BuzzMachine

The media pundit's pundit. Written by NYC insider Jeff Jarvis, BuzzMachine covers news, media, journalism, and politics.

Tag: Dell

  • Lots of company in Dell Hell

    31 comments on Lots of company in Dell Hell
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    Lots of good folks have been sending me email alerts to a new study that shows Dell customer satisfaction falling as fast as its stock price (gee, wonder whether they are related, huh?).

    U.S. consumers lambasted Dell Inc. for poor customer service in a survey conducted last quarter, sending the world’s largest PC vendor into a virtual tie with the rest of the PC market behind the industry-leading efforts of Apple Computer Inc.

    The biggest complaint was with customer service.

    I’ll post my final chapter of the Dell saga shortly.

  • Dell, the new GM

    9 comments on Dell, the new GM

    Couldn’t happen to a nicer company:

    Shares of Dell fell sharply today and led the Nasdaq composite index down, a day after the world’s largest computer maker said quarterly revenue had not grown as fast as expected, even though earnings rose 28 percent….

    The company said late Thursday afternoon that weak federal government orders and aggressive discounts on computers sold to consumers slowed growth in revenue…

    Just ask magazines and burger chains and car companies: You can’t make a business out of discounts. It was a coupon that got me to buy my Dell. It was bad products and customer service that made me return it.

  • Dell hell: by the numbers

    60 comments on Dell hell: by the numbers
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    Matt Galloway tries to do some analysis of the blog bitching about Dell after I started complaining about my lemon.

    dellgraph

    Says Matt:

    The interesting thing here is that once Jeff started attacking Dell – and others started talking about Jeff attacking Dell – the number of people that wrote post about Dell including at least one of Jeff’s negative words increased. Furthermore, these are generally not posts that are talking about Jarvis!

    In other words, he says that it contributed to bad buzz about Dell. Of course, there could also be other coincidental factors (like Dell closing a customer forum). And I think that a blogger bringing up a complaint you already have gives you the peg to mention that complaint yourself.

    Matt concludes:

    So is Jeff Jarvis bell cow or bellwether? Either way, I think Dell would be better off doing more that just listening.

    It’s cow week here at BuzzMachine.

  • Dell Hell: One of many postscripts

    21 comments on Dell Hell: One of many postscripts
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    I hope Rick Segal won’t mind my quoting this in entirety but it’s too wonderful a postscript to my Dell saga (which isn’t quite over but will be momentarily, a coda to follow):

    I work in an office tower with standard food courts all filled with people like me; complaining about prices but too lazy to make our lunch at home.

    I happened to be sitting across from a couple of bank tellers from TD Canada Trust, the bank in our building. These two ladies I’d seen before so I knew where they worked.

    Lady one: I was going to buy a new Dell but did you hear about Jeff Jarvis and the absolute hell he is going through with them.

    Lady two: Yeah, I know the IT guy told me that the cobler blog was recommending we stay away from Dell.

    Okay, after you are done laughing at this; laughing at Scoble’s name being mangled, laughing at two random bank tellers talking about some one line blog entry about some guy pissed off about his Dell experience; after you are done: Pay Attention.

    I’ll accept that an IT guy would be reading scoble’s blog. I’ll even accept the IT guy offering an opinion which, randomly, I overheard.

    The pay attention part: Lots of people (Dell?) are making the assumption that “average people” or “the masses” don’t really see/read blogs so, we take a little heat and move on.

    Big mistake.

    That interchange probably cost Dell at least two sales and lord only knows how many over time. And those lost sales are coming from a feedback system that didn’t matter a few years ago.

    This “blogging stuff” is moving mainstream seriously fast. You and your management team had better be watching what’s going on because Jeff Jarvis and Aunt Mildred both have blogs and both can call BS on whatever BS you are serving up.

    [Side note: I don’t think Scoble ever said don’t buy Dell as the Redmond OEM Mafia would have him killed. ;-)]

    That lunch is on me, Rick.

  • Dell Hell: Deaf and dumb

    2 comments on Dell Hell: Deaf and dumb

    One of the great lessons of the cluetrain era is that your customers are your best customer support agents and marketers if only you allow them … and respect them enough to listen to them. Dell does’t. As we reported the other day, Dell shut its general customer forums… which should be the place for customers to help each other. Dwight Silverman found Dell’s company line:

    As for the Customer Care board, many of the non-technical issues posted there can only be addressed by authorized Dell representatives with access to customer information – not by peers as the Forum is designed to facilitate. That said, these questions are best handled through other secure online tools.

    Or, clueless Dell, your customers can just blog their questions and answers without you. Or should I say, former customers?