Dell moves outsourced jobs back to U.S. shores (Taking The "Delhi" Out Of Dell)

Forbes ^ | April 28, 2004 | Elizabeth Corcoran

[Enduring Freedom]

Dell moves outsourced jobs back to U.S. shores

Computer maker loses quality cushion between H-P, other rivals

By Elizabeth Corcoran

Updated: 1:04 p.m. ET April 28, 2004

Dell moved product support for business accounts from India back to the U.S. It seems some customers were not happy with the prior arrangement.

Dell can assemble and ship a new computer for a customer in 24 hours. But it took six months for the company to get Karen Anderson's name right. Anderson, who lives in Calistoga, Calif., endured dozens of phone calls before Dell issued her a promised $200 rebate for a computer she ordered last October. Dell also gave her the wrong Internet service provider. And her printer broke. "I just want to scream when I see Dell's TV commercials," Anderson fumes.

Dell is number one in the PC industry, but recently has been earning more than its share of complaints. Last year it shipped 5.4 million personal computers in the U.S., ahead of rival H-P, which shipped 5.2 million, according to IDC. Dell's high marks for quality notwithstanding, it has unhappy campers.

Last year the central Texas Better Business Bureau logged 3,726 complaints against Dell from consumers throughout the U.S. That's up threefold from 2001, a period in which Dell's sales volume grew two and a half times. H-P earned only 1,362 complaints nationwide for that entire three-year period, according to the Better Business Bureau of the Silicon Valley. Last year the Texas attorney general's office logged 504 complaints against Dell and Dell Financial, more than double the pace of 2002. Complaints about the Round Rock, Texas firm for the first four months of this year are running even with last year's.

[Enduring Freedom]

My understanding is Michael Dell didn't want the company renamed "Delhi" (as in India).

Not a bad name though - perhaps it will stick!

[CzarNicky]

Poor Indians hit by outsourcing.

[Texasforever]

This is the answer to outsourcing. Let the market work. Those that want "government solutions" have a problem with that concept.

[woofie]

amen

[Barlowmaker]

Folks who depend on customer service for microcomputer use have a myriad of personal problems that transcend outsourcing.

[Enduring Freedom]

Couldn't agree more. The market is efficient.

If I were Dell or a shareholder, the prospect of being forever known as "Delhi" is not only ominous, it is downright catastrophic.

Imagine the millions of dollars in advertising and goodwill that would perish overnight!

Next, the Leftist media must be undermined, and/or brought back to balance.

Any good ideas out there?

[Agnes Heep]

Folks who depend on customer service for microcomputer use have a myriad of personal problems that transcend outsourcing.

You speak sooth.

[truth_seeker]

My present desktop is from Dell, and I couldn't be happier.

This wise move by Dell, cements me as an excellent future prospect.

[DustyMoment]

The problem is that Delhi wants to continue outsourcing to "other countries" despite the setbacks they have had in their India operations.

We can bring the jobs back tot he US if we put continued heat and pressure on American manufacturers and give up our Wal-Mart mentality.

If you want a quality product/service, you have to be willing to pay for it. That's what makes the difference between a Cadillac and a Yugo. One is still on the road; one isn't. You do the math.

[MN_Mike]

Don't tell Lou Dobbs, he'll have to invent a new gambit.

[BykrBayb]

I've been buying HP computers and equipment for years, and have been very happy with them. Until a month ago. I bought an a530n pc. Two weeks and three days later, the hard drive crashed. I've been arguing with Indians several times per day since then. At the moment, I have their promise that they will ship me a new tower, and I should get it in about 10 days. I'm not holding my breath, because they have made and broken several promises in the past couple weeks. They even demanded I give them my credit card number 4 times before they would send me a replacement hard drive, which they never sent. I paid extra to have memory added and some programs installed. HP will not reimburse me for that, or pay to have those upgrades to the tower they claim they're sending me. I'm hoping to buy my husband a new computer in June. What brand should I buy? I'd appreciate some input from anyone with knowledge.

[Pure Country]

Folks who depend on customer service for microcomputer use have a myriad of personal problems that transcend outsourcing.

What has that got to do with trying to get a rebate back? And.......some of us just know enough about computers to get on Free Republic and function on eBay.

You know, we're just too old to pour any more modern tech into our feeble minds...Wait til you experience the "sieve effect" of old age. You pour it in and it leaks out! LOL!!!! My kids and grandkids just laugh and shake their heads at me. You see, I thought the microwave was complicated!

[BykrBayb]

You see, I thought the microwave was complicated!

I take it you've figured it out? Would you please explain it to me? And while you're at it, could you set the clock on my VCR?

[Sender]

any good ideas out there?

Last year the central Texas Better Business Bureau logged 3,726 complaints...

Customer feedback at work. The next time you get connected to a foreign country, take the time to complain to someone.

[Pure Country]

You see, I thought the microwave was complicated!

I take it you've figured it out? Would you please explain it to me? And while you're at it, could you set the clock on my VCR?

Oh my goodness sakes "NO"! My answering machine is off by about 5 hours and I have not a clue as to how to fix it. Then, I have trouble with the remote on the TV and the one on the stereo. I just get up and change the things--good exercise, you know. I didn't even know there was a clock on the VCR, LOL! Like I said, if it wasn't for the kids and the grandkids, this granny would be up a creek!

I still have that voice on my answering machine that answers for me cause I don't know how to put my voice on it. The kids come and have me record and it works for a while until the electricity goes out and it resets back to that strange man. Oh well, such is life!

[Fred Hayek]

That is certainly a change for the worse with HP, if what you describe is a recent experience. In 1998 I had a hard drive crash due to a power outage (this was before I had a UPS). HP sent a tech to my home to replace the hard drive within two days. That level of service won me over to HP at the time. What you describe now is not good. One the other had, I just purchased a Dell Inspiron notebook, Dell set it up as a dual boot Windows 2000 Pro/Windows XP Pro (I use a lot of Rockwell Automation's software in field service, some of the device drivers to communicate with industrial automation systems do not work well with XP, per Rockwell/Allen Bradley). In both cases, HP for my home office, Dell as my field PC, they were not cheap, however, my livelyhood depends on them.

[traumer]

How refreshing reading !!

[chronic_loser]

I shake my head when people say they like HP. Their machines suck. Their components are worse. I DO still like some of their printers. I have nothing but contempt for their customer "service" (no 800 number, that tell u something on the front end).

I own a small ins brokerage, and bot a machine from them several years ago. The drive died, and I pulled it out, put another one in it, restored the software, fired the machine up, and called them to replace it. They refused to do so UNLESS I MAILED THE WHOLE MACHINE BACK. I told them I could not do so, as we were using the machine. The idiots wound up refusing to honor the warranty on the drive because THEIR "technicians" (one of whom did not know what a master boot record was)had to pull the drive from the machine.
Second, I have two cd/rw drives from hp. THEY STILL HAVE NO DAMN DRIVERS ON THE WEBSITE for it, although they will be happy to charge you 10 dollars to mail you a cd.
Third, I have the same story on a printer (laserjet 3200. They now have drivers on hp.com, but when xp came out, they were a year getting the drivers on the website. I had to pay to get a cd mailed to me.
I bought a scanner from hp because it had an adf. Horrible mistake. Would NOT cooperate with our imaging stuff (Paperport), drivers repeatedly corrupted and needed to be reinstalled, jammed. THANK GOD I bot it locally from a Gateway store and they just took it back. I went back to visioneer and canon for our scanners.
Finally, I bot 4 dells about a year ago. Excellent machines. Easy to upgrade, not much proprietary stuff if you have to tinker with them, and the Customer Service (I had a small problem with a server) is OUTSTANDING.

My advice for folks is that HP makes some good printers and networking stuff, but avoid anything else like the plague. The tech support is a bunch of stupid script-monkeys (they read you the manual), and you have to wait on hold on your toll call just to talk to the idiots in the first place. I will NEVER buy anything other than print or print server networking equipment from them again!

Just my rant.

[N3WBI3]

But government providing the infrastructure for free trade and ignoring the only constitutional method of revenue collection is ok, do you miss that concept??

[traumer]

I second that.
However, I had to have a hard disk replaced (in warranty)- and I still remember the HELL with the indian 'technical support'...