Tricklin

A few weeks back, I wrote a journal entry about how I had some extremely bad customer service experiences lately. These experiences were so bad, that I thought customer service was dead. Wow, was I wrong! I just had an absolutely amazing customer service experience. Not to mention, it was from a rather large corporation. You may have heard of them. Does the name Dell ring a bell?

Dell Rocks!

I recently purchased a laptop from Dell as a graduation gift for a family member. Part of the purchase included a mail-in rebate offer as incentive to make the purchase. Well, it worked. However, one needs access to the packing slip, and to send this, along with the rebate form, to the rebate center within 30 days of the package being shipped. Since this was a gift, having access to the packing slip was a problem. Not to mention the 30 days had already past. After realizing this, I thought it couldn't hurt to at least contact customer service to see if the rules could be bent a tiny bit. Dell recommended using their online chat program to relay my issue. So, I complied, and after filling in some fields was immediately taken to a customer service representative. I must admit, I was not expecting to get very far, as I was pretty much to blame, but I went through with it anyway. And boy am I glad I did. This online chat service that they offer is fantastic. And the actual customer service I received was top notch. See for yourself:

06/20/2006 11:33:25AM Agent (Shalini XXXX): "How may I assist you today?"
06/20/2006 11:33:56AM Me: "The $XXX rebate on the laptop I recently purchased has expired..."
06/20/2006 11:34:18AM Me: "the issue is that this was purchased as a gift for my brother-in-law who recently graduated..."
06/20/2006 11:34:39AM Me: "meaning getting access to the packing slip is somewhat of an issue."
06/20/2006 11:35:14AM Me: "are there any acceptions to the 30 day rule?"
06/20/2006 11:35:27AM Me: "i'd hate to lose out on $XXX"
06/20/2006 11:35:47AM Agent (Shalini XXXX): "Let me check this for you, right away. For verification purposes, may I have your complete address and phone number?"
06/20/2006 11:35:54AM Me: "sure"
06/20/2006 11:36:27AM Me: "..."
06/20/2006 11:37:31AM Agent (Shalini XXXX): "Thank you for the information."
06/20/2006 11:37:45AM Me: "you're welcome"
06/20/2006 11:39:26AM Agent (Shalini XXXX): "Patrick, ideally, a rebate should be claimed within 30 days from the date of purchase. The invoice date is mm-dd-yy. The rebate for $XXX expired on mm-dd-yy."
06/20/2006 11:40:06AM Me: "yeah. i was afraid of that..."
06/20/2006 11:40:18AM Me: "can any acceptions to the policy be made?"
06/20/2006 11:40:19AM Agent (Shalini XXXX): "However, I'll make an exception in your case. Since you are over the 30 day period, I will ensure you get your rebate check by calling up the Rebate Department and requesting them to expedite the rebate for you. Would that be fine?"
06/20/2006 11:40:38AM Me: "exceptions, rather."
06/20/2006 11:41:54AM Agent (Shalini XXXX): "Please allow me 2-3 minutes while I call the Rebate Department and check with them, right away."
06/20/2006 11:42:13AM Me: "okay. thank you very much for your time"
06/20/2006 11:42:23AM Me: "i appreciate it very much"
06/20/2006 11:43:20AM Agent (Shalini XXXX): "Thank you for staying online."
06/20/2006 11:43:45AM Me: "no problem"
06/20/2006 11:43:55AM Agent (Shalini XXXX): "I have checked with the Rebate Department and have requested them to expedite the rebate for you."
06/20/2006 11:44:02AM Agent (Shalini XXXX): "The rebate checks will be mailed to your billing address within 15 business days."
06/20/2006 11:44:34AM Agent (Shalini XXXX): "The tracking number to check the status of the rebate is XXXX."
06/20/2006 11:44:46AM Agent (Shalini XXXX): "You may call Rebate department at: 1-800-XXX-XXXX or visit http://dell.rebatestatus.com to check the status of rebate application."
06/20/2006 11:44:54AM Agent (Shalini XXXX): "Is there anything else I can assist you with?"
06/20/2006 11:45:01AM Me: "oh wow"
06/20/2006 11:45:07AM Me: "thank you so very much"
06/20/2006 11:45:16AM Agent (Shalini XXXX): "You are welcome. It is a pleasure to be of assistance to a valued dell customer like you."
06/20/2006 11:45:18AM Agent (Shalini XXXX): "Have I been able to resolve your issue to your satisfaction today on this chat interaction?"
06/20/2006 11:45:28AM Me: "absolutely"
06/20/2006 11:45:32AM Me: "this is great"
06/20/2006 11:45:35AM Me: "thank you so much"
06/20/2006 11:45:37AM Agent (Shalini XXXX): "Thank you so much."
06/20/2006 11:45:45AM Agent (Shalini XXXX): "You are most welcome."
06/20/2006 11:45:50AM Agent (Shalini XXXX): "Thank you for visiting Dell Consumer Customer Care online chat and allowing me the opportunity to assist you. I have included your case # XXXX to reference our interaction today. Please keep this on file; it will assist you when contacting Dell Inc"
06/20/2006 11:45:52AM Me: "what a wonderful experience"
06/20/2006 11:45:52AM Agent (Shalini XXXX): "Thank you and have a nice day!"
06/20/2006 11:45:58AM Me: "you too"
06/20/2006 11:45:58AM Agent (Shalini XXXX): "Thank you."

The reason I was able to provide the above chat log, was because when we were finished, Dell sent an e-mail to me containing the entire session! Yet another great service they provide.

In short, I would like to give a big THANK YOU to Shalini, at Dell. You've made my day! Just when you think customer service is a thing of the past, something like this happens, and gives us all hope.

Thanks Dell, you rock!