Comments on: Dell regroups around four customer segments

Two executives, Mike Cannon and Mark Jarvis, are departing as the computer maker regroups globally around four types of customers.

[kodybryson]

This is why Dell will be going out of business. Whenever companies start focusing on entities and concepts instead of people, they get bureaucracies that clog them up. Of course this is not new with Dell, remember when you had to choose your "segment" before you could even look at computers on their web site? Smart Dell.

The thing is, of course you need to separate your sales forces. But don't make that a burden on your customer. All we want is a computer, we don't want to go through your sales process.

Just silently and quickly sense that I need to talk to whoever in your organization that can sell me a Mac, and transfer me to them. What? Oh.

[Seaspray0]

I had no problems with a recent purchase for the home. We configured it through the website and had some questions, so we called. The person at the other end spoke english and answered our questions and gave us his number if we wished to call back along with a reference number on the computer we were configuring. We did call back to make the purchase; the rep was busy so he emediately transfered us to his supervisor (who also spoke english) with all the specs on what we wanted, who then proceeded with the purchase. Delivery and confirmation number was provided. It was a different person, but he knew the model we wanted with all the options we added. The spouse loves the christmas present.

[BigGuns149]

I beg to differ. There are a *lot* of home consumers that simply aren't profitable customers. Save for the gaming pc market a lot of people are buying machines that are so dang cheap that the margins are razor-thin. That doesn't mean that Dell shouldn't sell consumer models, but consumer computers tend to be the most likely to lose money for the seller.

Most home consumers no matter how much they protest to the contrary don't care about quality or reliability. They simply want something that is cheap and this isn't a recent phenomena either. I remember working at the retail store a couple years ago and remember somebody asked me what I had for under $300 and I showed them the only thing I had and they asked what monitor they got and I told them that was just the computer. I told the lady to come back on Black Friday, because generally speaking you aren't going to get something that cheap. There was no reason to try to compete for this person's business. Even a desktop computer alone at that price is going to have to cut some serious corners to not lose money. There were a *lot* of people that wouldn't pay $50 more to get a machine with twice the memory, twice the HDD space, and a slightly better processor. A lot of resellers have gotten smart to realize that it is far too easy to get burned in economy market.

The business market within reason will pay more to get better support and better reliability. Being profitable off your sales to the the business and enterprise space isn't too hard, but in the consumer market you get into a price war where the only winner is the customer because everybody selling the machines is barely breaking even.

[dennisl59]

Let's not forget that Dell is now going to charge $99 a year so people have the priviledge of speaking to a less challenged English speaker and shorter wait times.

[sigipickl]

Hasn't this always been the case with their 'gold' or 'premier' support options? When I used to do more small biz IT support, I would have my customers buy the upgraded support just for the fact that they would save money in the long run (i.e. my hourly rate while sitting on hold waiting to get a hard drive replaced, -OR- their hourly time lost waiting on hold).

[danielwsmithee]

This is a perfect example of how Dell just doesn't get it anymore. If I want a computer whether I am shopping for my company or myself I just want to see all the options and not have to jump around between Dell business units. If I want a laptop show me all the laptops. If I want a desktop show me all the desktops.

[MacDellMan]

Unfortunetly, as a long-time Dell customer...I have to say that everyone should avoid them right now. They are a good company that has lost their way. Looking at this news (which as a sales process, sounds find)...I'm not sure where they're headed. Looking at their product line...it's confusing, disjointed, and inefficient. They need to think about the customer...and make things simple. As reader kodybryson said above, "All we want is a computer...". Who wants to weed through five or six product lines, then five or six models, and then 15-20 configuration points. That's WAY too many options for the average user (consumer, small business, etc.) Focus on pairing down the product lines...focus on DESIGN and USER EXPERIENCE (something Dell has completely forgotten) around your PRODUCTS and your shopping experience. And...equally important...STOP outsourcing your customer service to other countries with reps who can't speak English and have no ability to help outside of reading a script.

Just my .02.

[Renegade Knight]

Agreed.
I've directly purchased 6 or more Dell's and reccomended them to others. No longer. They recently decided to stiff me on a warrantee repair. Dell stood on a policy that contracti their warranty language. I stood on facts and backed it up by paying a local repair shop to prove my case. Dell is still refusing to deal. They can win this battle but the price is that I won't be reccomending Dell, nor will I buy any for my planned purchases over the coming couple of years. Even where I work I'll strive to open the doors to other vendoers.

[basshawg]

If you were truely educated about the state of the computer industry, you would know that all of the 3 major OEM's have multiple product lines targeting consumer, small business and large business. Dell, HP, Lenovo do this... The business class computers carry important management features for remote administrators to control, update and maintain their client computer infastructure. Quit being little babies and do some research. Don't be a retard consumer and buy something because it looks pretty. These products must be placed in different segments so dumb consumers don't wonder why the Dell Optiplex is 35% more than the equal consumer product. You may think your a real guru, but you don't understand the needs of businesses. This is why Dell and HP have SALES consultants. People just don't understand.. Next time you should call a sales rep.

[BigGuns149]

You hit the issue completely correct. Different markets want different things so you make different models for each market. Business users are going to want to pay for higher priority access to support whereas most consumers are going to be indifferent at best. I know a lot of people where I fixed their home computers that had been sitting unused for weeks because something was wrong with it, but they didn't consider it a priority because they hardly used their computer. No business that required said computer would let a machine sit around unfixed like that.

[marty m]

I ordered a laptop two months ago and still have not received the item. But my point is the customer service. It's so totally baddddd.! They transfer you to people that don't know how to help you. They will hang up on you.
What's frustrating is they won't or can't tell you why, the things you ordered are not being shipped out.
Now I am being denied when I ask to talk to somebody in America, since I'm in America. Dell wants to charge me a fee, to talk to a service rep in America. I am not going to purchase anything else from Dell. I promise you!

[TonyVidaLoco]

Everybody who has anything BAD to say about Dell is absolutly Right. I use to like Dell until recently dealing with them is enough to drive you crazy. Crappy service if you have a problem with their product you get some hard to understand person on the phone to incompetent suppsort staff. HelpDesk more like let me transfer you to someone else Desk cause i dont know crap. sevreal people including myself have purchased laptops from Dell and they will design them to die right after the warranty runs out so your buy another. need a new motherboard or part be prepared for shock to your system. they quoted me $450 for just the motherboard knowing full well that you can get a whole new computer thats better than the now obsolete one your trying to revive for that much. they are a crappy company that does not realize that treating customers like crap will bite them in the ass. as a techy i tell everyone say no to Dell unless you dont might a piece of crap machine with crappy service and support and dont mind watching your machine die shortly after the warranty expires. it was proven that they purposely test to make sure certain parts will eventually burn out just like a lightbulb. they can build them better but wheres the return business if your laptop is still working

[Mr. Dee]

Dell started failing when their customer support and products started getting crappy! HP is real innovator on the PC side these days and I like stuff from Acer too.

[Silver_2000]

the upcharge for english support is perfect - I dont need support help and dont want to pay for it - if you need lots of support then you have the option of paying extra for longer support and for english speaking help. Its the constant push for cheaper and cheaper pcs that has forced all the companies to move support off shore. Back when PCs were $2000 the OEMs could afford to pay people in the US to answer the phone to tell you how to turn off the PC.

[dragonsky1]

I thought i should add this since it pertains to Dell. A customer purchased a Dell laptop at the store I work at about three months ago. A few days ago, the laptop locked up while they were using MS Word. After rebooting, they only get a blue screen. They called Dell and were told that since they bought it from another retailer, and not Dell, their warranty was void and there was nothing they could do.

The customer came back into the store, and since it's past the return policy and they didn't buy a service plan, there's nothing we could either. One of our computer services guy contact Dell and was given the same story about the warranty being void.

Who sells a computer in Best Buy or Walmart and then tells customers their warranty is void for buying it there? This is why I never recommend Dell's when customers ask about them. I usually steer them towards HP, Toshiba or Sony.

[Imalittleteapot]

This is why I keep a Linux Live CD around now. I just pop it in and if Linux boots you can easily tell if all your hardware is working and it's just that Windows needs reinstalled. If Linux doesn't boot you may have a hardware problem. You can try XP/Vista recovery console from the install disks as well, but not quite as effective. Good enough to tell if the hard drive is still working though.

If it's a brand new laptop my guess is some system file got overwritten or corrupted by some malware. Since it's a new computer I doubt it's actually a hardware problem. Windows probably just needs to be reinstalled. However, maybe the ram came loose from the laptop being moved around and needs reinserted via taking it out and sticking it back in. I just fixed a computer this way not a month ago actually. It's becoming more common for some reason.

Other than that it could be bad hard drive or CPU or whatever, but those are the two simplest things to check for. Not that that is your job, but the info may help in the future or you can pass it along to the owners.

[Silver_2000]

Have you ever tried to get support from Sony ? For fun call them to get a part number and price for a laptop keyboard - They will want to charge you $6 for the part number - not for the part just to look up the part number - So if you are a corprate customer who needs a quote and part number for a PO you cant get the part. They have NO docs on the web to lookup the part info yourself and they don't resell the parts to anyone so you are screwed. The problem gets worse when you realise you paid for a 3 year on site warranty from Sony when you bought the PC, call the number on the warranty and find out its a 3rd party company whos response to every question is to mail the laptop to california for service - Nice onsite warranty - I wouldn't recommend a Sony to ANYONE. Sonys are cool over priced laptops just like Apples BUT unlike Sony Apple has good support

[myles taylor]

Dell is the Walmart of the computer world: you get what you pay for. (shrugs)

I don't see Dell going out of business, or making any big leaps this year.