Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

I resign as a Compaq customer

Author:Dave Winer
Posted:8/26/1999; 1:48:17 PM
Topic:Next clonemaker, Compaq
Msg #:10008 (In response to 9880)
Prev/Next:10007 / 10009

I resign as a Compaq customer

My final words to Compaq, when they said they would "probably" pick the computer up between 1 and 4PM tomorrow.

I said that's your problem. You guys have been such hard-asses with me, now it's my turn. It's your computer now. If you can't get here to pick it up between 1 and 4 tomorrow, deal with it.

He said, "If we can't pick it up you won't get a refund."

I said, "Make my day asshole. I'd love to sue you!"

He hung up on me.

Dell comes back

Now I've gotten an email from a person Michael Dell's office asking if there's any way they can win me back. What I'm going to say is if they can make an offer to my readers and give me the same offer, OK. If not, thanks but no thanks. We'll keep looking for a clone vendor that deserves our business.

Some ideas

1. If the computer doesn't work when it arrives I have the option of throwing it in the garbage and getting a full refund. Maybe that's too harsh. They have one chance to pick it up. A three hour window. If they fail to show up in that window, then I can throw it in the trash.

2. If at any time there's a problem, whether it be technical or professional, I can call someone in Dell's office.

3. They offer a closed box, with a pre-installed OS, all I have to do is enter the IP address, DNS and router address and it runs. I'm willing to enter my name and company as well. Maybe a few other things like my time zone. I don't want any options. I want a good network card, an appropriate amount of RAM for a developer, a good-sized hard drive, etc. This would avoid the situation that Compaq couldn't handle, a networking card that they didn't have drivers for. (I'm pretty sure that's what the problem was.)

4. When I first turn on the machine it restarts at most twice.

5. If there's a problem with the unit, they send me a working replacement unit, and I send back the problem unit, in that order.

6. In return for all this, I will name them the Preferred PC Vendor for Scripting News readers, with a link on the SN home page, as long as they stick to the deal, and we can take the link off at will, with no recourse possible by them. We will start a special DG here for people who buy Dell units under the Preferred PC Vendor program. All customers will be encouraged to narrate their nightmares. I will post pointers to them on the Scripting News home page. The purpose in this is to expose for Dell management the horrors in their system. The only way they'd go for this is if they want to fix the problems.

PS to Compaq

BTW, in case anyone from Compaq is reading this, my customer number is 2227348.

Approximate word count: 496.



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