Survey: Do you enjoy dealing with customer support in India?

Hi Asterix101

My experience has been mixed, but generally once my call hits Dell in Hyderabad (where Dell EMEA CS calls are routed to), I usually get bounced 3-4 times (often disconnected), no-one seems to take case notes, they are generally very distant and don't seem to care that you've been greatly inconvenienced in very clear cut cases - so apologies are either not forthcoming, or given with complete insincerity.

The way I would describe the Dell CS experience : "The wheel was spinning, but the Hamster was dead."

I had more of an issue with my Dell AM, who during each call promised to escalate and call back by CoB each day, and consistently failed to do so. I called back at least a dozen times, and wrote numerous e-mails all asking to be escalated - and finally he blind transferred me to someonee who in turn bounced me two more times; all the while testing my patience because I had to repeat the WHOLE thing over and over again. Finally a promise was made to send the missing item. 2 months later nothing. So - asking my honest opinion (and not looking to troll) - my experience of Dell Customer Support in India was very poor (and consistently so), and the result of this will be that I won't be looking to purchase from Dell again in a hurry for a £4100 laptop.

I put this down to the quality of the poor training the agents have received (or recruitment quality) rather than it being India per se, but yes thick accents do make it harder to understand in any culture, and do act as an obstacle to what is an already challenging role (Customer Support).

By contrast, I had an issue with my M17x keyboard, and once I called Dell Technical Support (Slovakia I believe) the Alienware specialist was incredibly helpful, efficient and most of all empathetic and had a great sense of humour. So a Technical Support agent did a better Customer Service job than Customer Service itself.

Just my tuppenyworth. The price of outsourcing doesn't have to mean poorer quality of customer service - if implemented properly.

Best regards

Trelawney

Actually, all my Tech Support calls to Alienware Tech Support go to the dedicated team in Costa Rica and they're pretty good folks and very easy to understand.

No, I just want to talk to an American that I can understand.

I honestly don't care where they are providing they can speak English and are competent. My beef is when someone doesn't understand the problem but really wants to help me solve it anyway. I get to the point where I have to say, "Look, it doesn't matter how much longer we discuss the issue, you will not be able to resolve it so could you please save us both some grief and escalate the call?" If they don't take offense and send me up one level, things usually go smoothly. It's only when they get stubborn and insist on trying to figure it out themselves that I get upset because now we have two people who don't know what the answer is.

I have had good and bad experiences with india.  I have verizon and thats where I get directed to.   I see Dell is offering updated support to USA for the 8000 desktop, but for extra cost. I have several dell desktops, but just purchased a HP laptop,  had a problem with it.  Call HP and got connected to a person is the usa, call center in Missouri, fixed the problem pronto.  I wanted to buy a dell xps laptop, but read so many problems that I decided against it.   I really don't care who I speak with, accent or no accent  just fix my problem and no 5 hours phone sessions.

Just to be clear here, so this post doesn't get sidetracked or closed:

The emphasis should on the skill, helpfulness and articulation of the agent, rather than which nationality or country they are from (which isn't always the same thing).

I've dealt with some really nice people - who don't have a clue, and also rude and arrogant people who do know what they are talking about.

It is essential however that you can understand the person trying to support you in any case, but it's also good not to feel like you've been kicked in the crown jewels after spending such a large amount of money, and the company understands what it takes to make a good Customer Partner Experience (CPE) / CSAT.

Trelawney

For me, there are two issues.  One, of course, is the accent.  If I can't understand them, it's pointless to talk to them.  It's way too common for someone to have such a thick accent the call is worthless.

But the second point I think is more specific to me, or rather someone who is a notch above the average person in dealing with computers.  For example;

 If my parents, who are extremely simple with computers, called for some problem with their computer, the customer support people would look up their basic problem in a book and give them information that would help.

However, for me, if it's so basic it's listed in a book, I would already know of that solution.  I am quite good at googling information, and if I can't get my problem solved myself, you better believe it's buried deep in that help book they rifle through when I call.  The good old days I would call and get some other tech geek like me and they would work just as hard as I do to get the problem fixed because they LIKE doing that. For them it's like doing a crossword puzzle.

But some of the Indian techs INSIST I take the most basic steps before they believe me I've already done them. "Yes, I've already turned it off and on, yes, I've already checked the plugs, yes I've already..."

I have to admit to even lying about doing those things when they ask.  I'll pick up a book and read a few paragraphs and say, "Ok it's back on" just to get them past that point.

Don't get me wrong those basic first steps are important, but I've already done those steps and they don't care, they need me to do them again while on the phone.

/sigh

So for the average person, it's probably not too bad, but for me, it's agony.

Two stories: story one was my XPS 720 H2C, an $8,000 purchase that went south when the RAID config messed up.  I called the XPS specialty line a few years ago and spent four hours with a guy in Edmonton, Alberta who walked me through a complete rebuild.  In between reboots we talked about family, popular culture and, of course, hockey.  He was working at a call centre Dell built using tax breaks from the City of Edmonton and employed hundreds of people.  It was a waste of a Saturday but when we finally got the problem fixed it was like I wanted to meet up with this guy some day and have a beer.  I'm somewhat computer literate and he appreciated the fact that he was dealing with somebody who knew the difference between a hard and soft reboot.

Less than two months later Dell announced it was closing its tax-subsidized Edmonton call centre and outsourcing to India.  800 jobs were eliminated.  I don't know what they've done with the actual building.

Speed ahead to six months ago when a laptop my girlfriend ordered for her niece lost the hard drive.  It was dead, faulty...it just needed a new one.  I took on the task of doing the phone support because the gentleman in India was treating my girlfriend like she was an idiot.  Cultural biases were in play.  When a guy (me) got on the phone I wouldn't take his condescending tone.  He keep insisting a virus had been unleashed.  I kept insisting that he put in an order for a new hard drive. The new drive arrived and of course it worked because the old drive was buggered.

 I was right and I will never make the effort to find the Indian guy to buy him a beer.  Could be the XPS high end rig crowd were treated differently than the support line for $600 laptops but what Dell forgets all too often is that every dollar is a dollar people can just spend elsewhere.  And forget the crowing from the politically correct crowd who worry that this will turn into a screed against India-based support.  The Indian culture is different.  I live in one of the most multicultural cities on the planet and it's just a fact.  A woman with a Dell computer problem talking to a male support agent in India will be treated like a second-class citizen.  Next time your machine goes south, have your better half give support a call and tell me different.

I have never dealt with a worse company at Customer Service. I bought my first (and last) Dell in June of 2009.  From the very first phone call, they have lied to me, accused me of lying, covered their rear ends, made it extremely difficult to speak with anyone with any kind of escalation ability, totally ignored efforts made by "Dell" forum members here to intercede on my behalf and just generally given me every reason they possibly could for me to buy my next computer elsewhere.  This is not all to do with India as well, it is Dell Canada too.  The whole bunch do not deserve our dollars because they do not want to earn it after they "got your money".  Beware anyone considering a Dell, you might get screwed, and for sure you aint gonna get kissed afterwards.  Ahh....that felt better........Cheers!

No, I don't enjoy it. But by the same token, I don't like being on the phone with technical support/customer support at all in general (because I always assume neither person really wants to be on the line). But the real reason why is the language barrier (and being transferred around constantly, too).

I have to say, my experience with Dell has been exactly the opposite from Celler6's. From the first day the machine was delivered and I discovered the adapter that allows a hook up to an HDMI monitor was not included, they have bent over backwards to be fair. Customer Service tried arguing that the adapter was sold separately but after I insisted that the machine was advertised with HDMI out, not adapter sold separately, they gave in and shipped me one free of charge. It is possible that because I sprung for the higher level service option, I don't get India and I don't get strung along by low level Service reps - I don't know - but there have been other issues and each time the rep offered me their name and contact info without me asking, stayed on the phone and worked remotely on my computer for as long as it took to resolve the issue. I have honestly never experienced this level of support and I can tell you that because of this, I am sold now for life. PS - Just in case anyone thinks I'm a push over or a plant for Dell, I am normally the last person any customer service rep ever wants to get mixed up with if they don't know what they're doing or if they are trying to brush me off. I have been known to spend days harassing everyone in a company until I get answers.