Like I Keep Saying: DON'T BUY A DELL, DUDE!

Many years ago, I ended up on a road trip to do a demo using a Dell notebook to run the software. Following our company policy of testing everything out before your meeting, I set everything up the night before only to find that my Dell notebook was DOA. I immediately got on the phone with Dell and requested a replacement based on their 24/7 replacement policy that was purchased with that model. Of course, the support technician argued that it would take a couple of days to process and ship a unit to me and even tried to insist that they ship it back to my home office where I didn't need it. I wanted that sucker waiting for me at my hotel in another city by the next morning. After wasting well over a half hour arguing with the Dell idiot about the semantics of the Dell Service Warranty, I requested that he make a notation in my file using caps: "I WILL NEVER BUY A DELL COMPUTER AGAIN AND I WILL TAKE EVERY OPPORTUNITY TO TELL MY FRIENDS TO NEVER BUY DELL. EVER! PERIOD!"

If you've ever wondered how and why Dell manages to be the low-cost producer of PC's and notebooks, you have to look at how they order and assemble your "custom-made Dell computer." Dell employs teams of buyers who shop daily for the best prices in all the various parts and chips they need. Often, they'll purchase huge lots at even more aggrssive prices (like memory). If they happen to find a video card from some cheap manufacturer in Taiwan this week, tha't ll probably end up in your computer. And don't forget: they collect the money from their customers in advance so they're sitting on your dough well before they ship as well as getting the best terms from their vendors. Now their model may have changed somewhat in recent years but this is what I found a few years back.

I promptly went out and bought a new Sony VAIO notebook for myself and all of my businesses have stuck with Sony notebooks ever since. They cost a little more but they've never given me any major problems. Any time, anywhere. (And some of the extra features are a bonus.)

Imagine my surprise (sarcasm here) when I ran across this little article on The Inquirer about another Dell notebook exploding and bursting into flames at a Japanese conference. Recently, Dell was flamed for making their Tech Support phone numbers unavailable on their support pages for the longest time.


FRIENDS DON'T LET FRIENDS BUY DELL!