“Dell Canada is closing its Edmonton call centre after only three years, putting up to 1,200 people out of work,” The Edmonton Journal reports.
“Edmonton Economic Development Corp. confirmed today it had been told the centre in the Edmonton Research Park will be closing in a few months,” The Edmonton Journal reports.
“Dell is only three years into a 20-year sweetheart deal at the research park, and has consistently touted the call centre as its top-performing global facility,” The Edmonton Journal reports. “The deal with EEDC included a $1-a-year lease for 20 years on 15 acres of land, and a property tax rebate worth $1.1 million.”
The Edmonton Journal reports, “Earlier this week, Dell announced it was cutting an unspecified number of jobs at its Ottawa call centre and had cancelled plans to hire up to 1,200 more workers.”
Full article here.
The Canadian Press reports, “Employees were told of the closure Thursday morning. Some will lose their jobs immediately and others will be let go in the coming weeks and months.”
“Reports suggested Dell was paying staff at the call centre salaries that ranged from $28,000 to more than $45,000 per year,” The Canadian Press reports. “Dell officials would not comment on what will happen to the building or its lease.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Charlie Bing” for the heads up.]
Good luck to those workers who are affected by Dell’s suckage. Now for the good news: some of you may soon be able to work for an innovative company for a change.
Hey, Mikey, after you cut every last thing, then what?
We have a better idea: Shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders.
Nobody ever said Payback was anything less than one seriously delicious bitch.
a delicious bitch… with fluffy chocolate nougat.
“seriously delicious bitch”
I think I saw that on a Chinese menu once.
Great move Dell. Now the last group of English speaking tech support is gone. People are now going to be routed to India and get someone who barely speaks English.
That is one great thing about Apple support. They speak English.
Sweet indeed. It’s too bad real people have to pay for a bafoon’s incompetance. Very WallMartish of him.
dude, you bought a Dull?
“Dell can go to Hell!”
Somebody should make a t-shirt that says just that.
Good luck to the folks in Canada. I hope Dell does right and gives them a decent severance package. It’s a shame that many companies don’t take care of their workers when the times are bad.
Uh-oh. My XPS laptop just started doing funny things. Maybe I can call before they….*
Nope nevermind.
-H
I love any bad news about Dell too!
Least little thing…like a toilet overflowing in the Roundrock, TX HQ makes me happy!
I’d like to sell T-shirts and bumper stickers that read: “Buy A Dell, Burn In Hell!”
You really do get what you pay for.
In Dell’s case, you get cheated no matter the price you pay for their junk!
On a serious note, I do feel badly for those people who lost their jobs.
However, they can always apply at the Apple Store or an Apple Reseller.
Hey Michael, the torture of a bad conscience is the DELL of a living soul
Dang, that sucks. Selling commoditized junk has its risks once what you sell reaches a maturation point in a cycle. It’s not like Dell is going to innovate itself out of trouble.
Crap.
Now I gotta deal with more Indian people who can’t speak English when I call about my dell work computer…
Does this mean they will have to pay realistic back rent for the space, since they have reneged on the sweetheart deal that got them to move the jobs there in the first place? Because it seems to me they owe the city some money.
A little sympathy please for the folks who are losing their jobs. They’re the ones who will really lose.
This is why governments should never make sweetheart deals with corporations in order to bribe them into locating in their area. Local taxpayers are getting the shaft as well.
I think about the only thing worse than losing your job is to lose a loved one. I’ve experienced both and wouldn’t wish it upon anyone.
LOL. MDN is awesome.
“We have a better idea: Shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders.”
Dell has a “customer contact center” located in Oklahoma City — another sweetheart deal to get them to locate there. It opened in 2005. Current news reports show this facility losing jobs as well.
http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/stories/2008/01/28/daily39.html
Hmm… I live in Edmonton. Does anybody what this could mean locally, if anything?
“Does this mean they will have to pay realistic back rent for the space, since they have reneged on the sweetheart deal that got them to move the jobs there in the first place? Because it seems to me they owe the city some money.”
Deals can be structured a number of ways, eliminating all incentives if terms are not met, re-evaluating the deal at a certain point if terms are not met, etc… It really depends upon the deal’s language but often cities feel they cannot be too demanding as these companies simply say they’ll pick another city without such terms.
It seems some of these losses are not in the service end but on the sales end. Better to give them pink slips than having them sit around all day with no phones ringing with orders.
You know I have been talking to a lot of people and they are becoming wise to what pieces of crap Dell machines truly are. Some faster than others. A lot of folks, if they are wanting a Windows box, are opting for a HP or the like. But most people equate Dell with Acer, emachines and such, barely above in quality the stuff some jerk slaps together in the corner of a squalid bedroom.
Yep, fellow Macheads, the demise of the Dell kiosks was a blessing to those to manned them. They looked as bored as a bunch neutered tomcats every time the wife and I walked past one of those sorry looking kiosks. At least the guy selling those toy helicopters seemed to enjoy his job more than those Dell Dudes!
Question is what makes them think they can sell more of their junk in these other places? Best Buy has Apple products and tons of other computers already. So do Wal-Mart and those other places. Thing is that Dell is locked into a business model and a product line that is going nowhere fast. I say the smart thing to do is close the doors and give the money back to the share holders. Or shift production to something useful…like commodes.
http://www.businessedge.ca/article.cfm/newsID/8196.cfm
“The EEDC inducements included lease incentives valued at $1.1 million – equal to five years of property taxes during the first five years of the 20-year agreement – and assistance in helping Dell to locate a permanent site for its customer-contact centre. Further, land for Dell’s permanent Edmonton home will be leased to Dell for 20 years at the rate of $1 per year. Dell will pay all school and business taxes from the beginning of its operations in Edmonton. Over the first five years, those taxes are valued at about $750,000.”
Well, at least they will always have India.
I mean, what could happen?
Anyone want to anchor in on this?….
As much as I think Dell sucks, my heart bleeds for the people, probably many with families, that will lose their job. It makes me hate those bumbling bastards at Dell even more. Pay them low wages and then jerk them around.
Please people, a little respect.
Poor DELL and their Fanboys who praised DELL, laughed and cajoled at poor Mac users with that infamous phrase. Well its biting you in the butt BIG TIME. Now that Google/DELL rumor about their own phone has turned out to be nothing more than a rumor. Gosh the hits just keep coming along for you DELL lovers.
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So if you follow the second article link through and then through to the Edmonton Journal site, it says that the store will be selling the iPhone when it opens.
Now that is real news!