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Dell’s on the decline and it just got worse

Molly Wood Jun 30, 2010
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Dell’s on the decline and it just got worse

Molly Wood Jun 30, 2010
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Dell used to be one of the best selling PCs on the market. Their computers were thought to be well made, affordable, and backed by outstanding customer service. But that was several years ago and Dell has fallen from grace quite a bit since then, amid charges of irregular accounting practices, terrible customer service, and computers that break. New York Times reporter Ashlee Vance wrote about documents that were recently made public as part of a lawsuit against Dell. The documents indicate that Dell employees knowingly shipped out millions of computers from 2003 to 2005 that were likely to break, spill chemicals, and even cause small fires.

When the computers were returned for repair or replacement, they were given new faulty equipment and shipped right back out again to customers like Wal-Mart, Wells Fargo, and the Mayo Clinic. We speak with Vance about the story. We also check in with Matt Wold of Geek Squad about the specific problems at issue, how you can see if your own computer is affected, and what you can do about it.

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