You know we’re in a sad state of affairs when we call customer service and we’re happy to spend “just” 10 or 15 minutes waiting to talk to a human being. Other than saying a few choice words to your poor hapless customer service rep, there’s never been much you could do about it. That may change though, as the Albany County Supreme Court has set a stunning precedent by finding Dell guilty of failing to provide the adequate customer service that its clients expect — and pay for.
Many of Dell’s complainants were put on hold for unreasonable lengths of time, frequently transferred between service reps, and often disconnected without warning or explanation. Apparently it’s illegal to tell clients that tech support is available, and then make it ridiculously hard for them to use it.
On top of that, the court also found that Dell:
- Blamed tech problems on third-party software when the real problem was caused by Dell hardware;
- Delayed tech support until after a service contract was over, and then refused to offer any help because the contract had lapsed;
- Forced clients to wait up to a year for support — even if they had paid for “next-day” repair service;
- Sold products to people who thought they were eligible for zero-interest financing, and then charged them 30 percent interest;
- Invoiced people for orders that were cancelled or never authorized to begin with; and
- Illegally harassed people for payments they didn’t owe.
Wow. As a communications/public affairs guy, I’m glad I don’t work for Dell this afternoon. After writing this, there’s a good chance I never will.
From CIO:
The court will determine how much Dell will have to pay in restitution to affected customers and will also require Dell to pay the state of New York the profits it made on these deceptive practices. In addition, the ruling prohibits Dell and DFS from continuing to engage in the fraudulent activities.
The court laid out plans for investigating how many people have been affected as a way to determine restitution. Dell hopes that the court will find that only a few people had bad experiences. “We’re confident that when the proceedings are completed, the court will determine that only a relatively small number of customers have been affected,” Dell said in a statement. “We believe that our customer service levels are at or above industry standards.”
The sad thing is, they’re probably right — this may well be the industry standard. As a Dell laptop owner, I can certainly attest to the fact that other companies’ customer service is every bit as lousy as theirs.
The case, though, sets a fantastic precedent that could finally hold phone and cable companies, banks, ISPs, mobile providers and other frequent offenders accountable for the shoddy customer service they provide. If customer service is advertised, you should be able to avail yourself of it within a reasonable amount of time, and if it falls to the courts to determine what’s reasonable, well, so be it.
Via Slashdot.
0 responses so far ↓
There are no comments yet...Kick things off by filling out the form below.
Leave a Comment