"Mainstream Media" has picked up the Dell story

The Wall Street Journal has picked up the story about the Dell snafu, albeit the story is spun more towards how it affects the business rather than geared towards the customer experience.

"Persistent delays in laptop shipments caused by paint problems and supply constraints have put a crimp in the company's turnaround efforts. Since late July, it has delayed shipments of some colorful models of its latest notebook computers, the XPS M1330 and its new Inspiron PCs. This latest incident -- hitting right in the crucial back-to-school selling season -- marks a significant setback in its push to rebuild its brand and business."

"Dell is blaming the delays in part on dust contamination in its painting process. [...] Dell said it had no issues painting hundreds of notebooks at a time, but when it increased the volume, dust contamination got in the way."

"The dust also affected the red and white colored notebooks more, because those require more coats of paint than the others, the company said. The company discontinued its "pearl white" color option in early August. In addition, Mr. Gruzen cited a shortage of light-emitting diode back-lit liquid-crystal displays."

"Dell has attempted to quell the mounting frustration over delays by addressing the issue in its company blog. [...] The glass shortage largely stems from Asian suppliers, and some analysts believe the issue is affecting other computer makers."

"A spokesman for Dell, Bob Pearson, added: "We are doing everything possible to deliver systems to our customers as soon as possible.""

[...] "Analysts say the strategy has worked in generating demand, but the plan has backfired as the paint process jams up production. They add that it is hard to gauge the impact of the delays on future sales. Dell hasn't disclosed the magnitude of the problem so it is unclear how widespread the customer backlash will be. The impact will likely be muted because the problems are relegated to consumer products, and Dell still generates more business from corporate customers, they add."

(re-posted w/o permission from WSJ)

 

Nice find.

 

Well, seeing as how Dell lost it's No. 1 slot to HP because HP took away a large portion of Dell's consumer share (and how Dell is obviously trying to take it back with the new Inspiron & XPS models at issue), they shouldn't be minimizing this issue.

 

Interesting that Dell had such a strong second quarter (mentioned in the WSJ article). On today's wsj.com, Mossberg reviews the Vostro 1500 and comes out with a big, "eh."

 

I think it will be interesting to see if more media outlets pick up this story and start running with it... Maybe that will put some fire under Dell and start making them get their act together!

 

@fireman4 -> "Original order 6/7" ?

so, how does producing more cause more dust issues?

 

There is a large difference between producing beta samples and MP. Same goes for limited, semi manual batches and largem automated batches. If nothing else production would have to move to a different (part of) the facility.

 

We'll Mossberg is an Apple guy through and through. Take it for what it's worth.

 

@shounen42:

Yup... Original order placed June 7. On July 5 (a month later!) I receive an email saying there's a problem with the order. The problem ends up being that my Dell Preferred Account is inactive, so I can't use it. It took them a month to send me this.

After almost 2 hours on the phone with CSR and Sales people, I ended up re-ordering since they couldn't figure out how to reactivate my Dell Preferred Account.

/me unhappy.