Dell isn’t listening

neville

If you’ve been following Jeff Jarvis’ interesting experiences in his dealings with Dell, the PC maker, in trying to get his laptop repaired, Christopher Carfi has a great commentary in his latest podcast that extends this story, looking at what Dell’s done with their US customer support forums.

It seems to me that Dell has broken a least 4 of the points in Christopher’s Social Customer Manifesto.

I’ve had Dell PCs before and have always had an excellent experience. That’s the buying process, though – I’ve never had to deal with customer support. Reading Jarvis’ posts, and many others, and listening to Christopher, I’d think twice about Dell if I was looking right now for a new PC. It looks like many others think the same.

All About DELL – The Social Customer Manifesto Podcast 7JUL2005

10 thoughts on “Dell isn’t listening”

  4. I don’t have any issue with the repair nightmare – I’ve seen that story countless times with only the supplier’s name changed – but I am worried by some of the comments implying that a company is automatically stupid, reactionary, cluetrainless, and more if it isn’t yet active in the blogosphere.
    They may indeed be missing an opportunity, but let’s not get carried away.
    I also suggest that Dell does not need the blogosphere to know what customers are saying. I’ll bet they know very well already, and they are fully aware that they have a major problem.
    Companies that size almost all have sophisticated problem tracking systems, and know how many complaints are going unresolved are x days and y escalations. They just don’t know exactly how to FIX it. And even if they did, their ship of service is a big tanker that takes a LONG time to turn.

  5. I don’t have any issue with the repair nightmare – I’ve seen that story countless times with only the supplier’s name changed – but I am worried by some of the comments implying that a company is automatically stupid, reactionary, cluetrainless, and more if it isn’t yet active in the blogosphere.
    They may indeed be missing an opportunity, but let’s not get carried away.
    I also suggest that Dell does not need the blogosphere to know what customers are saying. I’ll bet they know very well already, and they are fully aware that they have a major problem.
    Companies that size almost all have sophisticated problem tracking systems, and know how many complaints are going unresolved after x days and y escalations. They just don’t know exactly how to FIX it. And even if they did, their ship of service is a big tanker that takes a LONG time to turn.

  6. Good points, Tim.
    While I agree with what you say about being active in the blogosphere, I do think Dell could have gained a major PR coup if they had addressed Jeff Jarvis’ issue in a far more effective way.
    As it is, he posted multiple very anti-Dell commentaries from which you can clearly see his sheer frustration, which would strike a chord for many people with similar experiences.
    Jeff Jarvis happens to be one of those US A-list bloggers and a commentator. He has some influence. Lots of people read what he writes.
    So he has written about Dell, very negatively.
    Imagine the difference if Dell had responded in a way that resulted in his writing glowing things about Dell’s customer service. Many people would have commented on that, as they have on the current negative posts. That would have some PR value for Dell.
    Does this mean that a blogger gets special customer-service treatment, more than a ‘normal’ customer would?
    Yes, it does. The blogger in this case has more influence on others’ opinions.
    I think Dell has missed a major opportunity here.

  7. Gateway 2k’s “customer service” made my next puter a Dell. Dell’s “customer service ” made my most recent puter one from Alienware. My one experience with Alienware customer service has been positive. That is already 100% better than the previous two.

  8. Vigilante Journalism

    I missed this last week, but the Washington Post reported that swarms of citizen journalists are mobilizing to settle scores. Clearly this is a risk in an environment that has no editors or recourse. All the more reason why the

  9. Vigilante Journalism

    I missed this last week, but the Washington Post reported that swarms of citizen journalists are mobilizing to settle scores. Clearly this is a risk in an environment that has no editors or recourse. All the more reason why the

  10. Well Dell listened today. My first attempt to use tech support today was less than favorable. It wasn’t that they couldn’t help me — they did. It was just the attitude that came with it. So I asked the customer rep if he didn’t like his job, why not quit. Then I called back to his super and complained of his attitude. I explained that the online community is very disturbed by Dell’s customer (dis)service. I then explained that I’ve purchased over 25 machines from Dell and never had a bad tech support experience. The super was great. She helped tremendously and all is well. On the other hand, Dell supers are very aware of their tainted online image. Maybe the executives will hear about it soon enough.

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