I at one time worked in the Pro Support department for a year before I moved tf on from that god aweful job..
But I'm curious with all the layoffs in IT/tech support, is there even a US based Pro support team anymore?
I remember that one of the differences between pro support and pro support PLUS was that with PLUS, you were GUARENTEED to talk with someone in the USA.
@e3 Which is funny because - at least when I was in PS in 2017... - we were told one of the main positives is that anybody who signs up for PS or PSP is GUARENTEED to talk to a NA employee.
I'll be damned if I pay a few hundred bucks for support and have to talk to some Indian who I can't understand and he/she barely understands English.
@aa Yeah, I worked in pro support for a year and we ALL did pro support AND pro support Plus. The only difference is the way we'd answer the phone - Thanks for calling Dell pro support - versus "thanks for calling Dell pro support Plus" lol. Otherwise, they were getting the SAME people except we'd see what their waranty was and what they were paying for.
@cf Trust me, I know your predicament... I was in Pro Support/PSP for a solid year and was by far the most technical person on my team but couldn't keep up with the stupid CONSTANT emails we were required to send lol. To me personally, I felt like I was straight up harassing customers with "follow up" emails so often. I mean, ONE follow email is fine but like back in 2017 I think it was 3 or something... one a day for 3 days straight. That cr-p is block worthy to me if I were the customer. Leave me tf alone! I'll contact YOU if I need more help but jfc, leave me tf alone already!
As for the phone login bs, I hated that. ONE minute late and it was docked against you. Logging in too early was docked against you. Logging out a minute before shift ends was docked, logging out minutes after your shift was docked. EVERYTHING was docked.
I remember running into the office sometimes so I could login and not be a minute "late." My life revolved around a fkng PHONE login.
I was a network guy and didn't give two F's about staying in PS but I figured I could move into the networking world at Dell at some point which is why I took the job. Yeah well, no. You can't. At best you can move to the "networking" side of PS lol... no fkn thanks.
I was put on a PIP at some point for not keeping up with the harassment emails lol. I honestly tried my best but like, wasn't good enough apparently. Did that bs for 3 or 4 months and my manager - who was SUPER cool - basically told me there was very little way I'd pass and gave me two options: 1 - continue with the PIP and fail, which means no severance AND it goes on your Dell HR record; or 2 - quit today and he'd pay me for the next month; and that PIP would have never happened.
I chose the second option because at this point I was just done with that bs job. I also didn't want a bad mark on my name in case I ever DID go back to Dell.
Well, 2 years later I DID go back to Dell and in my dream job/position. Cyber Security. IL'm doing exactly what I've been wanting to do and wanted to do, at a fortune 500 company and make pretty good money. Started at a great base pay, have the best manager I've ever had in my career, every single person I work with is amazing, and the pure flexibility of my job is insane.
I do wonder if I had stuck around at the PS job and finished out the PIP - and failed - if I would have been hired 2 years later...
If you want a north american you have to get DSE for an additional cost - otherwise practice the "needfull".
Crapification continues across the board, both inside and outside of Dell. Need to max out stock prices before the next recession.
@d4 disagree, am in medtech and we do everything possible for our customers.
Plus is better! They get SAMS!… who do nothing but shift work… and have little to no understanding of the inner workings of support…
There is no more "do right by the customer" at any company these days. I have friends that are in different industries and they are experiencing exactly what Tech is experiencing which is how much can I cut.
Dell has fully embraced the concept of making everything we do worse to save money, at the expense of our customers and our employees. Isn't one of our culture code principles "do right by our customers"? Dell is failing at that... Our products, support, services, documentation, education are all worse due to the never ending cut backs. At what point do customers say "f you" and move to our competitors? But I suppose our competitors are doing the exact same thing? Seems that's every company and every industry. But hey, our stock price is up and Jeff Clarke is worth an extra few tens of millions... so it's worth it.
Over the past several months, the FTS policy has been used to justify hiring additional personnel from India to join the U.S. team. While this has been presented as a strategic business decision, it has coincided with a major shift in our responsibilities. Our team is now required to handle calls from across the globe, often with customers who do not speak English, while simultaneously managing all contracts from PS to PSP to PSONE. This change has effectively transformed us into a global support team without any structural or staffing adjustments to support the increased workload.
There is growing concern among employees that the U.S. team may be phased out in the near future. Despite repeated encouragement from our directors to pursue advancement opportunities, many of us have found that progression within the company is not based on merit or performance, but rather on personal connections. Multiple emails have been sent to upper management outlining these issues; however, none have received a response or acknowledgment. This lack of engagement has left many team members feeling disregarded and undervalued.
The current work environment has become increasingly unsustainable. From the moment employees log in, calls are continuous, leaving little to no time to complete essential callbacks or follow-ups. As a result, workloads are excessively high, and burnout has become widespread. Many team members are taking frequent sick days or struggling to maintain performance, which only increases the pressure on those remaining. Additionally, the company’s strict zero-tolerance policy regarding high RDR rates discourages employees from managing their workload responsibly, as they fear disciplinary action for metrics that are often beyond their control.
There is also a perception among staff that the current management strategy is designed to push U.S. employees to resign voluntarily so that they can be replaced by lower-cost personnel overseas. We have observed an increasing number of resignations, which seems to reinforce this concern. The overall focus has shifted from quality customer service to call quantity, which compromises both employee well-being and service standards.
There's a tiny, ever-dwindling US-based pro support team. It'll probably be completely gone and outsourced within the next 2 years at the absolute most, unless the perennial "next quarter we lay off everyone" rumors come true before then.
For my group there's absolutely no difference in who provides support between pro support and plus. We just charge the customers to have the "plus" on the contract so they can have warm fuzzy feelings. We used to have a "expert" group of support engineers that handled all customers with the plus contract, but that group was dissolved in 2016.
@a1 Fed support can't be offshored though lol... Outsourced yes. Offshored to India or xyz country? Nope.
Every single person who works in Fed is vetted with a more extensive background check, MUST live IN the US and MUST be a US citizen.
If I were to call into Fed Support tomorrow, I know for 100% that I'll be speaking to someone in the US. Chances are, I've worked with them numerous times as well..
Mostly just for Fed. The rest has been outsourced to Costa Rica and Panama.