Thursday, June 20, 2002. Entry #167

Dear Dell Customer Service,

Thank you for making things all better.

The time I spent on the phone with your technician Dale last night has caused me to nearly forget the complete uselessness of Claire, the snotty tech I spoke to on Tuesday. No really! I no longer want to strangle her with her own tonsils.

The wonderful Dale was able to extricate me from the Möbius loop of logic Claire had left me stranded in ("You have to install the CD to make the DVD-ROM work!" "I can't install the CD because the DVD-ROM doesn't work!"), and found me the right solution in an expedient manner.

After listening to my tale of woe, and the litany of futile repair attempts I had already attempted, he deftly cut to the chase and explained in oh-so-simple-terms how to find the problem for certain, once and for all.

The procedure was not simple - oh no! - but my dear friend Dale walked me through every step with calm wit and cheerful attitude. I felt that even if I was a complete computer moron (as snotty Claire made me feel) that I would have been able to follow his directions with nary a stumble.

We tested loading off the Diagnostic CD! We opened the tower and tested the cables! We reseated the connections! We swapped the plug's location on the motherboard! We rebooted and rebooted and rebooted!

And, when Dale announced that my DVD-ROM was really and truly busted, and that they would send me a new one (still under warranty), he informed me that he had already done the paperwork! He was so certain of the problem from the beginning that he had been working on the necessary paperwork while I continued testing the system! Thus saving my time and his!

But he didn't just declare the solution at the beginning of the phone call. No, he tested the system to be absolutely sure, thus ensuring that when I got the replacement, I could be certain that this, indeed, was the solution to my problem, and I wouldn't be phoning back to hurl vitriol at another tech.

And then he also mentioned he was sending a new connector cable as well, just on the tiny chance that that might be the real problem. Wow!

He gave me the tracking number over the phone and sent it via email, so I could trace the replacement if it didn't arrive by Friday. He mentioned that if I called tech support back while I was reinstalling it, I would be covered if something went wrong (as opposed to having to shell out mega bucks myself after botching it alone).

And then he sent me information on how to change my contact information with them so I wouldn't have to recall my address from a year and a half ago every time I called them.

I have just two humble requests for you now, my dear friends at Dell. I would request that you promote Dale to head of technical support. He should be in charge of training all new tech support staff to give the same level of treatment and service. It's rare to get that good service, but it shouldn't be.

Oh, and Claire should spend some time suffering for her poor effort. Might I suggest placing her in stocks?

Yours truly,

Me

One Year Ago Today: I was still on hiatus, but in 1791, King Louis XVI was caught while trying to escape the French Revolution.

Mom Rating: 4.5 out of 5. Mom's thinks good customer service is very important. God knows she's seen enough bad over the years.

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