondence back and forth with them, as part of the URL string.)
>>
>> Being naive (I guess), I thought that somebody there might have replied saying
>> "oh yes, your Service Tag was there, given to us by you in the Dell URL all
>> along".
>>
>> Instead, they replied: "sorry, your computer is out of warranty and we can't
>> help you".
>>
>> Seems funny now, but not then
>
> Similar thing when I tried to find if my new rig had USB 3. But when I
> had a "real" problem to them (a bad touch pad), I got the part the
> next day.

....which is not surprising, at least not to me.

When you present them with a transaction for which they have an
established procedure - in this case, "customer needs an in-stock part"
- they know exactly what to do because it's in their training manual.

But present them with a transaction that's not in their training manual,
like an earlier poster's issue with his laptop, and you'll get nowhere
quickly. Their job is to follow the manual; anything more than that
requires the intervention of a higher-up, and good luck with that.

Once again, Dell is no different in this way from other large companies
(unfortunately.)

Daddy

On 6/29/2011 11:04 PM, Bob Villa wrote:

(Snipped stuff)
>
> Similar thing when I tried to find if my new rig had USB 3. But when I
> had a "real" problem to them (a bad touch pad), I got the part the
> next day.

I was going to ask Dell, after this weekend, whether any of their
desktops had USB3 capability - any idea whether any of their desktops do
have that capability, or, if not, a PCI(?) board can be substituted for
a USB2 board?

On 7/9/2011 10:04 PM, Dan Wenz wrote:
> On 6/29/2011 11:04 PM, Bob Villa wrote:
>
> (Snipped stuff)
>>
>> Similar thing when I tried to find if my new rig had USB
>> 3. But when I
>> had a "real" problem to them (a bad touch pad), I got the
>> part the
>> next day.
>
> I was going to ask Dell, after this weekend, whether any of
> their desktops had USB3 capability - any idea whether any of
> their desktops do have that capability, or, if not, a PCI(?)
> board can be substituted for a USB2 board?
Desktop Dells all have USB3 plug-in cards available.