Jwilker

true true. damn those rich out of touch folks! :)

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John Wilker

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nemattoad

Dell is not the only company to push back things recently when they go wrong, or even release a flawed product

Take the geforce FX for all you gaming gurus, nvidia and TSMC had issues with the .13 <unit here> building process and therefore ther NV35 got pushed back by 2 months (the geforce FX)

Then when it got released, it ran too loud and too hot, immediatly the support for the 5800 ultra crumbled and they are now rarely found. Nvidia fixed the issue in the Geforce FX 5900, comparable to dells new rom build 14000. This FX card runs faster, runs quieter, and not nearly as hot.

Although no one is happy with dells handeling of this situation, there's not much we can do about it.

At least nvidia admit publicly that they screwed up the first series of NV35s :D

I quote one of the guys at nvidia. "Yeah, we know its as loud as a jet engine, we screwed up."

That was in an interview with a magazine or a website, I forget. I am looking for it now and I will post it if I find it. Yes, my comparison has some flaws, but just try to understand the underlying point i'm trying to prove, let them fix it, theres nothing we can do except wait (or not buy one)

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Superguy

>>> Take the geforce FX for all you gaming gurus, nvidia and TSMC had issues with the .13 building process and therefore ther NV35 got pushed back by 2 months (the geforce FX) <<<

And Nvidia is STILL catching flack for that. Not only that, there's STILL allegations that they're cheating on and manipulating benchmarks (in particular 3dMark 2003).

Anyway you look at it, Nvidia's imaged is tarnished right now and probably will be for the rest of year at least.

Glad I bought an ATI. :D

>>> Although no one is happy with dells handeling of this situation, there's not much we can do about it. <<<

Yes there is. We can send the damn things back or cancel pending orders. Dell doesn't appear to want to listen to people complaining and asking for something to be done. The only way they're going to listen is if their bottom line is affected. And that happens with returns and bad word of mouth sending potential sales to other companies like HP and Viewsonic.

>>> I quote one of the guys at nvidia. "Yeah, we know its as loud as a jet engine, we screwed up."<<<

Dell would have saved a lot of face by admitting that there was a problem, and then telling us what they plan to do about it and give a rough estimate for when it should be fixed. Dell has done NOTHING of that sort. Stealth maneuvers piss of the consumers as it rightly should.

Dell should not be downplaying this. They should have learned from Intel back in the mid 90's with the Pentium's div bug. They downplayed that and it blew up in their faces. Now they recall a lot more. :)

>>> That was in an interview with a magazine or a website, I forget. I am looking for it now and I will post it if I find it. Yes, my comparison has some flaws, but just try to understand the underlying point i'm trying to prove, let them fix it, theres nothing we can do except wait (or not buy one) <<<

You make it sound like there's nothing we can do and we're powerless. If you feel that way, that's your perrogative. That doesn't mean that others should take it in the shorts because of a botched product and be happy with it. I'm not waiting around on any hope for something that's broken to be fixed when it should work right out of the box and Dell still refuses to acknowledge a problem.

In yestereday's Cnet article, they said they'd investigate. What's to investigate? All they had to do was pick it up and use it for 5 minutes and they could see something was wrong. If they didn't even do that, something serious is wrong with their QA. Well, we already know that something is serious with their QA because of what was shipped. :D

It's Dutch door action for Dell: they screw me and I'm screwing them right back my not letting them keep my money. If I pay $350 (with options) for something, it had better work right when I buy it or it's going back.

Voting with your wallet is a very powerful thing.

Super

thezed

This probably doesn't help us much, but I received this email today after complaining (first via email, and then via phone).

Sure it's not a definite answer to what the problem is, and it doesn't give a time line, AND there's no "real person's" name attached to it.... But it does look like an admission to me?

Quote:

Email from Dell Tech Support: Please accept our apologies for the difficulties that you have encountered with our service. We are committed to resolving your issues and will ensure that the appropriate person is assigned to do this. We Understand the difficulties you are encountering with regard to the Dell axim X5 with windows mobile 2003 for pocket pc. Dell Engineering is aware of this issue and has determined root cause. Currently, we are working to develop a permanent solution to the problem. A patch for this problem will soon be released. Please cooperate with us. We will update you soon after the patch is available. Your feedback is most valuable in reviewing our processes and improving our overall customer experience. Thank you for choosing Dell. Regards, Dell Technical Support Australia & New Zealand Visit the Dell Service and Support Center at: http://support.ap.dell.com Great Tools, Tips and Information on Supporting Dell Equipment ...... 24 hrs x 7 days

What I am ticked off about most, is that I didn't plan on getting 2003... My friend at work got an X5 and I saw it plying mp3s, wmv's, etc and I thought it performed well for the price (needless to say he got the 2002 model!). So, I jumped on the web-site, and ordered one for myself. I now wish I hadn't been so compulsive.

Well, I am going to ride the wave for the next two weeks and see what happens about this upgrade. If it doesn't come about I will ask for a refund. In the meantime I'll just do things (considerably) slower.

CheerZ :)

ravager

Better than the standard rubbish uttered by the reps in the CNET article.

Rav

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Pike3GT

Quote:

I agree this isn't (I hope) a malicious attack on customers. :) it's just IMO typical large company crap. Move slow, don't acknowledge there's a problem, hope people forget or never notice... Ah the ignorance of upper management when it comes to consumers. I wonder where they shop since they seem to not know how consumers think. How did they stop being consumers? [/B]

I have been reading these posts for a while and feel the need to say something about the lack of patience that we are all, including myself, showing.

First, just because Dell had a meeting yesterday afternoon doesn't mean that there will be a press release, or a change to the web site with our fix 5 minutes after the meeting adjourns. If you think this is how companies in corporate America operate, you are mistaken.

Second, the public may not know the result of this meeting for some time. If there truly is a problem, this is something that Dell WILL fix, rest assured. I know that Michael Dell is just as concerned for his stock price as anyone there, and this type of negative publicity will not go unnoticed by him. If Dell jumped to announce that there was a problem with the Axims that they were selling, not only would their stock take a hit, but also so would their sales. By waiting, Dell is actually helping us. If you think long term about the side effects of announcing a problem, the results could be sales decreases, leading to a lack of sales all together, which leads to the end of the product, and possibly support for any of us. (I understand that this is a speculation and a large one at that... but I use it for illustrative purposes) In addition, if the product goes away, or if demand drops, the market for GPS units, and cases, and any other extra's that are on the market drops too, limiting the extra gadgets, that all of us love, available for the Axim.

Third, It takes time to get a fix in order. They need to test the fix, then test it again; otherwise they will be back in the same boat as they are now, only sinking faster.

Rest assured, I am sure that Dell is working on this, and that as soon as it is available, we will all have it. Trust me, I am completely fed up with the speed of my Axim, and have actually started using my Ipaq 3650 again. But I am not going to return my Axim just to spite Dell. This will get you nowhere, except with more shipping charges and another PPC from another large corporation who would handle this the same way that Dell is.

Thanks...

Jwilker

preaching to the chior (or at least one member of it) on that one.

I'm certain a fix will come I can wait. I still feel bad for those who got new 03 units and hopefully Dell takes care of them first since aside of Beta testers I don't think anyone has an upgrade so I can wait for a good one rather than rush the one we know is slow then wait for a fix.

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lord rick

Quote:

Originally posted by Pike3GT But I am not going to return my Axim just to spite Dell. This will get you nowhere, except with more shipping charges and another PPC from another large corporation who would handle this the same way that Dell is. Thanks...

Except that users can purchase an Ipaq 2215 right now that works as advertised. So they don't have to worry about how they'll be treated, because they'll actually get what they paid for - a responsive, working PPC.

And return shipping is free - just take it to UPS in the original box (doesn't matter if you've opened it or not, but there is a time limit) and say "refuse shipment" and they will send it back to Dell.

Get an RMA# from Dell first.

Doing this is the only way to get Dell's attention for this fiasco.

sracer

lord rick, of course you're right. WM2003 problems not withstanding, you will be hardpressed to find a dual slot PPC with as nice a screen as the Axim Advanced for the price. $257 shipped is a pretty darn good deal. And although I'm fed up with Dell (every step of the ordering/support processes was abysmal) I'm willing to wait it out another week or so to see if a fix is made available.

The iPAQ 2215 sells for $386+shipping... that is a significant price difference.

Of course if there is no fix, then I'll send mine back. :(

Jwilker

Quote:

Originally posted by lord rick Get an RMA# from Dell first. Doing this is the only way to get Dell's attention for this fiasco.

I don't think 1 or even 10 or 20 returned Axims is going to kill Dell, or even make a dent in their earnings statement this quarter.

I seem to recall hearing about problems with a previous model of Toshiba. every one has problems from time to time.

I'm sure all models since have been stellar. It's just one of those things that happens from time to time. Pursecuting Dell as the villians of the century is silly.

Return what you like and if you've got dough to spend on more expensive PDAs can I have some :)

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lord rick

Quote:

Originally posted by Jwilker Return what you like and if you've got dough to spend on more expensive PDAs can I have some :)

Easy decision for me as I qualify for special pricing. At $293, the ipaq is a steal. Students/Faculty can get it for as low as $267. Direct from hp.

And $250 to $300 for a non-working Axim doesn't seem like such a good deal to me. ;) So, even if I had to pay $150 more to get the ipaq, it would still be worth it.

As I've said in another thread, however, the $140 Axim basic I got from compgeeks is an unbeatable value. I just don't think the Axim Advanced at $300 competes very well against the ipaq, even if the Axim under PPC2003 worked perfectly. The fact that it doesn't currently work makes it a very expensive paperweight.

And I'll say again, there is no guarantee Dell will have this fixed any time soon. And if they do release a fix it may have other issues. It's a great big unknown, especially since they aren't even releasing any info publicly. All we are getting are post from members who "have contacts at dell" or "got an email from a dell employee." Not knocking those people - knocking Dell for hiding from this issue.

mikeo007

I think you're being a little ignorant of the problem here lord rick. The problem isn't that the Axim doesn't function, it's that the unit doesn't function at the speed expected of it. In CPU tests, the Axim 400MHz model running 2003 is very comparable to any other model running 2003. The problem lies somewhere in the filesystem, and yes, I agree, has to be fixed.

But we can't forget that there are probably thousands of Axim users out there who don't even realize that their PPC should be functioning better.

lord rick

Quote:

Originally posted by mikeo007 I think you're being a little ignorant of the problem here lord rick. The problem isn't that the Axim doesn't function, it's that the unit doesn't function at the speed expected of it.

Please. Ignorant is such an insulting word.

Users are reporting 5 seconds to bring up the start menu. 40 seconds to bring up some applications.

We're not talking about sluggishness, here.

gravrider

One of the main things to consider on this issue is that this is a buyer's market. It's up to the consumers (us) what we want to do with our Axims. It isn't "extreme" for someone to go out and buy an iPaq if they are currently better. If Dell is willing to loose this many customers, then they have that right. It is ridiculus that Dell doesn't awknowledge the problem, but then decides to hold back the upgrade discs because of the problem that (according to Dell) doesn't exist. Dell is loosing valuable customers here and to let that be is VERY stupid on Dell's part.

Snerdley

Quote:

Originally posted by lord rick Easy decision for me as I qualify for special pricing. At $293, the ipaq is a steal. Students/Faculty can get it for as low as $267. Direct from hp. ...

How does that work? do you have to verify student or faculty status somehow? or just order off that gov/education link off hp's page?

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