Originally posted by Superguy You're right. They're not. For that reason I would have expected them to take MORE care than HP, Toshiba, Palm, etc to make sure it went off as smooth as could be.
I mean, think about it: no one had any reason to believe that Dell couldn't have pulled it off if they were shipping WM2003 the day of release, especially after the results everyone else was getting.
You know? I was thinking about that too. Dell should have taken extra steps (possibly have better specification sheets and/or tech diagrams) to manufacture/produce a fine, if not better, product like others.
So far it seems that the Axims were put together quickly. Lots of complaints about the D-pad, lack of SDIO, IR problems... all to produce a cheap product for the consumers to beat/compete with other companies.
__________________ What God has brought together, let man not part. Matt 19:6
Would you guys have bought it if they said he we have a problem with our systems. Or better yet would you bought it if they said hey its going to be a long wait till we can fix this?
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Originally posted by ceej13 You know? I was thinking about that too. Dell should have taken extra steps (possibly have better specification sheets and/or tech diagrams) to manufacture/produce a fine, if not better, product like others.
So far it seems that the Axims were put together quickly. Lots of complaints about the D-pad, lack of SDIO, IR problems... all to produce a cheap product for the consumers to beat/compete with other companies.
Some of the things didn't bother me like the weak IR and lack of SDIO. I mean, I don't care about using my PDA as a remote. My Dish remote could be used for my TV, VCR, receiver and DVD player if I really wanted an all in one remote. I could see that it would be nice to send stuff back and forth to someone across the room though.
SDIO wasn't a big deal to me as long as I could get something to fit in a CF slot.
The d-pad was spongy though. I probably wouldn't notice too much unless I played games. And right now, I'm still learning how to use a PPC as I'm coming from Palm. It might have become an issue.
Overall, I liked the feel of the Axim. It felt like it was solidly built.
Originally posted by wildcat Would you guys have bought it if they said he we have a problem with our systems. Or better yet would you bought it if they said hey its going to be a long wait till we can fix this?
Here's how I see it.
I was ready to buy around the 10th of June. People on several forums suggested I wait until PPC 2003 came out.
Based on price, Dell was my main choice. Especially before I knew about the HP 2210 deal.
If Dell was having problems and said something like "hey, we're having a problem with PPC 2003, but if you order now, we'll send you a CD with the upgrade or give you a link to download it when we have it working right." I would have been totally fine with that. That would have given me a good performing PPC in the meantime with the promise of better performance down the road. I would have been very happy. :)
Seeing the problems that happened and the way things unfolded, it made me look for alternatives. What really sealed it for me was being able to go to Circuit City and test out a 2215 they had on display. A couple minutes with that and seeing how quick it was and it worked convinced me to send it back and to order the 2210 on the deal.
I don't have any beef with the Axim itself per se, rathe with Dell as a company. It's not just the Axim that torqued me. It's the fact that I ended up with 2 monitors when one was supposed to be cancelled and people were clueless when I tried to straighten things out. The only thing that went well with my order (I ordered an Axim setup, a monitor, and their A920 all in one printer) was the printer. The printer was the only thing that didn't have a delay. The website said 1-2 day ship time for the monitor and it took nearly 2 weeks to get it. So when Dell tried to straighten it out, they were supposed to cancel one order and leave the other. I now have 2 monitors, with one waiting for the shipping labels to go back to Dell.
So it's not just the Axim that torqued me. It's the utter incompetence that Dell had in trying to process my order and get things straightened out.
Dont forget with a company that big some things slip threw. I work for a company 3000 + people. We have sales, programing, techops and sometimes sales sells something but doesnt tell anyone till the day it airs. With large corps sometimes the right hand doesnt know what the left is doing. Theres really no way around that though. IM sure if you ask for a supervisor though they would try to make it up to you
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I think that the saddest part about all of this is that if Dell had come out and made a statement about this on day one or two (I'm sure they new about it long before now) none of the backlash they are experiencing now would be happening, and they'd be in the same position they are in now, minus the negative publicity.
Frankly I agree with those here that this sort of fiasco only serves to erode my trust of Dell as a company. Sadly, there are a lot of tech companies out there that would probably behave similarly if it served their purposes, but it is still dissappointing to see this level of evasiveness from Dell. I remember a time when their systems were synonymous with stability, speed, and quality. Now it feels more and more like they are slowly selling out.
I understand that in a large corporation such oversights may often become unavoidable, but I would think that even a large corporation would keep their attention on their first product in a new market to try build their name in that market. Frankly, I think that a couple more blows like this to the Axim's image and it will end up as another member in the long list of failed new products in the tech industry as customers go elsewhere. It already sounds like a lot of current Axim owners are unsure if they would buy Dell again in the future, not a good sign. If Dell plans on staying in this market in the long term they need to be consistently outdoing their competitors not trying to take shortcuts with thier products. This whole thing has played into Compaq/HP's hands' beautifully now, it serves as a reafirmation of Compaq/HP's expertise in the field and makes the Axim look like the low rent PPC.
So basically, unless there are any other objections, Dell should have immediately notified Axim consumers as soon as they even caught a glimpse of the problems that were posed to them.
__________________ What God has brought together, let man not part. Matt 19:6
Originally posted by XKalibuR they're working on the fix people.. I understand they didnt release this earlier and some of you are angry.. but at least they're holding off the units till they patch everything. They're simply acknowledging that its a software glitch and not hardware based :) I'm sure we'll see a patch soon
Its just really 'funny' that they are holding shipping of new units yet they say there is 'no problem'. I understand that they admit they found a problem now but the point still stands.. Untill the news blurb, they stated that there is no problem yet orders were being held.
This makes it obvious that Dell knews there is a problem even before the 'big revelation' and on the same day made the public announcement. Iit is entirely handled in a poor management decision.
Maybe I don't know the full story, but here's MY take on it....The Axim is a fantastic device. Dell was really one of the first companies to come out with the jack-of-all trades PPC (i.e., two non-propriety card slots, flash memory, removable battery, the 64/48 meg configuration, great screen etc.) and at an UNBELIEVABLEY LOW price (relative to others being offered at that time).
ANd apart from a few glitches, the little machine is great!!!! Also, Dell has been great with offering rom updates, supporting any returns etc.
And re: the 2003 bug at DELL, I don't think anyone lied, did they? I mean, when a problem comes up, the company needs to do research before they say or do anything that may further exacerbate the problem, (I mean, this wasn't a Johnson and Johnson Tylenol recall situation where peoples lives were in danger, right?!?!?!). And when they did the research and were satisfied, they came out with quite a reasonable approach to deal with the situation, no?????
I dunno, that's my two cents...PLEASE don't flame me!!
;)
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pupfloW, NYC
"I don't give a damn 'bout a bad reputation"
-Joan Jett, circa 1980??
Do you really think that Dell is any different from other corporations (or politicians) when faced with a problem? Look back through technical problems in computers -- remember the Intel Pentium math problem? How about dust problems with HP Jornadas? In these, and most other cases, the manufacturer initially denied, or downplayed the problem. Eventually, a fix or recall gets announced, or the company decided to hold firm and not offer a fix.
During the early stages of a problem, the company is balancing PR problems against cost exposure -- a corporation is focused on making the best overall profit for its stockholders, so EVERYTHING has a value or cost -- how many customers will we lose to bad PR versus how much will it cost us to fix the problem? Can we fix the problem with a software patch, or will we have to replace the hardware? Lawyers are advising one way, engineers another, and marketing types a third. Us customers are left in the dark.
Personally, I subscribe to the philosophy that admitting a problem early is far better than getting caught in a lie or coverup. I appear to be in the minority, however, if you pay attention to the news events that involve US Presidents and CEO's of big corporations. Watergate, Iran-Contra, Monicagate, and now WMD mis-statements have all hurt US Presidents -- but they don't seem to learn. Enron, Worldcom, and hundreds of other corporate fiascos cost investors billions of dollars -- but they don't seem to learn, either.
As a consumer, we have to choose which product/company combination works best for us. I doubt that we are going to be able to change how corporations act.
Overall, I like dealing with Dell. I've had some horrible experiences dealing with Compaq. That influences my buying decisions. I like the features and price of the Axim; I like Dell's exchange policies. Ask your friends how happy they are with getting an Ipaq repaired/replaced. Ask Toshiba users if they're happy with support of their PocketPCs. I think you'll find that there are happy and unhappy customers of evert company -- the key is to figure out what's most important to you and then find the company that offers it -- features, price, service -- we want all three, but I believe you only get to choose two.
I am with you davewnyc. Most people who had owned other PDAs before were not so upset about the Dell situation. Been there, done that.
What I hope would come out of this is that Dell would look into its tech support situation. May be finding a way to communicate better with them, or train them. So when the company is investigating the program, the Tech Support wouldn't say "No problem".
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