Do you have a Dell? Read this NYT article

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bitflipper
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2010/07/07 12:11:41 (permalink)

Do you have a Dell? Read this NYT article

Dell lawsuit

Quick summary: Dell sold a boatload of defective motherboards, knew they were defective (a 97% failure rate is hard to miss) and tried to stonewall customers until being sued. Dell has gone downhill under the management of Kevin Rollins and might not recover. This is what happens when a tech company is turned over to bean counters.


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    The Maillard Reaction
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    Re:Do you have a Dell? Read this NYT article 2010/07/07 12:36:33 (permalink)
    Cheap capacitors are expensive in the long run. :-)


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    fireberd
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    Re:Do you have a Dell? Read this NYT article 2010/07/07 15:19:31 (permalink)
    Here is Dell's response to the nichicon cap problem (which was industry wide including Apple). 
    I'm not defending Dell, just noting that it was more than just Dell with that brand of caps.

    http://en.community.dell.com/dell-blogs/b/direct2dell/archive/2010/07/01/dell-on-the-nichicon-capacitor-issue.aspx

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    brundlefly
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    Re:Do you have a Dell? Read this NYT article 2010/07/07 17:41:21 (permalink)
    I read the article last week "in the ink". IIRC only to Optiplex models were affected. My last company had a whole boatload of Optiplex PCs purchased c. 2003, and we never had any board-level problems with any of them through 2006 that I know of. Ironically, those were the machines that gave me my impression of Dell's high reliability. Go figure.

    No trouble with two different Vostro boards (Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Quad) for me so far.


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    haydn12
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    Re:Do you have a Dell? Read this NYT article 2010/07/07 21:40:24 (permalink)
    We had 3 different models of Dell Optiplexes with this issue.  I fixed close to 100 machines in the training rooms I support.  We repaired another couple hundred in the other training rooms in other states.  All had failed after 2-3 years and many started failing again even after being repaired.  I had to check the training rooms at least once a week for dead machines and usually found 1 to 3 new dead ones!  We no longer use Dells.  We also had some IBM machines with the same issue although they weren't in the training rooms.

    Jim 
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    bitflipper
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    Re:Do you have a Dell? Read this NYT article 2010/07/08 11:09:22 (permalink)
    My problem with Dell is not that they got some bad capacitors, because that's something (mostly) beyond their control. The problem is how they handled the situation, which tells me they've lost focus on the customer service that used to be their strong suit.

    Even in their rebuttal (linked by firebird above), they are weasel-y.
    "AIT was using the OptiPlex systems as servers, a use for which they weren’t designed". WTF does that mean? That there is a limit to how many hours a day you can run a Dell before it blows up?

    BTW, for all you serious nerds (yeh, you, Mike), here's a detailed explanation of the capacitor problem, what causes it and how to spot it. There is even mention of some skulduggery: apparently the bad electrolyte was the result of an incomplete stolen formula.


    All else is in doubt, so this is the truth I cling to. 

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    #6
    The Maillard Reaction
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    Re:Do you have a Dell? Read this NYT article 2010/07/08 13:27:43 (permalink)
    :-)

    Thanks Bit, for what it worth... the "bad caps" also showed up on $40-$120K video cameras and lots of them have had full cap jobs to stay in service... at least in that instance the cameras were making money and so the repair was a no brainer regardless of who had to pick up the tab.

    My awareness of that is what predisposed me to think Dell must have had a big surprise as well.

    best regards,
    mike


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    itllcometogether
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    Re:Do you have a Dell? Read this NYT article 2010/07/12 00:43:48 (permalink)
    I have a Dell.  I will not buy anything from them again. And it's nothing to do with this article.  They treat their customers like dirt, from sales to support.  I got burned by them too many times to ever try again.

    I would urge anybody considering Dell for any product whatsoever to reconsider.  If you ever have to deal with them you will likely be very sorry (and frustrated).
    #8
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