Dell – useless useless useless

Go to the home pages of Dell.com.au or Dell.co.nz or Dell.com and search for “30 inch monitor”

Marvel at the results.

Well don’t bother actually – as here are those results.

On Dell.com you use this search box.
dell

and get a nice list of 30 inch monitors. No surprise there. There are even some NEC models shown.
dell

For the downunder sites the search box says “Keyword search”.
Dell NZ
No idea why. Perhaps it is because it doesn’t actually work. Note how the phone support phrases are different as well.

So let’s see the results. You know this isn’t going to be good.

On Dell.co.nz you get this – three error reports containing the search phrase. I really wanted to buy a monitor, and these error messages are kind of scary.
Dell nz

On Dell.com.au it’s even worse – I have no idea how the search found these two printers, and nothing else.
dell au

As an aside those printer photos and descriptions are completely useless. Oh and those two printers – are actually the same  model posted in different sections of the site.

This cannot be that hard to get right – yes search is hard, but for goodness sake the mother-site is working well.

I am continuously staggered and saddened by Dell’s descent, over the last few years, into usability hell. Fail.

9 Responses to “Dell – useless useless useless”


  1. 1 Dan March 9, 2009 at 10:06 pm

    This isn’t so much related to Dell’s site usability as it is to Dell’s usability in general.

    I have a Dell Inspiron 9300 notebook that is about 4 years old now (bought in NZ). I used to swear by Dell; bought their products and recommended/spoke highly of them to everyone (this is until I became a Mac user, but that’s not Dell’s fault).

    The graphics adapter died (fan stopped working and it overheated). I can’t get technical support. Every channel I try refuses me, saying my product is out of warranty (which is true). So I tried contacting plain old customer services. I’m not currently in NZ, so don’t want to call, so tried their online contact form. I got an automated response saying I’d attempted to contact them outside business hours (I’m 12 hours out here in Europe) but that someone would get back to me in 2-3 business days. A week later, I’d heard nothing. So I tried again; another automated message and another week later and still nothing.

    Sucks sucks sucks!

    Of course I can’t get any answers from Dell here in Europe, because my machine has an Asia-Pacific service tag, and I don’t want to go through the administrative hell that would be trying to transfer it, especially since I’ll be back in NZ in a few months.

    I think I’ll just buy the parts from eBay and fit them myself. Will probably be easier than trying to deal with a company that doesn’t care about me.

    Customer Service is nearly always the weakest link of large companies. You see it nearly everywhere.

  2. 2 billbennettnz March 10, 2009 at 8:25 am

    I’ve been through the same Dell service hell after moving back to New Zealand from Australia. The two countries are serviced from the same building and yet Dell New Zealand would not recognise an Australian service tag. The machine in now four years old and ready for replacement — it won’t be another Dell.

  3. 3 Marinkina May 22, 2009 at 11:44 am

    Качество друзей тоже надо учитывать. Дональд Трамп, например, на двадцатку потянет.

  4. 4 Cederash May 24, 2009 at 8:41 am

    Что ж… и такое мнение допустимо. Хотя, думаю, возможны и другие варианты, так что не огорчайтесь.

  5. 5 Ferinannnd May 25, 2009 at 5:38 am

    Огромное человеческое спасибочки !

  6. 6 good soft October 9, 2009 at 4:19 am

    Всем здрасте! хороший материальчик получился, проглядел с большим удовольствием.

  7. 7 FaxprarlNex October 24, 2009 at 10:49 am

    Добротно сделано, контент порадовал, сам на многие блоги и не зашёл бы никогда… А ваш радует полезной информацией.

  8. 8 Immedoappedus January 13, 2010 at 7:17 am

    Хорошо написал. Так держать!!! :)


  1. 1 Empowered to say ‘No’ « two seven Trackback on March 23, 2009 at 2:22 am

Leave a Reply




Kiwis - Get $20 of free Electricity! from FlowerPower at Powershop. Sign up

Selected Businesses

allaboutthestory : Writers & editors

Chanui : NZ's finest tea

Lingopal : iPhone translation with a twist

Spread It : Advertisers - spread the word

Tweets

History

 Subscribe in another RSS reader

Disclaimer These opinions are my own, and not that of any of my current or former clients.

added 13 Jan 2009 Site Meter