6 major issues to be fixed by Dell

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6875

6 major issues to be fixed by Dell

6875 points posted to Dell, Sales Strategies, Service and Support by jervis961 02/17/07

Dell became a top company by providing choice and customer service to a customer that wasn't available at the time but has since fallen behind the pack in these areas. Needing a translator when calling customer support is unnacceptable and other companies are rapidly passing Dell in technology advancements. While this site is a good start, many things need to be changed for Dell to become the market leader again.

1. Customer support needs to be in well spoken English and with employees who are allowed to do more than just read from a script. If they are speaking with a computer savvy customer the rep should be allowed to deviate from the script as long as they don't go outside the relm of normal policy.

2. Better options: Other companies offer high end components in small computers but Dell only supplies intel video processors in its 14" laptop. Dell needs to allow customers to get the size computer they need but with options from low cost through the high end so they can get a computer that is "Purely you".

3. Less forced options: I hate that I am paying for and XPS with internet security when I don't need it because I already have a subsciption that will transfer over or AOL is installed when I know I don't need it. They need to add an option of none of the above to all the added software sections.

4. Better pricing: Why is it over $200 to upgrade from 1 GB of 533 MHZ ram to 2 GB of 677 MHZ RAM? I can go to Crucial.com and get the 2GB 677MHZ kit for under $200. Upgrading with Dell after you own is even worse at over $300 this is crazy.

5. Custom Dell website: Customers want to feel special why not make a MYDELL website that when you log in you get a site designed the way you want it. If you aren't interested in the small business site it gets removed, you don't like to go thru the accessories sections when customizing a system so you don't see that section. Click on customer support and a list of your computer pops up asking which one you need help with and only shows the options for that system.

6. Customer loyalty rewards: I have bought 6 Dell systems over the last few years, why can't I get better customer service or pricing due to my loyalty to the company?

vfun 03/30/07	That's not an idea - it's a bunch of random disconnected thoughts. I might agree with parts of it; but I disagree with other parts - so I'm demoting in the hopes that the don't all get implemented. If you want votes up, post them as separate ideas.
richa121 04/11/07	You should have stopped after point #1. Your other points are good, but if you dont have great CS, everything else is worthless. Is anyone at Dell reading this? Besides counting his money, Michael Dell should be embarrassed over the horrible CS for the average "Joe". Or is this just a way to vent? Haha..I just got a great idea, Michael, please change your last name to Jackson or Simpson. That way you can just blame your last name on why you get away with this. lol.
jervis961 04/20/07	vfun, I see your point but I'll keep it as is and let the people decide.
andragon 04/20/07	Dell have taken a GREAT deal of consideration from this IdeaStorm site. Just check the news recently, loads about how they're taking Customer advice about things like AMD CPUs, Linux and designs. If it's any contribution, about point 5, Dell already have a dell.myway website that you can set to your homepage and customise to an extent.
premcv 04/20/07	Ahh... Ok
blackeagle 04/21/07	i like it
premcv 04/23/07	Can't say I like it, though! :p Don't like a myway website. Update: andragon said: "Dell already have a dell.myway website that you can set to your homepage and customise to an extent. "
jervis961 04/23/07	Which thing don't you like?
jbonefx 04/24/07	Should split your ideas up. The loyalty thing is always nice though isn't it? You expect to get a little in return once you've given your devoted business to a company. I think that point would go far if you posted it individually... -jb
jervis961 04/24/07	The only thing is if I split them now it will mostly be duplicates of other ideas that were posted after mine.
jbonefx 04/24/07	true, but it seems the best way to get a message out to people is to post a fresh idea... Could light up like fire, ya never know...
premcv 04/24/07	yea jervis, lots and lots of duplicates. getting tired of it already
jervis961 04/24/07	I don't want to make it worse so I'll leave the ideas the same. Unless some sees one that just doesn't fit, then I'll take that part out or reword it. I was a little harsh when I wrote this one.
premcv 04/24/07	You were not harsh, jervis, it was what we needed at that time! We were calling attention to the people at Dell to get something done! Can't say they have, and can't say they haven't. So, there.
jervis961 04/24/07	I changed the part about the tech support, it sounded like I was calling them stupid. I think it is more in line with what I wanted now.
premcv 04/24/07	I noticed the change!
philk02 04/29/07	We need to get rid of outsourced call centers overseas. I am going to buy an XPS gaming system and will not buy unless yoy get an english speaking rep who does not use a stupid script. If someone is spending 8 to 9 thousand bucks on a system, you better be giving superior support.
dell_workerbee 05/01/07	These are mostly good ideas and Dell is working on a lot of them. Here are some comments just for a reality check. India is used to lower the cost of customer support and provide it at hours when it would be very costly to use local people. How may people spend 8 or 9 thousand dollars on a computer system? This can't be a driving reason. We all would like better English but most do speak English pretty well (British English). Since Dell started using AMD in late 2006, give them a chance. It takes nearly a year to develop a new product and resources are limited. I agree on the cost of RAM. If you install it, there should be a discount. Web sites are complex, adding customization allows more chance for problems. The site is not hard to navigate now. Your comments are not applicable to servers and storage but mainly to PCs and notebooks.
jervis961 05/01/07	@dell_workerbee - Thanks for your input, here is some clarification. India is cheaper, but they should be able to speak english well. If you can't understand each other, the problem doesn't get fixed. That's why one of my other posted ideas was to have an option of paying extra for special Dell membership including North american support. My next comment was that all they offered was Intel video processors on the 14" laptops, they should offer dedicated graphic cards also. The site could be made less confusing, I have no problem finding things but alot of people complain about it. Dell has made some improvements in areas due to ideas on this site. If you notice this was posted on Feb 17th and not 2 days ago so some things have changed already. Perhaps you need to read the idea again?
andragon 05/02/07	hmm, yea i can see why India i used. However, the support then becomes very basic, as they all read off scripts and you can't understand them most of the time, as they don't understand what THEY'RE even saying. I think there should also always be a premium rate charged support line, for those who wish to pay but also get the problem fixed properly.
gdex 05/13/07	We should NOT have to pay extra for support from qualified technicians speaking understandable English. Proper support should be the baseline, included in the substantial price we are willing to pay for a Dell computer.
aindikt 05/16/07	Suggestion 6 is a great one. I've bought 4 systems (2 DT, 2 laptop) from DELL over the years. If I got a free service level upgrade for loyalty that would be a real factor in choosing a DELL next time. I went Toshiba on my latest laptop purchase because the DELL desgins are just too boring and the prices too high, but I would think about one in the future if the service bonus was there. On the service side, I've seen a good response once from service that clearly escalated a problem after I sent an email. However, it got to the frustration level before something was done. I know it's a big company, but maybe Michael Dell is right to start thinking about opening stores. Ultimately, it will be service that wins out if, as seems apparent, they can no longer be price and thus value leaders.
jervis961 05/18/07	thanks aindikt.
jervis961 05/20/07	I think now that the site has been here for a while Dell can see that most of what i put into this idea has been echoed on the site with numerous other ideas.
premcv 05/22/07	Oh... And by the way, Dimensions are on the way out (the name _Dimension_ that is). I've heard, a rumour, that the new desktops are going to be called differently. Anyone heard what they are going to call the new desktops?
expatinasia 05/23/07	"5. Custom Dell website: Customers want to feel special" It's not up to Dell to provide affirmation for your existance. If you want to feel special, adopt a puppy.
jervis961 05/23/07	Can I adopt you? You seem like you need to be loved. :-)
phobic247 05/23/07	"1. Customer support needs to be in well spoken English and with employees who are allowed to do more than just read from a script. If they are speaking with a computer savvy customer the rep should be allowed to deviate from the script as long as they don't go outside the relm of normal policy." Sorry guys but call center techs have to do this since this is part of their metrics. If they miss out something, they'll get lower grades on their metrics. Dell's gotta change the metrics of their technicians or their representatives.
jervis961 05/24/07	So therefore the idea that Delll has of geeks to grandmas won't work then?? That is what #1 was eluding to, being able to hear a customer say "tried that already" and move on to the next step.
donut 07/26/07	Merged Idea originally posted 06/18/07 Stop charging ridiculous prices for spec upgrades! Don't charge such ridiculous prices for spec upgrades -- additional memory or a higher capacity hard drive -- at the time of purchase. If you charge reasonable prices, users will order higher-spec machines from you (i.e. more sales $) rather than buy extra memory etc. from another company. A reasonable price is below or roughly the same as what users can order them for. There's no reason to charge anything more than retail. It just makes your systems look uncompetitive and means hassle for the buyer, not to mention giving the impression that you're trying to rip off unsuspecting buyers. Your policy seems to be "we'll charge over 300% of retail, they'll never notice". Here's an example from the UK Dell site, speccing a Latitude D830. Default memory is 2GB RAM as (2x1GB DIMMs). Dell upgrade to 4GB (as 2x2GB) costs £459. Crucial.com UK price for 2x2GB DIMMs is £151.99. Dell upgrade cost is 302% (over £300) that of buying the DIMMs at retail. Of course buying 2x2GB DIMMs from Crucial would allow the user to sell the factory-fitted DIMMs making a greater saving. Default hard drive is 120GB 5400rpm SATA. Dell upgrade to 160GB 7200rpm SATA costs £239. overclockers.co.uk price for ST9160823AS 7200rpm 160GB drive is £84.99. Dell upgrade cost is 281% that of buying a 160GB drive separately. Plus the user could sell the factory-fitted drive to make a greater saving.
shamrock 07/26/07	Merged Comment originally posted 07/04/07 Exactly why I don't buy any upgrades from Dell.
barius 07/26/07	Merged Comment originally posted 07/04/07 I've only bought servers from Dell, but I can verify that markups on harddrives are ridiculous. I bought a 2950 rigged for 6 drives, but I configured it with only 1 cheap drive (I would have bought it with no drives, but apparently that's not an option). I bought the 6 drives at retail saving about $1,300.
fing 07/26/07	Merged Comment originally posted 07/08/07 I'm with shamrock..... There is no good reason for the customer to be charged over retail prices. The 2-30 seconds it takes the line worker to plug these bits in to the system while it's being assembled doesn't cost THAT much. Charging retail prices will also increase the sale of after purchase upgrades. Hey... I've got a Dell credit account.... Why go to Overclockers if I can get the same price at Dell.com and still have my beer money.
eggdisk 07/26/07	Merged Comment originally posted 07/18/07 Totally 100% agree. The sales people on the phones give you discounts if you mention all this - so why do they rip-off people who buy direct online?
painterhenry 07/26/07	Merged Comment originally posted 07/23/07 I posted a similar post quit a while ago. Basically, any upgrades or downgrades from the pre-configured setup will impose unreasonable cost to the customer. I dont know why. Dell seems to use this to discourage customers from deviating from their basic configuration systems.
izach 07/26/07	Merged Comment originally posted 07/24/07 Isn't this is a normal business practice. If you can charge more $$ for your product, it is a fair practice. We the consumers need to be alret and educated about products/solutions alt. If we want Dell and/or other tech companies stay successful, we need to let them run their business strategy.
jervis961 07/26/07	Merged Comment originally posted 07/25/07 @DUPLICATEOF http://www.ideastorm.com/article/show/61894 SEE #4
jervis961 07/26/07	Merged Comment originally posted 07/26/07 Did you notice it was marked as a duplicate right above your status change??
premcv 07/26/07	There you go, jervis, they have merged the idea into your idea.
jervis961 07/26/07	Hmm yeah, I thought I would get the points too but oh well. I made page 2 with this one finally.
premcv 07/26/07	I didn't notice the points, but didn't you? I remember dell_admin1, saying that the points would be added to the merged idea. Wonder.
jervis961 07/26/07	The idea yes, the user who posted it is another story I guess. I thought for sure I lost points when they merged my idea into the other one.
premcv 07/26/07	Oh?
jervis961 07/26/07	I got excited because I'm only couple hundred away from the top 20. I never really cared about it until I got close to the list but oh well. maybe now that this is on page 2 it will get more votes and implemented.
premcv 07/26/07	Good Luck!
kcobley 08/01/07	Yeah I could have bought my new XPS system with the QX6700 or Qx6800 but the Dell price of $1765+ is far too high I can pickup the QX 6800 for $1320 and the QX6700 for $1170 at stores in Sydney and still have the core duo 6700 I ordered to sell !
perfectcode 08/03/07	Yep, Dell prices a lot of their stuff way too high. Take the XPS 720 for example, it starts you out at 2GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz, then for $700 you can upgrade to 4GBs of Corsair Dominator ram at 1066Mhz. Way too expensive.
tol1488 08/04/07	1.) agree 100% 2.) as above 3.) as above above 4.) as above above above 5.) don't care 6.) coupons?
cosh 08/07/07	@UNMERGE 68520: Stop charging ridiculous prices for spec upgrades! That one shouldn't have been merged into this. It's easier to track the idea if it's left separately.
jervis961 08/07/07	Kinda like Linux for europe isn't a dupe of linux around the world?
cosh 08/07/07	It's just that it was only a small part of this idea. If they tag this PARTIALLY IMPLEMENTED, it's not going to be quite clear what was implemented. On a related note, there's a sure fire way to stop an idea from being merged - include at least two very distinct suggestions in one. They can't merge it into two others then.
jervis961 08/07/07	Hmm, true.
perfectcode 08/08/07	Well, I just hope that Dell makes the prices of their components much more reasonable. It is rediculous and something should be done asap. I've been trying to get a Dell XPS 720 that is "purely me" which Dell advertises. But Dell keeps changing their prices of things and the components which is VERY annoying! All of this "build a computer that is purely you" is just bs as of now. Read this for more info about my problem and help support our ideas so hopefully Dell won't be so corrupt as to have high priced machines that are being made in Singapore for cheaper http://www.ideastorm.com/article/show/72600
perfectcode 08/10/07	So apparently this issue is not UNDER REVIEW like the admin2 said?
dwood 11/15/07	I see. this could be a problem! people! make it popular again!
premcv 11/15/07	Huh?
dwood 11/15/07	hey! I looked at this one yesterday too!
jervis961 11/15/07	premcv, I linked to this one from another idea so dwood could see it.
premcv 11/15/07	Thanks, jervis! I realised that in a bit.
dwood 11/15/07	yep.
andragon 12/28/07	Although i don't agree entirely with paying for the Qualified Technicians, it is possibly one of the only cost-effective ways to do it. I'd be happy to just have them available, on a paid line.
ahazan Apr 3	Merged Idea originally posted Feb 25 Stop ripping us off for upgraded components A second 1TB hard drive on an XPS420 costs $400. On Newegg.com, it costs $239: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822145167< of ram on an XPS420 costs $100. On newegg.com it costs $40: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820134046< is no charity, so they're making money on it. And i'm sure Dell gets a better price than Newegg gets. So why does Dell have to make 5 times mark-up?
jorge Apr 3	Merged Comment originally posted Feb 25 No, how is Dell to survive? I mean who's paying for this site? Who's paying for the Dell_admins to not implement ideas, opps, I mean Dell_admins to remove our comments, opps, I mean Dell_admins to merge un-related ideas, opps, I mean Dell_admins to not merge obviously duplicate ideas, opps, I mean Dell_admins to have fun chatting withe the IS regulars, opps, I mean, that support guy who I call and we spend a couple minutes, yea minutes talking about sports, opps, I mean the tech that come in and ends up looking at the computer made by, OPPS, I mean the web sprawl Dell has and the lunch meeting held to prevent it and bring them all together, OPPS, I mean the guy who decided to outsource to India even though most customers bailed when they heard of this, opps, I mean the guy who painted all those laptops not considering that people would even rub the paint which falls off, opps, I mean the accountant who was doing the accounting and forgot to pay the Tax man, opps, I mean ...
lugo02 Apr 3	Merged Comment originally posted Feb 25 I won't mind paying the prices they charge up the upgrades, but only if they include the original component.
programatix Apr 3	Merged Comment originally posted Feb 25 lugo02, what do you mean by original component?
lugo02 Apr 3	Merged Comment originally posted Feb 26 "lugo02, what do you mean by original component? " You can buy a 1TB drive from accessories.dell.com for under $400, yet when you upgrade from a 250GB drive on a system to a 1TB you are asked to pay $400, but all you get is the 1TB drive, you do not get the 250GB drive. The upgrade price should be the difference between the 250GB drive and the 1TB drive, but instead you pay full price for the 1TB drive and Dell gets to sell the 250GB drive again. For the desktops, I would skip the Dell harddrive upgrade (except for the 160GB Raptor) and buy an additional drive elsewhere.
epic4life Apr 3	Merged Comment originally posted Feb 26 As soon as I buy a computer, I go right to Newegg and buy 4+ gigs of their best ram and all the extra pci cards, hdd, and optical drives.... Even if Dell offered better prices, I would sitll get the best micron/cruciel memory newegg has to offer... I can't blame company for trying to make money, even though I do agree with the poster...."You dont pay for what someone else knows, you pay them for what they do" and if people are not comfortable installing ram or drives then that is where Dell can make some money. 2 cents EpiC
jorge Apr 3	Merged Comment originally posted Feb 26 I do have to say its nice to get one box which is ready to go, instead of having to tinker with it before you get to step one. Also, having done the buy the cheaper component elsewhere, when you do hit a hardware issue it always haunts you and becomes an issue in getting Dell to resolve the issue as you have to go back to the default config or the config they shipped to make sure its not the component you added.
epic4life Apr 3	Merged Comment originally posted Feb 26 Send it back, comlain and get something better.....It makes up for their expensive upgrades. It is nice to have a box ready to go, but I have never owned a computer I didn't do something to...
jorge Apr 3	Merged Comment originally posted Feb 26 Well my "personal" computers are a different story but for the stuff at work, its best they're self contained. I have taken mine apart so many times for tweaks I can do it so fast its not even an issue anymore.
q0987 Apr 3	Merged Comment originally posted Feb 26 You guys should check out the UK prices and convert them into dollars
dwood Apr 5	It also helps if the dollar is worth anything.

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