“Dell, however, had actually sent the university, in Austin, desktop PCs riddled with faulty electrical components that were leaking chemicals and causing the malfunctions,” Vance reports. “Dell sold millions of these computers from 2003 to 2005 to major companies like Wal-Mart and Wells Fargo, institutions like the Mayo Clinic and small businesses.”
MacDailyNews Take: Hey, who needs quality computing at the Mayo Clinic? (dripping sarcasm)
Vance reports, “Documents recently unsealed in a three-year-old lawsuit against Dell show that the company’s employees were actually aware that the computers were likely to break. Still, the employees tried to play down the problem to customers and allowed customers to rely on trouble-prone machines, putting their businesses at risk.”
MacDailyNews Take: Wonder if any of those POS Dells that Dell employees knew were faulty ever put anyone’s life at risk?
Vance reports, “Even the firm defending Dell in the lawsuit was affected when Dell balked at fixing 1,000 suspect computers, according to e-mail messages revealed in the dispute.”
MacDailyNews Take: You cut enough corners, you end up like Dell.
Vance reports, “For the last seven years, the company has been plagued by serious problems, including misreading the desires of its customers, poor customer service, suspect product quality and improper accounting. Dell has tried to put those problems behind it. In 2005, it announced it was taking a $300 million charge related, in part, to fixing and replacing the troubled computers. Dell set aside $100 million this month to handle a potential settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission over a five-year-old investigation into its books, which will most likely result in federal accusations of fraud and misconduct against the company’s founder, Michael S. Dell.”
“A study by Dell found that OptiPlex computers affected by the bad capacitors were expected to cause problems up to 97 percent of the time over a three-year period, according to the lawsuit,” Vance reports. “In other documents about how to handle questions around the faulty OptiPlex systems, Dell salespeople were told, ‘Don’t bring this to customer’s attention proactively’ and ‘Emphasize uncertainty.'”
Vance reports, “In 2007, Dell restated its earnings for 2003 to 2006, as well as the first quarter of 2007, and lowered its sales and net income totals for that period. An audit revealed that Dell employees had manipulated financial results to meet growth targets.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: SIDAGTMBTTS.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Joe Architect” for the heads up.]
