May was the first full month that the Dept. of Transportation’s new regulations regarding planes idling on the tarmac were in effect. And for United Airlines, it could end up being a very expensive few weeks. Of the 5 flights that violated the new rules, 4 were operated by United. [More]
Court Docs Reveal Dell Sold Computers It Knew Would Fail
By June 30, 2010
Seem Dell has a hell all of its own. Newly unsealed court documents show that Dell sold computers knowing they would go kaput. The documents reveal that Dell sold nearly 12 million Optiplex machines between 2003-2005 with leaky capacitors that caused problems in 97% of the cases in over three years. Leaky capacitors lead to device failure, and can even cause the computer to become ablaze with fire. [More]
Did Microsoft Make Dell Take Back Love Letter To Linux?
By June 23, 2010
Dell sells lots of computers that run on Windows. It sells a few that run on Linux. Apparently eager to sell a few more of the latter, Dell boasted on its site that the free operating system is “safer than Microsoft Windows.” Bad idea. The claim has vanished, replaced by the less specific “Ubuntu [Linux] is secure.” [More]
SEC Stops Looking At Porn Long Enough To Investigate Dell
By June 10, 2010
While some SEC employees were up to their eyeballs in porn during office hours in recent years, apparently some have continued to do their job, as Dell announced today that it is nearing a settlement to a prolonged SEC investigation that could cost the computer company upwards of $100 million. [More]
Dell's Customer Service Robots Officially No Longer Trying
By May 17, 2010
There appears to be a crisis of robot morale going on at Dell. They just aren’t bothering to personalize the emails and chats anymore. [More]
Dell Lost My Monitor Order, Now Incessantly Robocalls Me
By May 12, 2010
What happened to Vlad’s Dell order? At first, Dell seemed to have misplaced it. Then they seemingly changed it without his permission. Now they keep robocalling him every two days to verify that he still wants his “backordered” item. Six hours spent on the phone with Dell haven’t straightened out the situation. [More]
Dell's Tech Support Will Stop At Nothing To Help Break Your Computer
By March 24, 2010
Janna’s Dell laptop broke, but it was still under warranty. She tells Consumerist that she contacted their technical support by web chat, imagining that it would be simple and easy to get a computer under warranty repaired. Her journey through Dell’s tech support began with the chat rep encouraging her to grab a screwdriver and take her computer apart herself, and somehow got even more discouraging from there. When she finally got Dell to take the laptop in for repairs, Dell somehow helpfully cracked her LCD. [More]
Dell EECB Results In Free Replacement Motherboard And AC Adapter
By March 24, 2010
How long should an AC adapter for a laptop last? Michael writes that the adapter for his Dell Inspiron laptop stopped functioning after less than two years of use. He finds this unacceptable. While most people would have shrugged and ordered a new adapter, not Michael. He found the situation unacceptable, and deployed the fearsome power of the executive e-mail carpet bomb. [More]
Dell Just Calls This $150 Upsell What It Is
By March 18, 2010
Dell has given up even pretending to be subtle. They’ve just gone ahead and call their offer of in-home programming for your Logitech Harmony remote control what it is–an upsell. [More]
Walmart Wins: Top 10 Most Valuable Retail Brands
By March 11, 2010
Interbrand Design Forum– part of a global brand consulting firm– has ranked the top retail brands and guess what? Walmart is most valuable. [More]
Dell Took My Money But Won't Send Me The Monitor I Ordered
By March 9, 2010
Chris said he bought an AlienWare monitor through Dell’s site and has been getting the runaround for more than two weeks, with no indication his order has shipped yet. [More]
Dell Delayed My Computer Purchase A Month, Took 50 Minutes On The Phone To Let Me Cancel
By February 17, 2010
Danish says he ordered a Dell desktop computer late last year, and was willing to wait until Jan. 22 for its expected delivery. After that date kept getting bumped back until more than a month had passed, Danish canceled the order on an arduous phone call. [More]
Dell Texted Me A Deal That Was Too Good To Be True
By February 9, 2010
Anna says Dell sent a special offer on a laptop via text, and even though she acted on the sale immediately she hasn’t been able to bag the deal, and instead was offered a similar product for $150 more. [More]
Dell, I Do Not Appreciate Your 5 AM Wakeup Robocalls
By February 6, 2010
A few years ago, Kate made a horrible mistake. As the IT contact for her employer, she gave Dell her cell phone number. She tells Consumerist that apparently this gave the company license to give her status updates on the company’s Dell orders between 5 and 6 A.M. Pacific time. Even after she no longer worked in that position. Even after repeated phone calls and e-mails begging Dell to stop calling her. The worst part? Kate isn’t the only one. [More]
Woman Accuses Dell Tech Support Of Launching Her Webcam Without Permission
By January 25, 2010
I always keep a little sticker over the webcam lens on my netbook when I’m not using it, because I don’t trust that I know enough about computers to be 100% confident my webcam is off when I want it to be off. And if you think that’s being too paranoid, look at what happened to Dianne Annunziato earlier this month when she called a Dell support line for help with her laptop. [More]
Dell Mini 9 Mysteriously Ablaze! (Pics)
By December 21, 2009
There’s a big scorch mark on Hannah’s floor. It appeared last week after her Dell Mini 9 began suddenly sizzling and smoking and melting. We have pictures, and questions. [More]
FTC Sues Intel For Decade Of Illegal Sales Tactics
By December 17, 2009
The FTC sued microprocessor giant Intel yesterday, alleging the company had engaged in illegal sales tactics for the past 10 years, relying on backroom strongarming instead of over technical innovation to maintain market dominance. [More]
Dell Refuses To Cancel An Order That Won't Ship For Months
By December 14, 2009
Reader Kevin is upset because due to a free flash drive he didn’t want — he’s not being allowed to cancel his order for a Dell computer. Dell initially told him the computer would ship by Dec 18 — now they want to delay it until February. [More]
