August 2007 Archives
10 years ago, when I was an IT Manager at a local firm, Dell was definitely my most preferred vendor. Dell was famous for their level of service. There were DOAs and stations needing repair works but they were dealt with in an efficient manner. I had a helpful account executive taking care of my orders and they never failed. I am sure those Dell fans know what I was talking about.
Now, 10 years later, the Austin, Texas based PC manufacturing giant is really suffering from organizational problems, at least from what we had experienced with Dell in Hong Kong.
Taking advantage of the "World's Factory" Dell has moved its operations from Penang, Malaysia to Xiamen, China. One would expect service level and efficiency to improve due to the shorter distance and common
language to communicate with. Yet that didn't quite live up to the standards and expectations.
Take from a recent purchase, almost every single step in the business process was wrong. No joking, it was so bad that it actually made me laugh.
First of all, the Dell rep "forgot" to place our orders after faxing all the required signed documents. Yes he **forgot** until we chased him up.
Then when the PC was shipped out via DHL, Dell forgot to include the delivery notes and related documents. As a result, DHL could not deliver. DHL was at the door and failed to find the delivery documents so they had to take the goods back.
When Dell finally faxed over the delivery note to DHL, they realized the note had the wrong recipient name. Getting the name fixed will take at least a week. So it was not an option for the angry customer.
After a lot of hassle at our company's cost, the PC was finally delivered, but the saga has not end. Dell decided to send the invoice to the shipping address rather than the billing address (even though the invoice clearly states the Billing Address and the Shipping Address).
Ain't it funny? From the point of view of a customer, there are just way too many problems with Dell. One of the annoying one is that the Dell rep we had is never available on the phone, nor will he ever return your calls. You have to really push like a debt collection agency, e-mailing, calling, leaving voice mails, and call some more before you will get much reply/action. But if you try to get help from another representative, he/she will kindly refuse because it is not his/her "account". If you escalate your complaint to your Dell rep's supervisor, you never get a reply either. Perhaps we are too insignificant of a customer?
Now, 10 years later, the Austin, Texas based PC manufacturing giant is really suffering from organizational problems, at least from what we had experienced with Dell in Hong Kong.
Taking advantage of the "World's Factory" Dell has moved its operations from Penang, Malaysia to Xiamen, China. One would expect service level and efficiency to improve due to the shorter distance and common
language to communicate with. Yet that didn't quite live up to the standards and expectations.
Take from a recent purchase, almost every single step in the business process was wrong. No joking, it was so bad that it actually made me laugh.
First of all, the Dell rep "forgot" to place our orders after faxing all the required signed documents. Yes he **forgot** until we chased him up.
Then when the PC was shipped out via DHL, Dell forgot to include the delivery notes and related documents. As a result, DHL could not deliver. DHL was at the door and failed to find the delivery documents so they had to take the goods back.
When Dell finally faxed over the delivery note to DHL, they realized the note had the wrong recipient name. Getting the name fixed will take at least a week. So it was not an option for the angry customer.
After a lot of hassle at our company's cost, the PC was finally delivered, but the saga has not end. Dell decided to send the invoice to the shipping address rather than the billing address (even though the invoice clearly states the Billing Address and the Shipping Address).
Ain't it funny? From the point of view of a customer, there are just way too many problems with Dell. One of the annoying one is that the Dell rep we had is never available on the phone, nor will he ever return your calls. You have to really push like a debt collection agency, e-mailing, calling, leaving voice mails, and call some more before you will get much reply/action. But if you try to get help from another representative, he/she will kindly refuse because it is not his/her "account". If you escalate your complaint to your Dell rep's supervisor, you never get a reply either. Perhaps we are too insignificant of a customer?
