Slashdot Log In
Dell Chastized Over Customer Service
Posted by
ScuttleMonkey
on Sat Jul 08, 2006 07:27 PM
from the dude-i'm-still-not-getting-a-dell dept.
from the dude-i'm-still-not-getting-a-dell dept.
The Register is reporting that Dell recently agreed to give into demands from the UK's Office of Fair Trading and alter the agreements that accompany their hardware. From the article: "The OFT has spent the past few months sparring with Dell over the company's terms and conditions. The two organizations recently agreed to settle their issues with Dell changing contracts and making them "fairer to consumers," the OFT said. The specific changes, however, remain secret as neither the OFT nor Dell will reveal exact terms and conditions alterations and as Dell has kept old contracts online."
This discussion has been archived.
No new comments can be posted.
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
Full
Abbreviated
Hidden
Loading... please wait.
hm... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:hm... (Score:5, Informative)
# limited liability for negligence to the price of the product
If you agree a price and they accept then they can't later alter this so I fail to see too many problems
# excluded liability for consequential loss arising out of breach of contract
This might need looking at although I can't imagine too much which could go wrong, if the product isn't of a merchandisable quality then you can get your money back anyway (because of the statutory rights) - there are also rights to protect you from misleading advertising - if they fail to deliver then you can simply get your money back without too much trouble.
# excluded liability for oral representations not confirmed in writing, and
No contract is worth anything if it is not in writing so I can't see how this is a problem
# required the consumer to notify Dell of any errors in its confirmation of the consumer's order immediately
You'd expect this anyway, if they refuse to help then cancel because it is within your cooling off period
- this all seems like it could be solved fairly easily anyway... you can't sign away statutory rights so consumers are safe as far as I can see...
Parent
Re:hm... (Score:3, Funny)
In the UK, I believe it is customary to spell the company name as Delle.
--
Realtime onscreen spell
checker provided by RC1
of Firefox version 2.0
Re:hm... (Score:5, Informative)
If you agree a price and they accept then they can't later alter this so I fail to see too many problems
Your Dell laptop explodes due to a faulty lithium ion battery and burns down your house. Dell's liability is limited to the price of the laptop. I see a problem.
# excluded liability for consequential loss arising out of breach of contract
This might need looking at although I can't imagine too much which could go wrong, if the product isn't of a merchandisable quality then you can get your money back anyway (because of the statutory rights) - there are also rights to protect you from misleading advertising - if they fail to deliver then you can simply get your money back without too much trouble.
Consequential damages may be but are not necessarily related to warranties of merchantability and/or truth in advertising. Dell sells you 50 rack mount servers for a video production project that starts on 8/7/2006 and promises a delivery date of 8/1/2006. Dell fails to deliver the servers until two months after the delivery date. You've lost 7 weeks of production time. Those weeks of delay may be compensable as consequential damages.
# excluded liability for oral representations not confirmed in writing, and
No contract is worth anything if it is not in writing so I can't see how this is a problem.
The Statute of Frauds says otherwise. The common law says otherwise. There are plenty of ways to prove the existence of a contract that do not rely on a signed writing. I find it odd that you believe that Dell can make such representations and simultaneously protect itself from liability for making them.
# required the consumer to notify Dell of any errors in its confirmation of the consumer's order immediately
You'd expect this anyway, if they refuse to help then cancel because it is within your cooling off period
I would not expect this at all. The consumer makes an offer for a specified piece of equipment. Dell purports to accept the offer but specifies different equipment. Under the law of contracts the consumer is not obligated to do anything because Dell has failed to accept the original offer, and in fact made a counteroffer (mirror image rule). The professional sales organization shifts the effort required to catch and correct errors onto the consumer. You believe that this is equitable?
Four strikes. You're out.
Parent
Re:hm... (Score:4, Informative)
We're an odd little place and like everyone to play fair no matter what, not just assume the cheats will get theirs via the customers.
Parent
Leveling the field (Score:5, Insightful)
I think corporations should be punished heavily when they try to get away with abusive practices to trim down the ammount of users that get abused and also to be fair to the corporations who really do make an effort in being fair.
Re:Leveling the field (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Leveling the field (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Leveling the field (Score:4, Insightful)
The market isn't some mystical force. It isn't sentient, and it doesn't make decisions, no matter how we sometimes anthropomorphasize it. It's a semi-rational human construct that behaves predictably - and it cannot magically "correct" itself if the circumstances don't allow it.
For market correction to occur spontainiously, there have to be a least two different choices facing a customer, and he has to have access to accurate information about what advantages and drawbacks each choice offers. If either the customer has no source of accurate information before making a purchasing decision, or if he doesn't have two different choices (two identical choices or only one choice are both possible reasons), then the market doesn't correct.
If you're getting bad support, you've already made a purchase, and the company has gotten your cash. You can avoid them in the future, and tell others to do so as well, but it is entirely possible for a company to get by on one time customers alone. You'd have to know that the company had crappy tech support before you bought their product - and where are you going to get that information? Maybe the only people you know who bought from them never used their tech support. Going online doesn't help either - too much whining one the one hand and too much astroturfing on the other.
And if you do know that company X has crappy support, then you still need a company Y to turn to that is better in this regard. If no such alternative exists (or is feasble for your circumstances), then there is nothing you can do.
Free market capitalism is not a panacea. It's better than the alternatives, granted, but it does have drawbacks - and one of those drawbacks is the damage lack of accurate information and choice can do to customers.
Also, the person you replied to said that misbehaving corporations need to be "punished", right? Isn't that exactly what the free market correcting itself is supposed to be about? Ie, people voting with their wallets, and leaving bad companies in favour of better ones.
Parent
Wayback machine? (Score:4, Insightful)
OK... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:OK... (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:OK... (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:OK... (Score:3, Interesting)
I'm sure we all have a "Dell sucks" story, here's mine: financed a refurb laptop as a small business. The machine crapped out. Dell tech support is an oxymoron. I refused to pay for a defective unit only to be informed that the financing company owned the debt (Dell Financial) and they were not responsible for the actual product (Dell proper).
When a company is keeping secrets, organizing shelter corps and playing other liability games, it just annoys me. When consumer advocates call va
Another non-story (Score:5, Insightful)
We could use some of that in Canada... (Score:4, Informative)
Worse still is their telephone support. I often run across people whose Dell machines have run into problems, and where a clueless telephone support tech has caused them to lose all their machine's data. One client, a tax accountant, lost an extire tax season. I know, I know, backup data - but I think everyone here knows how likely you are to get most users to reliably do so. This is just one of many horror stories.
I would just love it if Dell Canada were forced to take on some accountability for its products. Then perhaps the small business people they have actually hurt would find they had more when fighting with Dell to get a machine they thought was under warranty working again. At least for now, some have found that their only remedy is to sue.
Scope of OFT's investigation (Score:4, Interesting)
I wonder if OFT is also looking at Dells practice of advertising incredibly cheap computers then trying to convince people who call up to order that they need to pay an extra £100 to upgrade the RAM from 256Mb to 512Mb if they want to use broadband, because this PC they advertised "will only work with dialup". Or trying to upsell to the next model up, because this PC is end of line stock, and will "not work anymore in six months time".
I've Been Happy with Dell (Score:3, Informative)
Their chat system and website for drivers have been especially useful and very efficient.
I've never had to send anything in for warranty repair, so I can't comment on that.
Clause F1R3 (Score:5, Funny)
The last four computers... (Score:4, Informative)
Serves 'em right! (Score:5, Informative)
I don't think it's related but... (Score:4, Interesting)
Dell definitely needs kicking into shape, their customer support is attrocious and some of the tactics they use are borderline, or at least should be outright illegal.
It's just a shame that trading standards are merely getting them to change license agreement or whatever instead of really doing what needs doing - hitting them where it hurts with fines/legal proceedings as they deserve for their disgusting practices.
Their reputation is costing them business (Score:5, Interesting)
This situation is way past ironic. Dell got its start by convincing customers that it was safe to buy computers on line. The service was good. Dell sold good hardware that didn't break but if it did break, there was no problem getting a quick repair or a new machine. Boy, have things ever changed!
My WAG is that there won't be a Dell in five years.
Interesting... (Score:3, Interesting)
The comparison ends there, with Dell. In my experience they are helpful to a fault and bend over backwards to help you out. They are the true model of how Indian Call Centres should be: helpful to the economy but most importantly, helpful to the customer and so incredibly friendly they would do *anything* for you if their English ws good enough. As this article suggests, YMMV.
In other news.... (Score:5, Funny)