Kevin Rollins, the chief executive of Dell, does not want to dwell on what has gone wrong for the past year at his company, the world’s largest computer maker. He calls that “wallowing.”
When pressed for an explanation of why revenue growth has dramatically slowed and why profits have fallen, his explanation is short. “We got a little too far ahead on profit, and that allowed competitors to sneak in,” he said in an interview at the company’s headquarters here, referring to Dell’s profit-margin goals. “Our competitors got better, and that allowed them to get strong.”
How could this happen on the watch of a former Bain & Co. consultant who prides himself on measuring everything and on meticulous execution? “We just don’t know,” said Rollins.
The article goes on from there — with paragraph after paragraph of “wallowing”. Like:
“There is a feeling of ‘let’s get this back to where it should be,'” said Joseph Marengi, senior vice president of Dell’s Americas business. “It’s basic business, but at the end of the day there is a sense of urgency.”
We all have some idea of what’s wrong with Dell. Why not jot down a little note here — and maybe Kevin Rollins or Michael Dell will read it?
No doubt that unlimited potential of their 20 lb. laptop/desktop monstrosity will save the day.
We all know that a major corporation based out of Texas can succeed, they just have to write the checks to the right people.
When I want to know about Dell, I go to http://www.ihatedell.net
You get the REAL facts there!
AC
To me, any company that outsources all tech support to India looses a lot of points in my book. What makes it worse is that even though they outsource to India, you still have long waits for support sometimes.
However, whats worse than Indian tech support, is all the foreign Professors and Teachers Aids at universities in the US. You cant learn (efficiently) from someone who doesn’t fluently speak english.
#3. “However, whats worse than Indian tech support, is all the foreign Professors and Teachers Aids at universities in the US. You cant learn (efficiently) from someone who doesn’t fluently speak english.”
This is valid for K-12. But I think at the university level, a foreign accent should be the least of your worries. Not all of the experts in the scientific and technical fields speak American English.
Reasons that the Department at the University where I work have dropped purchases of Dell from 60-100 per year to 10-20 per year, giving the advantage to the small local company are:
1) Decrease in the main previous advantage of the Dell over everyone else: the Support. I would not assign this to the Indian (or other) outsourcing as I needed to contact them almost daily. People with whom I spoke mostly had midwestern and black-American accents (typical over more than 600 calls). Problem is in Dell forcing ‘techs to follow insane prescribed diagnosis “algorithms”. Some even appologized recognizing that I am calling with the well defined problem, but they said that if they do not follow “the Rules” they would be punished. Result is slow and laborious resolution. Example: problem I could resolve in 5 minutes 2 years ago now may take multiple calls over two days… This started about year and half ago and by the year ago it became a standard (bad one). Average number of ‘thech with whom I was not satisfied remained the same as over the last 4-5 years, about 5percent, which is not bad.
2) Not recognizing the strength of the movement to the OpenSource, ie. Linux. To get our bussiness Dell must offer all models and options without the preinstalled WinOS and with the appropriately lower price for that difference. Our small local vendor can easily beat Dell value by not forcing us to pay for the OS we do not want.
Finally I must respond to the #3 comment… I am one of those people who came from other countries to teach here. As for the understanding the language I must give example from my own experience in the US: while living as a tenant in the American household I was frequently asked to “translate” British TV programs for the teenage son of the family who couldn’t understand the “foreign English”… That said, foreigners teach at the US universities due to the simple issue: number of Americans who want to do such jobs is miniscule. This trend is spreading even to the elementary education, ex. NYC needed to literally import teachers from places like Jamaica to barely keep up with the demand. Deaper reason for this is inadequate pay and related interest. I like what I do, but if I wanted to switch to the industry I’d have 100% immediate rise in pay and much greater long term prospects… It is very hard to explain my American friends why I don’t…
as a former dell sales associate, at one of their Kiosks I have heard many things, but most of the time I heard:
It all boils down to the outsourcing of the tech support
and
You don’t even have software or MP3 players that I can walk away with? even HP has that!
the direct model is wonderful, but people want something substantial, and if they don’t get that they want solid support… neither of which has Dell been able to deliver on over the past year and a half to two years where as HP, Apple and other competitors have been able to do one or the other, and in some cases even both, HP gets to take advantage of Best Buy’s Geek Squad for on call tech support, and their products are right there on the store shelf… that makes customers happy and business boom.
I’ve mentioned it on a couple other blogs that if Dell would just stock easy to store items such as basic software, and their Dell DJ’s, maybe a camera or printer or two… they would suceed in their new “Store” model… but at this point I am just sitting back and watching.
Store bought computers suck, and the two I’ve had experience with, Dell and Gateway, generally support that premise. At the house I build my own, but when the boss buys this or that I pretty well have to integrate the stuff and be happy.
Tech support elevates my blood pressure to dangerous levels, that’s why when the hard drive puked in the Gateway I just ordered another from an online retailer and replaced it. But the only time I had to call Dell was to remove the bundled virus software that stubbornly refused to uninstall, and after telling me (with American english) that he wasn’t the guy to call he still told me how to fix it with a visit to tinyurl.com.
The biggest problem with OEM packages is the damned bundles of trial this and trial that, and all of it tries to stay in your face until you buy the crap.
I have long been a supporter and purchaser of Dell computers.
However, the main reason why sales are down is perhaps the fact that Dell had completely outsourced their tech support overseas. It’s cumbersome and it makes no sense why I why even longer in the queue to speak to someone. Majority of the time I end up speaking to someone who is far less knowledgeable about the computer I am calling about.
By the time I call tech support, I already know what the issue is and I just need the damn replacement part. Even if I had already gone through the same scripted list of troubleshooting steps the tech wants me to go through, we have to go through it again once I call them. Its mind numbing how much time and patience I lose while on a call with Dell tech support.
I actually work in an IT department and we use all Dell equipment for the laptops and desktops. After the past three years, I am beginning to revaluate our situation with Dell, especially with the leases coming up soon. I am sure many other IT managers in other corporations have and are doing so too. This perhaps is the major reasoning behind Dell’s profits dropping.
There should be no reason for a helpdesk or desktop support agent to be on the phone longer then 10 minutes if they are have a diagnosis. Luckily we finally got a concierge through our parent company that deals directly with Dell regarding that issue and they just issue replacement parts now after contacting them. But it really should not be coming down to that…
There’s a difference between good value and plain cheap. Unfortunately most consumers are drawn to the bottom line. How about warranties being dropped to 90 days? Like some retailers they’re trying to make up for losses with value add ons. It’s the Wal-Mart mentality at work. More and more junk of decreasing worth and value. Most people don’t even expect quality anymore. Dell’s problem is dropping quality to match those stackable coupons.
I’ve a vested interest in Dell continuing to screw up….I’m a small town ISP who builds systems on the side for customers.
I can buy *single-quantity* parts, at *retail*, factor in an employee cost for building it at $20/hr, and add 30% as for pure profit, and either beat Dell’s price by a long shot, or I can bring it in at the same price point and deliver a machine that mops the floor with the Dell offering.
Mix that with the ease of finding customers….they’re *all* sick of Dell’s support.
So…as far as I’m concerned….cheers to Dell!
Dear Michael Dell,
I’m happy to tell you I have noticed a great improvement in at least your sales staff. It seems that once my purchases exceeded $100K your (few remaining?) american-speaking sales representatives have been taking care of me. The endless screw-ups of orders, lost orders, duplicate orders, etc. seem to have ended for now. That’s much better. Now, I have some suggestions for you to better improve your company:
– Choose wisely your overseas tech support. I am tired of having my tech staff CONSTANTLY ABUSED by non-english speaking script-readers who for SOME CULTURAL REASON SEEM TO HATE FEMALE TECHS. Our male techs call back and are treated much better. Your Phillipines staff seem quite good. The others…. well, we’re sick of them.
– Please allow me to order the machine I really want and not the one you have “cowed” me into by your web site!!!!! Really, if I see a laptop I want in the regular section, why can’t I order it just because I am purchasing it for a college???? Really , your company screws this up each and every time. Last time I cancelled my order after waiting seven weeks and placed my $22,500 order with CDW-G who all but kissed my toes for every dollar. They delivered my order in 4 days.
– Please stop making it so hard to find parts for laptops which have just gone out of warranty. Our tech staff can repair these systems but you make it hard for me to locate and order parts. Come to think of it, so does everybody else. Could you take the lead in this area?
I hope this helps, Mike. We like your products but we have been greatly disappointed for the last two years. Let’s hope for better days.
BTW:
Dell can stop sending techs to do replacements of laptop hard drives too. It’s one of the dumbest things I have ever seen and is a big waste of resources.
We use to buy ALL our computers from Dell. 8 Years ago I called to complain about a noisy fan and to my AMAZEMENT they sent a tech to replace it. They sent a tech to replace a $2.80 fan. What a waste they could have mailed it to me. The Tech Guy told me he gets $75 / hr doing this! Try getting someone to even answer a phone today is a miracle. We stopped using Dell 5 years ago and build our own and pay a local for service.
a little off topic, but its seems like the bigoted views exemplified by #3 are gaining traction in the US, specifically complaints from science college students about the “language barrier” with foreign profs. This is utter nonsense.
Anyone complaining about foreigners in US universities really needs to reevaluate their view. Do you think that US academic institutions would be were they are now without non-US citizens? The entire US collegiate science system is dependent on foreign students. Foreign grad students are the backbone of university research in the US. Anyone who disagrees obviously hasnt spent time in any US research universities.
Think of the language barier as a learning experience if anything. If your profs dont speak the dialect of english that you are most comfortable with, it is highly likely that the field you have chosen will be filled with people who dont speak “american english”. Not being able to communicate with these people will only hurt you.
Also, the indian bashing needs to stop. many indians speak british english very clearly, and likely understandable to more people on the globe than a southern accent.