My, they really made you angry. We get the message. I think its a bit excessive to castigate the entire management of the company because you have had a bad experience, but I accept your basic point that if the company starts to fail in servicing the customer, then it is headed for trouble. I guess the question is, to what degree was your experience representative of the norm? And can we get better service elsewhere. (I've also spoken to a number of our service rep friends in Bangalore India, and while it is a hateful experience, I'm not sure that it is really that much worse than level X tech support provided from the USA. The whole system is horrendous, and seems to cut accross all big consumer tech companies, not just Dell.)
There is a niche for small local outfits that will provide more effective customer service, and such companies are making a come-back. Ironically, Dell supplies a significant and growing percentage of the units to this "unbranded" segment of the market. So if you proceed with your plans to buy a "white box" the chances are pretty good that you'll end up getting a Dell anyway...in everything but in name. Obviously, the service would be different. Maybe better, maybe not. The point is, Dell will still be selling a large number of the machines that go to the smaller, local-service oriented market. |
