Problems helping poor people

BSNL and other internet problems

Financial problems of retired people

Difficulties faced in getting loans

Breathing problems

Bookmark this page

 The ordering process for Dell laptops is very cumbersome. After  reading the advertisement, you call their toll free number and tell them that you are interested in ordering. You are first told there is "no discount". Then you are asked whether you are a business or home customer. You are told that there is no difference in the 2 except in the documentation.

The sales executive then emails a copy of the invoice/purchase order and declaration. You are supposed to take a printout, on your letterhead sign it (for a business purchase),sign it and then send it by fax or email a scanned copy back to Dell. A scanned copy of the at par  cheque or DD (for payment)  is also required to be sent to the Bangalore office of  Dell.

Since the manufacturing facility of Dell is located in Malaysia for products sold in India, order time for the laptop is 14 days, so you have to pay and then wait for 14 days. They start processing the order as soon as they receive a scanned copy of your cheque. You also have to send a copy of all these documents by courier to their Bangalore office.

The main difference compared to other multinational companies is that Dell is very rigid in their ordering procedure. If you ask for any additional information about the product you will be purchasing in advance, most companies are happy to provide the specifications or will at least try to help you. If the sales office is so uncooperative even before an order is placed, the service will be only worse after you make payment.

The Dell sales office is very rigid , they say that everything including their transporter name and packaged laptop dimensions are confidential. If you order a product from Dell, you will anyway know their transporter name. They also require a lot of paperwork (documentation) , which will take up a minimum of  2-3 hours. For a big number with a large number of secretaries and a accounting department, it may not matter, but for a small company or proprietorship firm it is a significant waste of time.

I am purchasing HP Compaq PCs  every year  for more than 4 years, this time I wanted to place an order on Dell. But after seeing the attitude of their sales executives,  I  purchased a HP Compaq laptop, where you pay by cheque only after delivery. There is no paperwork to be done, just sign the delivery challan.

I was asked to fill a survey by Dell asking why I did not purchase their laptop. Dell India should realize that you can conduct any number of surveys, but unless your sales people change their attitude towards customers, Dell computer sales will not increase.