Why the commercials are so painfully true

Posted at February 1, 2008

So, I’m a PC user. Never had a mac, never bothered to try linux (though I keep hearing about Ubuntu).
Many people I know, rather limited in their PC abilities, just want a
computer to (1) get on the internet (2) store pictures (3) play games.

One of my co-workers just bought a laptop PC for these reasons, while needing a way to get work email at home. She bought a dell
and has run into endless issues. She started with Vista, realized it
was too much trouble, upgraded to XP, and has been unable to get the
thing to work. Even though she got the best service contract with dell,
she’s out in the cold. Why? apple leopard advertisement nytimes

Have you ever tried calling the
company who made your TV when the cable went out? I haven’t either, but
my guess is they won’t be much help. There have to be at least 20
million computer users (including my parents) in the USA who do not
understand the difference between hardware and software. They buy a
computer from dell, and expect dell to help them when they can’t
connect to a wireless network. As this happens, Dell is left making
their customers angry; Microsoft is building operating systems more
fuel-inefficient than the new Hummer, and everyone leaves frustrated;
The computer doesn’t work.

I don’t own a mac, but their model is
really killing the PC right now because of this problem. My coworker
doesn’t care that her soundcard driver needs to be updated with XP, she
just knows she bought a computer from dell and the sound doesn’t work.
She also gets a “not my problem” answer when she calls for help, even
though she thinks by buying the premium service package she’s getting
full support. Reading the dell warranty page, they have categorized support into three areas:

Hardware Warranty Support
Optional CompleteCare Accidental Damage Service
Spyware, Virus and How To’s

Clearly,
buying your normal computer gets you #1. #2 deals with dropping the
laptop, etc. #3 is what Dell is trying to package the software support
thing around. HowTo: Install a network, a printer, How to remove a
virus from your PC, etc.

This really sucks for dell. Service is
expensive, margins on computer hardware are razor thin, and all the
while they need to make the customer happy when the customer doesn’t
realize they are on the phone with the wrong company.

I wonder what Google is thinking about all of this.