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52 Comments
- anagoge, on 10/11/2007, -3/+115Someone posts tips.
Dell says take them down.
They say no.
Dell apologises.
Stand your ground when you know you're right. - mattxb, on 10/11/2007, -2/+68Dell was stupid to get involved in the first place, it makes them look like they want to rip off uninformed customers. Terrible PR
- spiralspirit, on 10/11/2007, -6/+60"Dell was stupid to get involved in the first place, it makes them look like they want to rip off uninformed customers."
...but...they do. - nthitz, on 10/11/2007, -8/+41"Turns out, threats aren't the best approach to public relations."
When did Dell ever threaten the consumerist?!?
http://consumerist.com/consumer/backend/dell-demands-takedown-of-our-22-confessions-of-a-former-dell-sales-manager-269127.php
mentions nothing about a threat at all! They politely asked for the information to be taken down. Then they realized they were in the wrong and apologized. They were completely civil about it. I suppose arstechnica is just as much to blame as the submitter for labeling Dell's request as a "kindly worded threat".
Don't try to pin something on the company that they didn't do just cause you do not care for them. - Neiby, on 10/11/2007, -2/+25"Dell offers choice. Our customers can order systems with Windows XP, Vista, Ubuntu, or no operating system at all. If Steve Jobs ever changes his tune on OS X, we’d probably offer it too. "
Can you imagine what would happen if Dell started selling custom OS X systems? Bill Gates would need Depend undergarments for a month. - fuegosecret, on 10/11/2007, -2/+16Whatever. Headline should read "Dell gets in the news," then "Dell manages to stay in the news."
- WorldGroove, on 10/11/2007, -3/+16+1 respect to Dell for apologizing.
They could of used their money to bully the website, but they didn't. Very cool. - Slacker1031, on 10/11/2007, -4/+17Except dell was right to fire their legal guns because some of the information was in violation of their Employee NDA. However they should have pointed their guns not at the poster of the article, but at the employee who dispersed the information to begin with.
- DatDudeWiggs, on 10/11/2007, -5/+16It was a knee jerk reaction in their part.
They realized they acted ridiculous.
Whose ready to go tip back a few? - najdorf, on 10/11/2007, -8/+16Haha, Consumerist scared Dell into apologizing for nothing... Another bad move Dell, now you even lost your pride to a bunch of 2.0 geeks...
- Judicata, on 10/11/2007, -0/+7Ok, I read the article, and the subject blog post and I fail to see what the big deal is - it didn't seem that Dell was/is ripping people off. On the flip side, those tips don't tell anyone how to rip off the company - they just seem like straightforward buyer tips. Dell's request to take it down and subsequent apology for doing so seems hardly notable.
- Rooster99, on 10/11/2007, -1/+7I think Dell realised that people like me who had never even heard of the article, actually read it to see what all the fuss is about! And now I know the 20 or so different ways that Dell misleads and attempts to rip people off! I honestly think the majority of the damage has been done!
- omnirusa, on 10/11/2007, -0/+6Althought I will never buy from them until the day I die...
I will admit my respect for them gained that they atleast admitted it rather then just ignoring it and letting it fade away. - MackDiesel2010, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5I think they realized that a computer purchase is a rare buy for their customers (most all transactions from unique customers), and it's therefore impossible to abuse these deals.
- yellowsnowcone, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5This is typical "left hand not knowing that the right hand is doing" kind of stuff.
It happens a lot at large corporations, where you get people in two different departments acting at cross purposes.
Someone in legal fires off a missive; someone in PR fixes the mistake. It wasn't "Dell" that made a mistake. It was some jerk who works in legal at Dell that made a mistake. - ewarmour, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4Good for Dell for doing the right thing. Seems they listen, first Ubuntu and now an apology. Right on Dell.
- RedHeadedFreak, on 10/11/2007, -7/+10Gotta love web 2.0.
- tech42er, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3@ben
Haven't heard about that. What party are they donating large sums to? - kelbear, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3Personally, apologies still carry some weight with me. It was a douchebag action, but it takes balls to own up, even if it's only because those balls are in a PR vise.
- ThisIsBob, on 10/11/2007, -1/+4Dell may sell a lot of computers, but they sure don't understand the internet.
About a gazillion more people read that than would have otherwise. - Avatar, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3Interesting contrast between Dell's response and what the RIAA does on a daily basis.
- Kazbaeden, on 10/11/2007, -1/+4"...yet the posting is still up, with the number of hits growing logarithmically."
Logarithmic growth is very slow. I think they'd be happy with logarithmic growth in hits. - Jaq524, on 10/11/2007, -1/+4Asking is not the same as threatening. Did you read the emails they posted?
- Judicata, on 10/11/2007, -3/+6You're equating "can" and "should." Just because they can stop something because it violates an NDA, doesn't mean they actually should (it doesn' t look like they were attempting to enforce an NDA in this case anyway).
- SilkSteel, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Most likely.. not much damage at all. Most customers who buy Dell (non-geeks a lot of the time) probably haven't even read the article.
Mad geek respect though. - Stormflux, on 10/11/2007, -3/+5Traci sent out the "kindly worded" request at about 5:00pm. Ben forwarded it to legal counsel around 1:00 AM. Tracy's reply at 1:58 AM was "..it has been almost nine hours since we made the request, yet the posting is still up..."
Doesn't sound very friendly to me. She expects people to do her bidding instantly, outside of business hours. Does she believe in letting people sleep? God forbid you take your kids to the movies and miss Traci's email... - pardonmedoug, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2There were lawyers on both sides of this.
- inactive, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2"we ask that you act in good faith to minimize the potential damage caused by this disclosure, and take down the posting immediately. Dell will not regard any such immediate action as an agreement regarding the merits of the request, or as an admission of any liability on the part of consumerist.com or any related person or entity."
Not only did Dell not threaten legal action, they went out of their way to help protect the site. Seems to me that Dell acted honorably, and apologized even though they didn't come out 'legal guns blazing.' I say give credit to Dell all around. - benjpw, on 10/11/2007, -3/+4Now Dell just needs to make good computers, quit donating enormous sums to one political party, and treat its employees better and maybe they can begin to compete again.
- chowdah, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2maybe these companies will learn that the consumer always has more common sense than their legal advisers.
- neovik82, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1dell bussiness stratergy is good for those develop countries where people using credit cards , using online transaction , not naive to technology ,
but developing countires like india its not fruitful beacuse people want to see the product then pay in cash ,,
they did not rely onlinebanking ..
if dell want to grow in india it must change his stratergy .. - slapthemonkey, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Right approach by Dell.
- sam991, on 10/11/2007, -3/+3Ah, but -1 for threatening it in the first place. If Consumerist gave in, Dell would have had them for breakfast.
- Psych77, on 10/11/2007, -1/+1I don't think they "realised they were wrong".
They were in the right - an ex-employee violated his confidentiality agreement (I know it was US, but if it's the same as most UK contracts then you're still bound to keep confidential information confidential after you leave a company).
All that happened is that they realised they couldn't win - Dell said "this info is confidential, please remove", the Consumerist said "maybe so, but everyone will hate you if we do", Dell said "Damn." - inactive, on 10/11/2007, -0/+0***** Dell and that stupid *****. Like they don't need more bad press. Stupid ***** heads. They should fire that bitch after a thorough bukkake session.
- dgarallenpoe, on 10/11/2007, -1/+1I used to work at one the Dell Kiosks at the Clackamas Mall in Portland, Oregon several years ago. It was run and operated just as was described in the article. I reasoned at the time that if the whole of the Dell corporation was run anything like the kiosks that the company would at some point be looking at major problems. And so it proved. Given the treatment I received as an employee of Dell, I can't say I was too concerned. Just deserts.
- sdcarter, on 10/11/2007, -1/+1Too little, too late.
- Socksesaurus, on 10/11/2007, -0/+0Of course, the REALLY informed consumers DON'T BUY A DELL.
- zorvi4, on 10/11/2007, -1/+1The only thing dell apologizes for is not knowing the story was going to ge blown up by digg and fark. They're just sorry they got caught. Come on everybody we all know corporations don't have a conscience.
- omnithought, on 10/11/2007, -1/+1Whoda thunkit?
- CNAIF, on 10/11/2007, -1/+0Yea, getting a "politely worded" request from a multi-million dollar corporation lawyers is "honorable".
Give your ***** head a shake. What planet do you live on. You're either a lawyer yourself or just basically stupid.
This is a form of intimidation couched in lawyeresque ***** language and anyone with an once of common (not legal) sense knows this. - inactive, on 10/11/2007, -1/+0Lawyers...pfft!
- fiver22, on 10/11/2007, -2/+1/me grudgingly adds a point to Dell after a *huge* misstep. -But it should never have gone this far.
- spritom, on 10/11/2007, -2/+1See? Tracy was a nice lawyer after all.
- jonpotz, on 10/11/2007, -2/+1Can you say "Dell owned by Digg effect"?
- Draphilius, on 10/11/2007, -1/+0Credit given where due, at least they owned up to that mistake.
Question is, what kind of damage did this already do to their public image? - jonr, on 10/11/2007, -3/+1Keep your lawyers on a leash!
- jooksiumiu, on 10/11/2007, -10/+3exactly why dell is losing market shares.
- spling, on 10/11/2007, -14/+7Any press is good press.
- defektiv, on 10/11/2007, -9/+1think any of this "sense after the fact" will follow Dells CEO contributions to the GOP? yeah i doubt it either..
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