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.

Snow Crash, and an uncharacteristically glowing review of Indian tech support

So, my computer's hard drive crashed a while ago. It's been a couple of weeks now, I think. Not to name names, but I have always found that my computer company of choice, who I will call "Prell" to be pretty reliable with their service. The computer is fine, but the hard drive, from a company that I will call "Laxtor" is apparently an unreliable part. I found this out on message boards, post-crash.

So, using my wife's laptop computer from about 5 or 6 years ago, I proceeded to investigate the problem, going to Dell tech support, downloading drivers, trying fixes, reinstalling the OS, all for naught. I don't know how many times I tried to reinstall Windows XP, but it took a big chunk of my time. So, I spent a lot of my weekend time on the phone, using internet chat, and emailing back and forth with Prell tech support, trying to get my hard drive fixed, which is covered under the extended warranty.

A note to all readers, extended warranties are generally rip-offs, a way to take more money. If the thing costs $30, a $10 extended warranty is useless. It's a way for Best Buy or Circuit City to increase their profit margins. Plus, if something goes wrong, it will go wrong within the normal warranty time. But I digress. Extended warranties are good on Cars, Homes, Playstation 2s, and Computers, and that's about it. I know that everyone’s paranoid about their electronics breaking, but they generally won't. Either there's something wrong right away, or it will break AFTER the extended warranty expires. In that case, you got your use out of the crappy piece of consumer electronics, just buy another one.

Anyway, I am supposed to have this tip-top warranty service on my computer. Obviously, the first thing that the tech tells me to do is reinstall. I am obviously reluctant to give up all of my data, so I try to reinstall without erasing everything. I do three of these installs, and windows hangs during the third one. Thus making any subsequent installations impossible. It doesn't work, at which point the Prell tech assures me that there is not a problem with the disk, that the problem is the operating system. And by that, I mean he actually tells me “I assure you that there is nothing wrong with the hard drive. Delete everything and you will be fine.” Meaning delete all of my documents, all of my stored pictures, from college until now, delete all of my settings, all of my music, every bit of data that I have. Based on the Prell tech’s assurances that the problem is not the hard drive. Now, I’m (A) a skeptic, and (B) I don’t want to lose all of my data. So I find a way to download Laxtor’s own diagnostic software, and run it on my Prell. Sure enough, Laxtor tells me that the hard drive is failing, and should be replaced. So even if I had done exactly what they said, it still would have crashed. Nothing wrong with the HD, my ass.

The reason that we are continually told to erase and reformat is that replacing my HD hurts Prell’s profit margin. So, the Prell techs do anything to keep from replacing the HD, even though that model of Laxtor is prone to failure. Replacement costs them money, as does sending out a tech to replace my hard drive. Money that I already paid them, for a WARRANTY. A warranty with NEXT DAY SERVICE. I paid for what the Prell tech was denying me. And, had I reinstalled, I would have lost the data, and the HD would have failed. I went back to the Prell techs, and told them that the HD was failing, and that it was NOT the OS. I emailed back and forth with a nice and courteous supervisor (you can say this for outsourced tech support, they are very nice), and got them to agree to replace the drive. This was about a week ago. I got confirmation last Saturday that they were sending the part to the technician. The technician would call me, to set up an appointment. The part was shipped via Airborne Express/DHL. So, it should have been shipped on…Saturday, Sunday? No, Prell waited until Tuesday to ship it.

Now, the fun begins. Anyone who’s on the East Coast knows what happened on Monday and Tuesday. Ice storm. Oh Joy, O rapture. Everyone’s locked up in their homes, commerce comes to a screeching halt for days…no wait, it doesn’t. We got mail, the garbage was picked up, stores were open, the world ticked on, even through the worst of it. But the delivery company didn’t deliver the part until Wednesday. And, the part didn’t get delivered to the tech. The part is still at the DHL warehouse in Upper Marlboro, waiting for the tech to pick it up. The tech whose car (I later learned) has been stuck in a drift of ice for two days. The one who didn’t call me to tell me any of this, because he had a backup of people to call.

So, after not hearing for days, I finally call Prell this morning. I get transferred to a woman who is almost certainly in a call center in India, judging by her accent (educated British accent, with hints of Indian. Same for her supervisor). Surprisingly enough, this is the one aspect of the interaction that I have no complaints about. The rep was very articulate, clear, and helpful. In 5 minutes, she checked up on my case, called DHL, and called the tech. She assured me that the tech would call me in an hour, and even emailed me so I could contact her if I needed to.

Two and a half hours later: No phone call. So I email Prell, because I figure they’ll lean on him. Ten minutes later: phone call. Very apologetic technician. He says that he’s backed up, and says that he’ll get to me on Monday morning, if he can get the part from DHL. Fine. If he comes, I’ll be happy.

But here’s the thing. My computer’s been out of commission for more than two weeks. I wrestled with tech support for a week, trying to get them to do what I knew was correct. I paid for a warranty wherein parts would be sent to a technician, who would immediately call me. Parts should be sent within hours of Prell’s agreeing to send a replacement. Prell’s pretty automated, the parts could have been sent out that night. Or on Sunday (don’t tell me they don’t work on Sunday). Or on Monday. But they waited until Tuesday, when the entire region was blanketed in winter crap.

And the technician. Surely, he’s not the only contractor Prell hires in this area. If he was stuck in the snow, couldn’t he call Prell and have them send someone else? I know that hurts his bottom line, but I don’t give a rat’s ass. I paid for tech support, and it was weeks before I get action. If the contractor is unable to do his job because of the weather, give the work to a contractor who isn’t as stuck. And if the contractor not going to call Prell, call me. Tell me that you’re going to be late. Tell me you’re stuck. I’m not an unreasonable person. Just let me know, don’t make me make Prell HQ lean on you just so that you can tell me that you’re late.

So, I sit here, without my hard drive, waiting for Prell to replace my defective part, in my not-inexpensive Machine that I bought from them, which is under the warranty that I paid for, as I have been waiting for two weeks. In the meantime, using a very complicated setup involving a laptop hard drive, and external enclosure, and an old HD from a computer that Michele and I were going to donate, I’ve managed to get the important data off. This, I did with no help from Prell or Laxtor, because they wouldn’t do it for me even If I asked them. Once Prell takes the old HD, they’re just going to erase it. So, using trial and error, and a lot of sleeplessness, I got the stuff off. My data is safe, but I still can’t use the thing.

The odd thing is: every other time there’s been a problem, Prell has been remarkably efficient and helpful. So, did I just have bad luck this time? Or is Prell just getting worse? I’ve always liked their stuff, I’ll give it just one more chance.