COMPUTER "CUSTOMER SERVICE"

What a long, strange week it's been!! It was late Saturday night when I came back to my computer and it was dead in the water. I had just left it for a few minutes and wham!! I poked and prodded and may have even given it a gentle kick, but to no avail. It was not working. Period.

So, I called customer service at Dell. I didn't want to, but it was the middle of the night and Best Buy and all wasn't open. I was already pretty sure that the power supply was the culprit, but, not being very tech savvy, I called for confirmation. My computer was already out of warranty (of course) - I bought it in 2006. They charged me $49.95 to talk to a "senior technician." Senior technician indeed. Now I don't blame the person I was talking to for not being a real technician. I do blame Dell. Using some book or computer program she led me in a stroll through the innards of my computer. I did have trouble understanding her from time to time and she was very patient. However, when I didn't understand the instruction, she could not reword it so I could understand. She just repeated the same thing. After about 30 minutes of this we finally determined that is was, indeed, the power supply. I was told that I could buy one from Dell and I felt that was a good idea. She transferred me to the "parts department" and I was promptly cut off. I called back, was transferred again and found out that the "parts department" had closed at 9 pm Central Time ( it was around midnight at this point). Why didn't the "senior technician" know the working hours of the parts department?

So I called the parts number after the opening time on Sunday morning and talked to a nice young lady right there in Round Rock. What a delight! She found my part, placed the order and I got it on Thursday as it had to come from Ohio (?). I installed it and now, as you can see, I'm up and running.

I understand why companies outsource their customer service to places where wages are cheaper, but it's not providing good service to customers like me. It's frustrating to talk to someone who probably doesn't have anymore real knowledge about computers than I do. They plug in the problem and up pops a script for them to follow. I remember 10 years or so ago when my workplace got some new Dell laptops and we had some problems with the setup. I called Dell and spoke to some nice young men in Round Top who explained exactly what to do in language I could understand and helped us get things going. I miss those days.

It was very interesting being without a computer for nearly 5 days. I didn't realize how much time I spent on the computer and how much stuff wasn't getting done in other areas. While I was computerless I cleaned out the garage, recaulked the bathtub in the master bathroom, got out the summer clothes and put up the winter one, mowed the front and back yards, took a Jeep load of paper and cardboard to the recycle, helped my neighbor get started on putting up a replacement fence and took time to do more sewing. Now I know that I need to impose time limits on my computer usage. I guess we'll see how long that lasts. lol

Anyway, it's been a learning experience, but I'm glad to be back!!