If this article speaks the truth, and if Dell seriously does what it says...

http://www.statesman.com/business/content/auto/epaper/editions/saturday/business_f3fb91a6d56421360070.html

I've complained a couple times lately due to the fact that almost all of Dell's non-enterprise level tech support calls are sent over to their Indian call centers. Dell used to be the absolute #1 tech support company there was, up until a couple years ago. Currently I'd rate them at or below Microsoft's level.

After getting a laptop from them a couple weeks ago, I've spent some time on the phone with them. The problem is that it really is difficult to understand them and often times they have no idea what you're talking about.

If Dell really does this, one can only hope it will start a trend with other companies.

Dell's frontline tech support's job is to wear down the customer until he gives up. You must spend a minimum of two hours (one tech admitted that) on the phone with them before they will consider sending someone to repair your computer.

I had a dead quad server that did nothing when the power button was pressed. Dell insisted on wasting two or three hours on the phone until they sent a tech to fix it.

I am configuring nine Dual Xeon Dell Workstations right now that have USB problems. Sometimes they won't detect the keyboard or mouse. Unplugging/plugging them back in sometimes works. Other times rebooting is necessary. Dell's only solution was to reinstall Windows. After doing this on one computer twice the problem has decreased on that one for now. It has cropped up on the others as well now.

I could go on about finding loose screws inside the case and missing parts but that is a different story.

I've not yet had that much trouble with any of our Dell workstations or laptops. We have a Dell PowerEdge server and some PowerConnect switches that have served us very well for some time.

I have had quite a bit of "fun" with Gateway though. I will never buy another one for as long as I live. While their tech support was always domestic (ie: I could understand them) they were usually terrible.

That problem you mentioned about USB actually sounds VERY familiar. We had seven Gateway laptops that we ordered and upon receiving them, found that all seven had defective USB ports, very similar to what you described. In the end we had to get seven new chassis for the machines, of which FIVE still did not work.

Over a two week period, I honestly spent over a full day, 28 hours, on the phone with Gateway customer service and tech support. My phone log was "log of the month" at our company's monthly meeting. 'Fun' indeed.

Simple solution to Dell or any other computer company's computer's problems...custom build. I always build my machines from parts (normally bought from newegg.com). Never have any problems.

Its all about saving money... These businesses, including Dell, are in the business to make money. I am using a Dell right now as I speak... it WAS state of the art when I bought it a year ago, now you can probably pick up the same machine for 3k less than what I spend for it a year ago.

The problem with overseas tech support is in fact, the communication barrier. Something Walmart.com did, was to route all of the email inquiries to India and have the CSRs respond with American names... quite often the customers wrote back speaking of improper English and complaining of scripted answers.

As long as the workers work cheaper than their American counterparts, saving the companies money... I do not suspect a full turn-around any time soon. They 'foreigners' are able to work for cheaper wages because their economy and cost of living is substantially lower than that of the United States.

The same problem exists domestically in other fields... For instance, illegal immigrants, most of which are of Mexican origin, take manual labor jobs away from US citizens who are educated to do other things, etc. Its a vicious cycle... hence one of the reasons, I work for the government. The work cannot be outsourced. ;)

IR

>>> ... hence one of the reasons, I work for the government. The work cannot be outsourced. <<

Don't bank on it. George W Bush has managed to outsource quite a bit to Tony Blair. Even managed to outsource a lot of work to a place called Guantanamo Bay .

Stuart

Actually, United States government contracting is a fairly large system, but its outsourcing activities require plenty of beaurocracy and oversight - and that is once they are finished with a contract (the proposal stages alone last months). After that, enforcing a contract requires special project staff and (naturally) lawyers. There are lots of well-paid jobs involved for both public and private interests. As outsourcing increases, I suspect the number of jobs will also increase. IT jobs in particular.

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I'm afraid that I am 110% with Sord. Building your own systems is the only way to be sure it is done right. Granted, it comes with its own headaches but in the end, all the systems I build have saved the corporation money in the long run and frustration in the short, mid and long run. This also has the advantage of allowing you to only pay for the hardware that you actually need. If you only need 1 CD drive, a smaller hard drive, a generic 3d excellerator etc...then only pay for what you need. If you're only reading installation CDs and never using the drive for anything else, why pay for more? If your systems are simply nodes on a network and the installed applications are installed and run from the server, why pay for a large amount of hard drive space. If you're not playing video games or working with graphic art in the office, why pay for the most current (and 6 times more expensive) 2d/3d excellerator? Build it yourself, save time, save money and (almost most importantly) save face! Just my oppinion so take it for what it's worth.

borelli35

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Sord said:
> Simple solution to Dell or any other
> computer company's computer's problems...
> custom build.

That is not an option for us. We are mainly into software engineering and buy computers to integrate with our "special hardware and software" to resell to the government and/or contractors. We are a small company and do not want to get into the computer support business. We can sell Dell computers anywhere that Dell will support them.

Even Dell is not a prefect solution. They supply parts for only a few years. We have a bunch of five year old Dell servers that are slowly failing. We had to cannibalize some systems for parts since Dell parts are no longer available for them.

I do agree with building your own system if you can. I did so about a year and a half ago and am using it as we speak. Sure I kinda regret what sound card I got, but everything else turned out just fine.

When it comes to buying retail, things like laptops and periphials are about all I do. I always build when I can, and if you make sure and use products that have a warranty, then you really don't loose anything by not going retail.