Dell Quality Control Issues Not Going Away
Dell continues to battle quality control problems, and is now offering
make-goods to customers who bought 17-inch notebooks with LCD problems.
Lionel Menchacha, at Dell's corporate blog, writes:
Here's what they found: on some 17-inch LCD displays shipped with Dell
Inspiron 9200, 9300 and Dell XPS Gen 2 notebooks, a one pixel wide
vertical line may develop across the LCD screen over time. Systems that
may be affected by this issue shipped from Nov. 2004 through Oct 2006.
Here's what we're doing: for affected systems, Dell is offering to
replace any LCD that develops a vertical line within three years of
purchase, at no charge for parts and labor. Also, Dell will offer
refunds to customers who paid Dell to replace defective LCDs with this
issue.
The ongoing issues haven't escaped the notice of MGI Research, which
offered up this remark:
Recent data points indicate that on top of mounting corporate governance
and sluggish growth issues . . . Dell may be also battling quality
control problems. The quality problem relates to low end servers,
laptops, and desktops, not the high-end server models. Channel checks
indicate a noticeable increase in the number of machines that need to be
serviced by Dell in the field shortly after delivery, and also units
returned to Dell for replacement/repair.
http://www.crn.com/it-channel/198900549
MGI adds:
The rise of problems with low end servers and desktops is troubling --
and our checks indicate that it is costing Dell money and starting to
erode its brand. The timing of this quality lapse could not be worse for
management, considering the recent announcements about errors in
accounting and lax financial controls.
An executive of a system builder that often competes with Dell said he
finds the company has been much less cost-competitive since Michael Dell
has returned to the CEO position at the company, and that the PC maker
is exhibiting a certain amount of "confusion" in competing for business
throughout this quarter.
Cost issues and turmoil appear to be piling on to Dell's quality issues
from last year, when the company recalled 4.2 million notebook batteries
due to fire hazards. For its part, though, Dell has said it has found
its response to customers with quality or technical problems has improved
wrote:
On Aug 30, 10:52 am, wrote:
On Aug 30, 10:09 am, hk wrote:
Well, nephew with a new Dell laptop sent me his older Dell laptop to
"clean up, update, and send to another relative" in his senior year of
high school in Flor-ida.
Said used laptop, about a year old, and pretty nice, seemed to have lost
its wireless ability. An hour or two futzing around with it indicated to
me that it wasn't a software or VISTA problem, though I am no expert on
wireless matters. An external wireless card, though, worked.
Hmmmm.
So I opened up a panel on the back of the laptop and voila, discovered
that one of two wires coming out of the innards had detached itself from
the wireless card and...worse...the itty bitty connector that held the
wire onto the card was...missing. The other connector was one I had
never seen before and I just knew it wasn't a radio shack item.
So I called Dell and after an hour of wading through automated
responses, transfers, and several semi-English speakers somewhere in the
known universe (maybe), I was connected to a woman who seemed to
understand the problem. She said I would be contacted by a service company.
Sure enough, a tech called the other day and made an appointment to come
out here. He had a number of parts with him, including a new motherboard
(not necessary), and a new "back" to the computer case, which was
necessary, because built into the the back was a set of wires, the
antenna for the wireless card, and the loose ends had the right
connectors on them. These roadie techs don't solder...so he replaced the
back. And he found the missing connector.
Very competent guy, too. Taking these laptops completely apart is not
something I would do.
All is well with the laptop, and it'll be on its way to Flor-ida next
week. Damned nice laptop.
Wow, that's an absolutely incredible story, thank you very much for
sharing that with us.- Hide quoted text -
- Show quoted text -
C'mon loog, did you really read a harrytale.. ?