Dell

First some tech/travel advice -- buy an extra power cord for your lap top computer if you travel a lot. Unfortunately I forgot the power cord for my Dell Latitude D505 lap top in Minnesota last week when I traveled to Brussels, Belgium. Upon arrival in Brussels on Monday I immediately contacted the Dell help line and was assured they would ship a power cord to my Brussels office by Wednesday via DHL. Despite my repeated follow up telephone calls and emails to Dell staff I never received my replacement cord nor was I told of the order status. One Dell staffer told me "sorry I can't help you that work group uses a different software than we do..........." and of course I could not buy a replacement cord at FNAC (the "Best Buy of France") since Dell apparently only makes such equipment available via them.

I recently read of Dell's accounting problems but after this poor customer service experience last week they clearly have operational problems. Given the commodization of computers further consolidation in the computer industry is becoming necessary so I hope Dell seeks opportunities to improve their global reach and customer service by merging with a superior provider.

The only communication I received I heard from Dell was the customer satisfaction survey via email which I have copied below for your consideration. Dell estimated it would take 5 to 7 minutes to complete which I did in the hope they will actually take action to fix their internal operations.

This week I am starting over to order the back up power cord so wish me luck. If anyone has a suggestion as to where I can buy a power cord from other than Dell please let me know.

Thanks,

Todd

DELL COMPUTER CUSTOMER SATISFACTION SURVEY:

Dear Valued Customer,
Thank you for contacting Dell Customer Care on 09/11/2006 with a question or need from Dell. We appreciate the opportunity to assist you and are interested in your feedback concerning our performance.
Dell has asked TNS Prognostics, a customer satisfaction research company in the IT industry, to help us conduct a survey regarding your experience. To help ensure we are providing expert assistance, please provide your feedback in this brief survey. This survey should take approximately 5 - 7 minutes to complete.
To complete the survey, please click on the web address below. If that does not work, copy and paste the entire web address into the address field of your browser.
https://dell.prognostics.com/s.asp?ID=1A8B00B657C04C1385D31CDC4CA3635C