Yes, the nice Dell Sales Representative was transferring my call over to the credit department so that they could take my information for the 0% financing. Now, this is when it became obvious to me that Dell is really struggling with its outsourcing. See, they had me on hold for over 10 minutes. As any first year business student can tell you, the number one rule of business is: collect payment, or more precisely, collect payment quickly.
Essentially, they had me at the check-out counter waiving my social security number and my golden FICO score over my head, and they had me wait for what seemed like a very long time. When the hold music finally became a ringing line, I grew excited that this ordeal would be over. Little did I know it was just beginning. A few clicks - and then, the familiar click of a call that's been lost. 
Certainly I was already quite a bit annoyed, but you know what it's like: how long can you go without a computer? I needed to complete the transaction. I tried calling back. This time I was given a toll-free number to dial for the the credit department call center. Unfortunately, the phone system isn't equipped to handle the calls of people who are trying to complete a transaction that was aborted by Dell's own systems. Thus, my saga continues as I attempted to find a "live" representative. (Does anyone actually ever ask to speak to "dead" representatives?)
Being a bill collector and setting up payment plans, this is scary. Dell is either to big to care about each sale or not checking up on who they outsource to. This is not good, payment should be a priority and customer service is right up there with that! Good luck!
Posted by: Michelle Dunn | June 27, 2006 3:04 PM | Permalink to Comment