Get Smart about Business Spending
- Related Stories
-
PC pricing, demand take hit in second quarter
July 7, 2006 -
High tech: Anything but green
July 5, 2006 -
Dell announces free recycling for used gear
June 28, 2006 -
Dell to ramp up Scottish operations
June 19, 2006
Images of a Dell notebook bursting into flames, published on Net, hurt Dell's attempts to improve its image.
The New York Times
The story "Dell's exploding computer and other image problems" published July 10, 2006 at 5:46 AM is no longer available on CNET News.
Content from The New York Times expires after 7 days.
Never once have I had a customer get a "new" replacement.
Dont believe the hype.
Sure, they may be lighter than NiMH, but they suffer from "thermal runaway," unlike NiMH or the earlier NiCDs.
As the battery heats up, power output increases, which causes more heating, and so on, unless a sophisticated control circuit cuts out the battery and ends the process. Hopefully, the circuit will do this in time: Past a certain point, a stressed Lithium Ion battery may catch fire on its own, even if electrically disconnected from the circuit.
(Of course you should not have it on your lap at the time)
It's typical journalism like the article says. Reporters find a bad story and run with it, and bring it up every week whenever the company is even mentioned or a similar incident happens reguardless of who or why. Those headlines do drown out the good things they've done, and moreover they don't make any effort to point out the good qualities like our friends at CNET have done here.
I brushed off the burning laptop incident because I know Dell is a decent company and I understand that there is a % of defects in every product. (No I don't work for M$ or D3ll) Now when they had issues with the GX270's blowing capacitors left and right. That was bad, but they replaced every one of them within 24 hours, they also identified the supplies of those capacitors and posted an article here on CNET about how they had to spend $350M to fix that problem, talk about a transparent company. At least they're not like their competitors who would go out of thier way not to fix the problem.
So for all of you that are upset with Dell because you can't get a fluently english speaking and intelligent person on the phone. UPGRADE YOUR SUPPORT TO GOLD! That's why it's an option. It costs more money to employ people in Round Rock, Texas, than it does to employ them in Bangalore, India.
Dells are low quality junk, period.
C: Hello, I've been waiting on hold here for over an hour. My Dell laptop just caught on fire and burned through the table it was sitting on.
R: Good day sir. How are you? May I have your name please, and the serial # of the Dell. It is on the bottom of the laptop.
C: I can't tell you the serial #, the laptop is all melted and destroyed, and is still smoking.
R: Well sir, if you look on the bottom, you will see a small grey sticker. Please read for me the 14 digit number on the bottom. I cannot help you without verifying the serial #.
C: But I just told you, I can't read the label, it is all melted. The laptop is just a smoking pile of rubble now.
R: Tell me sir, did you recently install any 3rd party software on the laptop that may have caused the problem? Any antivirus software? Or did you install any new hardware in the laptop, such as a USB mouse or camera?
C: What does that have to do with anything. This was obviously a mechanical defect of some sort. I have never had a laptop before that caught fire.
R: I am sorry sir, but we must rule out any error that the customer may have done to cause the problem, that may have voided the warranty.
C: This is ridiculous, I'm not getting anywhere with you on this problem. I have to go now, the fire department just arrived and they are evacuating the building. I will call you back later.
R: Thank you sir for choosing Dell. Are you aware that we have a sale going on for Dell laptops, 30% off and free shipping through Friday. Would you like me to help you place an order?
P.S: Please check the # you have Dialled!
I would bet "EXPLODING LAPTOP" is not covered in their script anywhere.
First of all u say you called into the technical support?...LOL well i have NEVER heard of a company doubling up thier Tech support Dept for Sales as well....u sure u dialled the right #? :)
Then I hade a case with a thumb screw breaking off a server, and instead of sending a new part, Dell sent a new (upgraded) server for free; didn't even want the old one back.
Dealing with customer support is like a box of chocolates ... you know the rest.
(LOL)
All the people on Dells user forum just want an honest answer. Dell will not even tell them if the XPS 700 is Core 2 compatible. But what should one expect, this has become the norm for Dell customer support. Dell use to be a respected company but they do not seem to care about their customers any more. They need to take a trip back to their roots.
- This is the 0,1 Revolution expanding it's Power
- by juchestyle July 13, 2006 6:32 AM PDT
- Because of the smallness the world takes on because of blogs, email, etc, we the people are now better informed. We know first hand when products stink, and most importantly what company is trying to avoid taking responcibility for them.
- Like this Reply to this comment
-
(37 Comments)Keep spreading the word about crappy companies. AOL, Comcast, Dell, thy can cut costs for only so long until it affects their service and products.
Respectfully,