I was down in Vegas a few weeks ago and not being a gambler there isn't much for a guy to do, but I did see a few things that caught my eye. If I had the limitless wallet of the Round Rock gunslingers I would go down to one of those shooting ranges and get myself some automatic weapons and blast away.. at $1 per bullet it probably makes as much sense as the slots!
One place I can find limitless ammo is right here in dellhell... the cowboys in Round Rock went bad many years ago and although I can't report any cattle rustling I can sure as hell find some pretty shady hustling going on just about any day of the week. Seems the bad guys just never learn...
November 19, 2010 - PCMAG reports that Dell knowingly sold faulty computers to customers, computers BTW that had a failure rate in some cases of %100!!! How did dell deal with the issue? Here is a quote for those to lazy to click on the link... "...Dell documents also indicates that the system "mail [sic] fail to boot or experience a thermal shutdown due to failed motherboard with bulged capacitors". The same document urges Dell representatives to "urge uncertainty" in dealing with the issue, not to bring up the issue proactively, and not to promise to exchange any machines that had not failed yet."
November 28, 2010 - PCWORLD released its 2010 Reliability and Service Survey and here is what they have to say about Dell, "...home customers say that Dell's problem-solving skills are mediocre at best." Really? Mediocre? Is that what I expected? Wanted? Paid for?
November 28, 2010 - PCWORLD also reported on this day in an article titled "The Tech Brands You Can Trust" that Dell is the second worst computer manufacturer you can possibly buy from these days... so don't just take our word for it... buyer beware, you will get what you paid for, which in the case of a dell computer is crap service and dodgy computers.
So there is a snapshot of one week in DellHell... I haven't got time to wade through the last few weeks, but you get the idea... I will just leave off with two more quotes.. these from readers of DellHell Revisited...
December 7, 2010 - A DellHell Revisited reader says this about his recent entry to DellHell.... "Just entered Dell Hell. I ordered a computer - lo and behold, it is defective. Over seven hours so far talking to customer service/tech support in India. They have a script. They cannot deviate. It is infuriating. A week later I am still sitting with a defective computer."
December 7, 2010 - Another DellHell Revisited reader had this to say as well... "Right on! I have experienced Dell Hell many times in my 18+ years working with computers, networks, websites, software, I have found Dell to be irresponsible and dishonest. Customer service, HA!"
So if you were thinking of computers or peripherals as christmas gifts this season, you might want to think again if you were thinking Dell... they don't rustle cows in Round Rock but they sure do hustle the public...
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Dell Customer Service vs Apple?
So here I am, still blogging away in a vain and ill disguised attempt to get even with Dell for selling shoddy products and backing that up with infamous customer service... That's right... Infamous... I love that word, it rolls off the tongue quite nicely... Try it!
Well, using silicon valley methodology, (despite Dell's Round Rock roots) my readership is about to double and we are projecting year end readership will have grown 980% over last year!
I like the sound of round rock roots too, that would be a good name for a Texas band!
Anyway, i digress... All four of you have remained loyal these many years in the wilderness, but now I can tell you that your ranks are about to swell!
I told the girl at the Apple store, who had just replaced my broken, out of warranty iPhone with a free replacement, about Dell Hell Revisited. She is sure to read this and so are her friends!!! I'm ready for my IPO!
So Anna @ Apple, her friends and family, I say a big hello and welcome...
To Michael @ Dell I say "bite me"!
Well, using silicon valley methodology, (despite Dell's Round Rock roots) my readership is about to double and we are projecting year end readership will have grown 980% over last year!
I like the sound of round rock roots too, that would be a good name for a Texas band!
Anyway, i digress... All four of you have remained loyal these many years in the wilderness, but now I can tell you that your ranks are about to swell!
I told the girl at the Apple store, who had just replaced my broken, out of warranty iPhone with a free replacement, about Dell Hell Revisited. She is sure to read this and so are her friends!!! I'm ready for my IPO!
So Anna @ Apple, her friends and family, I say a big hello and welcome...
To Michael @ Dell I say "bite me"!
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Dell Hell - By the Numbers 15
Well, this one is going to be fun, I love doing the "By the Numbers" blogs because they give us a chance to quantify disaster. So let us jump in at the deep end... the deep end being in the cesspool of Round Rock Texas, corporate HQ of Dell and spiritual home of DellHell.
94 - Number of related news stories on Google News regarding Dells dirty dealings as pointed out over the last few days on this blog and many others. And those 94 sites actually have readers, unlike this one! They include PC WORLD, NY TIMES, CNN MONEY, NPR, THE GUARDIAN and a host of other mainstream news outlets... ENGADGET, a well respected tech magazine had my favorite headline of the bunch "Dell responds to latest capacitor-related fallout, ignores the whole lying to consumers part"
50,000 - A random figure representing readers per media outlet above. We have no way of estimating the actual readership of the articles so we are using 50,000 just for the mental exercise here. I mean we ARE talking the NY TIMES and PC WORLD...
4,700,000 - The estimated number of people who have read the articles about Dell delinquency using our figures above.
47,000 - Number of lost customers if only 1% of those people never buy another dell because of this bad publicity.
705,000 - Number of products lost if each person were to have purchased 15 items in their remaining lifetime.
70,500,000 - Dollars lost to dell from those customers.
Now lets have some real fun... remember we are just using figures from the top of my head and I am trying to be fair and simple.
470 - Number of execs with purchasing power at their company who are 1% of the lost customers above
1000 - Computers and accessories purchased every 5 years by each of the execs
2,820,000 - Product sales lost by dell during the career of these execs (30 years)
2,820,000,000 - Dollars of lost sales over 30 years because of this scandal
So we can see from even this simplistic exercise that Dell will take a VERY significant hit from this shoddy behavior, especially if one considers the $300 million in fines they are on target for, and remember that this behavior was encouraged by the top executives, perhaps a shareholder revolt is in order before the fire in the barn in Rim Rock becomes a 5 alarmer and burns down the whole place.
94 - Number of related news stories on Google News regarding Dells dirty dealings as pointed out over the last few days on this blog and many others. And those 94 sites actually have readers, unlike this one! They include PC WORLD, NY TIMES, CNN MONEY, NPR, THE GUARDIAN and a host of other mainstream news outlets... ENGADGET, a well respected tech magazine had my favorite headline of the bunch "Dell responds to latest capacitor-related fallout, ignores the whole lying to consumers part"
50,000 - A random figure representing readers per media outlet above. We have no way of estimating the actual readership of the articles so we are using 50,000 just for the mental exercise here. I mean we ARE talking the NY TIMES and PC WORLD...
4,700,000 - The estimated number of people who have read the articles about Dell delinquency using our figures above.
47,000 - Number of lost customers if only 1% of those people never buy another dell because of this bad publicity.
705,000 - Number of products lost if each person were to have purchased 15 items in their remaining lifetime.
70,500,000 - Dollars lost to dell from those customers.
Now lets have some real fun... remember we are just using figures from the top of my head and I am trying to be fair and simple.
470 - Number of execs with purchasing power at their company who are 1% of the lost customers above
1000 - Computers and accessories purchased every 5 years by each of the execs
2,820,000 - Product sales lost by dell during the career of these execs (30 years)
2,820,000,000 - Dollars of lost sales over 30 years because of this scandal
So we can see from even this simplistic exercise that Dell will take a VERY significant hit from this shoddy behavior, especially if one considers the $300 million in fines they are on target for, and remember that this behavior was encouraged by the top executives, perhaps a shareholder revolt is in order before the fire in the barn in Rim Rock becomes a 5 alarmer and burns down the whole place.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
From Frying Pan to Fire or Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire?
Two blogs in two days... can only mean two things... Dell is at it again and I am bored.
Reaction to the news of the past few days re: dell shipping faulty computers and scamming customers with B.S. and a bit of smoke and mirrors, has brought out the spin doctors in full force.
Lionel (I have kids to feed) Menchaca and other spin doctors at Dell had this to say on the issue... "Dell did not knowingly ship faulty motherboards, and we worked directly with customers in situations where the issue occurred," and then stuck their collective foot even further into their mouth with this tidbit... "Dell suspended use of Nichicon capacitors after we discovered a problem in its manufacturing process,"
What Lionel fails to tell us is that Dell was aware of the problem in January of 2004 (rival HP stopped shipping computers with these capacitors in March 2004). Dell on the other hand continued to order these faulty capacitors from the supplier and sell computers with them installed until late 2005!! And in fact a review by Dell itself found "that OptiPlex computers affected by the bad capacitors were expected to cause problems up to 97 percent of the time over a three-year period".
In a final and hilarious twist to the story, the law firm defending Dell was itself affected by the computer failures and several emails to that effect are part of the court record! Dell even tried to B.S. their own lawyers!
So can we sum up by saying Dell has been lying to customers for years and continues to do so? Bill Snyder in PC World seems to think so, he had this to say... "Only a rotten company sells defective computers and lies about it." and threw this in as well... "it will always be tainted by the scandal and by its shocking breach of faith with customers" and signed off on the article with this..."Every now and then the company trots out a sincere-sounding exec to announce yet another initiative about improved quality and customer service. I don't believe them any more. This is how companies fade away and die."
So you tell me, is Dell full of good old Texas Bullshit? It would seem the executive offices in Round Rock are knee deep in it and rising at the moment.
Reaction to the news of the past few days re: dell shipping faulty computers and scamming customers with B.S. and a bit of smoke and mirrors, has brought out the spin doctors in full force.
Lionel (I have kids to feed) Menchaca and other spin doctors at Dell had this to say on the issue... "Dell did not knowingly ship faulty motherboards, and we worked directly with customers in situations where the issue occurred," and then stuck their collective foot even further into their mouth with this tidbit... "Dell suspended use of Nichicon capacitors after we discovered a problem in its manufacturing process,"
What Lionel fails to tell us is that Dell was aware of the problem in January of 2004 (rival HP stopped shipping computers with these capacitors in March 2004). Dell on the other hand continued to order these faulty capacitors from the supplier and sell computers with them installed until late 2005!! And in fact a review by Dell itself found "that OptiPlex computers affected by the bad capacitors were expected to cause problems up to 97 percent of the time over a three-year period".
In a final and hilarious twist to the story, the law firm defending Dell was itself affected by the computer failures and several emails to that effect are part of the court record! Dell even tried to B.S. their own lawyers!
So can we sum up by saying Dell has been lying to customers for years and continues to do so? Bill Snyder in PC World seems to think so, he had this to say... "Only a rotten company sells defective computers and lies about it." and threw this in as well... "it will always be tainted by the scandal and by its shocking breach of faith with customers" and signed off on the article with this..."Every now and then the company trots out a sincere-sounding exec to announce yet another initiative about improved quality and customer service. I don't believe them any more. This is how companies fade away and die."
So you tell me, is Dell full of good old Texas Bullshit? It would seem the executive offices in Round Rock are knee deep in it and rising at the moment.
Monday, July 5, 2010
Dell's Dirty Dealings and Plummeting Share Value
So after a brief hiatus while I spent some time at the Olympics and then relocated to a place best left unmentioned due to it's utter lack of charm or other redeeming qualities, I happened to google Dell news today and lo and behold, what do I find?
Here is a quote from Money.CNN
"From 2003 to 2005, Dell sold computers with faulty capacitors that allegedly caused most motherboards on two Dell Optiplex models to break, rendering the computers useless. Dell was aware of the issue, according to recently unsealed court documents from a pending lawsuit, yet continued to sell the computers anyway.
Though the juiciest details are still sealed by the court, several internal company e-mails show that Dell instructed its sales staff to downplay the malfunctions to customers.
"We need to avoid all language indicating the [mother]boards were bad or had 'issues,'" Jeff DilLullo, a Dell sales manager, wrote in a March 2004 e-mail.
One December 2004 e-mail shows that the company was hiding the reason for and severity of the crashes from its customers.
END QUOTE
Hey Lionel Menchacha... if you are still working for these dirtbags I would love to hear from you... how do you spin this on Direct2Dell? (BTW Lionel, You can respond here, I don't follow Direct2Dell anymore, no point.)
Here is a quote for you Lionel, from one of your own bean counters at Dell and it says exactly what I was telling you was the reason you swines wouldn't fix my daughters computer even though you know darn well it was a turkey...
"we open ourselves up to a flood of customers wanting whole system replacements -- which would be disastrous."
Another quote from the same article indicates that this sort of behavior is not unusual at Dell...
QUOTE
"Dell recently set aside $100 million for a settlement it is negotiating with the Securities and Exchange Commission on a bundle of fraud charges stemming from years of accounting violations. An internal Dell investigation, completed in 2007, found that company officials improperly manipulated Dell's reserve accounts -- such as those set aside to cover product warranty claims -- to hide earnings shortfalls.
END QUOTE
Not just A fraud charge... a BUNDLE of fraud charges... who would have guessed?
Spokesman David Frink, when asked about the issue of the faulty computers had this to say "old news."
Well maybe so, but did he notice in the last few weeks that Dell's share price has plummeted %26? It has been obvious for years that Dell no longer gives a damn about it's consumer customers, and PC sales to the consumer market have responded by dropping dell down the list of world leaders in PC sales year after year... but now with a bitter taste in their mouths resulting from fraud convictions and a very questionable set of customer service values, will Dell's corporate customers go the same way?
Let's hope so, Dell has earned it!
Here is a quote from Money.CNN
"From 2003 to 2005, Dell sold computers with faulty capacitors that allegedly caused most motherboards on two Dell Optiplex models to break, rendering the computers useless. Dell was aware of the issue, according to recently unsealed court documents from a pending lawsuit, yet continued to sell the computers anyway.
Though the juiciest details are still sealed by the court, several internal company e-mails show that Dell instructed its sales staff to downplay the malfunctions to customers.
"We need to avoid all language indicating the [mother]boards were bad or had 'issues,'" Jeff DilLullo, a Dell sales manager, wrote in a March 2004 e-mail.
One December 2004 e-mail shows that the company was hiding the reason for and severity of the crashes from its customers.
END QUOTE
Hey Lionel Menchacha... if you are still working for these dirtbags I would love to hear from you... how do you spin this on Direct2Dell? (BTW Lionel, You can respond here, I don't follow Direct2Dell anymore, no point.)
Here is a quote for you Lionel, from one of your own bean counters at Dell and it says exactly what I was telling you was the reason you swines wouldn't fix my daughters computer even though you know darn well it was a turkey...
"we open ourselves up to a flood of customers wanting whole system replacements -- which would be disastrous."
Another quote from the same article indicates that this sort of behavior is not unusual at Dell...
QUOTE
"Dell recently set aside $100 million for a settlement it is negotiating with the Securities and Exchange Commission on a bundle of fraud charges stemming from years of accounting violations. An internal Dell investigation, completed in 2007, found that company officials improperly manipulated Dell's reserve accounts -- such as those set aside to cover product warranty claims -- to hide earnings shortfalls.
END QUOTE
Not just A fraud charge... a BUNDLE of fraud charges... who would have guessed?
Spokesman David Frink, when asked about the issue of the faulty computers had this to say "old news."
Well maybe so, but did he notice in the last few weeks that Dell's share price has plummeted %26? It has been obvious for years that Dell no longer gives a damn about it's consumer customers, and PC sales to the consumer market have responded by dropping dell down the list of world leaders in PC sales year after year... but now with a bitter taste in their mouths resulting from fraud convictions and a very questionable set of customer service values, will Dell's corporate customers go the same way?
Let's hope so, Dell has earned it!
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Straight from the Horses' Mouth
So what is wrong with Dell? Why shouldn't you purchase dell products? Well, please don't take my word for it, do your research and always respect the warning of "buyer beware"... here are a few recent items straight from the horses' mouth...
Still providing crap service... two key quotes from this link for those too lazy to go look for themselves... "I know it's impossible to find the perfect vendor, however Dell gives many reasons to look at competitors", and for me the most telling of all "I also experienced another recent problem with Dell Latitude e4300 machines where the original motherboard was causing Windows to "lock up" at random. Replacing the motherboard fixed the issue in 5 separate machines. There are also posts all over Google on this very same issue, yet Dell has not acknowledged any problem whatsoever, or offered a recall to the problem".
A comment on the above link is also very clear on what the problem is... "Totally agree with you on this one. Our department (schools services) has now switched over to buying new machines from HP, which work very well. The reason we switched from Dell to HP is due to the lack of support and the hardware in the pc's fail after a year or two. The support helpline was never 'helpful' always talking to someone overseas who would arrange a visit, if needed, from a technician in Glasgow, why they couldnt just give us the number for the Glasgow centre (believe me we constantly asked) is a mystery. I wouldnt recommend to anyone to buy Dell anymore as they dont live up to their own expectations and as soon as they have your money, you might as well take a out a service agreement with someone on the moon, then at least your problem might be solved quicker."
In the market place investors would seem to agree... noting the poor results of Dell compared to HP in the last quarter. Small wonder if one takes into account the two commentators above... Way to go, Michael Dell!
So there are a few more things to think about when you go out to buy a computer.
If you are a masochist I highly recommend DellHell...
Still providing crap service... two key quotes from this link for those too lazy to go look for themselves... "I know it's impossible to find the perfect vendor, however Dell gives many reasons to look at competitors", and for me the most telling of all "I also experienced another recent problem with Dell Latitude e4300 machines where the original motherboard was causing Windows to "lock up" at random. Replacing the motherboard fixed the issue in 5 separate machines. There are also posts all over Google on this very same issue, yet Dell has not acknowledged any problem whatsoever, or offered a recall to the problem".
A comment on the above link is also very clear on what the problem is... "Totally agree with you on this one. Our department (schools services) has now switched over to buying new machines from HP, which work very well. The reason we switched from Dell to HP is due to the lack of support and the hardware in the pc's fail after a year or two. The support helpline was never 'helpful' always talking to someone overseas who would arrange a visit, if needed, from a technician in Glasgow, why they couldnt just give us the number for the Glasgow centre (believe me we constantly asked) is a mystery. I wouldnt recommend to anyone to buy Dell anymore as they dont live up to their own expectations and as soon as they have your money, you might as well take a out a service agreement with someone on the moon, then at least your problem might be solved quicker."
In the market place investors would seem to agree... noting the poor results of Dell compared to HP in the last quarter. Small wonder if one takes into account the two commentators above... Way to go, Michael Dell!
So there are a few more things to think about when you go out to buy a computer.
If you are a masochist I highly recommend DellHell...
Monday, January 25, 2010
119,000 Canadians cannot be wrong
Dell has been facing a number of class action lawsuits during the past few years and today they have recieved word that they will be getting their day in court, despite their best efforts to avoid it.
119,000 Canadians are participating in a class action suit in Toronto, Canada which relates to faulty computers from the 1100, 1150, 5100, 5150 and 5160 Inspiron laptop computer lines. Dell appealed the class action and as usual dell seems to be oblivious to the tens of thousands of complaints, insisting that they have done nothing wrong and the computers in question are a fine product...
Well folks, if one person tells you a dell is crap and so is the customer service, that is one thing. But when 119.000 people are saying it perhaps you should take heed.
I for one am very happy to see this class action finally moving ahead... Dell, and more importantly, the customers they have sold this crap to, are finally going to get their day in court.
In another sign of trouble in Round Rock, Acer founder Stan Shih predicts Dell will disappear entirely within the next 20 years, citing Dells inability to compete in the ever tightening marketplace. Shih should know, Acer overtook Dell last year for the number two spot among computer manufacturers world-wide and is expected to take over #1 spot from HP in the coming year.
Could not come soon enough for me...
119,000 Canadians are participating in a class action suit in Toronto, Canada which relates to faulty computers from the 1100, 1150, 5100, 5150 and 5160 Inspiron laptop computer lines. Dell appealed the class action and as usual dell seems to be oblivious to the tens of thousands of complaints, insisting that they have done nothing wrong and the computers in question are a fine product...
Well folks, if one person tells you a dell is crap and so is the customer service, that is one thing. But when 119.000 people are saying it perhaps you should take heed.
I for one am very happy to see this class action finally moving ahead... Dell, and more importantly, the customers they have sold this crap to, are finally going to get their day in court.
In another sign of trouble in Round Rock, Acer founder Stan Shih predicts Dell will disappear entirely within the next 20 years, citing Dells inability to compete in the ever tightening marketplace. Shih should know, Acer overtook Dell last year for the number two spot among computer manufacturers world-wide and is expected to take over #1 spot from HP in the coming year.
Could not come soon enough for me...
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Dell loses identity, market share and customers, Way to Go Michael!
It's been awhile since I've had time to worry about Dell, the ski season is in full swing and I am working for the Olympics preparing the race courses. I also own an Acer notebook now so I don't think of dell so often as I used to!
But not to worry, while I have been away, the oracles at Dell (nice pun, eh?) have continued to drive the company into a catagory somewhere between HP, Acer, Apple and Meaningless.
Have a read of an article which ponders the question "Who is Dell". Even the guys who follow this sort of thing no longer know... yikes!
Here is a quote for those of you too lazy to follow the link...
"Who is Dell? A memory lingers but little else, less because of Dell's relevance in any given market, more because it's difficult to surmise what the company stands for any more. None among our own long-time market observers and CIO advisory board members can articulate Dell's identity. It's amid this haze that several us journey this week to Round Rock, Texas, hopeful but skeptical.
Dell's market share in its traditionally strongest markets--PCs and servers--has declined: Acer has overtaken Dell in worldwide PC shipments, according to some figures , and the company's share continues to slip in the U.S. Dell's server sales are a distant third behind IBM's and HP's. Dell will likely always matter here, shipping server congeries to cloud providers and enterprises for pedestrian processing tasks, or desktops and laptops through retail channels or directly online; but all that it imagined and invented has become banal and mimicked and, worse, less profitable."
So lets find the key words and phrases in those two paragraphs... skeptical, declined, overtaken, distant third, banal, mimicked, less profitable... double yikes!
Keep in mind this is a company who once had a share price, and a market share, that were the envy of the business world... what happened?
Poor product support led the way due to poor products... misguided management helped it along and arrogance finished it off... that would be my guess.
dell hell
dellhell
dell
But not to worry, while I have been away, the oracles at Dell (nice pun, eh?) have continued to drive the company into a catagory somewhere between HP, Acer, Apple and Meaningless.
Have a read of an article which ponders the question "Who is Dell". Even the guys who follow this sort of thing no longer know... yikes!
Here is a quote for those of you too lazy to follow the link...
"Who is Dell? A memory lingers but little else, less because of Dell's relevance in any given market, more because it's difficult to surmise what the company stands for any more. None among our own long-time market observers and CIO advisory board members can articulate Dell's identity. It's amid this haze that several us journey this week to Round Rock, Texas, hopeful but skeptical.
Dell's market share in its traditionally strongest markets--PCs and servers--has declined: Acer has overtaken Dell in worldwide PC shipments, according to some figures , and the company's share continues to slip in the U.S. Dell's server sales are a distant third behind IBM's and HP's. Dell will likely always matter here, shipping server congeries to cloud providers and enterprises for pedestrian processing tasks, or desktops and laptops through retail channels or directly online; but all that it imagined and invented has become banal and mimicked and, worse, less profitable."
So lets find the key words and phrases in those two paragraphs... skeptical, declined, overtaken, distant third, banal, mimicked, less profitable... double yikes!
Keep in mind this is a company who once had a share price, and a market share, that were the envy of the business world... what happened?
Poor product support led the way due to poor products... misguided management helped it along and arrogance finished it off... that would be my guess.
dell helldellhelldell
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