That normally wouldn't rate as revelation, but keep in mind the PC landscape looked very different back then. Before Dell made his mark, the mail-order computer business was populated by all sorts of scalawags. All you needed was a splashy magazine advertisement with a 1-800 phone number, and you were off to the races.
Unfortunately, truth in advertising was a custom more honored in the breach than in the observance. As mail-order purchasing caught on with more people, the buying public discovered an unpleasant truth: Customer service was a veritable crapshoot. While geeks could fend for themselves if their systems wigged out, laymen were often out of luck.
By the early 1990s, the fly-by-night operators had been crushed in an inevitable shakeout that saw Dell vault to the top of the mail-order PC business. Other companies had lower prices, but Dell was simply more dependable. People learned to trust the brand, and that paid off in the coin of customer loyalty. Dell successfully parlayed that "put the customer first" strategy over the course of the next decade and ultimately become the world's No. 1 PC maker.
Considering its customer-friendly track record, Dell's recent decision to shut down its Customer Care message boards is getting pilloried as an act of monumental stupidity, if not monumental arrogance. The company says the closure is necessary because authorized Dell representatives--and not customers--need to handle the oh-so-complicated issues that were being handled on the message board.
Am I missing something here?
First, that cock-and-bull explanation is something I'd expect to hear out of the mouth of White House spokesman Scott McClellan. The folks at Dell are too smart to believe that sort of pabulum.
Isn't the very purpose of a message board supposed to be the free exchange of information? Technical boards are a great place to get fast answers--especially when a company staffer's not immediately available. Dell chose to shut down the forum rather than engage with its customers. I suppose you can shrug it off as an isolated example of bad judgment.
The closure got extra attention because it occurred around the same time that Jeff Jarvis published his much-cited Dell Hell commentary about Dell's lousy tech support. The fact that it was Jarvis, a high-profile journalist-turned-blogger, doing the kvetching doubtlessly drew more attention to the issue than if it had been Joe Schmo.
Viewed against the backdrop of intermittent complaints about Dell service, the decision sends the wrong signal.
Talking about how the Internet is altering the relationship between companies and their customers, Jarvis and others have correctly seized upon the idea of the ongoing conversation that should be taking place. (The best reference point is the Cluetrain Manifesto).
Sometimes, companies get a clue, and sometimes, they remain clueless. We're still quite early into this Internet/blog revolution, and it's not yet clear how it will all end up. Still, it's safe to predict that any institution (including a news organization) that ignores the conversation does so at its own peril.
Biography
Charles Cooper is CNET News.com's executive editor of commentary.
See more CNET content tagged:
mail-order,
message board,
truth,
PC
Yes, that's sarcasm, but it gets the point across.
Indeed, check your politics at the door, Cooper.
Perhaps the first step to improving customer service is to profesionalise it - move from the message board to a proper tech. support service. There are plenty of other boards out there.
This could be completely wrong of course, but it serves as an example of the many angles not considered.
Election.
Cooper's just speaking to his perceived audience of snobby
"enlightened" intellectuals (who OF COURSE must be democrats.
Talk about arrogance and stupidity. Pot. Kettle. Black.
the We'reNotAfraid.com website that protests the London
bombings.
http://news.com.com/2061-10786_3-5785426.html?tag=tb
The problem Guevin sees is that the user-contributed photos
are too materialistic. Unbelievable. cnet seems to be
encouraging irrelevant, liberal posturing. If, as another poster
suggested, Cooper has positions at MoveOn.org or
MichaelMoore.com, then that pretty much explains everything.
cnet readers may themselves want to "move on" to a different
tech news source.
http://blogs.siliconvalley.com/gmsv/2005/07/cluetrain_dont_.html
"talking about your political vews?" I've yet to meet a conservative
with any real sense of global vision, but you have to be this short-
sighted? Fox News, your home away from home, lead their news
updates yesterday with stories about McClellan's not being able to
comment. It's a fact. He couldn't comment. It's not an
interpretation or a Vote For Clinton sign. It's a joke. Get it? Using
timely events we are all familiar with to communicate with each
other on-line? Creating community...?
The issue with a technical support message board hosted on Dell I think is with liability. If someone get's bad advice, like (remove the memory dimm while the computer is on) from a user on the Dell message board, and fries their computer, who's responsible? Is it covered under warranty? Why isn't Dell monitoring the board (Is that even possible given the nature of a public forum with customer base as large as Dells)?
I agree with Chris that yes, customers should be able to help on another, but I'm sure this decision has stemmed from legal concerns as well as the fact that most message boards are not part of the normal operational workflow. They are not able to track response times (I think) and figure out customer satisfaction. Not to mention that they will most likely not be able to enter in TS information into their database for future support queries.
These need to be taken into consideration. Hope that provides some insight into issues I have had to deal with as well working for a PC business.
Wow, look everyone, an opinion. Careful now, they sense fear and will begin to offend you if you don't understand them.
Folks, I think we need to sit down, have a Coke and catch a breath. As I responded to one e-mail today, I've been fond of political humor ever since I came of age in the Johnson Administration. If you never saw Lenny Bruce or Mort Sahl do their shtick, you really missed something. Every administration since -- all the way down to Bush the Second -- has at one time or another been deserving of a little ribbing. If we can't laugh at ourselves, then maybe this country is really as screwed up as its critics think. I don't agree but that's beside the point. Fact is, my column -- and yes, it's a COLUMN -- concentrated on Dell and how it responds to customers in the age of the Internet. Folks who are obsessing about one line out of a 650 word essay are really missing the point.
- Dell Tech Support
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by shanedr-1964330144520240703050
July 15, 2005 3:24 PM PDT
- If ending the message boards means Dell is finally going back to superb tech support would be most welcome. Unfortunately I can't see how ending the message boards are going to improve tech support. This computer isn't a Dell, while my first two were. It was lousy tech support that sent me elsewhere. Ending message boards will not hide the fact that Dell tech support is just about useless. Makes me wonder if Dell intends to reduce their warranties and tech support to 90 days because they figure that their customers can run down to the local computer store for paid support. If so they won't like what happens to their sales; I for one will stop sending even computer newby's to Dell for their first computer.
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