Back in 1997, Michael Dell was asked what he would do if he were running Apple. He answered:
And at the Gartner Symposium and ITxpo97 here today, the CEO of competitor Dell Computer added his voice to the chorus when asked what could be done to fix the Mac maker. His solution was a drastic one.
“What would I do? I’d shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders,” Michael Dell said before a crowd of several thousand IT executives.
Dell’s comments follow Steve Jobs’s keynote address at the Seybold trade show last week in San Francisco, where the Apple cofounder seemed to win over attendees with his explanation of why he had made certain key decisions, killing the clone market and aligning more closely with Microsoft. The Seybold crowd–as well as some Apple employees–also seemed to be buoyed by the increasing role Jobs has taken on at the company as board member and interim CEO.
But others, like Dell, appear to think that Jobs’s expanded role isn’t helping. There is some concern that Apple will have a hard time recruiting a top-notch CEO because of Jobs’s presence.
Eleven years later, you can pretty much swap Apple with Dell and Michael Dell with Steve Jobs. But the point is: Dell probably should not have said that, and I guess, the lesson is, it’s a good thing Fake Steve Jobs and not the actual Steve Jobs is saying that Dell is dead.
Dell has a strong brand and remains a powerful company. It certainly is not dead, but I think if Michael Dell wants to correct the problems, he might want to transport himself back to 1997 and practice what he preached.
A tale of two different companies:
According to MacWorld:
In an ongoing alteration of the consumer PC landscape, Apple laptop sales have surged to a new all-time high over the past 90 days - up from 12 per cent in June to 17 per cent currently. Apple desktop sales (7 per cent; down from 8 per cent) have been solid but unspectacular during that same time period.
But it’s the future that truly represents the change. A total of 28 per cent of respondents who plan to purchase a laptop in the next 90 days say they’ll get a Mac - maintaining the momentum originally observed by ChangeWave’s June survey. An additional 23 per cent say they’ll buy a desktop Mac.
While according to WSJ, over at Dell:
Dell Inc.’s first attempt to rebuild its consumer personal-computer business since founder Michael Dell returned to lead the company is having trouble sticking.
Persistent delays in laptop shipments caused by paint problems and supply constraints have put a crimp in the company’s turnaround efforts. Since late July, it has delayed shipments of some colorful models of its latest notebook computers, the XPS M1330 and its new Inspiron PCs. This latest incident — hitting right in the crucial back-to-school selling season — marks a significant setback in its push to rebuild its brand and business.
Apple is now worth more than Dell… ironically a few years after Michael Dell said Apple was basically better off shutting down.
Some companies never cease to amaze me. I’ve had my share of bad customer service experiences with Dell (Apple, Seagate, HP too). You can keep track in the Customer Disservice Category…
So, a day after I see a Dell blog make the Top 50 Business Blogs, I read that Dell asked the Consumerist to take down 22 Confessions of a former Dell Sales Manager.
Now here’s the thing, we have plenty of Dell machines at the office, a bunch of Macs too (damn video editors), the last PC I got was a Compaq as a result of me being tired of Dell. I need to buy a new machine for a new employee today, I was actually considering going Dell, and I still might, but now I’m reconsidering because Dell actually emailed the Consumerist to take the post down.
The Consumerist. That’s Gawker Media. Gawker Media is Nick Denton’s company. Do they know Nick?
This is the same bloke who posted about Steve Case’s Facebook Friend Request…
What were they possibly thinking?
Not only it’s so wrong for Dell to do that, but what’s worst is that upon reading the Confessions, I was more willing to buy Dell. Don’t ask why.
That is utterly asinine.
Here’s Dell’s takedown request. Here’s the 22 Confessions. Here’s Dell blog where they talk direct to the client (note to Michael and company at Dell: that’s the forum you should have used to address the 22 Confessions).
Here’s our history (well, partial anyway) of taking on Corporations and Winning.
Update: To Dell’s credit, see both their lead blogger’s response in the comments below, and their “official blog post” here.
Slowly but surely, our office is converting to Macs. We edit quite a lot of video at WatchMojo.com, and Macs are the way to go, I am told.
Anyway, when I set up the office, I went with Dell. I figured at least the business side of the operation could count on Dell.
I just called Dell to buy more RAM memory for one of my colleagues’ desktops.
Me: Hi, I’d like to buy some RAM for a desktop I ordered from you guys.
Dell: Is this for an office or home?
Me: Well, I bought it myself as a person, but it was for an office.
Dell: Allow me to refer you to the right department.
I then go through an option: a) desktops, b) printers (I think) and c) software and peripherals.
All to say, nothing on memory. I’m basically shaving in the dark here folks.
So I picked c) software and peripherals.
I then get forwarded to a freaking answering machine of someone who tells me that he’s either not available or serving someone else.
What a freaking joke.
Worst off, since it’s RAM for a Dell machine, then I need to call them back.
Michael Dell and Kevin Rollins, if that’s your strategy going forward, before calling Dell back to place my order for the RAM memory I’m calling my broker to short your stock.
[Note: This is for entertainment purposes only, I have no position - Long or Short - on Dell and won’t].
UPDATE 1: I just called back, got through to someone, was placed on hold, and got hung up on. Man, this is freaking unreal.
Must.Try.Again. Unfortunately.
UPDATE 2: These people have balls. I just got referred a few times, then got a voice mail. Do these people understand how sales works, or rather should work.
The choice now: buy RAM for Dell or simply get rid of Dell crapbox and buy another desktop altogether. Or rather, laptop from someone else.
Estimated time since I started trying to buy a stick of memory: 1 hour, at least.
Let’s call again, unfortunately.
UPDATE 3: Called back. Told them I wanted to file a complain. I was asked why… I recapped the scenario.
Dell: Is this for an office or person?
Me: Wherever I will find a life form.
I think I was forwarded to business, I did not get a complaint person, but rather a sales person. Since I need the stupid memory stick, I put in the order. Nice to see that I had to threaten to file a complaint.
I did, between Update 2 and 3 email the powers that be at Dell:
———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Ashkan Karbasfrooshan
Date: Jan 5, 2007 2:40 PM
Subject: Your service and sales is worrisome, thought you might want to know
To: michael_farello@dell.com
Cc: michael_dell@dell.com, kevin_rollins@dell.comMichael,We had spoken in the past.You might be interested in this:Read by these folks.CheersAsh
–
Ashkan Karbasfrooshan
President and Founder
Mojo Supreme
Ash@MojoSupreme.com
http://www.WatchMojo.com
I guessed Mr. Dell and Rollins’ emails. Incidentally, I guess Mr. Farello, Dell’s VP, US Consumer Electronics and Accessories (with whom I had some exchanges back in the day) is gone:
Delivery to the following recipient failed permanently:
michael_farello@dell.com
Technical details of permanent failure:
PERM_FAILURE: SMTP Error (state 9): 501 #5.1.1 bad address michael_farello@dell.com
But, by the looks of it, the emails to Mr. Dell and Rollins did not bounce… I guess their receptionists’ got them. I’m sure they’ll care aplenty.
Oh, if you’re keeping track: $240 for 1 Gig of Ram for a desktop. That was the last Dell product I ever bought. Ever.
If you pick up any business magazine these days, one word can be found on cover pages, within special sections and in most articles. That word is Innovation. You know what I mean if you pick up Fortune or Business Week. I’m sure Business 2.0 also talks about that as well, though I had to cancel my subscription this past month (it’s a great magazine, though I just don’t have time these days to read many mags).
Anyway, I am not saying that innovation is not important. Au contraire, I like to think that I have made a career out of being creative and coming up with - and following through those ideas - a ”Crazy Idea of the Day” every day. Basically, a new way to innovate, change things, shake things up. I apologize about the shameless promo, but it’s true.
But these days, while innovation is the buzzword du jour, many companies seem to forget about all of the other things that are equally important. Today, we’ll talk a bit about Service.
When I began writing ages ago, I promised myself never to use my platform to bitch and complain about the poor service I got from a company. I won’t start today. But what I will do is use an example I went through yesterday to show how much some companies lack common sense when it comes to the service they provide, or lack thereof.
The company in question shall remain nameless (yeah, right) cause I do not like to bash companies unfairly, though this one deserves to be bashed for the lunacy they put me through yesterday.
Here’s the story: My super-duper all-in-one printer, copier and fax (yeah, you can narrow down your picks already, I know) has had a problem since I bought it. Essentially, all outgoing faxes get to the recipient with a massive black box on it, shriking the content of the fax by 50% and making it impossible for the recipient to read it. If you are sending out a big black rectangle via fax, this would not be a problem. But since I rarely send those puppy out and actually have the audacity to expect my recipient to be able to read the fax, this means that my fax is essentially useless. It has been since Day 1, but every time I have called since I bought, the company “was experienced high call volumes,” so I never got around to it.
We run what you would call a small and medium sized company at WatchMojo.com, you know, exactly the kind of firm that technology companies should target, because once they win us over, they have a lifelong customer as we grow. And when a tech or new media firm grows, it goes from 1 machine to thousands in the span of a few years. That’s the kind of growth that companies need, especially publicly traded ones (I know, you can narrow down the company even more).
It should be stated that for 18 months, I worked in a call center for the largest financial company in the country, I was a pretty darn good employee, so I know a thing or two about a) call centers, b) call center employees and c) the frustration from customers who call into them. I know, more shameless promo, I am sorry. But keep reading, it’s worth it.
Yesterday, I had to call said company to find out why my fax was acting like that. It’s a laserjet product, not a color printer, yet for some reason, every time I would call in and prompt the automated system for “laserjet printers,” I would get routed to the colored printer department. What this means is that after waiting 5, 10 or 15 minutes and becoming impatient and irate, customers are told:
“Sorry, even though I work for the same company and can help you on colored printers, I don’t know ‘you know what’ about regular black and white laser printers.”
“Do you know you are experiencing this problem with your automated system,” I asked.
“Of course,” I was told. “We’re working on it.” Great, can’t wait for y’all to start working on my printers, methought.
Forget the fact that I am talking to someone in Calcutta. I do not mind that. I really don’t. That makes sense to me because the employee in Calcutta probably appreciates their job more anyway, I know that is so not politically correct to say, but it’s my opinion.
As I was waiting to get transferred to the right department, I thought: first off, as a general rule, dividing up your call center reps by product is not really smart. It means reps who handle product 1 might be taking more calls than reps who handle product 2 even if there are more calls coming in for product 2. I know, I know, call centers analyze call volume by product line. That’s BS. I worked in call centers long enough to know that call centers work in the “do enough to avoid the dam from crashing” mindset.
All to say, dividing your reps by products is not smart because it means that your training costs will be higher over time. Last but least, since most of the problems involve troubleshooting, this means that one rep who gains experience cannot deploy it over all product lines etc. Of course, I am not here to tell you how to run your business, but the fact that a consumer is telling you he won’t buy your products in the future should make you listen.
All to say, after spending all morning on this matter and not fixing the problem, the company was kind enough to offer sending me a replacement overnight, fixing my machine and then sending me my machine back when it’s fixed (assuming it’s fixed). This would be good, only problem is that the price they quoted me turned out to be wrong… that took some more time to clarify, further frustrating me.
Of course, maybe if the rep would handle all products, he would go through more of the pricing involved and not misquote prices, but hey, now I am being fastitious.
If you have been reading thus far, great. Here’s the best part: the company sent me - via email - a form to fill out. They asked me to print and fax back the form.
Mind you, 99% of the companies in the world have more than one printer and more than one fax machine. But as a startup with one printer in the office, I asked, “can I simply email them back the info?”
No, I was told, cause this company, whose name is synonymous with printers (I know, you should start to know who this company is by now) and who was the 9th company to register a url (ever! click here to see the entire list and find out who the company is) does not accept emails from consumers.
Does not accept emails?
Are you kidding me?
Then and there, I was going to toss out my printer outside of my window.
When I worked in the call center, from 1999-2001, my employer too did not accept emails. That was ludicrous then, but it was 1999, after all. For a technology company’s call center not to accept emails in 2006 is as backwards as backwards can get.
Then and there, I decided that indeed, we needed more printers and fax machines at our offices, but guess what, at it stands right now, guess whose product it won’t be.
PLAY
