Online or phone

I'm in the UK, and thinking of ordering an XPS. I've been told it's much
better to phone in an order, since they'll knock something off the price, or
give you free upgrades, but when I phoned, he gave me £50 but wouldn't
accept my 10% voucher, so I didn't go through with it. Is it worth trying
again, or shall I just order online? Is it generally better to order over
the phone?

Also, is there anyway to get through to an Irish call-centre rather than one
in India? Phoned five times, they're all the latter.

Cheers

"Watching Robots" wrote in message
...
I'm in the UK, and thinking of ordering an XPS. I've been told it's much
better to phone in an order, since they'll knock something off the price,
or give you free upgrades, but when I phoned, he gave me £50 but wouldn't
accept my 10% voucher, so I didn't go through with it. Is it worth trying
again, or shall I just order online? Is it generally better to order over
the phone?

Also, is there anyway to get through to an Irish call-centre rather than
one in India? Phoned five times, they're all the latter.

Cheers



I believe there are pros and cons to phoning in the order. Unfortunately,
having the call automatically routed to an Indian call center is one of the
negatives - primarily due to, imo, a much higher risk of miscommunication
and/or understanding.

Here in the states, it used to be that while you were nearly guaranteed a
domestic call center and hoped for a professional sales rep who might offer
up some "give and take" regarding price - many times one wound up with
someone who wouldn't budge on the price and, worse yet, attempted to add-on
and pile-on options and accessories that you really didn't need or care
about.

Part of the problem now is that profit margins are so small on most models
that there is simply little room to negotiate (other than on the XPS and the
most top-shelf systems) on the system itself. Perhaps one might be able to
get accessories or even extended warranty with a price break as those items
are probably larger profit avenues for OEM manufacturers now.

Those lower profit margins are the reason the overseas call centers exist in
the first place (lower expense).

Bottom line: I almost always order online with the benefit of a
coupon/voucher when possible. It's quick, it's accurate and generally a lot
less annoying.


Stew

On Mon, 28 Jan 2008 14:18:05 -0000, "Watching Robots"
wrote:

I'm in the UK, and thinking of ordering an XPS. I've been told it's much
better to phone in an order, since they'll knock something off the price, or
give you free upgrades, but when I phoned, he gave me £50 but wouldn't
accept my 10% voucher, so I didn't go through with it. Is it worth trying
again, or shall I just order online? Is it generally better to order over
the phone?

Also, is there anyway to get through to an Irish call-centre rather than one
in India? Phoned five times, they're all the latter.

Cheers


I prefer the India call center since I can't understand those Irish.
Just kidding. I have no experience with the Irish call center but
likely I'd understand them better unless they have a real heavy Irish
accent in which case I'll be in trouble.

On Mon, 28 Jan 2008 14:18:05 -0000, "Watching Robots"
wrote:

I'm in the UK, and thinking of ordering an XPS. I've been told it's much
better to phone in an order, since they'll knock something off the price, or
give you free upgrades, but when I phoned, he gave me £50 but wouldn't
accept my 10% voucher, so I didn't go through with it. Is it worth trying
again, or shall I just order online? Is it generally better to order over
the phone?

Also, is there anyway to get through to an Irish call-centre rather than one
in India? Phoned five times, they're all the latter.

Cheers

I NEVER phone in an order. At some point in the past, and maybe still
now, a phoned-in order ended up tied to that salesperson. To change
or cancel an order I was forced to go through the salesperson.

Once I changed a web order via phone and the salesperson, without my
permission, changed my web order to an order sold by him and he gave
himself a commission (something like and extra $26 charge showed up).

I've learned to never change an order. Always cancel and re-place the
order to avoid Dell Hell experiences.

On Mon, 28 Jan 2008 14:18:05 -0000, "Watching Robots"
wrote:

Also, is there anyway to get through to an Irish call-centre rather than one
in India? Phoned five times, they're all the latter.

And I personally will not (have not yet and don't want to) place an
order via an India sales center. I dislike everything that has to do
with that country, esp. the jobs they are taking but also the culture
with its caste system that relegates millions of people to "outcast"
status. F* that, they are people and all of them deserve respect and
a culture that does that is inhumane.

On Mon, 28 Jan 2008 23:54:25 -0600, Journey wrote:

On Mon, 28 Jan 2008 14:18:05 -0000, "Watching Robots"
wrote:

Also, is there anyway to get through to an Irish call-centre rather than one
in India? Phoned five times, they're all the latter.

And I personally will not (have not yet and don't want to) place an
order via an India sales center. I dislike everything that has to do
with that country, esp. the jobs they are taking but also the culture
with its caste system that relegates millions of people to "outcast"
status. F* that, they are people and all of them deserve respect and
a culture that does that is inhumane.


I won't argue about the caste system but I'm not so sure India is to
blame for taking jobs away. The US corporations are the ones
initiating the move to India to fill the jobs. Therefore I'd blame
the corporations first before I'd blame India for this. Next the US
govt. may be also to blame because I think the tax laws favor this
behavior (I'm not well educated on the tax laws but I thought I heard
this on CNN a few months ago).

On Tue, 29 Jan 2008 12:39:35 -0600, RnR wrote:

On Mon, 28 Jan 2008 23:54:25 -0600, Journey wrote:

On Mon, 28 Jan 2008 14:18:05 -0000, "Watching Robots"
wrote:

Also, is there anyway to get through to an Irish call-centre rather than one
in India? Phoned five times, they're all the latter.

And I personally will not (have not yet and don't want to) place an
order via an India sales center. I dislike everything that has to do
with that country, esp. the jobs they are taking but also the culture
with its caste system that relegates millions of people to "outcast"
status. F* that, they are people and all of them deserve respect and
a culture that does that is inhumane.


I won't argue about the caste system but I'm not so sure India is to
blame for taking jobs away. The US corporations are the ones
initiating the move to India to fill the jobs. Therefore I'd blame
the corporations first before I'd blame India for this. Next the US
govt. may be also to blame because I think the tax laws favor this
behavior (I'm not well educated on the tax laws but I thought I heard
this on CNN a few months ago).

I agree about the world-wide macro forces. If I were a foreigner I
wouldn't have such a positive view of the U.S. or maybe even the
stereotype of its citizens. I hate the class system in the U.S.
almost as much as I do the one in India. Let's give a 900 billion tax
break to the rich as our national debt passes 9 trillion.

The part that I dislike most is that if I am forced to talk to a
support person in India I feel like I am participating in the transfer
of jobs. I'd rather resist. That comes down to taking my business
elsewhere though and I want to stick with Dell. Hopefully Small
Business support will stay in the U.S.

On Tue, 29 Jan 2008 19:52:01 -0600, Journey wrote:

On Tue, 29 Jan 2008 12:39:35 -0600, RnR wrote:

On Mon, 28 Jan 2008 23:54:25 -0600, Journey wrote:

On Mon, 28 Jan 2008 14:18:05 -0000, "Watching Robots"
wrote:

Also, is there anyway to get through to an Irish call-centre rather than one
in India? Phoned five times, they're all the latter.

And I personally will not (have not yet and don't want to) place an
order via an India sales center. I dislike everything that has to do
with that country, esp. the jobs they are taking but also the culture
with its caste system that relegates millions of people to "outcast"
status. F* that, they are people and all of them deserve respect and
a culture that does that is inhumane.


I won't argue about the caste system but I'm not so sure India is to
blame for taking jobs away. The US corporations are the ones
initiating the move to India to fill the jobs. Therefore I'd blame
the corporations first before I'd blame India for this. Next the US
govt. may be also to blame because I think the tax laws favor this
behavior (I'm not well educated on the tax laws but I thought I heard
this on CNN a few months ago).

I agree about the world-wide macro forces. If I were a foreigner I
wouldn't have such a positive view of the U.S. or maybe even the
stereotype of its citizens. I hate the class system in the U.S.
almost as much as I do the one in India. Let's give a 900 billion tax
break to the rich as our national debt passes 9 trillion.

The part that I dislike most is that if I am forced to talk to a
support person in India I feel like I am participating in the transfer
of jobs. I'd rather resist. That comes down to taking my business
elsewhere though and I want to stick with Dell. Hopefully Small
Business support will stay in the U.S.


Regardless of the reason, I too don't like our jobs being outsourced.
What I'm starting to hear in some cases, is that the quality of work
or goods is suffering due to lack of controls (such as toys) which is
a cost not anticipated so perhaps outsourcing isn't the golden goose
afterall. Anyway I'd like to see a lot less outsourcing and I'd like
to see good old American quality returning to the consumer. If I had
to, I'd be willing to pay more money for this but I know this is not
easy for those hurting right now.