Jul 23, 2007 04:19 PM
6274 Views
Having heard and read some Dell horror stories had kind of put them in my consumer-recall freezer until they launched what seemed like a brilliant configuration. I decided to give them a shot(after all, having slipped to No. 2, they must be trying harder a la Avis in the rent-a-car business, I told my naive self).
The attractive pricing is usually the hook that leads you in.drooling over the essential extras that, of course, you need to pay for, adding about 50% on the sticker price! But I'm getting ahead of the story.
Well, the nightmare began when I first mailed Dell India. For 3 days there was no response. And this was the second time. A year ago, I'd just lost patience and picked up a ThinkPad(the sad story of that machine has already been told, see my earlier review).
This time around, as our firm grows, I thought it would make sense to strike a long-term relationship with Dell for all our hardware requirements. I mentioned as much to the reluctant sales manager who finally contacted me, called me to their'lab' on a Sunday and then made me wait till he turned up half an hour late. He also had the cheek to tell me that I should have reminded him about the appointment! Wow - is it any wonder that Dell is slipping on sales?
Well, I didn't make much of that thinking it was a small one-off human interaction issue. In hindsight, it strikes me that it is probably representative of what ails the entire organization.
Smooth talk, near total disregard for the customer, a stalling approach.all seems par for the course here.
The sales manager then showed me the machine(and, yes, he did apologize finally for being late), filled me up with Coke and misinformed me about the weight of the machine I wanted to buy! This after I had repeatedly told him that weight was a critical buy factor for me.
His alibi was that he gave me the weight "without batteries". Now any satchel-hauling school kid will tell you that although he wished he could throw the books, they're the stuff that will power his day. I couldn't resist asking him how many people he knew who hauled their laptops around without batteries. Talk about specious defences!
The text of my mail to the Dell sales manager here will probably sum up the moral of the story: Avoid Dell like Hell!
3 weeks after this mail, there's still no sign of the refund cheque. **And 2 weeks have elapsed after someone from Dell assured me on mail that the cheque would be delivered within 1 week!
Hi Saikiran, July 2, 2007
Thanks for your call this morning and for dialling me into customer care. However, after holding on for a few minutes I had to hang up as there seemed to be no one to take the call there.
This has been my experience earlier too when I had called customer care.
I understand that you people have a process to follow for refunds - however, as a thoroughly disappointed customer(albeit a small one), I would appreciate if you could cut through this red tape and just send the refund cheque.
To recap:
I paid up the entire amount up front for a machine I was misled into believing was 1.4 kg - you told me much later and after persistent questioning that it was actually 1.98 kg "with the batteries".
I had agreed to look at an alternative, but you did not seem inclined to come over and discuss the specifications(the terms in your quotation were different from the earlier model). I understand that as a small customer, it's just not worth the trouble for a large vendor like Dell. Funnily, since we are growing fast, I was actually looking forward to a long-term relationship for all our hardware requirements which I expect to be substantial going forward. Of course, your attitude and my overall experience have left me completely disillusioned with Dell.
I have been quite patient - even with long delays from your end in replying to my queries, but frankly I have run out of patience.
Kindly expedite this process and ensure that the refund cheque is despatched today itself. I don't think it is fair on your part to expect me to waste more of my time and energy on something that you have not handled very well.
Best regards
Sudarshan Kumar
