Dell Delight? Not Quite...

Well, the hard drive on my laptop is dead. Of course, it happened while I was on the road, so no g-thoughts yesterday! Reflecting on the customer experience aspect of the circumstance, there are several areas I'd recommend to the fine makers of Dell computers:

Recommendation #1: Borrowing from the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, somewhere on the laptop itself there should be a prominently displayed message like the following, "Laptop busted? DON'T PANIC! Call this number now: 1-800-438-4357" (I just typed the numbers to 1-800-GET-HELP, which happens to be the number for Protection One, a security systems firm).

This recommendation makes sense, right? It's a LAPTOP! It's MOBILE! It's likely that when something inside goes sproing, the user will be away from home, away from documentation, and without the use of a computer to access dell.com. A cell phone, though, is likely close at hand, perhaps nestled comfortably in a pocket just waiting to be put to good use. Even if it's a smartphone with access to the web, a reassuring voice in a moment of need is better than "we'll respond to your Customer Service inquiry within 24 hours" or the like.

Who is the person arguing against putting a phone number for tech support on the bottom of a laptop? Or on the top of it? In bold letters on a neon sticker? It might be the guy saying, "but folks will think our computers break down a lot if we put that there."

I got news for you, Mr. Brand Positioning, computers do have issues... A lot. That's why companies have help desks, tech support, and oodles of back-up files for lost data. So, until you make a flawless computer, why not go for flawless support in times of trouble? Think of it as OnStar for 'puters. Trust me, it'll be appreciated.

Recommendation #2: This is an easy one. Don't allow your automated voice-response customer service phone system to hang up on a caller. Twice. Right after saying, "OK, I'll connect you to someone who can help." Bad form. Luckily, the third time I called and went through the menu choices I did get connected to a human being... In the wrong department.

Recommendation #3: When the automated system does connect, after taking in my Express Service Code which identifies my product and presumably who I am, don't connect me to the wrong department. Bad form again.

Fortunately, I got a very nice person in the wrong department. Very nice. And I was connected to another very nice person in the right department who was able to determine from the information I shared that yes, indeed, the hard drive needed replacing. He was even able to arrange for the new hard drive to be shipped, lickety-split, to my home. He was, however, completely in the dark about any questions regarding recovery of data from the recently deceased drive of harditude.

Recommendation #4: Arm technical support folks with answers to common questions, such as "Will I be able to recover any of my files from the bad drive?" Could be a great opportunity to turn a customer service call into a revenue moment.

Imagine being able to respond with "For a small charge, we can review the drive and provide you all recoverable data." There's a whole data recovery category with real services out there... Why not strike while the iron's hot? I'd have been delighted to hear about such a service instead of "I honestly don't know, you'll need to work with a local technician on that."

So here I sit, typing on my trusty old home PC that just keeps chugging along, while my one-month-old Dell laptop does its best imitation of a paper weight. Somehow, it just doesn't make sense.

And, despite some very competent individuals who did all they could to make my problem feel painless, the macro-level solution for this eventuality was quite poor. Rather than evangelizing about Dell's forethought and ability to delight even in times of trouble, I struggled to find answers, felt disregarded initially when I did reach out directly to the company, and am still curious about how much I can retrieve off my dead drive and at what cost. One opportunity lost, and perhaps an opportunity for the future identified.