From: wwm@ef2007.efhd.ford.com (William Meahan)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.sysv386
Subject: Re: Dell Unix..
Date: 21 Jul 92 12:23:47 GMT
Article-I.D.: ef2007.Brqnrn.KAt
Organization: EFHD Ford Motor Company
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL3

davidsen@ariel.crd.GE.COM (william E Davidsen) writes:
: In article <Brov7I.8tF@ef2007.efhd.ford.com>, wwm@ef2007.efhd.ford.com (William Meahan) writes:
: 
: |> I no loger have a question about Dell UNIX - I simply will NOT buy it!
: |> 
: |> An attitude like that indicates that Dell has gotten the old "the customer
: |> be damned" attitude that has almost killed DEC, did grevious harm to the 
: |> American auto industry and generally has allowed the Japanese to take over
: |> much of American industry.
: 
:   If you are dropping a vendor because they sent you the wrong
: literature, be glad you are only buying one system, because the rest of
: the vendors hire mortals, too!
: 
:   Anyone who would buy something because they like the salemen, or avoid
: it because they didn't get perfect communication in a trivial
: transaction, is not a very astute consumer.
: -- 
: bill davidsen, GE Corp. R&D Center; Box 8; Schenectady NY 12345
: 	It never ceases to amaze me that otherwise rational people, able to
: 	understand calculus, compound interest, and the income tax form, can
: 	continue to believe that poker is a game of chance.


Sorry, bill, you miss the point:

1) I'm not the guy who got the SCO product literature from Dell although
   I have been having trouble getting product literature from Dell even
   after explicit e-mail to info@dell.com.  I was sent a response from
   the automated response generator that gave year-old prices and a pure
   marketroid press release.  Not too comforting.

2) Several threads in this newsgroup have made similar points about Dell's
   great products but lousy support.

3) My direct response had nothing to do with competence but with ATTITUDE.
   Nobody expects a vendor to support every conceivible hardware/software
   combination, especially in the PC arena with literally thousands of
   suppliers.  Nevertheless, it IS fair to expect to be treated COURTEOUSLY
   and with RESPECT, even if wrong.  When an employee of a company rants
   and raves ("Bull...", "Give us a frigging BREAK...") and implies that the
   customer is, shall we say of low IQ, is not good.  That this
   occurred in an international public forum with no hint of apology from
   others at Dell simply cannot be excused.  Customers can be a pain in the
   butt and dead wrong but should be dealt with directly.

Technical competence is great, and Dell should be commended for the fine
work they have done in providing a highly polished SVR4.  BUT, if customer
support is not top-notch as well, a company can expect to see their sales
evaporate.

I wish also to personally apologize to all for my own overheated comments.
I had just gotten reamed for not responding quickly enough to a customer
myself (and I responded with a smile - just a few hours later than expected).
-- 
Bill Meahan			|EFHD Information Systems Staff
Technical Consultant		|Ford Motor Company
wwm@ef2007.efhd.ford.com      	| +1 313 487 6122
...!fmsrl7!ef2007!wwm           |I'm not paid to speak for Ford!