The charger on my Dell laptop has been acting oddly lately. Sometimes it seems like my laptop doesn't hold a full charge, even though it's plugged in for the same amount of time every night while I sleep. My computer is only six months old, so whether the charger or the community is causing the issue — it's way too young to be experiencing these issues. Therefore, I went through my paperwork and found a phone number I could call for support. I didn't realize that I was calling an international support number, but in the end, it didn't matter because it routed me back to North America.
It may have worked out to my benefit because I was able to talk to someone in less than two minutes. You would think an international support line would have a longer wait time because it provides national support. Due to the popularity of Dell computers and laptops, I'm sure they get a lot of phone calls about technical support, returns, exchanges and other similar issues. Plus, it's right after the holidays, so there are probably a lot of people dealing with questions about new gifts, but they still had excellent customer service.
When I called, an automated voice answered, "Thanks for choosing Dell. Your call may be required for quality and training purposes. You’ve reached Dell international support for portable systems. If you are traveling outside your home country, choose the option that corresponds to your region. For North America, press 1. For South America, press 2. Europe, press 3. Asia Pacific or Japan, press 4. To repeat this message, press 7. As I said, I was a bit thrown by the international line, but I chose North America, and it was almost instant from there.
The same automated voice told me, "We are currently experiencing heavy call volume, and your wait time is estimated to be two minutes. Thanks again for waiting." It wasn't even one minute before a customer representative picked up. The only complaint that I had about the process was the thick accent of the agent. It was hard to understand him at times, and I had to ask him to repeat things and vice versa. I also ended up transferred to technical support, but by the end of the call, I had some direction on what to do and how to solve the issue. I'd use this number again because it's so fast, but I'd hope to get a slightly better agent.