Dell doesn’t understand the difference between business hours support and 24×7 support. Dell’s website states “We will respond to your sales e-mail inquiries within two business hours, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week!” Wow, what excellent service.

On reader thumpasor’s suggestion, we sent Dell an innocent email asking if they could provide sales support for a server purchase at 2am. Dell responded with the following email:

subject RE: Dell Small Business Online Order Question #AutoReply#

***THIS IS AN AUTOMATICALLY GENERATED ACKNOWLEDGEMENT — DO NOT REPLY***

We have received your message and look forward to serving you.
Our e-mail technicians should respond with in 2 hours of receipt of your message.

Please note that our agents hours of operation are M-F, between the hours of 8am – 5pm CST.

8am-5pm? We’re not good with math, but we’re pretty sure that’s less than 24 hours.

Dell clarifies their hours, after the jump…

---

Dell responded to our email thirty minutes later.

Mr./Mrs. Greenberg-Berger:

Thank you for choosing Dell. You have reached the Small to Medium Business Online Order Resolution team.

Please contact our Customer Care Department at 800-456-3355 extension 7268938 for further assistance in this regard. Our Representatives are available between 7am to 7pm CST Monday through Friday and they will be glad to assist you.

Thank you for choosing Dell.

Respectfully,

SMB Online Sales
Dell, Inc.

7am-7pm? Wasn’t it 8am-5pm in the last email? Our androgynous name confuses many, but we didn’t think it could muddle time. Until now.

Which is it, Dell? Do you leave small businesses in the dark for 15 hours per day, or 12? — Mr. CAREY GREENBERG-BERGER (Thanks to thumpasor!)

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