Stop Complaining About Dell's Tech Support!

I got through Christmas, but here's a taste of what I have to put up with.

Cousin Jan: "Erica, you know computers. What kind should I get?"
Me: "Uh, don't know. What will you be doing with it?"
Cousin Jan: "Just writing resume's, going on the internet."
Me: "Okay. No high-end games or anything like that?"
Cousin Jan: "No. No, I just need something simple. Cheap."
Me: "Okay, well you can get just about anything then. Check out Dell, they're good. As long as you've heard of the brand you're usually okay."

Then everyone jumps in and starts talking about the bad experiences that they, their co-worker, or their dog had with Dell tech support.

Cousin Frank: "Yeah, every time I call them up I get some dot-head on the phone. I ask over and over for someone who speaks english, but I guess they can't understand me so I just hang up."

Cousin Debbie: "I've called them several times and when I hear that accent I ask for someone who speaks english. They're usually very suprised, but I don't give up until someone who speaks english comes to talk to me."

I agree, it can be frustrating, but I call Dell tech support all the time as part of my job, and although I have to ask them to repeat themselves once in awhile, I've gotten my issue resolved 95% of the time. There have been times, yes, when the issue wasn't resolved or took much more effort on my part than it should have. For instance, once, I called about a bad power supply, and the tech told me to "open it up and see if there are any loose wires". I about hit the floor. I assume he thought I was calling the computer itself a "power supply", but if I had "opened up" the REAL power supply I could have easily electrocuted myself! But, this is one problem in several hundred phone calls in my carreer.

See, the real problem (if there is one) lies with you -the consumer. Everyone wants as good a computer as they can get for as cheap as they can get it. No matter who you pick these days, you're tech support will be outsourced overseas because any computer company that doesn't do that can't compete anymore. So shut up! You've got that extra $100 in your pocket -here's where you pay for it (with time). If you want better support, but still want a cheap computer check your local (or smaller chain) computer stores. There's a chain by us (Microcenter) who had a computer, monitor, and printer combo on sale for $350 right before Christmas. Even Dell can't beat that! The only downside might be that you'll have to bring the computer in for repair, you may not get phone support (or it might not be 24 hour), and if they go out of business before your warranty is up you're out of luck.

Remember: Treat people the way you'd like to be treated. Why resort to hate? (Do you know a second language well enough to work tech support for another country?)