Dell buys $100 million of Dell

Too bad all you commenters are just plain clueless.

What happened to Dell has happened to a lot of manufacturers. The economy took a dive and consumers went more for cheap than quality. Dell went from quality to cheap and followed suit. Trouble is, now that the demand for quality is back, can Dell recoup the quality image?

I’ve had the ‘pleasure’ of working with Dell’s Customer Support; I’m sorry to say (not really) that most of the stuff they try to tell you to do to help fix a computer, is right from the manual…Which I could read myself. This shows that their idea of tech support is simply people who can barely speak english, reading a book over the phone to you…Which, of course, really does nothing to actually get the problem solved.

Honestly, the only thing I ever liked about Dell, was…Well, the fact that they stay broken most of the time, and give tech junkies a quick way of earning some money, fixing computers for people who can’t do it themselves, and get no help from good ‘ole Dell.

Honestly, I’ll stick to ordering my own parts, and just building them from scratch. Cheaper, and the tech support is better than Dell’s.

Dell’s big money comes from business, not consumers. business that would never dream of running a database on a crApple. Some of these bitter comments from Jobs fanatics are laughable.

Gee maybe all of us who lost our jobs in Canada could get our jobs back. At least Dell would then be able to offer again the best technicians in the world to their consumers.

The day of the custom-built PC is slowing drawing to an end. It was a really wonderful thing to visit a mom-and-pop PC store in the late 1980s and order your own custom built dream-machine. But no more.

The mom-and-pop shops are almost totally extinct now. The Value Added Reseller is gone. The big name quality manufacturers are already dead, dying, or selling out (ie Compaq and IBM), and now the wholesale, cut-rate manufacturers are beginning to fade (among the many names, does anyone remember Austin Computers?).

I wont offer advise to Michael Dell, but I will remind all readers here that the glory days of the Computer Industry begin to draw to a close back in 1994 when the outsourcing movements began – when the industry began to commodotize the hardware, the software, and the people that made it all work.

The reality is that the fixed and variable costs associated with manufacturing a PC have risen so high, and profit margins fallen so low, that it is now almost impossible to promote a business producting PCs, at least here in America.

How ironic – that the wizards in Armonk, NY that started it all (the PC craze) are now gone, the building empty, the technology licensed/sold to foreigners, the support outsourced, software development relocated, and the industry as a whole now prostrate.

Who would have guessed that in 30 year we Americans would not longer be able to maintain a business model that would permit us to retain such an incredible and important technology here within our own borders?

Not only are the call centers in India but the computers are made in Malaysia now. Michael Dell, this is a BIG PART OF THE DELL PROBLEM.

Dell’s competitive advantage was that technology was doubling every 18-24 months and prices dropping so they could sell the latest technology for less than HP, etc. could sell older technology sitting in stores and warehouses. Sadly, Dell seems to be cutting costs by going from what was once the best service in the business to utterly incompetent, outsourced support.

“Withheld” said it all. Dell used to have competitive advantage. (The online selling starts with a low price, then slowly add little things, end up with a high price). Now the advantage is gone. Every company can do the same.

Talking about the computers, Dell is the heaviest and dumbest among all brands. I bought 8 Dells in the past 10 years. No more in the future.

My advise for investment is: never buy a company that does not have competitive advantage, no matter how cheap it seems.

What a waste of a purchase…

I recently purchased a Dell computer (my first) and had an issue with the order. Dell replaced the machine within three days and had me up and running. Their customer service kept me informed during the entire transaction and was absolutely amazing during the process. Thanks Dell!

Dell is clearly in the midst of a turn-around. The CEO sees the light at the end of the tunnel.

Michael Dell once opined that the logical course of action for Apple Computer would be to shut it down, sell the assets, and return the capital to the shareholders. Michael Dell should follow his own advice.

The core competitive advantage that Dell had for over a decade was a cost advantage driven by operational efficiency and effective supply chain (and hence working capital) management. This has been well chronicled.

What seems less closely followed in the business press is the fact that this advantage is GONE, as most obviously evidenced by Dell’s move to sell off their remaining factories.

The same ODMs that produce HP and Apple products are now building Dell products. The basis of competition has shifted: from cost and availability of the latest widgetry, to design and ease of use. And on that new basis of competition, Dell is an also-ran.

Moreover, the very suppliers Dell used to love to abuse now have Dell over a barrel. The bad-faith negotiating tactics they used for years with their suppliers are coming home to roost as ODMs give favor to HP and other competitors.

Michael Dell is delusional and out of touch with these realities. I hear about them from employees in all levels of the Dell organization, but the top brass there definitely do not have a clue.

Hopefully some of that $100m will go towards better customer support. Call centers in India are one thing but it’s entirely another when they are obviously taught that its ok to be indifferent.

This just makes me wish for the bankruptcy of Dell even more. I’ve never been a customer of a company whose lack of customer service has cost me more money.

He should shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders

Good luck, Michael! I guess you needed a tax write off pretty badly…just throwing your money away. Of course, billionaires like you can just write off any losses on your taxes or lay off employees to make up for the loss. It’s a “no lose” situation. And if you’re really nice and go completely broke, then the Fed will step in and give you a couple billion to keep your head above water.