Dell Deals

If you have seen our Example Cases page, you may have noticed Dell have been caught out quite a number of times making dodgy deals. Deals which they have later attempted to get themselves out of by claiming mistake, or technical difficulties.


The sheer amount of these 'technical difficulties' seems unusual coming from a company such as dell, afterall:

• They are the company with the most experience in the online sales channel
  "For the past [24] years, Dell has laid waste to mighty rivals with one of the most groundbreaking business innovations of the past half-century: selling technology products directly to customers via the telephone, and later the Internet" Business Week (2006)


• They are intent to improve their customer experience
  "We don't agree with this decision and will be defending our position vigorously. Our goal has been, and continues to be, to provide the best customer experience possible," Reuters (2008)


• Ofcourse, thats not hard to do, when the US Better Business Bureau were receiving almost 1 serious complaint per business hour in 2005 "Job One is to fix its poor reputation for customer service: The Better Business Bureau saw complaints more than double last year, to 1,533" Business Week (2006)
  
  
• Of course, they say they want to provide a positive experience for customers "We are confident that our practices will be found to be fair and appropriate. While even one dissatisfied customer is too many ... We are committed to providing a positive experience to all of our customers every day," CNET (2007)
  
  
• However, when customers tried to purchase what they thought was a cheap deal, they were given a phone call by a Dell operator trying to upsell a system worth twice the original price. When this was rejected by many customers, Dell forcefully told the customers their order would be cancelled and there was nothing they could do about it. OzBargains (2008)
  
  
• To add insult to injury, just three years ago, during one of their other 'mistakes', Dells PR machine went into overdrive stating "Part of delivering excellent customer service is actually (listing) an accurate price, so for that reason we want to apologise to customers for any confusion or inconvenience caused" SMH (2005)
  
  
• However more recently, according to Marty Filipowski (Dells current Australia and NZ PR machine) The "Dell Order Acknowledgement" email customers received does not infact represent acknowledgement of their order. Email and APCMAG (2008)
  
  
• Marty goes on further to explain "We are contacting these customers now and believe they will understand the discount was an inadvertent error”, Filipowski told us, “and we (have) reviewed the process to prevent future mistakes” APCMAG (2008)
  
  
• Which makes the very same mistake, happening in the same week as that interview seem like Dell are unable to manage their own staff and / or systems. OzBargains (2008)
  
  
• Just in case this recent bunch of customers missing out on this Dell deal needed anymore salt rubbed into their wounds, after enquiring in relation to the matter, they are led to the dell website, where they are informed:
  
  Dell's success is built on a foundation of personal and professional integrity. We hold ourselves to standards of ethical behavior that go well "beyond legal minimums."
  - "Trust - Our word is good. We keep our commitments to each other and to our stakeholders"
  - "Integrity - We do the right thing without compromise. We avoid even the appearance of impropriety"
  - "Honesty - What we say is true and forthcoming - not just technically correct"
  - "Judgment - We think before we act and consider the consequences of our actions"
  - "Responsibility - We accept the consequences of our actions. We admit our mistakes and quickly correct them" Dells code of Conduct
  
  
• With the following also appearing in their "Soul of Dell"
  - "Customers: We believe in creating loyal customers by providing a superior experience at a great value. We are committed to direct relationships, providing the best products and services based on standards-based technology, and outperforming the competition with value and a superior customer experience"
  - "Direct Relationships: We believe in being direct in all we do. We are committed to behaving ethically; responding to customer needs in a timely and reasonable manner; fostering open communications and building effective relationships with customers, partners, suppliers and each other" Soul of Dell
  
  
• And finally - Dell like to inform people that they are good at what they do by stating just how big they are, and how many computer systems they can ship out.
  I wont go and post it all, but you can check it out yourself on their Company Facts page.