Comments on: Dell Next Business Day Warranty Isn’t: Round Two

By: Travis McCrea

Travis McCrea — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 08:48:36 +0000

I had this same type of issue with Gateway support for the laptop I am on now.

They sent me the laptop, and ever since I first got it it had an over heating issue, but it never really was too much of a problem, and I figured it was because I always used the laptop on a bed, so the fans wouldn’t circulate the air.

Sometimes though the machine would over heat to the point it would shut itself off, and I would even have it propped up on stuff. So there was issue number one. Then the power flow started having issues, and so it would say “charging” then “Battery Discharging” over and over; and if I had my speakers on it would make that annoying beep. At first, it was just once every great while.. then it started discharging more than charging… and I could never watch movies or listen to music.

This starts up right as I am starting my first term at my University (online courses). So I “call India” and tell them that I need to get this fixed and they say that if I send it in they will fix it. I said sure, and sent it in to them. They said it would take about 2 weeks, and it did, which was fine, oh and you have to cover the shipping costs over, and they will pay for the return. Well it is YOUR fault, but I want this done, so just do it.

So I get it back… I look on what they did: They upgraded the bios, and replaced some keys on my keyboard (which were missing… but I also just bought a replacement pack to replace them myself, but sent it in hoping they would replace them WHILE fixing my issue)…. I called up and said that not only did they not fix the problem, the list of things they sent that they did to my computer doesn’t even show that they did anything to help the problem.

Luckily when you do a repair order with Gateway, they will attach a phone number to their office in the United States, so she was able to explain to me that apparently when I had mentioned my keys missing (which I said in passing, it was hardly the focus of our conversation), they marked the repair for cosmetic fixes.

I said “fine, let me send it back, and you guys fix it– but I want you to note exactly what the issue is, and the troubleshooting steps that I have taken to fix the computer myself” They paid the shipping (though I realized, after taking the laptop into UPS that with a discount that I have through my moms employer I got next day air for like 8 bucks… so I did that)…

I get my computer back, they had replaced the hard drive (I had already bought a terabyte hard drive and backed everything up in preparation for that possibility), they had replaced the monitor, and almost every other componat BUT the motherboard or the power supply unit (which is attached to the motherboard)…
Guess what? It didn’t work.

SOOOOO I call back again, and say “Hey its been 4.5 weeks that this has been going on, I am failing my classes because I can’t attend, and my computer is still broken!”

They asked me to send it back again, but I wanted a new device, and demanded that. They said they wouldn’t be able to help me, and that the procedure is “ship it out three times, and if you can’t fix it after the third time, then they will replace it” and she assured me that they would fix it the next time, and she would be “pulling strings” to have it replaced if they couldn’t, because technically the 2nd time was for a new issue which should have started the three shipment process over again (Austin Powers anyone?)

That wasn’t going to work for me, so I told her I wanted to talk to “Executive Customer Care” this is a term that you should remember because its practically the same thing as saying “Shibboleet”, most companies “Executive Customer Care” only has an address to write to… but they typically get their mail in 3-5 days anyway, so if you want to be patient they will get back to you… and always do great at fixing your problem.

Gateway HAS a phone number for executive customer care, and after explaining my issue to this guy, he set me up with an order for a new laptop (a $1,100 laptop, mine only cost $460 — but my model wasn’t made anymore :D :D )… however, I either had to pay for the laptop first, and then send my old one back and then they would credit me for it… or I would have to send my old one back first and then they would send me out the new one.

I agreed to send mine back first, and they sent me this laptop which is pretty awesome.

Chad (I think that was his name) from Executive Customer Care, also gave me his personal office number, so I was able to call him and he would answer his phone. So I called him to check up on the order and he was able to give me tracking details (they sent me a tracking number, but I was a douchebag and wanted to hear it from them)… and then after having my laptop for a week he gave me a call back and ensured that I was fully satisfied with it, and if there was anything else he could help me with.

:( I lost Chad’s phone number, and the phone number to the place in America… and neither of them were posted on the net.

However, I will buy from Gateway again if I need a laptop, because while they were total idiots in the beginning… their executive customer care made up for it.

By: Check The Email Address

Check The Email Address — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 08:23:42 +0000

I remember when I used to be Alpha and Omega of T-Mobile Telesales (and Web & Telesales Support, which is post-sale support). We honestly had no one we could escalate the call to… and people would be like “So… theres no one higher than you?” and I always wanted to reply “There is, but you can’t talk to them”, what I would say is “I am the highest person on the floor who has the training and skills to work with customers, the people above me spend their days looking at charts and graphs — I get reviewed by a quality assurance team” Which is mildly true, we did have a boss who would take phone calls if he absolutely had to, or to demonstrate the best way of dealing with a customer… but really we would just get 2 calls that were reviewed a week, and we were scored, and if we scored high we would get a bonus, if we scored low we would get fired :D

However, most of the time I was the TORCATI, though sometimes if someone was a dick, I would tell them that I put in their request, hang up… and then not bother with it… one time a guy was really really upset at the company (but was making fun of me for studdering and stuff, which is why I did what I did next)…

I said “You sir are acting out of line, I can disconnect the call — Or I will transfer you to customer service if you really want to cancel your service, however, you activated your service 35 days ago, that means that you will be charged the full 200 dollar early termination fee.” he said something like “send me to cancel my line dick wad”, so I sent him to customer service, and posted his phone number on /b/

Maybe not my most professional thing that I have ever done in my life, but this guy really hurt my feelings, and normally I am really cool about things like that, and I can take anything… but this guy was a dick.

Of course the call after that was my one being reviewed, where I was clearly short with the customer (which they didn’t deserve… I was just annoyed).

By: Aaron

Aaron — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 23:15:17 +0000

Always use the chat not their phone line. I always write up a quick three sentence description of what the problem is, what I’ve done to prove what the problem is what I say it is, and what I want from them.

I’ve never had it take more than an hour and since it is chat, it doesn’t cost money or annoying time. Even when they are being really slow, I walk away and come back after making a sandwich to find their reply.

If you know about computers, make it clear to them in the first 10 seconds and they will treat you very different, and they will go out of their way to throw in little extras.

If you even make them think you are computer illiterate and don’t know /exactly/ what is going on or have the audacity to call them, you’ll get the run around.

By: dawn

dawn — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 21:49:30 +0000

Obligatory reference to xkcd:

http://xkcd.org/806/

By: Andrew Zimmerman

Andrew Zimmerman — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 16:27:37 +0000

TORCATI lols!
Good stuff dude. Well done!

Persistence is the key with bad customer service. I generally ask them if I need to speak to someone else and do. Suffering their laziness is intolerable!