News - Dell Q2 revenues down 7.5% on poor desktop sales

[HEXUS]

Profits tumble by 18% and Q3 isn't looking rosy.

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[pctech2012]

Dell don't seem to offer the amount of customisation they once did and there are smaller companies that provide better service.

[cheesemp]

I've been really disappointed in DELL recently. I usually recommend them for people like my dad who need a cheap well built PC but don't need to upgrade however the dimension my dad bought 6 months ago was awful. The case was really cheap (Like i'd expect from a £10 ebuyer case) and it vibrates really badly. I use to associate DELL with decent quality cases (Nonstandard but that was fine) - I guess the cost cutting has gone to far....

[tiggrr1]

I really really hope it's their joke of an after sales/customer services starting to hurt them!!!

[pctech2012]

The first and last time I dealt with them was 6 years ago when I ordered a top of the range gaming rig from them (we have a few Dell servers at work so thought I'd be ok)

The machine turned up badly bashed up and when powered up sounded like it was about to die.

Their diagnostics software revealed the machine was overheating (as well as feeling very warm air from a top vent).

There followed one month of phone calls where I kept being told to run diagnostics despite the fact it told me in the first 5 seconds there was a thermal warning.

They agreed to replace the system after about 5 days of repeated calls and 45 minute holds.

Three systems were rejected by their courier when picked up off the boat from Ireland due to packaging damage but noone phoned to tell me this even though I'd booked time off to wait in for them.

They wanted a four try till I told them I wanted my order cancelling, my money back and that I'd hand it over to the card company if that didn't happen.

They promptly did this but I wouldn't buy a toaster off Michael Dell never mind a PC.

Thankfully there are good system builders in the UK

[ik9000]

I like Dell, I think they used to be amongst the best, but they need to raise their game or they're going to be in big trouble.

I got a top of the range laptop back in 2006. It worked a treat, still does (albeit old now), weighs a ton, but you could customise it just how you wanted. NOT ANY MORE though - have you tried using Dell's "customisation" option recently? Pffff.

They made 3 mistakes 1) making flimsy chassis eg their budget laptops that they started to retail via Currys. (they lose the image of quality) 2) they get rid of the ability to customise properly, and thereby tailor to consumers needs/desires. Those bits you can change they then stick ridiculous overheads on upgrades (£60 extra to go from Win7 home to pro OEM is rubbish - as is the £80 (alienware) or £120 (XPS15) upgrade from DVDRW drive to BDR/DVDRW drive. Put it all together and the quality concious consumer loses confidence in them. 3) Not to mention that annoying "can I help you?" autochat pop-up that appears 15 seconds after loading up the Dell website. How many people have left because of that incessant scrolling pop-up I wonder?

[Megabiv]

Well funnily enough we buy from Dell at work and typically buy in around 2/3 i7 laptops, 4/5 I5 desktops plus monitors, stands etc. a week (we have a lot of new starters plus were upgrading from older XP based core 2 duo laptops/desktops). The sales person we have been given this time is terrible. Regardless of what you ask for she sends a quote thats 99% wrong or more expensive than the last one with no difference in spec. She almost never answers the phone and seems to take forever to get an order through. Hardly surprising we as a company are starting to look for other suppliers. I'm sure we're not the only company that that sales rep deals with, so I'm also sure that we're not the only ones looking around.