From: jgd@dixie.com (John De Armond)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.sysv386
Subject: Re: >>An example of Dell's product support (Esix here I come...)
Date: 22 Jul 92 09:23:28 GMT
Organization: Dixie Communications Public Access.  The Mouth of the South.

donn@dellunix.dell.com (Donn Baumgartner) writes:

>I have taken a lot of heat here for expressing my personal opinion of
>various people's use of the net.  So be it.  But it's my *personal* opinion
>only, not Dell's (as if that wasn't clear already).  Dell does not approve.

Riiight.  What Dell needs to do right now is to fire your ass,
make that fact publicly known and appologize to Stan for the
corporate attitude  expressed.  That would certainly satisfy me.
If Stan had been told "We don't know what the problem is but
we're working on it and will keep you aprised of the  progress" - 
and done so -, I can bet he would have been satisfied.  I  KNOW
I would have.  You're attitude, which I interpret to be an
expression of the Dell culture toward non-expert users, says basically
"F*ck the user.  It's not our problem when popular hardware does
not work.  Let him figure it out.  After all, we've already been
paid." 

Here's an example of how it should be done.  I publish my magazine
using Windows-based software.  I'd never trust the revenue stream
to an OS whose vendors express the attitudes I've seen in public
from Dell and in policy from ISC.  One of the tools we use a lot
is "The Writer's Toolkit", a collection of spelling checkers, grammar
checkers, thesaurus, style guide and a few other goodies.  Sold
by Systems Compatability Corp.  I recently built a 50 mhz 486 (yep,
clone parts.  Was watching Stan have his problems with Dell) to run
the graphics intensive stuff and the color separation on.  The distributor
was out of Adaptec SCSI controllers so I accepted a DTC unit.
Built the machine, installed the software and WTK would not run.
I called SCC and spoke to a very nice tech support lady.  We ran down
the hardware and when I got to the DTC controller, she stopped me and
asked me to use debug to dump a rom location (after my assuring her
that I could do such a task :-)  This indicated the revision number.
Turns out their TSR manager conflicts somehow with DTC's bios and
neither company has yet figured out why.  This information
was freely volunteered.  She suggested I get another controller (which
I ultimately did) but told me that if I wanted to stick with
the current setup, she'd keep me posted at least daily on the status.
I suggested she do it via FAX so as to not take up so much time.
That she did.

I mentioned in passing that I was now doing much more of my writing
in Windows.  She suggested I swap my DOS version for the Windows
version.  Normally a $30 price difference.  She said that if I'd mail
back the DOS distribution disks and not to bother with sending the docs,
she'd send me the Windows version no charge.  That she again did.
I should point out that the package cost about $50 at the local
retain store.  SCC probably got $15 of that.  They obviously went in 
the hole on that sale to me.  Big loss, right?

Hmm, let's see.  I spend $50 on a DOS software package and get unlimited
support.  I spend a couple of grand on ISC Unix and even become an ISV
and can't even get past the electronic phone attendant unless I pay
a support extortion.  I watch a friend and colleague spend close
to $10k on a turnkey Unix system only to have the vendor ridicule him
in public.  Can we draw some conclusions from this?  I think so.

First, we can figure out why PC Unix is below the noise compared to 
DOS sales.  Then we can figure out why Windows, a collection of almost
random bytes not much better than what a chimp on a keyboard would 
produce, dominates the GUI market.  And we can figure out why 
it will stay that way.  Finally we can understand why the no-name
clone makers are doing so well.  At least when THEY give zero
support, they do it after only taking a few hundred dollars.

Let's jump back to the particulars and think about what the practical
business aspects are.  I've told the WTK tale to just about every fellow
writer I meet.  Good support deserves to be talked about.  I've written a 
short section in my magazine's editorial about WTK being the example
automotive service suppliers should strive to emulate - we are,
after all, a car magazine.  I've mentioned WTK in an article I've written
for another business magazine.  Finally I've talked about them here.

Now to the Dell side.  Even though I no longer actively pursue consulting
work, I still take care of a few old clients.  I dropped by a client
this morning on the way to another appointment.  I handed him a
printout of Donn's remarks.  You see, he is opening another store and
was considering buying Dell turnkey Unix systems - at my suggestion - 
instead of more clones and ISC as we'd done in the past.  I had suggested
Dell primarily because I no longer had the time to fight ISC wars
to make things work so factory support would have been useful.  My new
advice was to call both HP and Sun and see what they have to say.

I've chatted for the last few days on our local ham radio repeater 
about this incident.  Our repeater was built so that several
dozen of us PC Unix whizzards who are also hams would have a place
to swap notes and generally talk geek things.  From the response 
another merchant friend of mine has had at the mere mention of
a good deal, I suspect there are as many as 50 additional 
people who either lurk and don't talk or listen in on scanners.
Several of us had contemplated Dell as an alternative to ISC in order
to get some support.  I think that issue is resolved.  At least with
ISC, a posting here or some carefully addressed Email will usually
result in the answer.

Finally I've been sitting for a couple of months on an invitation to write
a guest editorial on customer service in another magazine.  I plan to 
contrast good and bad support.  Every time I thought I had the worst
possible example of customer support, something else has come up to
superceed it.  Unless I see something from Dell to refute what Donn 
has said here, I think I've found my bad example.

Donn, even though you're a developer and thus assumed to have no social
graces, you should consider a little trueism from the sales side. (gasp)
It goes something like this:  "A satisfied customer will tell an average
of 2 people.  A pissed customer will tell an average of 7."
It may not kill you immediately but those odds do stack against you in
the long run.

John
-- 
John De Armond, WD4OQC        |Interested in high performance mobility?  
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Newsgroups: comp.unix.sysv386