February 24th, 2007
Quest for Dell: Dell and My Real-Life Vista Upgrade Frustration, Part 3
By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
Well, that was quick. Right after (OK, hours after) I wrote my last post, I get a call from Dell. And here, I have to applaud them. I promised the guy I wouldn’t post his name, cuz then he’d get tons of calls, but he is a Dell Resolution Representative (or something like that), and he works out of Texas, as opposed to the other people I spoke to. Here I got some real help.
He indicated to me that no, there is no Dell driver for the 1500 card. Yes, there is an “inbox” driver, but some people have had issues with it. He offered me either a beta driver, or even that same ABG card I already bought. When I told him I had already bought it, he offered a credit to my credit card. What more could I ask for? (Well, a working driver, but more on that later when it posts.)
We Say: Anyway, that was all great. He told me when the driver was expected to post (I’ll just say late March and leave it there) and gave me some great info … for example, although I had spoken to 3 different centers in two different countries, none of them were what he called “Dell Regulars”. Someone who was there when Dell support started. Many of the support staff, even those in the U.S., are outsourced. Those like the one I spoke to are few and far between. Which is why the title of this is “Quest for Dell.”
And that’s the difference. Speaking to him, I honestly felt like, despite the issues that Dell has had with support of late, there’s hope for Dell. Because, and this is a quote from him, he still hopes that “Maybe we will get back to where we were in the 90 ’s when we had no equal”. With an attitude like that, there might still be some hope.
P.S. Of course, I will still have to give more info on my upgrade to Vista … but that’s still to come … 
John Corliss says:
I’m sure the rep’s response was due to the fact that you are a public figure. However, regular people can easily get the same kind of response by filing a complaint against any company with that company’s local Better Business Bureau. I did this to Gateway (who, IMO, are a bunch of idiots and crooks) and was happy to see a protracted conflict with them almost immediately come to an end.
February 24th, 2007 at 4:37 am
Michael Santo says:
John, you give me faar too much credit. Despite the awards RTN has won, most people go “huh” when I mention the name. I personally don’t feel it had anything to do with it, cuz the tech support people who forwarded my name to him were in India, and had NO IDEA what RTN was. Also, I did message someone with similar issues on Dell’s forum, and they got similar treatment without the editorial recourse I have.
On the other hand, I will admit, even from speaking to the rep, that he admitted it’s not easy getting to such reps.
That’s why I’m keeping his name and phone number in my PDA now
February 24th, 2007 at 7:24 am
Dave says:
Michael,
I have had as many as 3 Dells in my house at 1 time. (my youngest son just moved out and took his, so we’re back down to two.
If I weren’t fairly competent to fix my own problems, I’d never buy a Dell. I have frankly given up on the idea of getting a problem resolved via their tech support.
However, I’d consider buying another one because…
1. Dell users are vocal about problems and I can get all of the reviews and comments I want about any specific model.
2. Dell users are very collegial about sharing problems, fixes and contacts. You may never hear from an employee, but somebody else has probably trod down your path before and knows where it leads.
NOTE: Participants in the Dell support forms are AWESOME!
They’re generally nice folks and their experience is impressive. One group gave my son detailed instructions how to remove spyware from his old (Dell) notebook and his new (non-Dell) notebook. They spent a lot of time with him and were very patient.
3. Dell has used up its mulligans regarding design and mfg problems.
February 26th, 2007 at 3:01 pm
Steve says:
Michael I have a shared experience with the Dell REC Resolution Expert Center. And a rep by the name of ***** (removed for privacy reasons). Whom as you had mentioned in your Vista posting. Has himself been at Dell since the early nineties. After talking to robots following scripts for nearly two weeks. I was transferred to him from tech support hell. My issue seemed simple enough I upgraded to Vista Business on the five Dell Dimension Units in my Office. And afterwards was unable to print to my Dell printers over the network. I am a small business owner with four employees. And generally try to do as much of the computer work as possible. To cut down on expenses for the business and maintain full employment. I save the big computer problems like my database server to the IT pros. And their 85+ dollar a hour bills. But it was beginning to look like I needed to pay for them to come back in for a non server issue. When I was transferred to ***** whom made the suggestion that I should download the drivers from Lexmark and not Dell. He further explained that Lexmark made most of the printers that Dell sold. And that the Dell drivers would work eventually and that the issue had already been escalated to the Dell Product Group. He stayed on the phone with me a first! And told me which models were close enough and that it was not a exact science! And sure enough it worked! So now I am running a Lexmark driver to print to my Dell printers. ***** was the only one at Dell whom even mentioned this as a possibility. I think that the REC is a third tier support group because I was escalated to him by a L2 tech in Canada. I am still mad at Dell for having printers that do not work with Vista. But glad that they have the common sense to employ people like ***** who can think out of the box! It is a shame that it took me two weeks to get to him!
May 1st, 2007 at 8:20 am