Companies whose tech support stink!!

[thefultonhow]

Originally Posted by LeftyAce Voodoo pc. Ever had someone try to ship you a replacement part to San Francisco, CAnada?

That reminds me of when I shipped a laptop via UPS to Ontario, California, and then found out the guy who'd bought it used a stolen PayPal account and I was being defrauded. I called UPS and customer service got very confused because they thought the package was going to Ontario, Canada.

[mojo]

I've found newegg to have excellent customer support. A few months back I ordered 2 identical harddrives and one arrived DOA. I called and asked if it would be faster to get a replacement RMA or order a new one and get a refund. The rep told me to order a new one, asked for the new order number then gave my free overnight shipping. When it came time to ship the defective drive back, I noticed that the return RMA was for both drives instead of just one. I called them back and explained it, and instead of grilling me about my favorite color and what my grandkids names will be, the rep said "OK sir, I've gotten all you information from caller ID and I'll make the necessary change. Have a nice day." That took all of about 1 minute.

In general I find that component manufacturers have better support than computer manufacturers or consumer electronic manufacturers.

[mbiggs]

Linksys.. oh God.. for some reason... the tech got all off topic asking where I lived, how my weather was... and where I was from.. and in a very sarcastic voice replied... "Ammeerriccaa.... andd you?" He got a little nervous laugh and fustled a bit... but yeah. The problem was that I was trying to hook my router up and have it run wirelessly but instead.. he had me configured to where I would haev the modem plugged into the back of the router... and the router plugged into my computer... and asked if I was.. "pleased".. lol.. No... God... retawds.

[mojo]

That off topic part might be forced on him. I'm working in a tech support call center and depending on who your manager is, you can get in trouble for having more than 10 seconds of "dead air," so sometimes you have to make small talk while you wait for stuff to load.

[Panama Red]

Here's a hint to get better service from Dell - don't use the phone! Use their online chat instead and if the computer you're having problems with will still run, use it to initiate the chat session. When the Dell Tech asks if you will download a small program to allow him/her to have access and control of the computer - do it - and sit back and watch what they do. Now keep in mind, I do quite a bit of pc repair thru my home business but I had my first chance to work with Dell this way on a laptop with an inoperative and improperly recognized DVD drive. I was a bit apprehensive allowing access to someone else but I tried it anyway. I watched as he checked the drive in the Device Manager, edited the registry to remove Upper and Lower filters, dowloaded a firmware upgrade file and performed the upgrade. Then he left a link on the desktop, had me reboot and click the link to reconnect directly with his pc again. Took a heck of a lot less time than telling me what to do and me doing it and reporting back the results of my actions. You may find the Dell chat inaccessible on occasion due to heavy load but just be patient. Once you connect and get in the queue you may find yourslef listed as deep as 40+ in the wait. Just be patient and keep an eye on the connection. It only takes a few minutes, maybe 15 or so, to get connected.

I firmly believe all manufacturers have good people and not so good people in their support departments. The only one I ever really became annoyed with was Netgear. I was having problems with a Netgear Cable Modem and by following their support directives by phone I was able to turn it into a brick! And getting a new one or a refund took a near act of Congress to get attention. I will never buy Netgear products nor recommend them to my customers for that reason.

[TimPoet]

I do prefer online chat over telephone dialogue. Maybe it would be different if I had a speaker phone and wouldn't have to hold the phone to my ear while on hold.
I use online chat for Newegg, which is always a fantastic experience in satisfaction and recently I used it with Cox Cable and after 2 tries had a good experience.

[LeftyAce]

My guess is the response time is better on chat; a rep can carry on multiple "conversations" while customers are trying things out. Cuts down on the reps just sitting around waiting for stuff to reboot, etc.

[Stuey]

I too like online chats and emails. I had a problem with my citi card. They kept referring me to different departments and nobody knew what the heck to tell me. So I emailed them and kept at it. Overall, the total effort it took for me to send all those 7 or 8 emails and responses to Citi was less then the effort and frustration it took for that one 6 person call.

[David M]

...any company that wants to charge you money to speak to a human or has no option for speaking to a human. ...regardless of how good their FAQ page seems to be.

[Floppyman]

This certainly can't be good for customer service -- disgruntled employees:

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070202-8763.html

Seems like things are hitting the fan for Dell (e.g. Dell is also under investigation by the SEC at the moment).

[doubledragon5]

And if they are found quilty of wrong doing, then you can bet their Co will go down in flames like Enron...

[Floppyman]

Originally Posted by doubledragon5 And if they are found quilty of wrong doing, then you can bet their Co will go down in flames like Enron...

That might be interesting since Michael Dell just returned as CEO.....

[Disgrace]

www.digitec.ch's support is rubbish... not that anyone will be using it on the other side of the Atlantic!

[doubledragon5]

Originally Posted by Floppyman That might be interesting since Michael Dell just returned as CEO.....

Ya he just returned, but what about the yrs before he quit the first time... Seems it always falls back on the CEO....

[als814]

I've had really good experiences with fujitsu. My uncle had a fujitsu laptop, and he always talked about how great their customer service was. Before I bought my thinkpad, my uncle gave me his fujitsu, and they still had excellent support even though I wasn't the original owner.