Why Dell Sucks
Moving On - Since June, 2005, I have been living and working in the UK. I am no longer administering Dell PCs (thank God!). As such, this chapter of my career has ended and I have moved this page to the archive in hopes that it will continue to serve as a warning to anyone who may be thinking of purchasing a Dell.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are my own and are not those of the Department of Defense, the US Air Force or any entity, office, agency or person within. If you would like to comment on this rant, please send me some e-mail. I'd be happy to hear from you. Oh, and don't forget to read the updates to this article.
Dell is highly thought of by many folks who own computers. Heck, I've recommended them to folks in the past myself. But a series of events over the last 10 months has given me a completely new outlook on the quality of Dell hardware and support. What follows is a non-scientific report (aka rant) about 22 Dell GX240 computers that my unit received last year.
Reception
In October, 2001, my unit received 22 brand-new Dell GX240 workstations. Each machine came in the following configuration:
- 1.5 GHz Intel CPU
- 256MB PC133 RAM
- 40GB hard drive
- 32MB ATI video card (on-board)
- 250MB Zip drive
- Dual PCMCIA card readers
- 1.44MB diskette drive
- 8X4X24X CD-RW drive
Overall, a fairly potent system. These computers would be replacing 22 assorted Dell GX100 and Micron 766Xe systems, all of which averaged 3 years old and only 2 of which had any sort of previous hardware problem.
Initial Quality
When I started unboxing the units and preparing them for use out in the wild, I didn't expect to have any problems. Based on my experiences with Dell in the past, I expected to have these workstations rolled out in no time. WRONG!
The first 10 went fine. Pulled them out, loaded the ridiculous amount of security patches to Microsoft Windows (you know, if Windows was a car I would have Lemon Lawed it a long time ago) and configured the various other software.
It was on machine 11 that I got my first hint of trouble. The IDE ribbon cable for the Zip drive was pinched between the front of the drive and the case so that a Zip disk would not go into the drive. I had to open the case, remove the PCMCIA card reader, pull out the Zip enough to free the cable then put it all back together again. Then I had to test the drive to make sure the cable had no breaks in it.
Okay, fine. Maybe that was an anomaly. And maybe Adam Sandler will be in a good movie. Unit number 13 comes out of the box. Same story with the Zip. Plus there's some sort of blindingly pink cardboard jammed vertically between to of the expansion slots on the rear. Huh? After fixing these problems, I began to wonder what I would find next.
Number 14 came out of the box with the Windows 2000 product key sticker half on the case. The other half was still attached to its backing. Looks like the machine that applies them hiccuped. But hey, no pinched Zip cable! Just for kicks, I checked for any sort of successive serial numbers on these 3 units. Nope, completely different.
Workstations 15, 16 and 17 were just fine. Then comes number 18, the one I like to call DOA. I pulled this one out and set it up on the workbench, plugged everything in then fired it up. It ran fine until about halfway through the Windows initial startup where it froze. Hmmmm.... Power button not working, I killed the power to the powerstrip. After counting to 10, I turned it on and got as far as the BIOS screen before it locked up again. Next I let it sit for a minute or so, then turned it on again, this time it made it to the Windows boot screen before slowing visibly and finally locking up. It was on this boot that I noticed the fan for the CPU and the power supply were both not working.
Well, that one got reported to Dell's online "Premier Support" (quotes sarcastically intended) and I went on to unit 19. Oh yes, another pinched Zip drive cable. Whee! Fixed this one and pressed on. Units 20, 21, and 22 were brought to life without incident. About 6 days later, I received the replacement parts for DOA. If that's premier, I wonder how slow regular is?
Rumors
Being the Air Force, we are required to track everything. If it's got a seriel number, it's listed somewhere and probably has a sticker on it. So, the day after finishing the last workstation, I was over at the office of the folks in charge of tracking all of the computers on base. While talking with one of the folks there, I learned that the base had purchased nearly 400 of these Dells and our 22 was just a small portion. I also learned that about 40 of them had hard drive problems right out of the box. Plus, the guy I was talking with had his brand new straight out of the box Dell monitor die on him the week prior. Looks like it wasn't just my 22 that was having problems.
Time Will Tell
The next couple of months went without incident. Then one day as I was walking into the front office, I saw the secretary staring blankly at the screen. This usually indicates she has just received some mind numbingly dull administrative work from our home unit back in Texas, but not this time. Her screen had suddenly became a solid bright blue and letters were slowly forming words on the screen. Yes, I witnessed a Blue Screen Of Death in slow motion. Turned out to be a memory dump.
When I rebooted the computer, it reported that no hard drive was installed in it. Funny, I can hear it spinning away in there. Tried again, same thing. So I grabbed Dell's diagnostic CD and ran the checks on there. It was crashed like a Third World airliner. Sent this information to Dell's "Premier Support" who actually sent a new drive out quite quickly; only 4 days this time.
All was quiet until the beginning of June, 2002. One of our instructors came back to work after a lengthy trip to Germany. Pressing the power button on his computer resulted in....nothing but a blinking orange light on the power button. No diagnostic lights, fan or drive activity or image on the screen. And here began the worst tech support experience I have ever had.
Dude, You're Going to Hell!
Checking out the internals of the computer, I noticed that the only life I could see on the motherboard was a steady orange LED in the center. I checked for the usual diagnostic lights on the back but there were none. There was also no drive or fan activity whatsoever. Once again, I jumped online and logged the problem with "Premier Support." While at their site, I read their notice about turn-around time taking up to 24 hours. Right. Ah well, another guy was on leave so we had a spare; no loss of work.
On day 2, I received a reply back from Mark Choudhury asking me to check a series of things and to e-mail him back. Except for one item on the list, I had already done these checks. I did them again just to be sure, then e-mailed Mark back stating that the checks had no effect.
Day 3 brings a response back saying that it looks like the power supply (I disagreed but let it go) and that a new one needed to be shipped out. So I provided my shipping information as requested.
Day 5 and I find an e-mail awaiting me from Mark when I get to work that morning. It states they can't send the part because the address I gave him was not the same as the one on the purchase order and that I would need to provide that address and the customer number from the order as well. This kind of miffed me since they never asked for this when the bad CPU and hard drive were replaced on the other machines. Besides, how was I supposed to know that? Uncle Sugar's Air Force buys these things in bulk and distributes them as necessary. I'm just the end user. And being as Mark is a Federal Government Tech Support specialist, shouldn't he know this? Anyway, I schooled him on the issue via e-mail. I finally got a reply on day 7 that a new power supply was enroute.
Airborne arrived on day 8 and I eagerly opened the box from Dell to find...a hard drive. Oh dear God! Now I'm ticked. So I call the tech support line this time, work my way through the maze of options and get to the Federal Government line where I am put on hold. While on hold, I heard an interesting pitch: why not save time by visiting the tech support web site online. Save time? With 24 hour turn-around times? Sure.
I finally spoke to Ted who read me the case history which stated I needed a new hard drive. I read him Mark's e-mail which stated power supply. Ted sent out a new PS and I sent the drive back. I also fired off a critique to Dell's support site on what I thought of all this.
The new PS arrived on day 9. As expected, it did not solve the problem. I sent an e-mail back to Mark stating this and asking what was next on his checklist.
The next day I got a reply back, this time from a new tech, Abraham Swarup. His reply: do everything Mark had asked me to do in his first e-mail. In effect, go back to step 1. Oh, I was not a happy administrator at this point. In a diplomatic but firm manner, I explained to Abraham that I had already done these things, reiterated the symptoms, told him it was the motherboard that was the problem and asked why he didn't read the case history for this problem before replying to save both my time and blood pressure.
Two days later, I get a reply that a new motherboard is being sent out. It arrived the following day and, wonder of wonders, fixed the problem. I sent the bad one back then sent an e-mail to Abraham stating the problem was fixed and to close the job. I also followed up on my first support critique to Dell with this latest round of stupidity.
Jerry's Final Thoughts
J. D. Power is a well respected tracker of product quality. One of their measurements that is highly touted by major companies is the initial quality survey. I haven't seen how Dell ranks in this, but my own initial quality survey for the GX240 would have to show them as well below average. When I compare this batch of machines with the 10 trouble free IBM Netvistas we received in April, 2001, plus the other older and equally trouble free Dell and Micron workstations that were replaced, I can get a picture of the vaunted Dell quality riding a bullet train straight to hell. Personally, I think the problems in quality of hardware and service can be attributed to two things: the economy and their push for market share.
When the economy slows, the first thing in any business to get "right-sized" are the non-revenue generating arms. It's a well known fact that when times get tough, tech support feels the pinch first. Moves like personnel cutbacks, less training and directives to avoid parts replacements if at all possible are implemented.
As for market share, the huge advertising blitz undertaken by Dell in the last year has created a surge in demand for Dell computers. This in turn has caused their assembly lines to work faster, effecting the level of quality control that goes on. Much like the automakers in the 60s and 70s, the Dell plants have to get the product out the door and are leaving it to the support folks to fix the stuff that makes it through. This explains the strange pink cardboard and pinched Zip cables.
Is this drop in quality a permanent thing? Let's hope not. In the past, Dell has built some fine computers and up to this point has deserved their excellent reputation. But if they continue on the current path too long, the damage done to their reputation and business may be unrepairable. As for me, should anyone consider buying a Dell, I'm recommending against it for now. The chances of getting a lemon and/or having a heart attack from dealing with tech support are just too great.