A conversation with Dell
I just got off a chat with Dell customer support. I'm not going to provide comments and leave you to learn what you will from it. I've removed my email address for obvious reasons. Enjoy.
| 5:38:04 PM |  | Michael K | Initial Question/Comment: Please stop sending advertisements |
| 5:38:09 PM |  | System | You are now being connected to an agent. Thank you for using Dell Chat |
| 5:38:09 PM | | System | Connected with CU_Rep_Mylyne |
| 5:38:35 PM |  | CU_Rep_Mylyne | Welcome to Dell Sales Chat. My name is Myles . Ill be your personal sales agent today. What may i help you purchase? |
| 5:39:02 PM | | Michael K | Stop sending me advertisements |
| 5:39:05 PM | | CU_Rep_Mylyne | You can also email us at us_dhs_chat_reply@dell.com. We are available from 8am-11pm CST, Monday-Sunday. Rest assured that we’ll get back to you as soon as possible. |
| 5:39:31 PM | | CU_Rep_Mylyne | sure im gonna put a note on your profile . |
| 5:40:06 PM | | CU_Rep_Mylyne | but in order for me to do that i need to get the phone number so i can pull up your account and put a note on it . |
| 5:40:25 PM | | Michael K | You don't have an account for me. I've never purchased a Dell, and I never would. |
| 5:42:07 PM | | CU_Rep_Mylyne | alright im sorry for that . |
| 5:42:42 PM | | CU_Rep_Mylyne | well request to stop sending an advertisement to you . |
| 5:42:58 PM | | Michael K | What? |
| 5:43:01 PM | | CU_Rep_Mylyne | will there be anything else i can help you aside from that ? |
| 5:43:03 PM | | Michael K | Use punctuation |
| 5:44:32 PM | | CU_Rep_Mylyne | oh im sorry for that we are kinda having volumes of chat right now , and im sorry for the error . |
| 5:45:14 PM | | Michael K | "kinda"? Are you eleven years-old? |
| 5:46:32 PM | | CU_Rep_Mylyne | oh im sory michael for that . |
| 5:46:52 PM | | CU_Rep_Mylyne | will there be anything else i can help you ? |
| 5:47:05 PM | | Michael K | Yes. Stop sending me advertising material. |
| 5:48:02 PM | | CU_Rep_Mylyne | yes michael |
| 5:48:54 PM | | CU_Rep_Mylyne | are we still connected ? |
| 5:48:58 PM | | Michael K | "Yes Michael" what? Are you going to stop? Have you already removed me from your mailing list? |
| 5:50:17 PM | | CU_Rep_Mylyne | yes just put a note on it |
| 5:50:31 PM | | Michael K | Put a note on what? How could you possibly have done that if I haven't given you my full name or email address? |
| 5:52:13 PM | | CU_Rep_Mylyne | it shows here a last name kaan? |
| 5:52:34 PM | | Michael K | No |
| 5:52:58 PM | | CU_Rep_Mylyne | is that the one ? may i have your last name please or email address |
| 5:53:15 PM | | Michael K | MYEMAILNAME+gamesforwin@THISISWHEREIGETMYEMAIL.com |
| 5:55:13 PM | | CU_Rep_Mylyne | may i have the copmplete address please |
| 5:55:27 PM | | Michael K | That is the complete address. What are you missing? |
| 5:55:38 PM | | CU_Rep_Mylyne | i mean complete address please ? |
| 5:55:48 PM | | Michael K | Again, I ask. What is missing? |
| 5:58:39 PM | | CU_Rep_Mylyne | it shows different address on the same name . |
| 5:59:39 PM | | CU_Rep_Mylyne | i need the complete address you shows up your profile michael so i can put a note there |
| 5:59:44 PM | | CU_Rep_Mylyne | are we still connected |
| 5:59:54 PM | | Michael K | I don't have a profile |
| 6:00:12 PM | | Michael K | You do not have my home address |
| 6:00:30 PM | | Michael K | Just take the email address I gave you, and remove me from all mailing lists you have |
| 6:00:40 PM | | Michael K | It's really not that difficult to understand |
| 6:02:27 PM | | Michael K | Not if you're telling the truth |
| 6:04:19 PM | | CU_Rep_Mylyne | im so sorry for the inconvinient . but i already put a note that you dont want to recieve an advertisement from us . |
| 6:04:24 PM | | System | CU_Rep_Mylyne has left this session! |
| 6:04:24 PM | | System | The session has ended! |
Labels: customerservice, dell, dumbpeople, whybother
posted by Michael at 5:45 PM
3 Comments:
These were the comments I left on their feedback survey:
Please hire employees who:
* Actually read what the customer says, and tries to understand what his or her needs.
* Speak English properly.
* Can form a complete and grammatically correct sentence.
* Avoid youthful slang, unless the customer is obviously a child, or does not seem to mind informal chat language.
Not that it wasn't entertaining at your expense to read that exchange, but isn't there some sort of 'unsubscribe me' link in the spam you get?
BTW, have you ever chatted with the Overstock.com people? It's quite futile as well, but at least you got the sense they tried. Here, you almost wish Dell didn't.
Great question, Will.
Here's the problem:
Take a look back at the email address I gave them and you'll notice that there's a "+gamesforwin" following the name segment of the email address. I'm not sure what the technical term for it is, but it's a tracking mechanism. It lets me tag my email address with extra information, and if mail is sent using it, I can know how my address was obtained.
In this case it was a "free" magazine subscription to Games For Windows Magazine (and yes, there's a ton of Microsoft advertising in it), though they do make a terrific attempt at making you think they are "fair and balanced" (e.g. in the current issue they slammed a piece of Microsoft-branded hardware for being the lump of junk it is).
Back to the question- the email may or not have come from Dell- it has an "@homeandhomeoffice.dell.com" from address, but that's easy to forge. Whatever the case, the unsubscribe link went to: http://dhs.r.delivery.net/r/c/
That's where I lose faith in the link, and why I won't click it. If you haven't figured it out yet, writing to that address (especially with the extra identifying information tacked onto the link) is the best way of confirming that the email address exists, to the benefit of SPAMmers.
And my goal is ("kinda") opposite to helping them send me more advertising. Hence the need for phone/chat. And the phones were very busy.
Thanks for the Overstock note. I never got that far with them- stopping at second base or so. Check out the following review I wrote: http://www.epinions.com/content_406658453124
Not my highest ranking review there, but one I've needed to write for a while (and feel much better having done).
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