If Dell retained me as a "consultant" to help them out I would do the following:

1) Chill with the executive perks... Mr. Dell & the other head cheese aren't worth over hundreds of millions of dollars for two works of less than stellar stock performance. God only knows how much the entire "executive" tier gets paid in salaries & stock performance perks...

2) Not everybody buys into Dell's consumer support model. While I can't speak for my cousins in the UK, one of the main reasons I stopped purchasing (and recommending) Dell equipment is because of their consumer Support. Honestly, I cannot think of analogy that adequately describes just how badly their telephone support is. I've been a computer engineer for almost 23 years and I've never seen such pitiful and poorly designed scripts most (not all) of their "customer associates" read from.

3) Now that almost all of Dell's equipment is made in China, as is almost everybody else's, service, warranty and a wider range of options are necessary, to separate Dell from the rest of the pack.

That's just for starters...

Dell service and support bad? <sigh>

Agreed, 6 phone calls in a day to an Asian call centre to get a - this'll please the Apple boys - a Chinese made Segate 120GB HD in a laptop that failed catastrophicaly within 6 weeks fixed, is nothing for Dell to be proud of - BUT...

...just over 10 HOURS on the phone over a period of 8 DAYS attempting to secure an order to move a telephone number to a different location (within the same exchange cachement too) by British Telecom shows conclusively that Dell are rank amateurs at messing their customers about.

Incidentally - I can see this whole 'Made in China - Quality Control via the end user' thing just running and running.. The situation is definitely out of control.

And the outcome? Well, China scoops up the manufacturering jobs (if manufacturing is the right word for throwing a bunch of components into a case with your eyes closed and hoping it functions), China gets the forigen exchange, China gets the (temporary I suspect) economic boost.

The previous manufacturers loose jobs and their economies decline markedly.

The end user gets a comparatively minor price reduction - but for a hopelessly unreliable and shoddy product.

The Western Corprates selling this junk get an enhanced profit line and happier shareholders (unless they happen to buy any of the junk in question, in which case they may reconsider their investment choice - could Dell's share price drop on increased profits be connected?).

But ultimately the entire thing WILL collapse. Support and service costs WILL soar, even with 'outsourcing' and adoption of a 'politely screw the customer' attitude.

Then what?

Fancy trying moving back into an 'abandoned on cost grounds' manufacturing environment?

Then how about raising your product prices to reflect manufacturing costs with at least token quality control?

This will NOT end well.

Hi

In comparison to HP and IBM the business support from Dell is very good. In fact from experience it is the best.

If only the same was true for home support ;-(

I hadn't realised Ireland was part of the PRC.

Or do they only stick on the labels and put them in the cardboard boxes in the Giant factory complexes in Limerick?

Dell Euro's operation HQ is in Ireland,Dublin.

The factorys for Inpsiron Latitude Optiplex Power Edge etc are in Ireland, Limerick.

I dont work for them,i just work with them.

@ Vernon, Mage and Scott

The 120 Gig HD in question was clearly marked 'Made in China'. As have all the failed in warranty components I've encountered in the last six-nine months or so.

Computer hardware is just like computer software - GIGO applies.

Using Chinese made components, it matters not if the product is assembled in Eire, China, the US, or the middle of the Kalahari Desert - the duration of its continued function is likely to be limited by that of a Chinese manufactured (if that's the right word) component.

Wait and watch. You'll see...

Not sure why everyone's beating Dell up for using S.E. Asian components when the whole industry uses the same S.E. Asian components.

Dell's enterprise support is great knowledgable English speaking people who get to the root cause quickly - and I'l nod my hat to their consumer support too for my 4 home PCs/laptops - their home support has really improved over the last 12 months.