07-23-2003, 09:00 AM
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Contributing Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 8,228
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Kudos To Dell On Handling Of Axim 2003 Issue
When an OEM blows it, we all get outraged, be it a customer service issue, not providing ROM updates, discontinuing support for a device, whatever. Someone from the Thoughts team puts it on the front page and we all vent for pages and pages. And sometimes even more pages. 8O
So I think it is equally fair to give credit where credit is due when a company steps up and rectifies an issue in a top notch way. On June 14, CNet News reported that some users were complaining about performance issues on the X5 with the new OS on it. These were coming from Dell's Support Forums and other enthusiast sites like this one and AximSite. Dell's official response at that time? "Dell representatives said on Monday morning that the Round Rock, Texas-based company was aware of the concerns stated online by Axim users and is investigating these. However, they added it had not received any formal complaints from Axim owners through its tech support service."
Fair enough. Dell too was monitoring the situation, but hadn't found any issues yet. Apparently no one cared enough to actually call Dell on this. Dell's support forums are hosted by Dell, just like the microsoft.* usenet hierarchy is hosted by Microsoft, but that is not an official support channel. You have to call an 800 number for that. Even so, Dell was already on the case. In fact, they were looking into this last week due to the reports in the forums.
Two days later, Dell found the problem and immediately came forward with what they knew to that point and a plan of action. Microsoft was also involved in this. Microsoft had just released a new OS and probably didn't care where the problem was, just that it be identified and fixed. It turns out the problem was in the firmware that Dell provides, which lies between the Microsoft OS and the hardware.
Dell had several options here.
� Bury their heads in the sand and see how loud the noise got. I can think of a few OEMs that have done this in the past. One denied their 16 bit color display was actually 12 bits. I don't recall if they reversed course before or after the class action suit was filed, but it never should have gotten that far. Another PDA manufacturer did this when they got reports that their cradles were frying motherboards on computers because of an electrical discharge. Again, it got to class action status before it was over.
� They could have pretended nothing was wrong, fixed internally, slipstreamed the fix and then handled complaints on an individual basis. In the end, the user gets what they paid for, but it sure is a hassle.
� Fix the problem and make the fix available for download quitely.
� Shut down the plant until the new firmware is ready to go, let the media know what is going on and assure 100% of existing owners that the problem will be rectified.
The further down that list you go, the more expensive it gets for the company but the better it is for the consumer and end user. Dell chose the latter. Few here would have complained if they just fixed it and made it available for download, but Dell didn't want anyone else to have to mess with this, so they have halted shipments temporarily.
I'll also give Dell the benefit of the doubt that their quality control testing will test for scenarios like this in the future so it doesn't happen again. I doubt a service pack at Microsoft goes by that the QC phase doesn't get a few dozen tests added to it to prevent the introduction of new bugs in the next service pack, so I hope Dell's QC department has learned how to make their process more effective from this.
Kudos to Dell on their handling of this situation!
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07-23-2003, 09:54 AM
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Pontificator
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 1,177
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I agree. Dell has shown once again that their service mindness is top notch.
... and kudos to you Ed for spotting this and articulating it the way only you can! 8)
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07-23-2003, 10:07 AM
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Theorist
Join Date: Dec 2006
Posts: 276
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Well said, Ed! :clap:
The way that Dell handeled this problem should be set as a standard for every Pocket PC manufacturer! 
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07-23-2003, 10:11 AM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 221
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I shall say no more on this matter other than that I disagree with you for the most part, and would have to say that Dell handled this very badly with lies and deceipt. :evil:
Of course my point of view is also taintde by the fact that Dell have stolen my money and won't give it back.
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07-23-2003, 12:02 PM
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Pontificator
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 1,041
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I have a client who was using Dell's for all their needs. They are a 25 person law firm, so their annual budget for computing needs is probably about $10,000 or so.
They have been exceptional customers of Dell. They've never needed to finance computers and ALWAYS have paid their Dell bill quickly.
One time, their was an issue with a bill that was never received and the company received a service charge of approximately $300. My client spent about 4 hours on the phone speaking with Dell and Dell Financing. Dell would not budge on the service charge. After years of working with this great customer, they would not forgive the finance charge. After all, isn't it possible that my client never received this bill? Sure. Absolutely. Now my client doesn't want anything to do with Dell. This is a customer that has supported Dell from the beginning.
This problem happened last month.
How can you turn your back on someone who helped you build your buisiness AND has been a top-notch customer? $300 is such a trivial amount compared to the ten's of thousands of dollars this customer has spent on Dell equipment. True, it's not a Fortune 500 company, but there are ALOT of smaller companies that spend $10,000+/year on their computing needs and together, they outnumber the number of computers at larger companies. No hard cold numbers on this, but it makes sense to me from my experience.
I was going to start recommending Dell equipment to all of my business customers due to my previous experience with Dell's Customer Service people and the quality of their equipment. They usually beat on price too. After this experience, I can't support Dell. The few bucks you save isn't worth this kind of service We can buy our computers from someone else.
I'll probably keep recommending Dell's desktops to some of the home users I work with because it's almost always about price for them and the service is more than good enough. And I certainly won't recommend anything from any Mom and Pop shop. My home users are outnumbered by their business counterparts 30 to 1, so we're not talking many computers.
Dell has a huge margin for the PDA's and maybe that's why they are being so attentitive to those users. According to the founder of Gateway, P.C. companies must branch out to other technologies or they will go bust, eventually. Gateway made a killing selling Plasma based t.v.'s. They are too getting into PDA's as we know. The p.c. business just doesn't have the markup is used to have.
If more and more businesses experience the kind of Customer Service my client received, this could seriously damage Dell's reputation. IBM thought it was invincible back in the early 90's and wants to conquer the world. They suffered HUGE losses and had to completely reinvent itself. It's completely possible for Dell to suffer the same fate, or worse.
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07-23-2003, 12:21 PM
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Thinker
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 434
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I too feel Dell has handled this admirably. Reminds me of another OEM (Toshiba) and the way they issued a voluntary recall for the e740 battery charge problem. How quickly we forget.
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07-23-2003, 12:36 PM
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Contributing Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 8,228
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by ricksfiona
One time, their was an issue with a bill that was never received and the company received a service charge of approximately $300. My client spent about 4 hours on the phone speaking with Dell and Dell Financing. Dell would not budge on the service charge. After years of working with this great customer, they would not forgive the finance charge. After all, isn't it possible that my client never received this bill? Sure. Absolutely. Now my client doesn't want anything to do with Dell. This is a customer that has supported Dell from the beginning.
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I would imagine Dell has pretty hard and fast rule about this. I too buy all of my IT equipment from Dell.
� When I order it, there is a PO in our system for it
� When it comes it, there is a packing list and a price
� A few days later, I get another statement that has the price
� A week or two later, I get an invoice.
Even if that company doesn't use POs for orders, the invoice is not the only time they get notice they owe money. It is likely someone was sitting around waiting for the real invoice to pay the bill, which is human nature. But that was going past the due date, they knew it, Dell knew it and thus the service charge.
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07-23-2003, 01:03 PM
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Pupil
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 15
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So what about us with the the PPC2002 Axims? Will we get a firmware update and then upgrade to ppc2003? I hope so right?
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07-23-2003, 01:06 PM
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Contributing Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 8,228
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by papo
So what about us with the the PPC2002 Axims? Will we get a firmware update and then upgrade to ppc2003? I hope so right?
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That would be my assumption. They have stated that when the firmware is ready to go, they will offer it for download or CD to existing 2003 Axim owners, so I don't see why they wouldn't offer the firmware update along with the 2003 OS to those that are getting the 2003 upgrade.
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07-23-2003, 02:54 PM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 55
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Re: Kudos To Dell On Handling Of Axim 2003 Issue
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Ed Hansberry
...official response at that time? "Dell representatives said on Monday morning that the Round Rock, Texas-based company was aware of the concerns stated online by Axim users and is investigating these. However, they added it had not received any formal complaints from Axim owners through its tech support service."
Fair enough. Dell too was monitoring the situation, but hadn't found any issues yet. Apparently no one cared enough to actually call Dell on this. Dell's support forums are hosted by Dell, just like the microsoft.* usenet hierarchy is hosted by Microsoft, but that is not an official support channel. You have to call an 800 number for that.
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This may seem incidental to your piece but it raises an important point: Posting a diatribe on the peer-to-peer support site, no matter how detailed, only guarantees a nice catharsis. If you really want to get a response from the company, contact them directly and make sure they set up a case number for your issue.
This isn't just for Dell. I've seen a number of posts on forums for at least three PPC companies complaining that said company didn't make an official response to their posts. If you want an official response, use an official channel. If you want a quick, polite response, you really should refrain from profanity at worst and/or questioning the intelligence and lineage of the companies support people at best. :bangin:
On the other hand, it would be a good idea for companies to be painfully obvious about the official channels. Some folks have a hard time figuring out that you can send an e-mail to [email protected] and lo-and-behold, you'll get a response from an official tech support person. Often, a big part of support is belaboring the obvious. :iamwithstupid:
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