Call Centres in India - Grrr!!!

[jacey]

Been so tied up with stuff and visiting musos that I've been out of commission on LJ for a few days. I spent yesterday in York with Tanglefoot and today I've been trying to get down to the serious business of buying a Dell laptop.

I have money.

I have a leaflet with special offers.

I have a Dell web page that doesn't quite match the prices in the leaflet

I have a phone number.

And now I have a direct line to (I guess) somewhere in India.

I have no objection to call centres being wherever they need to be, but when you are selling high-end machines to the UK market, don't you think it's sensible to have someone on the other end of your phone number who speaks clear English?

The switchboard operator was almost understandable once I'd asked her to slow down a bit. (Thereby already making me feel extremely patronising. It's a foreigner, I must speak slowly and clearly.) The salesman she put me through to, a chap called Santosh, who spoke heavily accented English that was quite difficult to understand over a phone line at speed and without clues of body language and mouth movement. He obviously found my Yorkshire accent a bit difficult to cope with, too, which is fair enough. He was also positively snippy when I kept asking him for alternative quotes and massively anxious to get me to close the deal and place the order when I was still at the weighing up alternatives stage. He also pushed the extra insurance quite heavily (at 140 quid, it's more than a 25% loading on the price). At one point he couldn't answer a question and asked if he could call me back. I explained that I was going out at 2.30. Not to worry, he'd call me straight back (it was then 1.45).  He called me back at 2.25. At 2.27 with the conversation barely begun I reminded him I'd already told him I was going out at 2.30 and he said he'd call me at 4.15. In the meantime I found out that the information he'd given me about the docking port was - if not quite incorrect - certainly misleading and there were enough USB ports on the machine that I could certainly manage without a hundred quid docking port.

So after I got back in I thought I'd start again. I called Dell and asked to speak to another assistant. No, sorry, they couldn't do that I could only speak to Santosh. But I don't want to speak to Santosh, I explained. I didn't feel I'd had very good service from Santosh and I'd like to speak to someone else. No, they couldn't do that, they could only put me through to Santosh. (Rinse and repeat a couple of times.)

Eventually: Can i speak to your supervisor?
No they could only put me through to Santosh and I could tell him that I didn't want to deal with him again.
No, you're not listening to me. I DON"T WANT TO SPEAK TO SANTOSH EVER AGAIN.

By now I was on the verge of putting my coat on and taking my six hundred quid down to PC World.

Eventually the penny dropped and they put me through to a salesman in charge of Ireland (duh!) who still spoke heavily accented English (indian not Irish) but not quite so heavily accented. Eventually he put me through to yet another sales assistant. Again a heavy accent, but understandable, and I could tell immediately he had a more colloquial grasp of the English language and he just seemed to make a connection on a more human level. Okay - now we're getting somewhere.

I explained what I wanted a quotation for and he started to build the quote. 2 gig memory - tick. Webcam- tick. Windoze XP-pro instead of Vista - tick. Price £457 ex-VAT.

How much for the same machine with 3 gig of memory?
£511
If I buy a machine costing over £499 I have the 'fifty quid off' voucher in this morning's first-time-buyer's catalogue, so that should be £461 for the machine with 3 gig of memory.
Err... he wasn't sure he could do that but he'd give me some free virus software and free delivery
I've got virus software I'm very happy with and the machine I've picked has free delivery anyway and it says on the voucher I can use it in conjunction with any other offer.
Err...
Anyhow it's a moot point when his computer system won't let him upgrade the memory to 3 gig even though the catalogue plainly says it's possible.

He's calling me back tomorrow morning. Not before eleven I say. OK, he'll call me at nine. No NOT before eleven. That's OK he starts work at eight and he can call me at nine. NO, NOT BEFORE ELEVEN. Oh sorry, he thought I meant I was going out at eleven.

<sigh>

(Oh - and I forgot to say, my second assistant is called Kali - should I be worried?)

All I want to do is spend my money, but they're making it very difficult.

I can't help feeling that they are a long way away and the sales agents don't really give a twopenny whatsit as long as they get their commission. I'd like a salesperson who wants to get me the best deal for the best machine on offer. I'd like one I'm sure understands the questions I'm asking and who can deliver an answer I can understand in return. I don't care what the accent is as long as I can understand it.

Is it too much to ask?

Should I go to PC World?

Comments

[klwilliams.livejournal.com]

Here we have Fry's stores, which are giant geek nirvana warehouse stores. They sell all kinds of computers, printers, software, and every other kind of electronics you can think of. You can go there and . . . talk to Indian salesmen with heavy accents.
(http://www.frys.com)

[footlingagain.livejournal.com]

The service I got from Dell wasn't too bad, but that's because I'd been online, got all the info, kept saying 'No' and basically browbeat my way to what I wanted.

And what I wanted was so basic, it's ridiculous.

I did feel I was constantly being pressured, though.

Maybe PC World is the better option - at least you can just walk out of there.

I've bought a couple of peripherals from www.ebuyer.com but they assume you know what you're doing. And I don't *g* So I went to Dell for the support.

[green-knight.livejournal.com]

If someone makes it *that* difficult for me to spend my money, I tend to take that as a sign and walk away.

Just had a quick peek at Dell's website, but they don't offer XP anymore...

Guess they don't want your money.

[brownnicky.livejournal.com]

I had a similar problem with BT but I ordered my Dell computer on line and it was hassle free.

[julesjones]

If they're this bad now, what is it going to be like if there is a problem with the machine and you need them to Do Something about it?

[charlieallery.livejournal.com]

I'd have been out the door of PC world with the kit by now! But I'm willing to take the hit on price because it's at the bottom of town and I can literally walk in and out, but also because I tend to buy bottom of the range. As long as I'm buying a brand I recognise (HP, Compaq, Sony) quality's going to be much of a muchness. I don't tend to rely on the sales staff knowing too much, but the kit's always marked up with what you're getting for the price.

[heleninwales.livejournal.com]

After all the hassle I had with Savastore (was Watford Electronics), I swore I was never buying a computer mail order again. The machine was very slow arriving and died the first time I tried to use it. After a long battle, I got them to take back the faulty machine and after another long battle I managed to stop the carrier delivering the replacement that I'd specifically said I didn't want and finally got my money back.

In the meantime, I'd driven to Curry's, bought a computer and had been using it happily for some weeks. But if something had gone wrong, I could have just driven it back to the store and stood there until they sorted it out for me. None of this tooing and froing via call centres and emails answered by someone whose native language clearly wasn't English.

I know a lot of people who use Dell computers and they've been very happy with them. However, I think they just went for the current special offer, pretty basic, off the peg sort of machine. Also I remember karentraviss having horrible problems with Dell service when something went wrong with her machine.

[elen-sentier.livejournal.com]

Crikey! Dell have gone downhill! Their call centre always used to be in Ireland with irish folk who may have a bit o' the blarney stone but had at least 2 synapses to rub together !!! Sorry! I get cross when I hear things like ths.

I don't know what to advise. I like Dell machines and know folk who have recent ones - like 6 months ago - and are very satisfied. But if you're going to get only a load of morons to speak to (sorry! Again!) I think I might run away too.

[birdsedge.livejournal.com]

:-)
I can cope with he heavy Indian accents in a face to face situation, but over the phone it's way more difficult. Also I'm more used to Yorkshire-Indian accents.

It gave me quite a turn to visit Glasgow and hear the difference between the local Glaswegian-Indian and out local Yorkshire-Indian. Until then I hadn't appreciated how the Indian-English accents were becoming regionalised.

[birdsedge.livejournal.com]

Yes they do offer XP - but you have to get into the customise menus to find it. I've finally managed to order mine (this morning) and I've got XP-pro. (Or at least I hope I have. Waiting for the confirmation email now.)

[birdsedge.livejournal.com]

The repairs go back to the factory in the UK.

[birdsedge.livejournal.com]

I particularly wanted Dell because I wanted one with XP pro and not Vista and all you can get at PC world is Vista.

[birdsedge.livejournal.com]

For some reason the computer I wanted kept coming up way more expensive online than it seemed to do in the paper catalogue, so i stuck to my guns and slogged away by telephone. I have finally got the machine I want for a total of £516.30 inclusive of VAT. Online it was coming up at 700 pounds plus.

[charlieallery.livejournal.com]

Ah, too late now, but Amazon are selling a number of laptops with XP pro installed (a lot of them appeared to be Toshibas) - presumably still clearing old stock. But I couldn't see any with 3Gb RAM so they probably wouldn't have fit your requirement.

My mum's got a Vista PC and I have a feeling my brother might as well. By the time I'm ready to renew either of my computers the worst of the bugs should have been worked out. :)

[birdsedge.livejournal.com]

Best Beloved told me (not sure of his source) that MS is bringing out a new operating system that will leapfrog over Vista and leave it behind as a failed experiment.