Nightmare On Tech Support Street

[Guest Tristan]

I know that there's a thread below on the subject of which computer to buy. But what I learned and experienced today justifies a new thread.

 

We all know that free tech support is becoming less and less existent. I had a Gateway which recently ceased to exist. While the tech support varied, it was at least free for the duration of the computer. So I did what many people do and bought a Dell, thought by many to be the best PC.

 

I called Dell Tech Support for the first time today. And that began tech support h*ll! I had heard it was bad, but this was beyond belief.

 

[b/]DELL Buyers Beware: I thought I had 4 yrs. of free tech support. Wrong! The salesman neglected to disclose the fact that Dell defines tech support as hardware support. By any definition, tech support has always meant both hardware and software support. The invoice and verification state tech support, not hardware support only. Well guess what? After the 21-day return period, it will cost you $30/software issue.[/b] I was told that hardware support may answer some brief software questions. Whoope doo, as Archie Bunker would say.

 

Outrageous!!!!!! Talking about truth in advertising. I'm supposed to pay them $30 to find out if it's safe to uncheck certain items in Startup which may have to stay checked? Further, my first contact with a tech support rep was horrendous. You know? The outsourcing to that specific country that provides most of AOL's tech support. The rep didn't know what the System Properties Window was, or what the Registraton Wizaard was. I asked very basic common questions. Each time, she had to put me on hold while she either asked someone or scurried through her manuals. It seemed like it was her first day sitting at a computer. And they want to be paid for this? I'll learn more from the Dummies books. I learned Windows 98 that way and will do the same for XP.

 

Next I asked the Dell support people why the Registration Wizard has been unable to connect to Microsoft. I keep getting the same message for five days that the registration site is unavailable. Dell told me it's not their problem. Call Microsoft. So I go from number to number trying to reach someone at Microsoft. I was given wrong numbers, and nobody seemed to have any interest that 10s of 1000s of users can't register on their site using the Wizard. One person at Microsoft had the nerve to suggest that I pay for tech support ($69.95/problem) to get their own product registered and find out why the site wasn't accepting the online registration. I don't know whether to laugh or cry over that.

 

Finally, I got someone in that unnamed country (no, I'm not prejudiced; they just can't understand Americans, and Americans can't understand them.) who gave me a URL directly to the registration site. Turned out the URL was completely wrong. So I managed to get someone in Canada who gave me the correct URL. Now guess what? It's a secure URL that requires you to sign up for passport .NET. Well I started filling out the forms and cancelled out. Why should I be forced to agree to all sorts of terms and conditions for software I don't want just to register Microsoft's own product? By now my blood pressure was up and I had zero patience left. So I gave up for and won't register until the site gets fixed, if at all.

 

I guess there is no such thing anymore as tech support from any of these larger computer companies. Sell it to the customers and let them figure out any problems.

 

It's too bad Apple didn't beat out Bill Gates in the initial marketing contest. Maybe things would have been different. But maybe not.:-(

[Guest Tristan]

Minor correction:

 

It's Norton that charges $69.95/problem. Microsoft charges somewhere around $35. The one time I used Microsoft's pay service it turned out to be a simple setting that took five seconds to fix and which tech support should have checked as the first thing. I found it myself while the senior team was trying to figure out what was wrong after spending three hours relayering my OS. I requested a full refund, which I got with an apology from the team leader. So much for paid support.

[guptasa1]

Hi Tristan. Noticed this thread in the Lounge before it was moved and thought about it and decided to respond. Please understand I'm just putting in my two cents.

 

>DELL Buyers Beware: I thought I had 4 yrs. of free tech

>support. Wrong! The salesman neglected to disclose the fact

>that Dell defines tech support as hardware support. By any

>definition, tech support has always meant both hardware and

>software support.

 

Alright, to me (and I'm a bit of a computer nut - not nearly as smart as some people, but pretty good anyways), tech support from a manufacturer is indeed primarily hardware, and, if the manufacturer made something specific FOR that hardware (such as a device driver), that particular piece of software, but not software as a rule. In my opinion, managing technical support for both hardware and all the software that comes on a whole computer system is an unmanageable task, hence a lot of manufacturer's switch to hardware-only support.

 

>The invoice and verification state tech

>support, not hardware support only. Well guess what? After the

>21-day return period, it will cost you $30/software issue.[/b]

>I was told that hardware support may answer some brief

>software questions. Whoope doo, as Archie Bunker would say.

 

This sounds completely reasonable to me. Here's why I think so. Hardware is fairly objective. It works or it doesn't. There is more to it than that (the right driver, how it's used, etc.), but that's mainly it. I have a Dell laptop (now off-warranty - had it more than three years), and Dell was always STELLAR about replacing parts that wore out. In the three years I had it, I had the screen replaced TWICE (both times it ended up with broken hinges due to the insane amount of use), the entire motherboard once, the keyboard and touchpad at least once and I think twice, the sound card once, the case once...etc. (And this thing's used a LOT...that was all wear damage, and they NEVER gave me a problem about fixing any of it.)

 

Software unfortunately is more subjective. With software, you have all different users at all different skill levels in addition to an absolutely huge amount of variations (different versions, different things people installed, etc.). Additionally, Dell didn't manufacture most of the software on your PC, so they don't know it as well as the developers anyhow. And the resources to handle EVERY software question a person would have for free would be incredible. Imagine running a tech support line and getting calls all the time from people who just don't know how to run a computer (the basics). (And by the way, I am NOT saying this about you - I have no idea how computer savvy you are. What I am saying is that people are at all levels, and trying to support them all for free is simply too difficult a task.) I would guess if Dell were to quadruple their staff, it STILL wouldn't be NEARLY enough people to handle ANY software question, and that's probably understating things.

 

So to put simply, hardware is both more their expertise and something that's more objective. If hardware doesn't work right, you HAVE to get the manufacturer to fix it basically. And I'd guess the limited free software support is for things like device drivers or related problems that are key.

 

As to software, there are a variety of ways to get free technical support already. Forums like these (only on the appropriate topic), for example, and knowledge bases. (Now, if the problem is completely crippling, I can see how some free support would be nice since you can't access these - no argument there.)

 

>Outrageous!!!!!! Talking about truth in advertising. I'm

>supposed to pay them $30 to find out if it's safe to uncheck

>certain items in Startup which may have to stay checked?

>Further, my first contact with a tech support rep was

>horrendous. You know? The outsourcing to that specific

>country that provides most of AOL's tech support. The rep

>didn't know what the System Properties Window was, or what the

>Registraton Wizaard was. I asked very basic common questions.

> Each time, she had to put me on hold while she either asked

>someone or scurried through her manuals. It seemed like it

>was her first day sitting at a computer. And they want to be

>paid for this? I'll learn more from the Dummies books. I

>learned Windows 98 that way and will do the same for XP.

 

Most of these people can't just answer questions on a whim. They have to look things up, research, etc. too. I'm pretty good with computers, but if someone asks me somthing outright about how to do something specific, there's a very good chance I won't know without looking. It's sometimes one of those things you know how to do when doing it but don't know how to tell someone to do. And more than that, often times people just don't know because they've never tried to do that specific thing before.

 

I know you meant your comment sarcastically, but honestly, doing research online or in a book works FAR better for me than calling tech support about a problem generally.

 

>Next I asked the Dell support people why the Registration

>Wizard has been unable to connect to Microsoft. I keep

>getting the same message for five days that the registration

>site is unavailable. Dell told me it's not their problem.

>Call Microsoft. So I go from number to number trying to reach

>someone at Microsoft. I was given wrong numbers, and nobody

>seemed to have any interest that 10s of 1000s of users can't

>register on their site using the Wizard. One person at

>Microsoft had the nerve to suggest that I pay for tech support

>($69.95/problem) to get their own product registered and find

>out why the site wasn't accepting the online registration. I

>don't know whether to laugh or cry over that.

 

I agree that Microsoft is unneccessarily hard to reach. And I agree for problems such as this (since registration is so important), support should always be free. I'd ask if you tried the manual registration phone number - I do believe there is one? (Could be mistaken, but I'm fairly sure XP gives you the option of calling and registering if you can't connect online.)

 

>I guess there is no such thing anymore as tech support from

>any of these larger computer companies. Sell it to the

>customers and let them figure out any problems.

 

It's precisely the fact that these companies are so large that is the issue. If you've only got 5 customers, supporting every aspect of your product is easy. Change that to 5 million, and you have a problem. You have to set limits to keep your costs down and get addressed what needs to get addressed most. It isn't ideal, but in my opinion, it's necessary. That's why there are so many third party free support websites out there - to help pick up this slack.

 

>It's too bad Apple didn't beat out Bill Gates in the initial

>marketing contest. Maybe things would have been different.

>But maybe not.:-(

 

Doubtful.

 

Again, just my opinion on everything. I mean no offense by any of it - simply offering a different perspective.