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Dell closing Edmonton call centre

MATT HARTLEY

Globe and Mail Update

Latest comment posted at 4:30 PM EST 31/01/08

Shut-down may affect more than 900 employees; move is part of world-wide layoffs and follows scrapping of expansion plans in Ottawa ...Read the full article

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  1. Marty York from Calgary, Canada writes: Great, so customer service wait times get longer, you get to talk to people in another country where you can't understand each other! Time for a boycott.
  2. Jim Smith from Canada writes: I don't think it will be very hard for these people in Edmonton to find another job.

    Jobs galore!
  3. Jack Robertson from Canada writes: In all probability, these call centre jobs will be relocated overseas, very likely to India. Like most examples of outsourcing to cheap foreign labour markets, this decision will help Dell's bottom line but will only result in a further deterioration of the already bad quality of Dell's customer service. One of the main reasons that so many Dell customers try to avoid dealing with the company by telephone in the first place is the frustration that they experience in ordering goods or services from Dell employees whose 'English' is usually unintelligible.
  4. D. P. from North of 60, Canada writes: At least when I talked to someone in the Edmonton call centre, they understood that living in northern Canada there are no service techs around the corner and they spent additional time with you to work out a problem. Now, I don't know!!! :-(
  5. Not right or left from Canada writes: I hate calling Dell tech support. I have a monitor that needs replacing under warranty but the last time I called I couldn't understand a word they were saying.
  6. Arron D from Canada writes: Jack you hit it right on the head.

    Dell never had vision beyond the next 15 minutes. I have heard of plans being made, polished, shelved, revamped and then cancelled in the course of 1 conference call.
    Mr. Dell's return was the last nail in the coffin. And trying to compete in Edmonton in the middle of an oil boom and Ottawa with the dollar being what it is, Dell Canada never had a chance.
  7. foo bar from Canada writes: Indian prices have also gone way up. Remember, the US dollar fell on a global basis.

    This move is still pretty bad. The Edmonton call centre handled a lot of SMB calls. They were actually really, really good.
  8. Don Portz from Trochu AB, Canada writes: Although I am be totally off base here, but I thought I heard or read that Dell was going to be able to sell their products thru Best Buy & Future Shop. If that was the case it would seem reasonable noy to sell directly and therefore have no need for Call Centres.
  9. Gardiner Westbound from Canada writes:

    Dell business customers are routed to North American call centers. Accordingly I use a corporate name to buy the family computers so I don't have to deal with Dell's dreadful India based customer service. The first time I am connected with somebody I can't understand will be the last time I deal with Dell.
  10. J C from Canada writes: It was a ridiculous strategic plan to build up call centers within Canada in the first place! Was Dell the last company to realize that outsourcing would help their bottom line? And Jim is right, they will probably make more money working on Timi's. And those in Ottawa will just go retire, I mean work for the Fed.
  11. Derek Lambert from Edmonton, Canada writes: Any business that doesn't NEED to have employees in Alberta cannot afford them. Companies like Molson or Dell cannot retain employees because you can walk into any construction or oil & gas firm and make $5/hr more with no experience (just a pair of steel toes and safety tickets). As result: cost of living has skyrocketed in Edmonton. Any company that can provide service from anywhere else will have to.

    This is just the tip of the iceberg. As long the Provincial Government keeps allowing the oil and gas sector expand, the further it will drive out other business. If oil and gas ever crashes, Edmonton will make Detroit look like paradise.
  12. John Birmingham from calgoronto, Canada writes: Derek Lambert from Edmonton, what you've just described is 'dutch disease' . Oil prices drive one and all to that sector, high wages etc. squeeze out the others. Then when oil drops, nadda. All other sectors have left, so no jobs.
  13. D. Patrick from Gonzoville, Canada writes: I have no particular concern re Dell's strategy and employment decisions, which are part of the ebb and flow of the private sector. What is of concern is that these call centre jobs were, if I am not mistaken, subsidised through an industry Canada programme. Such is the track record of government picking winners and involving itself with funding private companies.
  14. The Wight from Canada writes: 'Great, so customer service wait times get longer, you get to talk to people in another country where you can't understand each other! Time for a boycott.'

    The vast bulk of the reps in the Edmonton and Ottawa call centers were for US software and hardware support, not Canadian support. Most Canadians got folks in India, the Phillipines, or in South America as a general rule.
  15. The Wight from Canada writes: 'Dell never had vision beyond the next 15 minutes.'

    That is undoubtedly true. While the Canadian dollar was in a favourable position a few years ago when they waltzed into Canada, the general trend for the dollar was certainly written on the wall, as were oil prices. It wouldn't take much of an analyst to predict how this was going to fall out once the dollar hit parity and job competition got tight with the oil patch.

    Several of my friends made the leap out in time, but several did not, so I'm pulling for everyone to land on their feet.
  16. Bob Seven from Edmonton, Canada writes: I remember when Dell first came to Edmonton, you had to go to NAIT and get "training" at your expense, not Dell. The phone service is brutal, I was lucky to have a friend who worked in the Edmonton call center that I was able to get stuff done (warranty stuff, new memory, etc). I don't think I will be buying another Dell machine without good english speaking suppport.
  17. The Wight from Canada writes: "I remember when Dell first came to Edmonton, you had to go to NAIT and get "training" at your expense, not Dell."

    I was at one of the first mass interviews and was in the group that walked out the minute this was announced. You got reimbursed for it, but only if you stuck around for six months or something like it. It was an attempt for NAIT to make a program specifically for call center training. Due to the many in Edmonton, it seemed like a great idea, but the pairing with Dell and how it was managed was terrible.
  18. R. M. from Regina, Canada writes: Ding dong bell
    Dell has gone to hell.
  19. Trevor Ouellette from Canada writes: Edmonton has nothing else, but oil service. I feel sorry for people who work at these call centers. Ever drive through the parking lots of these places? Everyone drives a jalopy. 1999 Civics galore!

    These are the jobs that people in India do. Who goes into that line of work these days and expects good things?
  20. Ian Gunn from Minneapolis, United States writes: I do feel sorry for the individuals who now have to go out and find a job. It's an effort they didn't anticipate and though finding a job should be easy in Edmonton, it's still a pain. Good luck to each of you!

    Now if I hear one more MP claim these are 'high tech' jobs, I'll scream :) They're EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SERVICE jobs, but they're not high tech jobs.

    Someone needs to tell our 'most educated' MPs on what a 'high tech' job actual entails. It's like assigning an Ag Major to rule over the nuclear safety board.
  21. Oscar Mcduff from Montreal, Canada writes: This announcement is timely. I am about to change my current laptop and was seriously considering a Dell - but as the downsizing seems to be affecting Canada disproportionately, well, guess what, HP may just get one more new customer. Bye bye Dell...
  22. Michael Doyon from Sudbury, Canada writes: I own a Dell....and tho it's been a sturdy reliable computer, it's never been anywhere near a Dell repair techie and won't ever. I always use the local guys in town for repairs, add-ons and the like. These guys are always their for you when you need them. Granted, it might be a challenge to find a good one at times but I'm now living in the fourth community in Canada...I have always got the best in service.
    Dell, in my opinion is on it's way out......simply by partnering with the likes of WalMart. The Gaithers tried selling their tunes at Wal*Mart and as a result lost much of their business from the Christian retailers & now WalMart is not producing any significant sales. This is the path Dell is going down
  23. bob london from Canada writes: Why aren't they expanding in Ottawa?
  24. m. r. from Canada writes: it would seem that Dell is getting ready for a sales fight with HP and Mac by cutting costs and thus price. it may work in the short term, but as reviewers start hearing tons of complaints they will send out the word not to buy Dell! I would not buy a Dell product if I could not test it before purchase or if tech service was poor. most PCs you buy today are pretty good and similar in price. after purchase service
    may determine the choice of purchase. I would also get a store warranty for my PC in that case, too. another reason to get a mac! they are relatively small and light vs. a win/PC. they can be easily transported to a store repair dep. for service. also, they are less
    likely to cause problems. phone in tech service is rated by Consumers Reports as the best of the lot. I guess that's why Mac stores are packed with shoppers every time you go by.
    caveat emptor!
  25. Don Portz from Trochu AB, Canada writes: Based on the TV news cast is guess I was wrong about Dell marketing thru Best Buy etc. they said it may be WalMart which should be also a positive move. We have had Dell products and have had no problems with their Sales & Service.
  26. carmen rae from Canada writes: "Duuuuude - we're getting laid off."
  27. john ziggy from abbotsford, Canada writes: I operated a H.P. system until recently. Quite happy/satisfied. This Dell that I am working on at this moment has been a nightmare frome the beginning. Experiencing problems, I dealt with so called "technicians from another continent" which could not solve my problem. My son - based in another province corrected the situation within one/half hour of contact. Dell contacted me four days later. What does that tell you?????
  28. Robert McEachern from somewhere over the rainbow, Canada writes: I can remember back in the 80's when Future Shop sold DELLs until DELL pulled them out because of problems. They will never learn about what is going on.It is always sad to see people laid off from any sector. As the oil industry is having a fit over the royalties and are starting to lay off people already. It is a sign of the times as most companies can only see the profit margin. When was the last time you saw the price of houses drop or your lawyer dropped his rates.
  29. David Pal from Canada writes: I agree that selling computers at Wal-Mart is the wrong strategy. At a time of low PC sales and booming Apple sales, why would anyone want their product to look down market?

    Dell systems are all right, but I've never understood the need to buy a brand name PC anyway. You can get perfectly good systems customized by smaller companies or local stores. Having worked for HP, I can happily say I would never purchase anything from them. Dell is slightly better, but not by much. Perhaps for SMB, but the average consumer has no dealings with that division.
  30. James P from Spruce Grove, Canada writes: Alberta has had employment in many different sectors of many decades. It is now one of the lowest places to do business from a tax perspective in North America. We did fine when there wasn't much more than a couple of oil sands operators in the 1990's and oil was at $12. We will do fine is oil ever drops to such a low level. Sure those $12 billion surpluses will be gone but we are so far from even being close to what manufacturing has done in other jusidictions. Alberta will survive without Dells call centre.
  31. foo bar from Canada writes: No, Alberta did not do "fine" in the 90s. Do you even remember the carnage back then? Massive layoffs, a totally impotent provincial government? Do you recall any of this?
  32. Ricky for a Centrist Canada from Canada writes:
    Ah yes, capitalism and the "free market" are great, eh.

    We'll only set up in your city if you rent us space for next to nothing, and give us huge tax subsidies.

    By the way, we're bolting the minute our profits go down.

    CTV reports the call centre employees were working to help train new workers in the Phillipines. Guess where the Edmonton jobs are going - to SE Asia, where people will no doubt earn two bucks and hour.

    Corporations are scum.

    Period.
  33. James P from Spruce Grove, Canada writes: http://www.bcstats.gov.bc.ca/pubs/lfs/lfs0208.pdf

    Alberta has consistantly had the lowest or next to the lowest unemployment rates. Durning those tough times in the ROC Alberta came out rather unscathed, even when we had a clown for premire. The only real blip was in the early 1980's and that had alot to do with why many here don't vote for eastern governments.

    So yah foo bar, the carnage you speak of was worse almost anywhere than here. Oil was dirt cheap, so were homes. As a youth then I had my pick at many good jobs. My friends had jobs, my family had jobs. Actually I don't remember people being without work in the 1990's here if they wanted it. Sure a few unions got busted up, but that was a positive for the province. Many in the east could say those same things. In fact they came here to find work durning the terrible '90s you speak of.
  34. Brian Marto from Derby, writes: Here in the UK Experian a leading credit agency is laying off hundreds of workers and moving there operations too India , majority of call centres will be going to India IBM has state of the art call centres there already, what people have to realize India will be the call centre capital of the world, soon all call centre work will be sent to India, so to those working in call centres time to look for work elsewhere .
  35. a c from edmonton, Canada writes: did the tax incentives run out for Dell to relocate to edmonton? ; looks like they're doing the old "cut and run"
  36. SN Dream from Canada writes: Major Internet Disruption in India. I guess Dell's customer won't get any customer service for a long time.
  37. Jerry Springer from Brampton, Canada writes: The closure of Dell's Edmonton call centre was a result of the gradual realization that Alberta was not the right place to have this operation. Edmonton was originally set up originally to take advantage of the weaker Canadian dollar and to provide for West coast technical & customer support. The area was tough to staff, however, and despite the company's efforts had tremendously high turnover due to the oil industry - people leaving for higher pay, etc.. The net of it is that while it originally looked ok on paper, the current realities of the region made it unaffordable to continue. Tough call but one that had to be made. But instead of moving these calls to India I would think that moving them to either Ottawa or Latin America would make more sense given the attitudes of North American shoppers.
  38. Brian Marto from Derby, writes: Jerry India has again state of the art call centres this is were these jobs are going, if you are a call centre worker it would be best to improve your skills and get out, who knows maybe rogers or bell might moving there call centres to india
  39. Tom Erdman from United States writes: If Dell is smart they will move the call centers back to the US where they were originally located and where the majority of their customers are. People are sick and tired of trying to get help and being routed to some obviously foreign country and getting lousy and often unintelligible service. That's probably one of the main reasons their sales are down. But I sure to save a few bucks they will move the call centers even further offshore and loose even more customers. Penny wise pound foolish.
  40. Brian Lilly from Canada writes: To the bigots who hate India and their people, how many of you are intelligent enough to speak any of India's several languages and dialects!!! Shame on anyone who denigrates east Indians, or for that matter, any allophones, this shows how ignorant they are, and how so insecure they must be!!
  41. Bill Needle from Canada writes: Brian Lilly from Canada writes: how many of you are intelligent enough to speak any of India's several languages and dialects?

    Why on earth would anyone in North America want to do such a thing? What a silly question.
  42. Angry West Coast Canuck from Canada writes: Brian Lilly: Frankly, I don't care how many languages they speak. I speak 5 myself, but that wouldn't help some poor sod in a latin american country if they were to call for help, because one of those isn't Spanish. Although East Indians often speak english, even I have trouble understanding or being understood by these people, even though I'm very used to several Indian accents due to where I've worked. I don't think people are denigrating Indians per se. They're denigrating corporations who have taken our tax dollars as incentives to set up shop here, then scampered. It's as if corporations are specifically designed to make money at any cost, with a psychopaths attitude towards ethics or any other social values. Oh wait. They ARE specifically designed to be psychopathic. Mores the pity that we're letting them get away with it.
  43. NewWorld Order from oneworldgov, Canada writes: Been working for Dell Edmonton for 2 years, knowing full well call centers typically have dismal opportunity for advancement and there is no job security. To be honest, Dell was quite the opposite, great place to work (or was), I was never over scrutinized for stats, bonuses, treated right. NOTHING like other centers. In Winter of '06 things started changing, all of a sudden my Job changed to Sales, Indians could sell A LOT but they were rife with refunds in the end costing the company more $ to process,and lost business. Our job changed from only tech to also selling the support we provided 50 cent raise (ouch).Close rate became the only stat that meant anything. Then they took consumer business away and brought ALL commercial support to Edmonton, yay job security, this was in Late august early Sept of 07, also obtained work from home the day we opened Commercial support. Now the low Dell wage was worth it, no more $50 wk/200 a month gas payments, no more $10 a day lunch, and my total sales for the year exceeded my salary...yes I pulled more than 40k in a year for dell in stupid stupid contracts and I was getting paid 32-34k....AND fixed the computers I sold the support to, and restored the faith of MANY worn out dell customers whom told me I was the sole reason they would buy another dell or was happy with dell again.Id estimate my real worth in the company is at least 90-100k/yr.We got emails in mid 07 outlining dells strategy to lay off 8k employees. Then the L2 support in our commercial dept was flown to Panama and the Philippines to "train" agents, I knew then we were doomed. Weeks before the site closure we were told 40 agents in panama were helping during the days because of call volume.Then the closure news, and mass 150ish layoff at the same time....in my last year with Dell I never bought their "build your career" garbage or "were doing this for better customer experience" glad I had the foresight then. Long story short DELL SUCKS

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