Buyer Beware

I purchased the Dell Inspiron Mini 1012 from T-Mobile almost 2 months ago. It had a video issue. I contacted Dell to request a system exchange on 8/16/2010. They did not have any T-Mobile versions of the Dell Mini 1012. So, they had to offer me an exchange for a regular Mini 1012 that did not have the Mobile Broadband. That is a $200 part that is missing from the system. Yet, you will still be locked into your 2 year contract with T-Mobile.

You could have removed the card from the laptop. Simple task.

So, BEWARE!!! There is NO American tech support. They truly are very lacking in the language of American English.

This is the case for consumer-class laptops. You'd need to pay extra $200+ for North American tech support.

As for the technical aspects of this system, it can not play HD streaming video. Not from Netflix, nor from EpixHD.

It's a netbook. What did you expect? Your fault for not researching the technical specs.

What do you know... the response got deleted by Dell for some vulgarity that was non-existent.  Well here it is again, but making sure I don't violate the TOU.

I find it amazing you have to pay $200 just to speak to an American. Especially when Dell is an American company. Consumer class or not, Customer Service should be standard across the board. Well, at least not lying to a customer.

As for simply taking the card out of the computer and putting it in the new one, I thought of that. The problem is... the directions for this are not on the Dell website. The front page of the directions are, but when you click on the link to see them, Error 404 from Dell. And, if the motherboard of the new one doesn't have the connection for it, it wouldn't work. And considering it is a Mini... I doubt it would.

 As any retail store will tell you, once you have a problem outside of your return period, you have to rely on the warranty. So, there ya go. I have to rely on the warranty. But, you are right. I made the mistake of not "doing my research". How many people that buy computers know what a video card is capable of? A very few... in the scheme of all that buy. Unless the company specifies that the computer is not capable (or specifies that it is), it is difficult to tell. So, I will take the blame for that one.

The issue that all of you are failing to realize is that the post is not necessarily about the computer. It is about the support. Hence the technical support and customer service tags. My rant is that:

1. It took ~4 days to tell me it wouldn't have the mobile broadband card.
2. Another 3 days to tell me they didn't have the color black.
3. Another 3 days (and 2 different reps & 1 supervisor) just to place the order.
4. All who lied about expediting the order.

And when finally escalated to, Hallelujah, as close to an American that I can get. He reviewed the case and totally agreed that there was much lacking in the way the case was handled.

So, no, I am not making all this up. I simply want all to know what kind of customer support those that don't have $1000+ to spend on a system. Those that are extremely loyal to Dell and its support/tech team are probably the ones that have the ability to afford the XPS/Alienware brand. So, they never get inadequate support because Dell would loose thousands per client.

There are more people that are frugal than there are that are frivilous with there money. That is a major lose to revenue when they all find out that Dell's support is lacking. So, regardless of what anyone's opinion is, what I have stated in my previous post is FACT and it can not be disputed. You can counter with your own good experiences. But it is still bad customer support in my case.

Yes, I totally see your point.  An American customer that bought and American product from and American company should never ask for support from an American support team.  That is unreasonable at any price.

I mean, just imagine if you walked into a store (who is the manufacturer) and purchased a $30 8GB Flash Drive.  There was a problem with it and you needed to exchange it and return it to the store.  Because you didn't buy a $300 8GB Flash Drive, you have to talk to someone that barely understands the complexities of the English language and is too incompetent to even know how to place the order for the new one.

I can see how that is too much to ask for in any company.  Basic competent customer/technical support is an absurd idea.  What was I thinking?  I must be insane.

Regardless of what country it comes from, the support team should be competent.

Maybe, if we all try, we can outsource everything and all Americans will have to learn another language just so the support team can fully understand us.  Wouldn't that be wonderful?  We would all just sit at home because there would be no jobs.  But then again, we wouldn't need support for anything because only those that own the companies to begin with would be able to afford anything.

It seems to me that it is just another way to make those on limited incomes feel like they are less of a person.  Poor and low-income people don't need true technical support or customer service.  In actuality, those are the ones that have to rely on the warranty if anything goes wrong.  Dell knows it and they are saving huge amounts of while making those consumers "jump through hoops" just to get someone to comprehend what the problem with the system is.

+++Not to mention, the point again was missed...  It is not about the nationality of the support team.  It is about the incompetence of the support team.  I have dealt with outsourced off-shore support before and had no problem.  That is because they listened, asked questions when unsure, and were trained well on how to actually do the things they said they were going to do.+++

That was the purpose and meaning of the post.  To allow people to see what the support was like for those that have to utilize the off-shore support. 

There's frugal, and there's unreasonable. Asking for US-based support with a $300 netbook is unreasonable.

But, to give Dell a kudos on a few things.  The prices are reasonble for the devices, the devices are wonderful (aside for a minor problem that unfortunately required a complete excange because it was in the motherboard), and when escalated.... it is resolved in just a few days.  It just takes a while to get an issue escalated.

So yes, they shipped the system this morning and it will be here tomorrow.  Just one day late.  All it took was one email from the escalation team to the dispatch department.

The reason I posted this reply... to give the kudos they deserve, and to show that all of this would have been resolved quick and painless if they would have just performed the function they were supposed to.

Dell, keep the good products coming, but please make sure the off-shore support is trained properly.  Don't know how the US based support is because I am too poor to pay for it.  Disability benefits are a joke.

Firstly, I want to thank you hrova for a productive reply.  You offered options and did not blindly support Dell while making me look like I was an idiot for expecting good support.  You answered in the most appropriate way possible and respected my situation.  Thank you.

I did contact T-Mobile.  They contacted Dell tech support on my behalf twice.  Each time, Dell tech support told T-Mobile that it would definitely have the mobile broadband component (just to clarify, I am not really talking about the SIM card, I am talking about the actual component). T-Mobile transferred me to that agent and immediately the agent would tell me it wouldn't have the mobile broadband component.

T-Mobile only supports the webConnect service. Because the computer and its integrated components are a warranty issue (because it was already past the remorse period that is only 14 days where I live), T-Mobile refers the customer to Dell. They especially referred this to Dell considering it was not a mobile broadband issue.

I would have been more than happy to have removed the component from my current system and installed it into the new system, had Dell authorized me to do such (or even recommended for me to do that).  Unfortunately, they didn't and I didn't want to void my warranty.

I do understand the concept of paying for premium tech support.  My complaint was that the tech support I received was lacking based on the fact that they just were not properly trained.

Sincerely,
Richard

My complaint was that the tech support I received was lacking based on the fact that they just were not properly trained.

from original post --- They truly are very lacking in the language of American English.

Sorry IEEE488, if that was meant to prove that I lied about what my point was, then you failed.  That was ONE sentence in the whole post.  A post that shows the lacking support that Dell offered.  If all other sentences are about poor service, and one sentence is about off-shore support... it still makes the majority of the post about poor service.

As most sane people do when they are unable to get an off-shore representative to comprehend the situation, they ask for someone that speaks English as their native language.  It was not only there lack of training, but there poor grasp of the English language that caused the problem.

Nowhere in my post did I say that I could not understand them.  The actions of the representatives speak for themselves.  Regardless of whatever country they are in, taking a total of 3 people on 3 different occassions to place 1 order is poor customer service.  Add the amount of time the reps took to notify me of problems, poor customer service. I do know that the call center that I was forwarded to was in India.  I also know there is a North American call center. Chances of contacting a representative where English is THEIR native language... pretty good if Dell wasn't too cheap to allow it.  Again, I am an American who bought an American system from an American manufacturer. *** If they are unable to understand me, then they should allow me to speak with an American support team.*** The low-wages statement is a problem of Dell as well.  They would rather pay a poor support team in another country that causes many problems and save money than to pay an American support team to support American customers who purchased an American system from and American manufacturer. Had they done so, they would have saved a lot of money on the cost of the calls being forwarded to India and the whole process would probably have been less difficult for both parties. Correcting my grammer (spelling, that is) still does not deflect from the issue that the customer service was lacking. Try again, IEEE488.

And, so this can not be used to show that it was about no American support... The reason for the focus on the Indian support is because IEEE488 made it the main focus.  They asked, and I answered.  Simple as that.

It is, now and from the beginning, about poor customer service.

Sorry IEEE488, if that was meant to prove that I lied about what my point was, then you failed.  That was ONE sentence in the whole post.  A post that shows the lacking support that Dell offered.  If all other sentences are about poor service, and one sentence is about off-shore support... it still makes the majority of the post about poor service.

The fact is that you could not understand what they were saying which you clearly stated in your intial post, so you chalked it up to "poor service".

How do you know it was "poor" service if you couldn't understand their English????

As most sane people do when they are unable to get an off-shore representative to comprehend the situation, they ask for someone that speaks English as their native language.

You do realize the call center is in India, right??? What are the chances of finding a native English speaker there who would be willing to work at the low wages of a call center employee.

It was not only there lack of training, but there poor grasp of the English language that caused the problem.

there poor grasp?

Don't you mean their ?

And you just contradicted yourself in that sentence.

You want training and native English speakers?  PAY FOR IT.

Very simple.

Nowhere in my post did I say that I could not understand them.  The actions of the representatives speak for themselves.  Regardless of whatever country they are in, taking a total of 3 people on 3 different occassions to place 1 order is poor customer service.  Add the amount of time the reps took to notify me of problems, poor customer service.

I do know that the call center that I was forwarded to was in India.  I also know there is a North American call center. Chances of contacting a representative where English is THEIR native language... pretty good if Dell wasn't too cheap to allow it.  Again, I am an American who bought an American system from an American manufacturer. *** If they are unable to understand me, then they should allow me to speak with an American support team.*** The low-wages statement is a problem of Dell as well.  They would rather pay a poor support team in another country that causes many problems and save money than to pay an American support team to support American customers who purchased an American system from and American manufacturer. Had they done so, they would have saved a lot of money on the cost of the calls being forwarded to India and the whole process would probably have been less difficult for both parties.

Correcting my grammer (spelling, that is) still does not deflect from the issue that the customer service was lacking.

Try again, IEEE488.