Business Week is reporting more dilemmas and trouble for an already struggling Dell. There’s currently a federal investigation going on taking a look at their finances. As a result, their quarterly reports have yet to be released. We last wrote about the trouble at Dell with their massive battery recall, and the fact that dealing with Dell for this issue was frustrating and time consuming. It appears as though the battery replacement issue is just one of many issues going on right now which are clouding Dell’s reputation.
Visit BusinessWeek Online if you’d like to read the full report into all of the financial details. Generally, investors are worried, and the pressure is on the executive team. They announced four new Dell PC’s today, one of them being a “business desktop” called the Optiplex 745 which is designed to help out businesses with the costs of energy that it takes to operate multiple computers. Dell CEO Kevin Rollins says that
“This reduction in power is significant and reduces annual PC costs by $80 [per desktop], We recognize that energy consumption is and will be an emerging, critical requirement [in corporations].”
Prices will start at $899 for the Optiplex 745 and will run the Intel core 2 Duo E63000 chip which is designed to help save on power.
In reading some of the comments on the BusinessWeek article, it appears that some consumers are still struggling with both customer services issues as well as inconsistencies on their website with pricing. Dell does have a good chunk of the market with computer sales and with that on their side, they may be able to right themselves.
News Sources: BusinessWeek, and InternetNews
Thanks for the tip Alison!
Pretty interesting stuff, I read about this in the Times today too.
Hey by the way Ryan, did you go to college at Iowa State??
Yes, Ashley and I are both current Iowa State Students.
It seems that Dell are indeed going through hard times, but I like the sound of that business PC – I’ve always disliked their home PCs due to there being much better available but businesses seem to love them. Making a PC focused around saving energy is a good way to go, because it’s something that isn’t often considered outside of laptops.
I usually always build my own PC’s. however, I did buy a Dell Dimension home computer a few years back. I had no problems at all with it and it ran like a champ. I assume it still does, but do not know as the ex-wife has it.
I am not suprised that Dell is having their financial records looked over. if they are anything like trying to get support or customer service help on their phone system, then they are screwed!
Hi Ashley, appreciate your perspective but you can’t believe everything you read in Business Week, or at least all the negatives they often point at.
We are in the midst of remaking the website. When you are an Internet business pioneer (one of the first to do over a million a day on the web) and today doing over $16 billion US on the website every 12 months, thats a major overhaul to get it all right. Check our blog for more info about our work on this [direct2dell.com]
Business Week often ignores that Dell’s elimination of the middleman means more than just lower prices, it means customized technology to meet specific customer requirements. It also means we have a direct relationship with our customers– which we are focused on building and strengthening. Its why we have invested $150 million in fixing issues we had with customer service (like screwy phone systems noted here). While we are not yet satisfied, we are making improvements and are already seeing our customer ratings turn around….we continually lead the lead industry.
We also just became the #2 computer supplier in Asia-Pacific-Japan region, an area that is expected te experience significant market growth over the next few years.
While we have some business challenges, we are investing for the future and expect our market leadership to continue…be happy to provide more info if needed
Richard,
Thanks for the visit and the helpful information. We always do appreciate insight directly from the source. Just as an additional comment to add to what you said:
Back in July I [tech.cybernetnews.com] (the Dell blog for those unaware) and mentioned the fact that my recent experiences with Dell have been excellent, especially in comparison to previous experiences. I do agree Dell is working to build that relationship with customers which is good to see.
Again Richard, thanks for stopping by. We do appreciate the insight.
Ashley
i have exellent credit… lowest rates on mtgs/personal or car loans, etc.
yet, dell turned me down on the interest free deal last year. That’s when i realized something was fishy with them
Ashley,
Glad your experience have been good…check out our blog for kevin and michael’s discussion about our evolution and focus on the 1:1 direct customer realtionship if you are interested [direct2dell.com]