After Sales Service

[erection day]

My first buy with Dell might have saved me a bit of money but I wasnt really impressed with their after sales service so far. Their delievery department people nearly make me vomit blood. Here's what happened.

Monday: Dell girl called and said my delivery will be on Wed afternnoon. Naturally and initially I was quite pleased with their fast service as I've only placed my order at the IT show on Sunday. On further enquiry she told me that the delivery is only for the extra 22 inch monitor I ordered. I asked her what about the desktop and the bundle monitor. She replied she had no idea. So I said nevermind please deliver only when everything is consolidated and everything to be delivered in one trip.

Tuesday: Dell guy called and said my desktop plus bundle monitor will be delivered on Friday. I asked about the extra monitor. He said no idea. I was quite pissed off by then and told him about the extra order and to please send everything to me by Friday.

Wed: Delivery guy called and said 'I'm outside your door with one monitor!'. I said I never ask you to come today mah. Anyway no one home please let your coordinator know and have it send by Friday.

Today: Dell girl called and said I've cancelled my order. I said 'No, I already explained to you people I wanted everything deliever at one go on Friday as I cannot possibly take two half-day off just to wait for you guys. She said cannot. The extra monitor they have to send some other day and requested Sunday. She mumbled off some excuse but at that point I was really too tired and sick of talking to them.

So, it's not a good start at all with Dell. I wonder why the co-ordination is so bad. I really hope things will improve in future because if I have to talk to them again, I might foam at the mouth and have some sort of seizure.

[ry-d]

Me on the other hand HATE to call HP for assistance! In my co. , I'm incharge with all the printers and plotters and so if needs servicing, I need to ask them to send someone down. Always I was diverted to some Indian IT guy and I can't even understand his english! I asked him to send someone down as I still have warranty but he said still need to charge as warranty only for parts and not servicing.

Heck, I tell them it's ok, my company will pay.. Die die he wants me to troubleshoot myself via the phone.. He will tell me step by step! (Note: can't really understand his english+indian accent).. I tell him I am busy and request to ask someone down. He again insist i try figure out myself! I just hang up the phone.....

The next day, I called HP again and then also another indian IT respond. I tell him to put me to other staff member and heng ah he pass me to this chinese guy. And withing 2 mins i talked to him, he said he will send someone down..

[erection day]

Nowadays it's very common for local company here to outsource their service enquiry to overseas call center. When my apple G5 got problem, I'm always re-directed to a call center in Australia. The Aussies are really patient but they will ask 1001 questions and try to trouble shoot over the phone and only when really die die cannot, then they will send someone down. So no choice, I've to be patient also and make sure I got some time to spare because we could be on the phone for half an hour or more!!! If your English is not up to par or cant understand the Aussie, then your call be diverted to a call center in China.

[Blog]

I brought a Dell desktop when they introduced the Pentium 4 processor. (Anyone can remember when was P4 first available?) It was touted as a “speed demon” in their ads.

It didn’t live up to its name. I think Dell sourced for the cheapest Taiwanese components to put in their systems. There were hardware incompatibilities while still under warranty. It had seemed that it was hurriedly out in the market without proper user’s testing. The only good thing was the Sony Trinitron flat screen monitor which they re-labeled as Dell.

The call center was located in Penang and I felt I was talking to invisible people. To this day, I don’t know where their service center is, if they do have one.

The next systems were two Acers, both 3 and 1 year old respectively. No problem yet. I have been advised by friends not to get servicing done by them after warranty period as they charge much more than computer repair shops.

[oralb]

ops i forgotten to add this for the IT show on warranty (a bit too late i think)

if possible get the 2nd and 3rd year warranty on Laptop.

laptop normally ok during the 1st year, 2nd and 3rd year are the time problems will struck.

repair laptop is more costly than PC and quite a number of Simlim repair shop maynot be able to repair laptops

[worldangel]

The next systems were two Acers, both 3 and 1 year old respectively. No problem yet. I have been advised by friends not to get servicing done by them after warranty period as they charge much more than computer repair shops.

Presently I am using Acer and so far went to service centre in Jurong East, I would say their service quite good (anyway still within the warranty period) but queuing time a bit longer.

No wonder I noticed some drink water, biscuit, etc were provided free for customers in the waiting hall

[erection day]

True enough, all is not well with my experiene with Dell. The extra firewire IEEE1394 card which I ordered wasnt installed at all. After some calling back and forth they asked me to fax over the duplicated order slip (I wonder why they dont have the original copy to double check!?). They said they will 'investigate'! The call stuff is nice enough but I rather not have this hassle at all in the first place. Also, while trying to install some of my CD software, the D drive suddenly cant read my CD anymore (my new system comes with windows xp so I dont suspect incompatitbity and the drive was running fine for a while). So, more headache with them next week ahead. Sigh.

[erection day]

Well, they sent a service guy today to install my firewire card and did a quick check on my dvd drive which was faulty and will return to fix that again. The after sales service at Dell is pretty quick really. So, I'm quite pleased with that. And they did call back and asked if anything went ok. Overall service is pretty good and I do feel more reassured now.

[maturemedium]

I do an an episode with HP 2 years back.

Anyway Spore's service is realy really bad. All industries..service needs to b improved

[Guest Guest]

I read that Dopod's after sales service has lots of room for improvement at one point in time last year. Has that improved? I am planning to purchase a Dopod PDA phone.

[homeboi]

my colleague & friend own the dopod... they claimed that the services are extremely lousy, advise me & others not to get any dopod brands..... and never buy anythings from AAA's shop (think located at sim lim and funan), shop assistant not honest and proud :yuk:

[chub77]

actually, i find many electronic shops in simlim are not very friendly and rude to locals.. many years ago, i was hunting for a digital camera. i am just asking for the price, the people in many shops just give me a very hasty price and don't even want to look at me.. some even walk away and don't bother about me... .. worse thing was when there were foreigners entering the shop, some rushed to serve them, leaving me behind there.... what the f***.....

anyway, off topic liaos...

[IkuTube]

AAAs Com Solution has 4 outlets in sim lim square.

I tend to agree that most shops in SLS are not friendly, though, there are few that tolerable. Worse if you are seeking for assistance on weekends.

Tips to shop in SLS:

1. Know what you are looking for. At least, have an idea of the product. 'To act blur' does not help at certain shops.

2. For PC shops, take their price list and scan through. When you found the item listed in the price list, and that it is reasonably priced, go to the counter and point at the item for purchase. There are few shops that's friendly.

2a. If the stock is not available, go to their next outlet. Big names usually have more than one outlets. Some salesman will not entertain you to check for stock availability at their sister outlet.

3. For other electronic shops, approach one shop that has a constant flow of traffic. Browse for your item. Once found, get the shop assistant to help you with the purchase.

4. Don't ask for discount unless you are very comfortable with the salesman. All shops in SLS claimed that their prices are already competitively low. All you need to do is to scout around before finalising your purchase at that particular chosen shop.

5. Avoid paying with your credit card - they charge 3% on top of the listed price. It is either cash or nets. Please do check on your receipt before leaving the shop.

6. Get the shop to tell you about the warranty. Make sure that the warranty card is stamped.

6a. For PC hardware, most of the shops will provide 1-for-1 exchange up to minimum 7 days or 30 days.

7. Avoid saying, 'oh, the other shop is selling cheaper'

[oralb]

another thing, quite a number of shops are opened by the same person or at least connected in some way

[GachiMuchi]

Shops in SLS basically does "hit and run" business.

They are just agents for many distributors. Their margin are very tight, thus service suffers. They just want to sell their stuff and do not want anything to do with the servicing. Any problem with the products, they will ask you to go and find the distributor or service centre.

Those shops that can order big quantities will get better margin, while smaller shops will have less margin and their price higher, etc.

For those who goes shopping at superstores like Challenger, Courts, etc., will find that the prices at these stores will be slightly higher than that of those shops at SLS. They have higher overheads and they stick to Recommended Retail Price. Unlike SLS, they will kill each other just to get the business.

Basically, if you want cheap, go SLS. If you want service, go to those Superstore. Those Superstore can even give you 12 months installments.

So what you pay is what you get.