Originally published October 16 2005
Customer service complaints for Dell increase
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Complaints to the Better Business Bureau about Dell were up 23 percent in 2004, and they rose another 5 percent this year. Web sites like ihatedell.net have emerged, and Dell is feeling the pressure.
When the CD drive on Peter Ulyatt's Dell desktop computer failed this summer, he called the support crew at Dell (DELL), where he'd bought the $1,600 machine nine months prior.
All tech companies have some unhappy customers, of course, but recent surveys suggest the ranks of frustrated Dell Inc. owners are growing.
Helaina Burton recently spent three hours talking to a half-dozen Dell reps -- all to solve the simple problem of a faulty keyboard.
Over the past decade, Dell's dependable support, combined with competitive prices and build-to-order convenience, made it the default choice for millions of consumers.
Its market share continues to rise overall, and it holds 28.8% of the U.S. consumer market, up from 28.2% a year ago, according to researcher IDC.
In the most recent quarter, Dell missed its sales target, one reason its stock has dropped 18%, to $34, since the start of the year.
John Hamlin, senior vice-president of Dell's U.S. consumer business, says the company is hiring a few thousand additional reps this year and striving to reduce call transfers.
Already, he says, hold times have been cut in half from earlier this year, and internal weekly surveys of 5,000 customers show a 35% increase in customer satisfaction from a year ago.
Now the company, which revolutionized how PCs are sold with its direct model, has plans to change how PC support is provided.
On Sept. 28 it announced a line of higher-priced PCs, dubbed the XPS line, that will come with improved levels of service.
Apple, which consistently ranks high in customer surveys like Michigan's, recently decided to start using chips from Intel Corp. (INTC), making it a more direct competitor to Dell.
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