Tech Group Demands Dell Withdraw Ad

The IT Professionals Association of America, Inc has asked the Dell Corp. to withdraw a commercial that it deems misleading to the public.

(PRWEB) January 18, 2005 -- The ITPAA, Inc, a group representing professionals and independent contractors in the information technology (IT) field, is asking the Dell Corporation to stop running a television commercial that it characterizes as misleading.

In the ad, which is running in several major television and cable markets across the United States, a man cannot fall asleep because he is worried that he will not receive technical support for his computer on certain holidays. He calls the Dell customer support line and speaks to a young man who appears to be American who assures him that Dell support is available on each holiday - including Bastille Day - which isn't a holiday. "It is in France," the man says. "No sir, it isn't," the tech responds.

Scott Kirwin, founder of the ITPAA, inc, states that the ad is misleading because Dell outsources customer support for its home users to India. "Why don't they show the reality - the man's call answered by a young tech in India? Because Americans wouldn't be happy about it, and the ad would backfire," Kirwin states in a posting at the ITPAA website (www.itpaa.org).

Kirwin notes that a year ago, Dell brought tech support for its business users back to the USA after receiving complaints about the service level, including strong accents that couldn't be understood and technical support personnel who didn't understand American accents and idioms. However, it has not done this with its customer support for home users according to Kirwin. Kirwin believes that the ad should be pulled or modified because it misleads Dell customers into believing they will receive service by Americans who are easy to speak to and can understand them.

"Either Dell should pull the ad, or it should show the reality of Dell customer support," he states. "We would have no problem if they showed a young Indian answering the phone on the other side of the planet."

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