AOL Tech

will2

Member since: Jan 4th, 2010

will2's Latest Comments

Blog Activity
Blog# of Comments
Engadget14 Comments
Switched2 Comments

Recent Comments:

Dell responds to latest capacitor-related fallout, ignores the whole lying to consumers part (Engadget)

Jul 4th 2010 11:25AM Although your article points out the Direct2Dell blog recent response ignores the crux of report about "lying to customers", I am suprised to see a few posts here defending Dell'a actions, saying it "was 20 years ago" and now their changed ! According to the NY Times article "Suit Over Faulty Computers Highlights Dell’s Decline" on 28/6/2010, the faulty PCs and Dell's attempt to cover-up were sold between 2003 and 2005, i.e 5 to 7 years ago. Your article highlights the fact the Direct2Dell blog response THIS MONTH also covers-up the fact the evidence proves Dell systematically misled customers.

Unaware at the time of Dell's bad reputation, while in the UK in late 2006, I ordered an Inspiron 640m/E1405 to use in Brazil for 2+ years. As it was my first time buying a computer without first able to see and try one in a shop, I mentioned my concerns to the Account Mgr about 'having to trust a mail order manufacturer without a shopfront to visit in case anything went wrong. He assured me no cause to worry and gave me all the bumf about superior Dell quality, both in the computer, and in customer service, saying that Dell will provide me with a '2 Year onsite N.B.D. International Warranty'. I went through that in detail with him. He said for any warranty issues I just need to phone the 0800 number for Dell Brazil and the notebook would be repaired the next day. I said I wanted a notebook both for business and much multimedia, photography, films, also watching TV (via USB Tuner). He recommended a number of custom upgrades, including enhanced 1440x900 screen and the fastest Core2Duo they had. I said I would like to first trial the notebook on a sailing yacht on a reggata to France before leaving the UK, for which I bought their 12/240V power adapter.
The Notebook arrived late, missing 3 different delivery dates (they advised me to be at home 3 times, yet didn't tell me of the cancellations) and the marine trial. I then discovered Dell's order tracking didn't work. When it arrived it was clear there was a problem with the 'enhanced screen'. All shadow scenes rendered black, viewing angle insufficient for 2 people to view at same time. Although my Account Mgr, who previously said he could be my sole point of contact, and given blow by blow emails/phonecalls of the missed deliveries, then said I should write a complaint to 'Customer Service' and I would be compensated for the inconvenience & lost time. I did that using the URL he sent me, and asked for the screen to be fixed. The points in my complaint were not addressed. Although I had agreed with my Account Mgr a suitable amount of compensation for the 3 miss-advised delivery dates, never received it. I sent him many emailed reminders about lack of response to my complaint and no repair of the Notebook. Horrific. In one of many fruitless phonecalls, I was told Dell 'had deleted my complaint because they had lost my contact details'! Dell had over 1 month to repair the 'new' Notebook in the UK before I left for Brazil but failed to do so. After arriving in Brazil I contacted Dell-Brazil who said my 'International Warranty' doesn't work in Brazil; I had been miss-informed, that I should take up the complaint/compensation issues with Dell-India or Dell HQ in US. I soon found other problems: the DVD-Writer would not write to DVD-+RW disks; the Notebook would often run very slowly (despite upgraded CPU) and ran much hotter than I had expected, negating my planned use to log marine data, rendering the 12V adapter u/s. I lost a lot of data when The HDD failed prematurely, which I had to replace at my cost as Dell wouldn't respond to my repeated requests for warranty service. Just before the 2 year 'warranty ' expired I returned to UK on brief visit. I emailed my Account Mgr asking they repair the Notebook in the UK. No reply. I saw his introductory letter with contact email of his manager. Emailed his manager. Got 'out-of-office' replies giving email of his co-manager. Resent complaint & request for service to him - still only autoreplies.

During the whole of the "2Year International Warranty" period I NEVER received any service whatsoever.

Last September I saw a news item Dell had been fined $4M by the NY Attorney General for denying customers warranty service, 'deceptive and illegal practices', many other customer service failings and generally defrauding the customer. NYAG setup a fund to compensate NY residents. Dell's The Order compensates only US customers, but Dell's overseas customers subject to the same advertising and fraudulent practices. Digging further, I came across a 'Dell Hell' article by a Jeff Jarvis in Business Week in 2005 listing Dell's failure to address complaints. His blog said his article resulted in a meeting with Michael Dell, and assurances Dell will fix the issues by creating their own 'true blog' called Direct2Dell, headed by a Lionel Menchaca.

I read a number of +ve interviews by Lionel on the issues raised in 'Dell Hell'. Lionel said now with the Dell blog "Customers really are in control". I put my complaint to him, initially offering an opportunity to resolve it with a dm before attempting to post it publicly online (I saw some negative posts claiming Dell blog not a 'true blog', 'censored to give an illusion Dell wanted to help resolve customer problems'). He replied positively within hours saying he will help, asking for my Service TAG. Although my complaint told him Dell Brazil advised me they can't repair my Notebook, I was surprised to next be contacted by Dell-Brazil. After some delay, they reconfirmed they had no facility for repairing my Notebook. I emailed Lionel this response a number of times over 2 months but no reply.

So much for his "Customers really are in control"

I then tried posting a copy of the dm complaint in 'Direct2Dell', but it was censored. Tried posting a simple reminder to Lionel asking him to respond, but no response.

I again returned to UK for short visit, emailed Lionel of the fact, that Dell UK should now do the repairs. No reply. Asked Dell UK, for a contact phone for Lionel, also for details of Dell's complaint escalation path, but no one seemed to know it.

I clicked on your link to Dell's Direct2Dell response and see Lionel wrote:
"..our company's continued success is based on a common theme-putting customers at the heart of everything we do. We're proud of our recent strides in service..." "We welcome your comments here". That, and Lionel's statements about the ethos of Direct2Dell do not accord with his lack of response to my complaint following the re-advice Dell-Brazil say they are not equiped to repair Inspiron notebooks.

Lionel is Dell's 'Chief Blogger'. His blog on 1/7/2010 claims "Dell did not knowingly ship faulty.." [PC's). -implication being, its more serious if Dell know a faulty product has been shipped. Lionel now knows my notebook was shipped with a faulty screen, a DVD-Writer not meeting the advertised spec, Warranty Service mis-sold - yet has not put my complaint about these facts at the heart of what he does, apparently prefers to look away.

In one interview, I seem to remember he admitted Dell's attempts to 'surpress public complaints' was wrong. Yet blogs claim Lionel's own Direct2Dell continues to do that, Engadget article 1st Dec 2009 about overheating Notebooks,"...Dell has started censoring some posts including a link to a PDF created by now banned user Tinkerdude describing the problem in detail". Has Dell reformed on Dell Hell ? The evidence points otherwise.

ASUS O! Play HD2 spotted, spec'd, explained (Engadget)

Mar 4th 2010 12:24PM @phuz - I also inclined towards flexibility of NETTOP, was thinking of Acer Revo 3610L, but it has no Composite O/P for older TVs, and is a bit slow to use as a 2nd PC - was hoping Acer would upgrade to D510+ION2-16shader, but seen no announcements. Since then who does a faster one with a wider range of TV Out standards ?

How would you change Google's Nexus One? (Engadget)

Feb 27th 2010 10:11PM I want:
1) A screen readable in sunlight- i.e. SUPER AMOLED or TFT
2) Reliable WiFi-N speeds - its in the hardware, just not supported in UI
3) WiFi-N Router/hotspot supported in the UI - should NOT have to mod the firmware
4) FM Radio receive & transmit (as in the Nokia N900) - again, already in the Broadcom chipset - just not developed in the firmware
5) Some connectivity to drive a bigscreen TV like with the Nokia N900
6) Don't penalise your customers by voiding warranty if they want to uncripple the software of their purchase, as it has no bearing on hardware reliability.
7) protect the screen with 'gorilla glass' as in other phones and Apple Mac

Samsung S8500 Wave caught in a spigot of leaks (Engadget)

Feb 13th 2010 6:57PM @Drybones5 has 2 features Nexus1 could have implemented but didn't : WiFiN, and HDMI Out. Also, sounds as if 'Super' AMOLED has better outdoor viewing than what the Engadget Review said was unusable AMOLED in N1 - useful if Engadget revisited their early pre-CES review in case their view has deepened or altered.

Apple iPad's 'Micro SIM' explained (Engadget)

Jan 27th 2010 9:59PM @DJ agreed, also suspect apple used same motivation (spending much customers money) developing a custom CPU (the 'A4') to achieve an even more 'closed system' so making it harder to jailbreak and prevent 'customers' from controlling and enhancing what they bought.
The 1 good thing I read, IF true and unshackled, is full-speed 300Mbps WiFi-N but at what a price !

Apple iPad's 'Micro SIM' explained (Engadget)

Jan 27th 2010 9:35PM @1dude apple may have used the same reasoning to spend much (customers) money developing a custom CPU (the 'A4') to make a more 'closed system' so making it harder to jailbreak and prevent 'customers' from enhancing the product. The 1 good thing I see, if true and unshackled, is the full-speed 300Mbps WiFi-N.

Cowon V5 HD gets extensive UI video demo (Engadget)

Jan 25th 2010 9:36AM Does anyone know if it has WiFi-N ?

Netgear intros EVA9100 media streamer, DGN2200M WiFi / WWAN modem and more at CES (Engadget)

Jan 24th 2010 9:17PM "DGN2200M wireless router (available in April), which actually pulls double duty as an 802.11n-enabled DSL modem and a WWAN modem" - unless its got a SIMcard slot, it does NOT include WWAN modem functionality - just another router that will only work with a limited list of external modems, so no good for global use

Sprint Overdrive hands-on (Engadget)

Jan 11th 2010 6:38PM Good there is a potential improved successor to the Novatel MiFi after nearly a year. However, as should be clear from all the press announcements this last 6 months, the future of 4G is LTE not WiMax, so useful to know if Sierra Wireless have a LTE version in the works, and if they have imporoved on MiFi 54Mbps by adopting 802.11n

Sprint Overdrive hands-on (Engadget)

Jan 11th 2010 6:31PM @JustonWestern - completely agree... if its marketed only thru carriers, its functionality will probably be 'locked and crippled', so helpful if Sierra Wireless will publish their specs on that, if it is a TRUE MODEM + ROUTER, and if it's functionality is not restricted when using wall-socket power as in the Novatel MiFi