Friday, February 23, 2007

Dell's technician lost the part.

They. Lost. The. Part.

(Somehow, I will try and dial down the vitriol and profanity to acceptable levels)

As expected from the quality of service that I have gotten from Dell and its contractors (Yes, it's Dell. Anyone who couldn't figure out my transparent ruse from the previous posts probably should have their head examined), there continues to be problems with getting the needed part for my computer. The part that was supposed to fixed the hard drive crash that I had at the beginning of February, which was sent from Dell on Wednesday, February 14, was delivered to the DHL center on Thursday, February 15, that was not picked up by my technician until Wednesday, February 21, and was then promptly lost by the technician on Thursday, February 22.

I don't even know who I can blame at Dell, or how I could reach them. Directly e-mailing Dell takes days to get a response. Their telephone service voice recognition software is impossible to navigate, and each time I have called, I have been shunted off to offshore tech support. Each time that has happened, the people in the offshore call center have been unable help me. All they could do is look up the delivery of parts to the service tech (something I was able to do) and tell me that the part had been delivered, and that the technician would contact me. I was able to have them call the technicians for me, but that hasn't helped. The people in Dell's call center remain totally unable to help me, beyond simply checking up on my order, saying that the part was in, and then telling me that the tech would get in touch with me. And, each time I try to call to get help, I wait on hold on the phone for an hour, to talk to someone for five minutes, who tells me the same thing that I have heard before.

At this point, it is not a failure of Dell's customer service so much as service company that they hired (Qualexserv), and their technicians. Yesterday, the company assigned me another technician, Dave [Last Name Deleted]. Dave called me, was nice, courteous, and told me that he would be meeting my old tech to get the part from him, and make my repair. Dave told me yesterday that he could not find the part for my computer, but that he would speak to the other technician, and get the part from him. Then, Dave would call me to set up an appointment. At about 9:45 this morning, Dave called me to tell me that he was about to speak to the other technician. An hour or so later, Dave called me to tell me that the previous technician had lost my replacement hard drive, and therefore that they would not be able to make the repair. They would have to enter in an entirely new service call, and get a new hard drive shipped to them on Monday.

I know that the people from Qualexserv do not work directly for Dell. this is the problem. There’s no direct oversight, and no way for me to get any. Though Dell has impotent customer support (and they used to be AMAZING at it. It's why I kept buying Dell machines, and why I used to encourage everyone I know to do so), that is not the problem. It's closer to say that it's dell's fault for shipping the part to the service technician, who picked up the part and then lost it the next day. It is Qualexserv's fault. And I have no recourse with them. they don't care whether I get service now, or next year. I didn't make the decision to hire these guys, Dell did. And therefore, there is nothing I can do. Nothing I can do will punish the company, or the tech who lost my part. Dell's not willing or able to discipline one of the employees of their contractors, and Dell's not going to drop Qualexserv over this incident. There is nothing I can do, no one I can complain to that will care enough to take any action.

I know that this is not Dave's fault. It is the other technician's. the other technician lost the part, and then, at least according to Dave, has been lying about losing the part. The other technician says that it is lost in his car, which had previously been in an accident, and was still in the shop. But if you follow some of my previous posts, the tech’s car was put in the shop last Monday. Dell gave me a tracking number for the part. I know that the tech picked up the part on Wednesday afternoon. Sometime between then and this morning, he lost the part. And since then, apparently, he's been lying about it to cover his posterior. The upshot of which is: they're ordering the part again. The case has been reassigned, not to Dave, but to the original technician. The one who can't return phone calls, and can't hold on to a hard drive. It'll go out today (hopefully) and the technician will pick it up on Monday. And then, he'll call me. This is something that he has been very bad at in the past. I don't hold out much hope that the tech will even pick up the drive.

And of course, Qualexserv says that they will call me sometime on Monday to set up an appointment. This means that I have to arrange to take time off from work, again, so that this technician can install a hard drive. A hard drive I could have installed by myself, without losing the part. I just don't know what to do. I have no real recourse against the bad technician, while Dave the other technician was reasonably helpful (while still essentially and politely telling me to suck it up and wait for a more convenient time for Qualexserv). I have already paid Dell for my (expensive) warranty, and so Dell doesn't seem to care if I get the excellent service that I was promised, and that I already paid for. what does it say about them if neither they or their contractors can deliver?

I don't know what to do now, or if anyone there even cares. (Or you readers. But thanks for reading me as I have my slow burn.) I'd like to be optimistic that everything will work out as promised, but given the way that I have been treated so far by these guys, especially this tech, I remain totally cynical.

2 comments:

The Marshal said...

This is the worst computer service story I have ever heard. I can only offer condolences and my own futile indignation. ERRRR.

Quintam said...

I concur - I feel helpless and impotent on your behalf.