Dell to charge more for North American support services

Move to sell 'premium' plan comes as company closes Ottawa call centre

Vito Pilieci, The Ottawa Citizen
Published: Saturday, April 26, 2008

Computer-maker Dell Inc. is splitting its tech support into two tiers, with customers who pay an extra fee guaranteed to reach North American tech support staff instead of their Indian counterparts.

The "premium support" service plan, as Dell calls it, will be offered to new customers in the coming weeks.

The announcement comes the same week the company announced it would close its Ottawa call-centre operations and cut 1,100 jobs.

If a customer opts for the service, for which a price has not yet been set, he or she will receive the support for one year -- just long enough to cover the product's warranty period.

Dell refused to say whether a customer who doesn't upgrade would definitely be transferred to an overseas staffer.

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