Dell shifts some support calls to US after complaints

Dell Inc. has brought some technical support work back to the U.S. after corporate customers complained about the quality of service they were receiving from workers in other countries, a Dell spokesman said Monday.

The Round Rock, Texas, company has moved aggressively to shift technical support to centers in countries such as India, but complaints about the quality of technical support have caused the company to move support for its Optiplex desktops and Latitude notebooks back to U.S. call centers in Texas, Idaho and Tennessee, among others, said Jon Weisblatt, a Dell spokesman.

"Corporate customers were telling us they didn't like the level of support they were getting, and in the normal course of business, we made some adjustments," Weisblatt said.

Dozens of U.S. companies have set up technical support and software development centers in India, China and other countries where they can pay workers far less than a typical U.S. worker would command for the same position. The companies claim this approach has allowed them to dramatically cut costs, but some U.S. workers and politicians fear companies will permanently move all types of back-office jobs outside of the U.S., forcing workers to seek new types of employment.

Dell's move appears to be one of the first times the company has moved jobs back to the U.S. after customer complaints. Weisblatt was unable to cite a previous example of support calls moving from other countries to the U.S., and did not provide a time frame in which Optiplex or Latitude support calls from U.S. corporate customers would be completely handled by U.S. call centers.

Support calls for other products as well as consumer support will still be handled by one of Dell's 20 global call centers, based on capacity, he said.