Sorry for the somewhat racially insensitive title. My frustration stems from overseas outsourcing.
To make a long story short, I have fired my Dell sales representative. It seemed like I got a new one every three months and the first thing the new guy always wanted to know was how much I was going to spend and when. The motive is obvious. All of their account reps are looking to progress up the corporate ladder. If you can find the right clients who need things and work them properly ... your next promotion is just around the bend. Believe it or not firing your rep is not easy. Now whenever I need something I have to explain the whole story over so that I can be directed to a supervisor who will then direct me to their new hot salesperson.
I went through this long ordeal last week because I need a cable to hook up an obscure add on for one of their older servers. (a part which I ordered directly from Dell sans the cable needed to make it work) When I finally got to the new salesperson she promptly directed me to the parts dept. I can understand outsourcing tech support that requires question and preprogrammed answer, but when you outsource your sales you are taking a big risk. I was hung up on by two different salespeople. As soon as they realized this was not going to be an easy task, the phone just went dead. I, among other things, administer the phone system here, so I know it was not my equipment. I finally got a customer service person that was quite obviously not technical to help me. She sent a part, just not the right one. But, I have to say she was so nice and helpful that I can forgiver her for not knowing what she was talking about.
I have a task to complete, but no way to get there without this cable. Dell's desire to save a few bucks on labor is going to cost them someday.