Customer Service
Anyone who’s ever had to deal with Dell customer service knows that, indeed, there IS a company more desperately terrible than Comcast in this department. Conservatives would say that in theory the market would replace those horrorshow companies, but for anyone who lives in the real world and interacts with American customer service knows that the day when market forces push private sector companies asymptotically toward customer service quality is a future day well after every conservative who holds that belief will have been long dead.
It’s true. Dell and Comcast highlight everything wrong with believing that the market is always right and that magic market forces fix everything.
This is why we buy Macs now. Apple’s customer service is second to none. Maybe Disney is better.
Do you own a Dell, or use Comcast. If so, you’re still part of the perceived problem.
I sued Dell a couple years ago on this issue and won. All I got was a new computer, and had to lose a day’s work. Wasn’t really worth it.
Nobody needs a Dell. If you need customer service for your computer, buy it from a local independent shop.
Computers are one area where it pays to learn to fix them yourself. Replacing parts is cheap. Learning how to configure and use the software is freely available on the Internet.
I am lucky never to have had to interact with Comcast customer service. It just works for me.
By the way, just based on personal observation, Comcast seems to be losing out heavily to Verizon, in areas where Verizon has laid fiber. When is Comcast going to offer some real discounts instead of those crappy teaser bundles?
Delaware is the home of the former MBNA, which deluded thousands of impressionable young college graduates into believing that the bank was hugely profitable because of the quality of their customer service. Fees, high interest rates, predatory marketing, shady account cycle timing – the subject didn’t come up; nope, it was all about answering the phone in two rings (or however many they insisted on, I forget now).
I may be the exception, but I’ve never had a problem with Dell customer service or support. and I’ve had a succession of Dells.
I — like most people who work in the private sector , I suppose — always wonder what conservatives are talking about when they claim government can’t do anything better than the private sector. In my experience, the private sector does a much better job of promoting and rewarding incompetence than government does.
I’m with you Geezer. Doesn’t Dilbert prove that private enterprise is just as inefficient and incompetent as any government bureaucracy? I also think that in these days of a megacorporations it’s even worse. I think the bigger the corporation, the bigger and more inefficient the bureaucracy.
One things my colleagues have been noticing is that the only people whose jobs seem safe these days are managers.
Geezer is right on the money. The problem is one of sematics & indoctrination. Gov’t control was always equated with totalitarianism and captalism with freedom. It’s that Orwellian use of language again and nothing more. Call something a DEATH TAX, who will support it. Calling torture “enhanced interrogation techniques” turns root canal into aggressive flossing.
Capitalism breeds big inept monopolies with bad products and bad service that are insulated from moral hazard… a.k.a. too big to fail.
I would like to nominate Verizon for the customer service hall of shame.
The entire cable and telecom industry has customer service that is beyond foul. Comcast and Verizon are the worst I’ve encountered. You cannot purchase cable and have good customer service. There are no consumer options.
My wife and I have had an experience with Dell. The experience resulted in a cancelled order and returned money, followed by the purchase of a Gateway computer. I currently use an HP and my wife uses a Mac.
One company that had good customer service is Amazon.
Let me step up for Dell. I have had very good experiences with them. Granted, I can do almost anything with the support of a PC myself, but for getting a broken part fixed, I have never had an issue.
I also have very few initial quality issues with their PC’s, so it is rarely an issue that I have to deal with. HP and Gateway, in my experience, is the complete opposite.
As for telecom, I am prohibited from commenting directly. What I hate is the script-monkeys that cannot break from the path that the company has laid out for them. I have literally gone through the entire script (plus a dozen other tests) before I even call them. But they also answer phone calls from my in-laws, so the need for a script is certainly understood.
We buy Dells here at work and they’ve been fairly indestructible (and often have to live in very dirty construction trailers). We did note that they changed their customer service for Latitudes back to the US, and we mainly fix hardware and software stuff on our own. They’ve been awfully good for us.
And I’ve owned Dells at home (my first home computer was a Compaq and that was a disaster), and they’ve been great. But since Apple has configured its machines to run Windows software, an Apple may be my next computer….
an Apple may be my next computer
Don’t do it. They are worse than Microsoft when it comes to controlling your own data.
Do it! Do you want a happy life or not?
They are worse than Microsoft when it comes to controlling your own data.
I use both, but vastly prefer Macs. What are you talking about here? iTunes?
Also,
Fuck Microsoft. The new office suite is compatible with NOTHING!
The new office suite is compatible with NOTHING!
What’s wrong with Office ’97?
Mac rules… especially when I have LG and nemski to help me out!
Don’t do it. They are worse than Microsoft when it comes to controlling your own data.
Do tell!
LG wrote Don’t do it. They are worse than Microsoft when it comes to controlling your own data.
Just sit down. 😉
They have built a model that is based on their hardware, their software, and until recently, their files with their DRM (Digital Rights Management).
Yes, now OSX can run on x86 hardware, but only the hardware that they choose. Even now, to a large extent, if you want a new piece of hardware for your Mac, you’d better hope that it is made by Apple.
Computers should be open, with standards for interoperability. Microsoft is bad for this, but Apple is still using the model of the 80’s, where the OS, the apps and the hardware are essentially single-sourced.
Oh, and if Steve Jobs has some terrible disease, Apple could very likely cease to exist.
-end geek rant-
The OS and hardware are designed to work together. That is a feature, not a bug.
Honestly, to say the apps are essentially single-sourced is almost Protackian.
There are thousands of independent Apple software developers, including Microsoft and Adobe. And Apple software is insanely great!
Apple will survive Steve Jobs. Their culture is too entrenched. Long live, Steve!
what anonone said.
Shorter geek: Whah!! I’m Bill Gates’ love child!
I love the look of Apples as an artifact. Win machines are not as nice looking. Plus I am impressed with the reviews I hear of them. But I need to see what of my work-related apps that I could run on an Apple…..
Even Rush Limbaugh loves Macs!
(Uh, maybe that doesn’t help too much…)
: nemski throws Mac Book out the window :
thanks anonone
Keepin’ my Dell!
Thanks!
LG, controlling one’s own data? What about the time that I recorded a piece of music that I wrote into a PC, only to be told by that PC that I couldn’t burn a CD of the song because I didn’t have permission from the artist?! (WMA, in case you’re wondering what software). Screw that.
The only reason X and I still have comcast is because I hate verizon more. We’ve gone to Vonage for our phones, even.
As for Dell, just to correct X’s story, the customer service nightmare my parents and I had with them did not result in the purchase of a Gateway. Had it done, there’s a chance I’d still be a PC user. No, it resulted in us having a computer custom built for me by a certified A1 Geek who used the most geekiest parts that ever geeked to create a super music recording computer. And it was terrible. That AMD chip crashed my computer 2-3 times a day.
And so now I’m a Mac.
Given my druthers, I’d run Linux on x86 hardware. And, no, single sourced hardware is not a feature, it is selling your soul to the company store.
I am sure that there are a number of good apps that are made by independent software companies, but almost none that can make a business just on Macs.
In addition, Apple has shown no compunction in the past to pull the rug out from under their vendors.
I hope you enjoy you little toys, but please don’t consider them real computers. And if they break, good luck finding people that know how to work on them.
I hope you enjoy you little toys, but please don’t consider them real computers. And if they break, good luck finding people that know how to work on them.
You mean like the Apple Store in the Christiana Mall?
Okay, I’ll stop now. 😉
Yes, I am sure that those cute kids with their iPods are perfectly capable of diagnosing the sorts of problems that drive you nuts (like the one described by Mrs. X above – which, incidentally, was probably incorrect memory).
In many ways, getting an Apple is like getting a car with a hood that is welded shut.
You are really out-geeking yourself here, LG! 😉
Once I get started…
Hey LG,
I run Vista on my Mac when I need to test something on both platforms. Can you run Mac OS on your toy? Oh, and according to PC magazines, the fastest Windows machines are Macs.
And how do you like paying for all that anti-virus anti-spyware stuff? And all the time it takes to update it and scan your HD? None of that with a Mac. And studies have shown that Macs require far less maintenance than PCs.
Speaking of “selling your soul to the company store” how much did Microsoft pay for yours? 🙂
Did I mention that Limbaugh hates Steve Jobs and Al Gore, an Apple Board member?
In many ways, getting an Apple is like getting a car that doesn’t crash.
The guy who built my computer was the guy that all the other geeks went to when they wanted a custom build. He’s got every microsoft certification there is. If *he* can’t build an effective PC, who can?
He’s got every microsoft certification there is.
Found the problem, right there.
A1 – I hate M$ as well, but let me turn your question around… Why can’t I run OSX on my Windows or Linux servers, like you run Parallels? The answer is because Apple won’t let me.
The defense rests, your honor.
If *he* can’t build an effective PC, who can?
The Asian guy in the little computer shop in the strip mall.
Amen, anon.
I had no idea this was so personal…
It is actually a long religious war. Wait until I ask a question of the day about “emacs or vi” as a text editor of choice… 🙂
If that’s a test question I’m in big trouble!
The answer is because Apple won’t let me.
Exactly. So Apple’s software runs on the hardware it was designed to run on, not some piece of mishmash garbage hot wired together by a kid in his garage that crashes because some DLL screwed up another DLL.
Quality OS matched with Quality Hardware equals Quality User Experience.
The judge finds for the prosecution. Case closed.
It’s best to just stand to the side. Actually, my typing the phrase in the comments here might double our traffic.
pandora, read “The Cathedral and the Bazaar” (pdf) to understand liberalgeek a bit more.
Apologies to lg, if this is not so.
Oh my… is “The Cathedral and the Bazaar” the equivalent of a geek’s Harlequin Romance?
FWIW, we called the Asian guy in the computer shop in the strip mall too. He couldn’t fix it either.
Junnnnk.
Nah, it would be more the equivalent of the Unabomber’s Manifesto. 😉
Yes, that is correct, Nemski. Or the cluetrain manifesto for businesses (which brings us right back to the original topic).
And A1, if Apple software is so fragile, should you really be relying on it for anything serious? Oh, and when you run Vista on the Mac, you are vulnerable to all of the same issues.
Install Ubuntu and run OpenOffice.
Geekery is basically a DIY impulse that says “I can do that, I can figure that out, it’s not that hard. ”
The geek looks at a broken PC/lawnmower/clock whatever, figures out how it works, and fixes it. Sure, some basic knowledge is required, but most of all a can-do spirit.
The non-geek goes “Aack! This is too hard for me!” and calls a geek.
Geeks are people who are able to deal with complexity on a higher level than other people. You also have to be willing to try something 500 times and not go to sleep until you get it right.
It is probably a mixture of intelligence, patience, and persistence.
I find it is best with a huge dose of laziness also…
And A1, if Apple software is so fragile, should you really be relying on it for anything serious?
It isn’t fragile at all, that is the point, because of the OS/hardware integration. Far far fewer problems with OS X than Windows OSs
Oh, and when you run Vista on the Mac, you are vulnerable to all of the same issues.
“Tis true, tis pity; tis pity, tis true.”
That is why I know how much Windoze sucks compared to Macs. Even on the best hardware (Apple).
Now I can tell that you are just baiting me. It’s cool. I am kind to my defeated foes.
Oh, please… 😉
Geeks are people who are able to deal with complexity on a higher level than other people. You also have to be willing to try something 500 times and not go to sleep until you get it right.
Okay, I think I’ve figured this out. Geeks can build a bridge, but they may need someone to help them cross it? 😉
pandora, geeks need someone to coax them out of their mother’s basement. 😉
Geeks can build a bridge, but they may need someone to help them cross it? 😉
Close. Some engineers are geeks, but not all geeks are engineers. The geek might be the guy who stayed up all night in the lab for ten years to develop the alloy that made the bridge possible.
But then he bitched about the sales guy that sold it at only a 10% profit margin.
If local governments didn’t allow for Comcast’s local cable monopolies then maybe they would be forced to shape up.
But if you live in Sussex, there is no other television option. Satellite doesn’t carry local channels and off air reception is crap until the full digital switchover, and even then it’s sketchy at best.
Had a Dell, customer service blows. Their financing arm is even worse. Told them to f*&k off and transferred my balance to a better card to pay it off after they could not tell me why my APR went from 6% to 29.99% with no late payments after two months.
Will not buy a Dell again. Ever.
Interesting thing… in the last few months, lots of TV content has become available legally over the regular Internet, even some prime TV shows.
Sometimes the shows aren’t available until a few days after air time, but the point is – if you wanted to cancel your premium channels, you could probably get by now without too much suffering.
And there is a lot of archived stuff out there now. Try the website for your favorite channels or for the show itself.
Dells are actually pretty well made. I buy off-lease Dells on eBay for <$150, fix ’em up, and if they break I fix them or just get a new one.
The last few hundred dollars of the Dell retail price is paying for Windows, customer service, and profit. If you buy used you don’t have to pay for that.
Heck with you MAC and PC people…Amiga was the best computer ever made 🙂
Flame Barrier Initialized
But Seriously, I favor Ubuntu Linux for almost any old computer I have. Even got it working on an old IBM tablet PC
Amigas were cool and way ahead of other machines. I was using an Atari 1040ST at the time.
My grandmother had a Tandy. I played a sweet Pirate game on it every major holiday when the kids were banished to the basement after dinner.
A1
The Atari’s had the best midi boards at the time. That’s sound card for all of you non computer geeks 🙂
this graph is for liberalgeek.
http://graphjam.com/2009/03/12/song-chart-memes-apple-compatibility/
Love it!