Never work for dell

[thrash]

I have heard from sources that dell might be going out of business. (other company will buy them out) I can't prove that, so don't take my word for it. But that might explain why your layoff.

[nevermind1534]

I'm not quite sure if I would believe that, but it is entirely possible. I thought they were doing ok, though.

[thrash]

Yeah, i thought they would be doing well too. But with the recent apple craze, and then the economy going to crap, it wouldn't surprise me.

[Datech]

My company buys all our computers exclusively from Dell, so I deal with them day in and day out. Besides the decent discount we get on almost every system (yay for offsetting a markup!), everything else about them goes from bad to worse.

The Dell sales rep we have is decent, and the one before him was literally high almost once a week and eventually got fired for it. The current rep will usually get my order right, but lately he has screwed up two large orders that I sent to him already specced out through Dell's Premier Online pages. Not sure how he managed that, but it goes along with the recurring issue of him not knowing jack about his products. I understand that he probably isn't specialized in every SCSI, iSCSI, and SAS interface device they stock, but he oughta know whether or not Dell's Asset Recovery Service actually EXISTS.

Then comes Dell's laughable warranty programs and aforementioned Tech support. Actual conversation:

Dell: Dell Tech Support, what can we do for you today?
Me: I need to send a Inspiron 6400 in for repair, Service Tag XX##XXX, it will power on but won't boot to Windows or even POST. It's either the hard drive or the motherboard as this model has Intel Integrated graphics.
D: Can you right click your hard disk and preform an Error Check.
M: Sir, I understand you have scripts to follow, but this computer no longer displays any graphics, let alone Windows. I just need to send it back for repair.
D: I understand sir, but can you first perform a chkdsk on your main hard drive?

I tried about two more times before I hung up and called back, and got someone who authorized a return immediately, which they also aren't supposed to do without a little information...

[moon111]

I use to hate having to go throught scripts for everything.
Not only that, they had timers on each step to make sure
you weren't just clicking through them.

I've been an out-source technical support rep on five
different contracts for US and Canadian companies. By far,
Dell was the worst run of them all. Usually you'll see direct
contact with the client you're supporting. Near the end,
some lady from Dell ripped me for standing during a call.
My notes typed, I was guiding a customer through a driver
install from memory. Basicly with Dell, there was a hello
and a good-bye. What it did was leave us with the only goal
being to get people off the phones. Our company made more
money that way. I use to really like to help people out.
We didn't spend anytime training. I was shown Windows 98
and the Dimension desktop line, that's it. For Windows ME,
NT, 2K, XP there was nothing. For Optiplex's, notebooks,
docking stations, etc... nothing. I was transfered to support
a different country and wasn't shown how to use a completely
different database. Literately I learnt these things one
customer at a time. I'm pretty sure Dell didn't care what
kind of job we were doing because it got worst... they moved
out and went to India. With the exchange rate, I was making
less then minimum wage in some States. But now they could
save even more. During the transistion, you would see people
with a broken CD-rom tray calling back because the tech from
India told them to boot off a floppy and type Format C: then
call back. As far as I know, the India experiment didn't work
out because Dell came around full-circle and I believe is doing
their tech-support in house again. However talking to one
ex-worker, things haven't improved that much.

Beside not being trained, there was a real problem of keeping
an experienced workforce together. Despite never having taken
a holiday or a sick day, they wouldn't let me have the day off
when my wife had a scheduled C-section. When someone tried to
reach me, stating my father had passed away in my living room,
they wouldn't give me the message until the end of my shift.
After months of perfect attendence, I was written up for being
5 minutes late when they were going to declare a state of
emergency. Stuff like this had people constantly quiting, if
they weren't fired for being human.

[SXRguyinMA]

we deal alot with YUM foods.

If you goto long john silvers I'm 85% sure that terminal has had my hands on it at some point.


Pallets and pallets of them.

Don't even want to hear about "chris i need 75 Gateways in 4 days"

where do you live and are they hiring

[XcOM]

well i've just been made redundant, 40 minutes before the end of my shift i got called into the office, and told to collect my things and leave, never come back,

The exceuse was they are getting rid of everyone that has been there for less than 12 months, but i have been there for 16 months but 8 of them were with an agency so they don't count that.

Oh well, time to start job hunting

[Datech]

Sorry to hear that XcOM. If you wanna move to the states I can get you a sysadmin job in Georgia!

[XcOM]

depends what systems you use, wik2k3, nix, domains ect ect.

i almost moved to canada for a job i got offered, if i had to money to do it, i woiuld have done it no questions asked. was offered about $35k pa, which isn;t alot here but would be good there.

but as said abover i didn't have the cash to setup there.

[Datech]

If we could bring you on full time then that would be about what you'd make, maybe more. Right now we only need someone to replace me for the summer, and then maybe work full time after that. Let me know if you ever do come to the states for any other reason though, because then I could really look into it if you were already set up.