Patty and I were sitting in a business' reception room today, and I was thumbing through the magazines. I came across an article on Michael Dell. It could have been written yesterday or last year. I didn't get around to checking the magazine's publication date.
<<<---MICHAEL DELL
What it said was that for the period of time that he had others running his company, its quality of products, service and its overall position in the marketplace had substantially diminished.
So, the article says, now he has a company that searches out everything written about Dell, especially those things in blogs and other Internet features. That company passes them to Dell and they supposedly use them as accurate critiques to better their service and products.
That's Michael Dell's way of regaining the company's market share.
Well, I'm posting my experience here now, and we'll see if we hear from Dell or if they take my comments seriously.
1. We leased a Dell lap top three years ago. The thing has never worked properly and calling Dell and asking that they replace it or service it, each time started a very unpleasant sparing contest. It was, therefore, never fixed or replaced, and we did our best to keep from having to use it.
2. I do not believe the people I spoke with at Dell were in America, and I further do not believe they had proficiency in English. I would say something, and they would read a response. Problem was, what they read had nothing to do with what I said.
3. Dell Financial Services does not process payments in a timely fashion. Instead, they prefer to have a guy/woman from "the other country" call and read the riot act to you for not having your $32.00 payment in on time. And they are relentless. They call several times a day until the Dell people in AMERICA get around to updating your account.
Each time they call, they belligerently want you to give them your bank account information so they can immediately charge your account with the payment. Like I'm going to give some stranger my bank information? No other company acts like this.
4. So our lease on the Dell laptop that has never been serviceable runs out at the end of this month. They want to know if we want to continue the lease, buy it outright or send it back. And then the say that they're hopeful we'll get with them and lease more Dell equipment.
That answer was decided almost three years ago, and we haven't changed our minds. And while we're at it, where, Mr. Dell, is the box to return it in and the address in India where it should be sent?
BILL CHERRY, REALTORS
DALLAS
Our 44th Year Selling America
214 503-8563
Good luck Bill!
I've been working on a laptop from Dell that I purchased in '05. It's an Inspiron 600m, and for the most part, usually powered up for an average of 16hrs a day, it's been good to me. Perhaps I've been the fortunate one.
At any rate, I will be replacing it this year with something else. So, I'm going to be looking for a newer & fresher solution for my business.
Art Hotes
RE/MAX Classic ~ Serving Northeastern Ohio
Wow Bill, looks like you've really had some bad luck with your Dell.
I have a Dell Desktop that is about 6 years old and when it was still under the service agreement, my calls would all be sent to India. But someone I know said that they are moving away from that now. Supposedly, when you purchase a new Dell, the customer service is over here somewhere.
For the price of laptops these days, you can pick up a decent slightly used one for under $400 (with WiFi and all the latest bells and whistles).
I've heard good things about Toshiba...
And if I thought I could deal with replacing all my software and stuff, I'd get a Mac.
Seriously, the bottom line at this point, is saving Michael's @ss... Reality is, he doesn't care about his product, his business or his people. He lives too high on the hog, in his 33,000 sqft house, and doesn't really want to be bothered with the business. Yes, years ago, he had a desire and a drive for the business.. He lost that, he got to caught up in the "Hype" of oh that's the king of computer-dom... The praises have since turned to rages, and he doesn't know how to deal in a comditized world. His reaction to it is to get rid of product, can't make money at selling product... Just become a marketing arm, with a billion $ Logo/brand. Irreguardless of what you read in the rags, he's not the same guy, doesn't care about anyone, except himself and his family.
Coldly served dish of truth from a former 13 year Dell x employee.