Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (
More info?)
One compromise solution would be to have TWO boards, one moderated by Dell
personnel who could make sure the customer responses were truly useful and one
totally unmoderated (like this one).
Another compromise would be to have a board where Dell and only Dell employees
could respond.
Shutting down a message board entirely does nobody any good. Dell, like any
company, needs feedback about its products, good or bad. Customers need
solutions to problems.
Of course, the bean counters cannot add to the books the value of the good will
generated by a message board, so away it does. Likewise, the bean counters
cannot quantify the value of honest to gosh American English speaking support
people with solid technical knowledge, so away that goes, too. As another
posting stated, from an accounting standpoint, post-sales customer support and
warranty service are drains on the balance sheet, so everyone (not just Dell) is
cutting back in the face of severe price competition.
The real problem here continues to be that customers supposedly demand ever
cheaper computers, lacking any sort of margin to provide post-sales support.
And I'll claim that Americans have fewer dollars to spend on computers these
days, while, at the same time, computers become a necessity of life. So where
does the downward spiral end? ... Ben Myers
On Tue, 19 Jul 2005 11:38:46 -0400, "Steve W." <Dugdug56@what.com> wrote:
>
>"Jim Higgins" <gordian238@hotmail.com> wrote in message
>news:11dnrvcpbcs9n42@corp.supernews.com...
>> Dell falls off the Cluetrain
>>
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9584_22-5790353.html?tag=nl.e539
>>
>> --
>>
>
>I can understand entirely where Dell is coming from.
>
>Look at it this way.
>Dell puts a website up to help their customers. No problem great company
>everyone decides, Kudos to M.D. for helping.
>A few months go by.....
>Same website on company servers. Folks are asking questions about some
>more serious problems and the Dell people are giving them correct
>responses.
>No problems yet....
>Folks decide to start answering questions with things like "this worked
>for me so try it" or "I have seen this problem on a friend of a friends
>computer, try this fix"
>Sounds OK BUT what happens when someone comes on this COMPANY SPONSORED
>site with a problem, tries a fix by someone, and wipes a HD clear, or
>screws up the settings so bad that the only way out is a re-install?
>Next thing you hear is how DELL screwed up when it wasn't a DELL person
>who gave them this info. Same thing as folks blaming GM,Ford or whoever
>else for problems caused by a friend who KNEW how to fix the problem.
>The company gets the black eye for something they didn't do.
>
>You see the same thing happening here a lot. 50 different solutions to a
>problem. Half or more of which don't even apply to the problem. BUT how
>do you sort out the ones that are correct if your the OP with the
>question? Also what solutions do you post based on the often VERY
>limited info that usually gets posted?
>
>For instance take this recent one. (NOT HARASSING JUST DEMONSTRATING)
>
>Title of post
>Why does my mouse drag?
>
>OP
> Hello
> I have a new Dell 3000 (purchased in march) and just recently my
> mouse doesn't run smoothly -- Sometimes when I go left to right
> -- it stops - I have to pick up the mouse, set it down and try
> to drag it again --- I've inspected the ball on the bottom and
> it doesn't appear to be dirty -- any other suggestions?
>
>Solutions posted:
>
> "It isn't the ball that gets dirty, it's the wheels inside
>that collect crud. Remove the ball and look inside,
>there are usually 2 wheels. In extreme cases you
>may need to open the mouse to clean them."
>
> "is it an optical mouse with a little red light on the bottom."
>
> "I recently saw this type of behavior on a machine with spyware (it
>was
>a new one on me) - the mouse would "shuffle" itself to the left by
>several pixels every few minutes - and stop again within about half a
>second. Might be worth a good scan !"
>
> "Dirt on the mouse's ball isn't usually the problem, it is dirt on the
>rollers that the ball drives.Undo the bottom plate to release the ball
>and remove it. NB the
>bottom plate is sometimes a LH thread.
>Check the rollers up inside the mouse for dirt and use a probe to
>remove same."
>
> "buy an optical mouse.I had the same problem with the Dell mouse even
>though I did not have
>any problems with the Compaq mouse on my Compaq PC. An Optical mouse
>has worked great for me. I bought a Logitech Black Optical Mouse which
>is a cheap mouse but it works great."
>
> "Have u actually opened the mouse up, removed the ball and checked the
>rollers that the ball rolls against. Any time my pointer has started
>acting flakey I've had to open the mouse up and gently clean gunk off
>those rollers inside. The gunk wouldn't be on the ball itself, but on
>the
>rollers inside. I gently scrape the gunk off with a toothpick and once
>it
>has been loosened I pick it out with tweezers if it doesn't fall out on
>its own. "
>
>
>Which is the most probable correct answer? Keep in mind that the person
>who posts the question ASSUMES the answers are from company people since
>it is a COMPANY run site NOT that these are just other folks trying to
>help. The correct answer will get you MAYBE a thanks, the incorrect one
>gets "That damn Dell support person told me to (insert answer of choice
>here), Then I find out it was just (insert cheaper/easier/correct
>answer here) I'll never buy Dell again, their support people are
>stupid/ignorant/"
>
>Happens a LOT. What is the BEST solution to the problem?
>
>Close down the board? - Folks bitch about how that limits support
>options, or how Dell is screwing customers again.
>
>Keep the board open and have LOT's of wrong info on it that didn't come
>from Dell people in the first place? - Folks bitch about how poor Dell
>support is and how they got the wrong answer to some problem on the
>board and it caused them to lose a lot of data.
>
>Either one gets you bed press.
>
>Steve W.
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