Slashdot Mirror
Dell Laptop Burns House Down
Nuclear Elephant writes "The Consumerist is running a story about a house burned down by a Dell laptop. 'My 130-year-old former farm house was engulfed in flames, with thick dark smoke pouring out of the windows and roof... Hours later, after investigation the fire marshal investigator took me aside asked me if I had a laptop computer. Yes — I told him I had a Dell Inspiron 1200.' It was determined that the laptop, battery, or cord malfunctioned after its owner left for work, leaving the fire to spread through the entire house. All attempts to contact Dell have failed. 'I have tried to call Dell to at least notify them of my problems, but each time I have called I get transferred into an endless loop of "Joe" or "Alan" all speaking a delectable version of English I presume emanates from Bangalore. I have been outright hung up on each time I get someone who speaks a reasonable version of English, or sounds like they might be in charge of something. Promises of call backs have gone, of course, unreturned.'"
That's nothing... An iPod killed my family!
And we thought the exploding batteries were bad..
Burning Down the House may have been a poor choice for a new a theme song.
Dell's a corporation. They're either a Texas or a Delaware corp. (Probably Texas.) They'll be registered with whatever the local equivalent of the secretary of state's office is. They'll have provided the name and address of a person or agency authorized by them to receive service of process (in the event they're sued or something). Send a certified letter to that person/agency. You'll get someone's attention right quick, without plowing through India.
You might also think about talking to a tort lawyer. From what I got from this article, you've probably got a pretty good consumer products liability claim. (Even if you're not interested in pursuing it, whomever insured your farm house -- it was insured, right? -- is probably interested in recouping their loss. And, enough of these exploding Dells have made the news of late, it might force Dell to be substantially more careful when designing their next round of laptops... But, then, I'm a trial lawyer, that's how I think. :)
Good luck, sorry to hear about your loss!
geek. lawyer.
perhaps.
So what do you want "Alan" to do about it? Send another replacement parts?
This is the new combined security and power-save model in Vista. Your PC can't get infected by spyware, no one can hack your home network, and you won't use any power, if the computer just burns the whole place to the ground.
I think it's in the Screen Saver settings someplace:
"[x] Enter Burn-House-to-Ground mode after [ 30 ] minutes of inactivity."
Moderator hint: a comment is neither "Flamebait" nor "Troll" if it is true.
I had some problems with getting Dell to complete my order (some recovery CDs were missing). I posted about it on Slashdot a few months back and got a reply from a US Dell employeee telling me to drop him a line and he'd help fix it (I'm in the UK) and try to his word after a couple of phone calls everything was sorted out and dandy.
So before everyone starts ragging on Dell, remember there are at least a couple of good apples there.
I like muppets.
...in their advertisements by "blazing fast processor speeds"
But seriously, I hope that Dell will offer to pay for things if this guy has no insurance even if for no other reason than good PR. A new laptop would be nice too - ha ha.
Libertas in infinitum
At this point I believe the best thing would be to call a lawyer who has experience handling cases such as this. While this one is possibly a first, I am sure there are a slew of them out there who specialize in suing companies due to damage caused by faulty manufacturing or defective parts.
In the event that this was not faulty manufacturing or parts, for example if the man frayed his cord and left it damaged, then he doesn't have a leg to stand on, otherwise it should be pretty straight forward if it shows it in the report on the fire.
YouStockIt - Education through Unorthodox Methods
I know it's not a model listed on the https://www.dellbatteryprogram.com/ website, but they do state many batteries were sent out as replacements too. Guess it'll be difficult to read the battery pack serial number now...
Forget thrust, drag, lift and weight. Airplanes fly because of money.
"Well, this is your problem right here -- this thing's set to EVIL!"
Moderator hint: a comment is neither "Flamebait" nor "Troll" if it is true.
Don't go buying anything expensive with that 'first post cash'.
I would like to know if the battery in the defective unit was one of the batteries subject to recall. If it was, then the owner bears some responsibility.
But more than this, the maker of the battery was likely of Sony origin and quality.
And really, what is Dell supposed to say to claims of "you've burned my house down?"
> He should have sent his battery in for the recall
And how do you do that when it is impossible to talk to anyone at Dell that either speaks English or does their job? We have more than four hundred laptops from Dell with dangerous batteries, but we haven't beaten them a single time yet in the battle to get the batteries replaced. They just don't care or try unless you're a huge customer with a large legal department. For us with only around 3,000 employees, they don't even pretend to care.
Let the insurance company handle it. That is what you pay them for, they don't want to pay the claim themselves and the insurance company has the deep pockets to cover legal fees.
Whats the problem? Just kick those nerds out of their house and take it over!
er.. oops..
First and foremost, I am sorry for the loss of your home. The best suggestion I can give you is:
Get a copy of the Fire Marshal's report that specifies the source of the fire being the laptop in question, deliver it to your insurance company, and then go talk to a lawyer.
It sucks, but as an individual, you have less a chance of gaining the attention of the company in question (never mind the /. post) than the lawyer pool of your insurance company will.
Good Luck
Is this the first Slashdot IAAL post?
I told him I had a Dell Inspiron 1200.
His model isn't on Dell's official list of affected models. So, one wonders, was it the "laptop, battery, or cord" that started the fire? I would imagine that if the cord wasn't severely mangled, and assuming the laptop itself didn't have a very serious manufacturing flaw (that probably would have prevented it from working in the first place), perhaps the transformer was at fault.
Reading the article though, I found it very... unsatisfying. It seems more that the real news is the writer's inability to get any meaningful correspondence with Dell about this particular issue... but then again, that isn't really news.
Boot Windows, Linux, and ESX over the network for free.
I imagine this has happened many times before. It can just be hard to narrow down the cause to a single source.
5 years ago, 6 out of 100 of our new 17" Dell monitors went up in flames, over the first 3 months. This was fortunately an office building with very high ceilings, so there was little risk. I've long imagined just how bad that could have been in a private home, with a low ceiling, and wall nearby. That experience alone stopped me from ever buying anything from Dell.
All the articles on Notebook fires are very old news. Dell's been having fire problem with their entire product range for about the past 10 years. Passing it off as Sony's fault ignores Dell's long history of similar ocurances with all of their machines.
Since it happened to me, I've been wonder when I'd hear about a class action against Dell, but it's never been forthcoming. I guess residential building fires can cover up the evidence pretty well. Sooner or later, it's going to have to come out.
Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
You don't need to talk to anybody at Dell or negotiate anything to exchange a defective battery. It's a simple process, just fill in your information at Dell's battery recall site. I hope this helps you out, as I can imagine how difficult it must have been for you to try to call dell once for each one of your four hundred batteries. The funny thing is that I found this site after only a few seconds of googling.
Slow Down, Cowboy! It's been 60 minutes since you last successfully posted a comment.
>You might also think about talking to a tort lawyer.
The parent, being an attorney, may be taking for granted that everyone knows about coordinating with insurance companies.
Read your policy, and look for fine print about attempting to recover damages on your own. You could seriously alienate your insurance carrier if you made a misstep in the legal system that blocked their chance of recovering money using their own lawyers.
I'm sorry to hear that, sir... that's another reason why Dell won't be able to honor your request for a rebate.
You're never going to get compensation from Dell by calling them on the phone. There're not going to give you the time of day until they get served. Seriously. Start shopping around for a lawyer who has some experience with tech companies and or liability cases.
"Things are more moderner than before- bigger, and yet smaller- it's computers-- San Dimas High School football RULES!"
Why do you want to talk to Dell?
/. - you should be safe, nobody reads this.
This is why you get a lawyer and let him/her to the leg work... this is going to turn into a legal issue anyway, why screw it up before it starts by giving Dell some words or description of the events that they can use against you.
All it takes is one "maybe" or "possibly" or "it could have been the cat" and your case is gone with your house.
You posted this on
So you couldn't figure out how to go to the dell battery recall site enter the battery serial numbers? Put all the numbers into their site along with an email address and the batteries show up in the mail. Stick the old batteries in the box and drop them at the post office. Yeah, it's a pain in the butt to collect the battery serials and swap batteries, but getting Dell to send batteries was dirt simple. (Replaced 50 at my site).
Let's get this one out of the way first: the Inspiron 1200 was not one of the models listed in the recall program.https://www.dellbatteryprogram.com/
I would like to know if the battery in the defective unit was one of the batteries subject to recall. If it was, then the owner bears some responsibility.
IANAL (and this is not legal advice, yadda yadda...) but I think that, in order to prove that in court, you'd have to prove that A) the battery was one of the Sony recalled batteries B) The customer could reasonably be expected to have been aware that the battery in his laptop was one of the recalled batteries C) Despite knowing that the battery was dangerous and subject to recall, the customer did nothing to get a replacement
But more than this, the maker of the battery was likely of Sony origin and quality.
Which would only add a co-defendant in the lawsuit, if the guy were to go down that road.
And really, what is Dell supposed to say to claims of "you've burned my house down?"
Excellent point. If someone accused me of that, all I'd say is, "No comment." The next thing I'd say is, "Let's talk confidential settlement. Howzabout I give you a million dollars for your house, without admitting any liability?"
The US free market: two halves of a government-granted duopoly are free to set the market price.
And why would you assume we haven't already tried that? I found that site from a post here when Dell first did the recall. It's just impossible for an individual or small business to fight Dell. Our salesdrones change every few weeks and while we at least now have morons that don't speak English that are based out of Texas rather than complete idiots that don't speak English based out of India, nothing still gets done. I'm about ready to start looking for an employee that speaks Mexican (I'm not calling it Spanish since an employee from Barcelona simply can't understand the Dell guys in Texas) so we have more of a hope of getting orders completed correctly. I just don't know anyone that speaks that slang-version of Spanish well enough to communicate with them.
Would someone like to post a link before I have a change of heart?
This new incident raises a lot of questions. Power cord? Battery? Origin of battery? Etc.
His computer isn't on the list of computers with affected batteries.
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=32 550
[Insert pithy quote here]
How is this automatically Dell's fault?
Presumably you have insurance? If so, this little stunt could cost you your claim...
Insurance policies have a clause in it re: subrogation. E.g. If Dell is really at fault--the insurance company will pay you directly, and then go after Dell for the money..
BUT your policy also has a clause in it saying that you must not do anything to obstruct the insurance company's ability to subrogate. This little slashdot stunt and posting your story online may just do that.. You may have fscked yourself twice over.
When Dell recalled its Inspiron power supplies last year (or the year before?) I found that I had two that matched model#/serial# ranges. I used the Dell web for getting an RMA for each one. I never heard anything more from Dell, certainly nothing to return them.
But then, I don't live in a 130 year old farmhouse. Maybe that means I'm still covered by the warranty, so they're not replacing mine.
--
make install -not war
Summary for easy understanding: Dell did not do enough to tell its consumers about the battery recall.
I suggest you take the compensation from the insurance, build a new house and sell it before the housing market crashes.
I wonder if this is a hoax. The Portland News site does not say anything about the cause of the fire. It does not even name the owner of the house. All we have is some guy named Dan (no last name) writing a letter to a blog claiming a Dell laptop burned down his house. Has anyone bothered to check the facts?
Now, should we initiate a recall? Take the number of laptop batteries in the field, A, multiply by the probable rate of failure, B, multiply by the average out-of-court settlement, C. A times B times C equals X. If X is less than the cost of a recall, we don't do one.
This may have happened, but the whole thing sounds like a load of crap. It's the sort of thing that usually arrives in my email inbox with "FWD" appended to it.
Seriously, has this been sourced?
Yeah, I'm as old as my UID would suggest.
I'll take the odds that the sofa was the most flammable piece of furniture in his house. We do this all the time, but still...we should know better. I would probably also be asking whether there were functioning smoke detectors or a more sophisticated alarm system in place. Something very basic, but, again, too easily forgotten.
michael.dell@dell.com
Put your number and reason for request in the email and you should be called by american tech support with in 24 hours, sad fact but its the only way to get dell to actually deal with any problems anymore.
When you write "Good luck, sorry to hear about your loss!", to whom exactly are you saying that? The person who posted this Slashdot article isn't the same as the person who submitted content to the blog that Slashdot links to. You're talking to a wall, in other words, and odds are pretty high that the consumerist poster will never read these comments.
We recently had heard in the office over one of the Yellow Machine that's made by Anthology Solutions.
Maybe he tried to install Vista on it ;-)
He obviously forgot to install a "firewall".
... Ok, I'm leaving.
"Hours later, after investigation the fire Marshall investigator took me aside asked me if I had a laptop computer. Yes -- I told him I had a Dell Inspiron 1200..."
Since when does the fire department conduct an investigation into a fire that determines the source within hours of the fire taking place. Especially with something that would be hard to determine- such as the fire being started by an electronic device that presumably would have been fairly well destroyed if it was as small as a laptop and made of the less than tough plastic and other materials that laptops are made of. The account seems to be fairly short on details to be pointing the finger at Dell. And as others have pointed out- why isn't this guy calling his insurance company instead of Dell? They are the ones who would be paying him for the house.
Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws. -Plato
Please refrain from impugning our client regarding this incident, or we will be forced to take action against you.
Sincerely,
The Law Offices of Fluffy, Lightning, and Mr Jingles
I'm Canadian, but I got to school in India. Almost everyone I meet speaks amazing English, with just a little bit of an accent. These are all people who are from Bombay or Bangalore, never left the country before (at least to go as far as North America) and havde really good technical skills. Yet instead of picking the well-educated, English-speaking middle class, these call centres instead hire slum dwellers and give them names like "Frank", and attempt to teach them how to speak like us. This training costs a lot, and is really unproductive. If they made an attempt to seek out my classmates, they'd have to pay them more, but they'd have to invest practically no time in "educating" them- they'd save money and produce a better product! GAHHHHHH!!! It's so simple, people!!!
Also, how many of your classmates want a job as tech support for Dell?
CSS is totally U.S. based. No offshore tech support.
http://www.curtissystemssoftware.com/preloads.htm
I think the author wasn't trying to denigrate the Indians, but rather report that his phone efforts didn't get within several thousand miles of people at Dell's HQ in Austin, TX who possibly were in a position to help him, or be helped.
I purchased a Dell XPS 1210 in Australia in November last year, with 3 Years (CompleteCover Guard) Theft insurance. I was typing on the laptop while sitting down at a local restaurant at a fancy part of town, when two big guys came running past the table and grabbed the laptop from behind.
I chased the thieves two blocks before they were able to give me the slip. The whole thing was on security camera (in daylight), and the police informed me that they had a clear picture of the entire incident.
When I reported the incident to Dell, they replied to me the next day via e-mail and said that my claim was rejected because there was no sign of force to the premises. I was stunned, and so went to read the policy. Yes, it said that "Theft of attempted theft not accompanied by forcible and violent entry" was excluded. I then noticed that the policy on the Dell website was somewhat different to the policy provided to me via hardcopy, but they both had a similar clause.
Finally, I decided that if they wanted to get technical, I'd do the same. After carefully reading *both* policies, I noticed that they both had wording similar to "CompleteCover Service is only available with the purchase of a Dell Latitude or Inspiron portable computer, or Dimension or Optiplex or Precision desktop computer, or Axim PDA (The "Product") but is not necessary that you purchase CompleteCover Service to buy a Product from us."
So what did I purchase? Obviously they had no document explaining exclusions for my XPS, since it appears they didn't have a valid policy!
At one point, I was verbally informed that XPS was a Latitude. When I captured many screenshots of the website as evidence against this, Dell denied that this was ever stated.
There were a few other arguable points I could have made, but in the end Dell just wouldn't listen. I only ever spoke to call centers in Asia where the accent was so thick it was hard to understand. I had one e-mail admit there might be a problem with the policy and they will try to fix it in the near future, and many apologies, but every e-mail always quoted "There was no theft of attempted theft not accompanied by forcible and violent entry". E-mails were sometimes hard to read due to invalid sentence structure.
I have been advised not to try and fight this. I am quite broke (my wife is out of work, I am on a small income and only just paid the stolen laptop off), and feel powerless to do anything. I feel the best I can do is encourage people not to purchase anything from Dell. It sure seems like I'm not the only one with a bad experience.
It's GNU/Linux dammit!
There were a bunch of lawsuits over house fires started by TV sets in the 60s. I guess it's been so long ago, most of todays corporate executives have forgotten. I reckon they'll be gettig a reminder real soon.
Wansu, th' chinese sailor
First, STFU in public about what happened. Not online, definitely not to the news media. Anything you say, especially if you speculate as to the cause, could come back to haunt you if this ever goes to trial.
Repeat "no comment" to yourself aloud a few hundred times to get used to it.
Next, call your insurance company. Let them sort it out. Let their lawyers fight it out with Dell if the laptop is determined to be the cause.
We don't let lawyers write code, by the same token, you shouldn't try to handle this with Dell yourself. You shouldn't be contacting them at all.
...that the microprocessor encountered the HCF opcode, halted, and promptly caught fire.
--
BMO
to avoid any kind of Dell...
Makes me glad I don't ever want one..
Computers are like Old Testament gods; lots of rules and no mercy.
You should check out the section in Home Depot called "concrete board." Most accounts say that concrete doesn't burn.
After getting my hands on some real construction materials, it's not clear to me why anyone's house should burn. That may not save you, but it's a warning to others.
Trolls don't out themselves on Slashdot. It doesn't make sense, because people often knowingly reply to trolls to make sure they don't mislead anyone. The parent knew you were a troll and basically called you on it. I know it's customary on other sites to gloat when somebody makes the mistake of replying to your trolling, but there's no shame in refuting plausible misinformation.
Dell's new AMD-based notebook computers are so hot... they might just burn your house down.
*music plays*
A women bludgeoned her boyfriend to death with an ipod!
l ling.html
http://www.liquidgeneration.com/rumormill/ipod_ki
There seems to be some debate on whether this is a true story or not. It may or might not be, but it sounds possible. I don't know if I would quite say that it is probable, but it could be possible.
I have noticed that laptops are marketed heavily for their sex appeal. They seem to be a status symbol for those who equate having a laptop with being a cool, on-the-go guy, urbanely sipping expensive coffee while joining the blogosphere at the local wi-fi hotspot. Not that people don't need laptops, and not that they are somehow responsible when bad things happen to them, but I do believe that people's urge to get laptops because of how nifty they are leads some people into buying something that they don't understand, with unintended consequences. Having a house burn down is more serious than the usual consequences, but I think it all comes from people not knowing what they are getting into.
I urge every geek, when approached by some well-meaning person who thinks it would be cool and nifty to have a laptop, to tell the inquirer that, much like with a puppy, once you have a laptop, there will be responsibilities once the thrill wears off. The most usual hazard of laptop ownership I have seen is that a battery, power supply, screen, keypad or one of many other dozens of little proprietary parts goes bad, leaving the laptop owner in desperate need of a specific part, which is almost always hard to find and very expensive. Other risks of a laptop, such as theft, data theft (which should also be mentioned to people who think wireless is the best thing ever), and of course the many safety/environmental hazards of a laptop should also be addressed.
Hopefully I didn't put any [] around my words.
Your house burnt down.
You are not looking for tech support for your computer.
The fire marshal investigator and the insurance company is looking into a possible criminal investigation.
They should call Dell - not you.
They will actually be able to reach Mr.Dell, in the USA, they have the legislated power.
The only thing corporatons can not outsource is legal liability.
he was probably running the thing 24/7 while sitting on a wool placemat. all of the lint from that turns into a carpet covering the fins for the heatsink. seen it a million times.
> "speaking a delectable version of English"
;-)
This sounds like some sort of sex line to me... when I think of delectable English, I imagine Liz Hurley on the other end of the line telling me what color and type of underwear she has on.
Of course, the absolute irony of the original blogger complaining about anyone's diction and grammar is almost as delicious, I suppose.
It's a strange world -- let's keep it that way
So just because they couldn't contact this guy because he had an old battery its the companies fault?
As someone who grew up in a 244 year old farm house I have to say it's a real tragedy when a piece of history is lost like that.
It's sad when choosing an installation directory on your own qualifies you as an "advanced user."
That's too bad. I bought a Delphi MyFi XM unit 2 years ago. There were battery issues and about 2 weeks after XM announced there would be a recall I received a replacement battery in the mail. I *never* requested it, they just automatically sent it based on their customer records. Granted, the laptop batteries are probably more expensive than my little XM battery but I'm also guessing that Dell has a lot more resources than XM. Even if they didn't send out unprompted batteries to customers, I would think they could at least send letters about the recall. (maybe they did, I don't know)
An iPød bit my sister! :]
No big deal, they'll just use "We Didn't Start the Fire" instead.
those who live in wood houses should not buy dells there are reasons behind brick and concrete houses being safer (the walls cant start on fire) and methlab detonations are easily fixed in concrete omes (just use paint 2 coats will do)
With Dell it's always partaaaah tiiiiime! Woohoo.
N.B. I bring the chips, you bring the booze.
o hai
Most property/casualty policies have subrogation clauses. That is, if they pay you for a claim, it is they who get to go after the manufacturer, or the drunk that hit you, or the owner of the dog that bit you. This is the right of subrogation. There is typically (perhaps "damn near always") a corresponding clause that says the policyholder will not do anything to hamper their ability to subrogate. (This is why you are not supposed to discuss fault after an accident.)
Many times companies demand waivers of subrogation in their contracts. Fight it if you can -- your insurance carrier may not even allow you to do it, but resist it even if they do allow it. This would basically mean that if your insurer pays out a claim, they can't sue the company you signed that contract with -- you have waived the right of subrogation, so by extension, you have waived the insurance carrier's right of subrogation as well! This means that your insurance carrier may well take the hit for something that was someone else's fault, and you signed away their right to collect. (There are cases where these waivers have been deemed invalid or fraudulently obtained, but do you want to play that particular game of Russian Roulette?) Guess who pays for that, come renewal time? You, of course.
I highly doubt the article poster signed away his right of subrogation to Dell. If it was buried in a shrinkwrap "agreement" somewhere, I doubt that will stand -- though many dumber things have happened in legal history. But if he has accepted a settlement from his property insurance, he may have already given the insurance carrier the right to subrogate. It may be out of his hands now. This is not necessarily bad, as an insurance carrier can afford to throw lawyers at a problem (when it's worth it), in a way that ordinary mortals cannot.
Mal-2
How is the Riemann zeta function like Trump rallies? Both have an endless number of trivial zeros.
Now do you realise what are the cons of leaving your computer on when not using it?
https://www.dellbatteryprogram.com/
I recently had to replace one of those 90 watt power supplies for my Inspiron 9300 because the 19V DC cable lining dried up, cracked and eventually there was arcing and short circuiting of the power supply. It also ran very hot and needed always to be ventilated otherwise it was too hot to touch. I've had it replaced, but I was very aware of the fire risk, especially leaving the laptop plugged in overnight for a recharge.
In addition, there have been reports of current leaks from the Dell Inspiron 17 inch casing - I have noticed this myself when using an external hard drive which is earthed - touching it and having the laptop on my lap when wearing shorts results in shocks on my knees. ... of course I'm sure many people don't mind that - depends what you're into! But I read somewhere the voltage of the leak was as high as 30-60V DC.
Though I love my PC - I won't buy another Dell - I think they are cutting too many corners.
Do it yourself, because no one else will do it yourself. [beta blockade 10-17 Feb]
The parent post is an utter and malicious lie.
I have recordings (yes, you're not supposed to do that) of several Dell support calls my wife made in which their English was terrible, their accents were quite heavy, and they stayed with scripts and did not in any way show innovation or creative thought in their attempts to fix her broken machine.
And that felgercarb about East Indians speaking better English than American call centers is pure racist bollocks. I manage a data center and we outsource rurally to a place in Oklahoma City, OK, and their English is light years superior. I ensure this, but really, I don't have to. We have people in Manhattan, some of whom come right over from Spanish Harlem, who speak better English.
Let's not get into the tech support skills.
As for attitude and rudeness, now neither side of the ocean can claim the high ground there. I've never ordered a rurally outsourced rep terminated for crappy English, but the owner of the company decided to end our Bangalore (company not spoken here) call center contract because of their unimaginative, scripted behavior, and we've fired a healthy number of Americans for being rude.
But for you to say American reps - techies, no less - have poorer English skills than East Indian reps - is horribly wrong and very, very racist.
It's like East Indian workers can do no wrong and we can do no right. Well, excuse me, but I'll vote with my money. And if the other 300 million Americans did the same, there would be no booming East India or China economy.
You globalists depend on America's money. Otherwise you wouldn't sell so much to us. At least show us some respect .
--- Grow a pair, liberals... stop letting the Republicans bully you!
i purchased a dell axim and it arrived with a dent in it, they were great, let me use it for a month because i was leaving for europe for a month then replaced it with a new one when i got home. i have a hard time believing this guys story based on my own expereinces with dell.
If you mod me down, I will become more powerful than you can imagine....
For some time Dell is running a PR show at http://direct2dell.com/ to look good in public. Lets feed it to them and get a good laugh out of their whining and excuses for their customer "support".
I'm really sorry for this chap's loss and, of course, there is no excuse for this kind of catastrophic and dangerous failure. However, if people need another reason to actually switch off their electronic equipment instead of putting it in sleep mode, this seems to be more compelling than what are, to many people, abstract notions of social responsibility (i.e. not wasting cumulatively vast amounts of electricity for the sake of a little convenience).
It used to be the case, with old mainframes that used large tape or disk drives, that it would be more energy efficient to leave them on all the time as the start up phase used up so much energy. This simply isn't the case any more.
When you've finished with your gadgets, switch the buggers off, It's not hard to do.
Tim.
Dell systematically hides offshore from all serious complaints.
..... we had 364 nuisance phone calls. We were seriously peeved!
I discovered this the hard way.
Living in Britain, my home was plagued by nuisance phone calls. Some idiot faxing service on an untraceable number used to call our voice line and leave endless beep-beep-beep tones on our answering machine. Day after day after day we had to tediously delete this crap.
I eventually found that Dell was trying to junk-fax seven individuals in a nearby business with a wrong number from a dirty database. Multiply up 7 names by 4 failed-fax repetitions by 13 weeks' fax campaign and
This sort of junk faxing is blatantly illegal in Britain and the law clearly states that Dell owes us compensation. So I phoned Dell to ask for an apology, preferably the crinkly paper stuff that indicates real contrition and an intention not to bug other poor suckers.
Of course "customer service" by big corporations is one of life's great wasters of time and phone bills, but Dell are absolute champions at the art. Basically, if an issue does not fall within the foreseen list of technical problems that Dell's phone-jockeys are given, absolutely nothing happens. All promises are broken. All letters are ignored.
In the end, I got so annoyed at the insult on top of injury that I threatened to sue Dell. (Via the small claims track in a County Court.) In order to do this, one must know exactly which legal entity to sue. Ah, therein lies the problem!
Who or what is Dell in Britain? Is it their UK brass plate company in Reading? Is it their European headquarters in Dublin? Is it their minions who do their selling or their publicity? No one seems to know, and I cannot justify the time to nail them down.
So here is the bottom line. Dell is offshore. You cannot enforce consumer rights against them in the same way as you can against a normal high street store. If you are the unlucky customer who buys that one-in-a-thousand piece of kit that goes wrong in an unusual way you cannot just take it back to a store and create a scene until someone puts it right.
Slum dvellers in Bangalore do not know more than a few words of english, and they do not work in call centers. I strongly believe that most people working in call centers have a college degree, and come from middle class families. Check your sources...
Here's something interesting...the Inspiron entire 1000 (including 1200) line is completely left out of the recall list...makes me worried about my old laptop...
Ginga no Rekshiya Mata Each page.
I find it amusing that the author of this story attributes the misunderstandings to the fact that the operator may be an Indian. It's just as likely that it's due to him being an American. English is an international language and as such both oral and written English can be expected to vary between regions. Hell, as an Englishmen I could rag on the poor spelling many Americans have (it's colour m'kay), but I'd be wrong to do so.
Tim Brown
"and their English is light years superior. I ensure this, but really, I don't have to."
On slashdot, the jokes just write themselves.
Write a letter to the CEO and send a copy of the fire marshal's report - with his signature on it if possible.
Not true: The slums are no longer full of uneducated illiterates. They contain many high school and some college grads. They have cell phones, suits and ties...etc But the slum environment just doesn't provide the propper place to develop English skills. The middle clas who are more cosmopolitain speak English with their friends and family, the slum dwellers prefer speaking in their local language (Telegu, for instance) and never have the chance to refine their skills or accents.
Not switching off our computers is just plain irresponsible now, what with global warming and all. This takes, say, 1 minute to hibernate and 1 minute to wake up from hibernation. To save this 2 minutes of your life, it's simply not acceptable anymore to keep a 100 watt (or more) computer power supply running for over 12 hours.
My dad bought a Lenovo laptop a year ago. I guess they were using Sony batteries too. Before I even had the chance to tell him about the exploding Dell batteries thing, he received a letter from Lenovo telling him about the recall, and 2 new batteries shortly after.
Why are you calling Dell yourself? What are you going to accomplish? Your insurance company should be handling this, and it they are not then you should hire a lawyer to deal with this if you are looking for any kind of compensation.
Sound waves should be free!
Dell's ad line "we build it just for you" has never seemed so intimidating.
Hmmmmmm..... Deep fried and look like Squirrel.
Next time, don't leave the laptop in the Meth Lab.
Don't worry if you're a kleptomaniac, you can always take something for it.
It could have been some random drunk who let his mobile phone overheat & spontaneously combusted, taking the farmhouse with him.
Let's not rush to judgement until we hear what CSI-Smallville has to say.
All attempts to contact Dell have failed.
Your insurance company's lawyers will have no trouble at all getting through.
Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
1-800-CALL-SAM http://http//www.callsam.com/
If Dell management had any sense about them what so ever they would have a hotline set up for these types of events. Affected customers would then be able to speak directly with someone who can suggest what they can do (call a lawyer/insurance company). By reacting the way Dell did (according to the original poster)and forcing him to post about it on Slashdot to get attention to the case they are doing unimaginable damage to their image. This is really the kind of bad press a corpration does not need (regardless of how large they may be). Skill up Dell Management!
Though the guy's insurance should handle the discussions with Dell, I like how the following guy found a crafty way to stick it to dell:
l l-customer-finds-crafty-path-to-lawsuit-settlemen/
http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/10/disgruntled-de
No mention of evidence for concluding that the laptop was responsible. Perhaps the house burnt down for another reason. But that wouldn't make such a good story would it.
Did you know? Studies show that most house fires are caused by WIRES using ELECTRICITY! Stop using electricity before you and your friends and family die!!!1
Please mod into oblivion, those replies addressing the subject who was quoted, as if he were the poster!
Do not think I am the typical "slipped in your store so I sue you" idiot, but in that case maybe it is time to get a lawyer and go an other channel.
I remember people winning trials against Ford (I remember ford had some problems that set their trucks on fire).
If your laptop was identified by experts to burn your house down, it is a won case against Dell.
Just my 2c
Fire! Fire! Fire!
Now I know what to get my mother-in-law for Christmas.
Can I bum a sig?
The local media here reported he left his laptop on the couch plugged in... So it seems to me that the heat vents could have become blocked, perhaps causing overheating and a fire? I don't own a laptop, but I noticed they get pretty hot under there....
I wonder if removing the battery would solve all these dell fire hazaards. Laptops make good linux firewalls, dont consume a lot of power and have built in power failover (battery). Maybe I'll stick with old pentium Thinkpads.
boycott slashdot February 10th - 17th check out: altSlashdot.org
So Sony/Dell have had a problem with bad laptop batteries, and a Bangalore call centre is dragged into the mix? WTF do they have to do with anything?
Slashdot is so fucking predictable with the idiotic predictable jokes, and the predictable bigotry.
Sheesh.
His house just burnt down.. maybe he has no insurrance.. and the reason for the fire could be whatnot. and that guy will have a fun time prooving it all went as he said.. and wait... he knew there was a problem with it and kept it running and left... mhmhmhmhmhm anyone try the fish tonight?
Perhaps standards should be changed so that computer cases (laptops included) are required to contain internal fires and that most components not support combustion.
We take a low safety level for granted because portable computers are such (relatively) new technology. IMO this is like the casual attitude towards machinery and boiler safety in the Industrial Revolution.
Why shouldn't a notebook be able to contain the results of a dead short in the battery?
"Summary for easy understanding: Dell did not do enough to tell its consumers about the battery recall."
Only a TV commercial would reach the public effectively, and I expect Marketing would squelch THAT idea instantly if it popped up.
"This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."
Shouldn't that be "Hizzle?"
"Democracy." It's just a slogan.
It's too bad that this guy's house got burnt down, but suck it up, buttercup. Devices malfunction, despite hardware engineers' best intentions for them to do otherwise. Nothing is perfect. That's why people buy insurance.
Remember my previous post complaining abut the smell of burned electronics in our warehouse? Thank you, Dell, for making our place require Class-D extinguishers in case your shit blows the fuck up. We'll be loads safer with our Class-D extinguishers, as opposed to making sure your crap isn't FLAWED BEYOND BELIEF.
Fuck Dell and anyone associated with them. Cheap computers come with a hefty price, in this case.
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
Hopefully, somehow, you have managed to keep detailed records. In either case, I would suggest you file a lawsuit against Dell. THAT will get their attention, and certainly the last thing they want is this to turn class-action. Find an attorney who will take the case on contingency.
We're not talking about principles here, this was your HOME. And their product (and subsequent negligence) caused your loss. You deserve to be compensated.
Dell bought Alienware.... And now uses their customer service apparently... what he described is my sum total experience with Alienware; it's a shame really; I used to believe Dell had great customer service; but I will never buy an Alienware system again because of the wretched support I have received; and from what I hear about Dell lately, I pretty much feel the same is unfortunately true of them now as well. When you finally get to someone in any position of authority they call you a liar, tell you they will call back and don't, or just apparently now hang up on you too.
Laptops are getting to be high-powered. These are not iPods or Nintendo DSes, they're systems that need 80 watts of power all the time. Dell even sells gigantic batteries as an option, as a way to extend battery life. High-end batteries are still an odd, somewhat unpredictable technology. A downward trend in terms of power consumption would help a lot.
this fire was two blocks from my house,
and i also have a dell inspiron 1200.
Lithium Ion batteries, quite frankly, are notorious for generating extreme heat/exploding if they are charged or discharged rapidly enough. The "sony battery recall" was initiated because Sony's batteries did not meet the safety minimum. *Not* because they could explode, but because they were more likely to explode.
For example, talk to any Radio Controlled Plane hobbiest about Lithium Ion batteries, and most will tell you about the clay pots they sell to place the batteries in to try and contain explosions when they do happen(RC planes charge and discharge at rates even more rapid than laptops, thus are even more succeptable). My father is one of those RC plane fliers, in fact. In the last year one member of his flying club lost his garage and another lost his van, and in both cases it was due to a Lithium-Ion battery explosion.
Basically, it's time for new battery technologies. Lithium-Ion batteries are nice, but we've finally reached the point where our demands for power are straining them too much.
You are who you are, let no one tell you different. But, never close your mind to a new point of view.
Read it, learn it, apply it.
You don't have to be smart to use a Mac, you just have to be smart enough to buy one
Does no one read the news?
Don't... Leave... Your... Laptop... Plugged... In... All... Day
They're not going to just TALK to you about this. Why not? Because either you or your homeowner's insurance is eventually going to sue them for the damage caused by their negligent product design. Anything they say to you will be admissible in that lawsuit as evidence.
So don't sit waiting by the phone.
Humpty Dumpty was pushed.
Just use a Dell Laptop ...
... because they're about to need it! Ouch!
Not giving a straight answer.
In most cases, a customer would prefer to have a straight answer that they do not like over a run around and the possibility of compensation dangled in their face forever. Certainly they'd most like to get compensated when they think they should be, but if it comes down to it, what they want most is a straight answer as to what will be done about their case.
I've seen it where I work and from companies I've called... reps are scared shitless of giving an answer the customer won't like, so they pussyfoot around it. Screw that noise. It's demeaning to the rep to have to do that, and in almost every case it only pisses the customer off even more. It is quite possible to deliver bad news in a way that is both polite and direct. They are screwed anyways, no need to make it worse by giving them a huge runaround.
[quote]That is another good point. I want to be able to understand the tech support people. I am willing to pay for tech support I can understand.[/quote]
If I had a penny for every customer I've had that has exploded in orgasmic joy that I'm actually American... I could quit my job.
Companies need to learn some things about technical support. Sure, it looks like a money drain. They don't sell equipment or services. You just pay them lots of money. So it looks good on the surface to send them where it will be cheap.
But good tech support, which starts with the customers understanding what you say... does wonderful things to keep your customers coming back. They rarely call tech support until things have started to go wrong. This is *not* a customer you can afford to piss off further, if you do, you lose money.
1. A lot of home fires are caused by faulty wiring and electronics. 2. A battery recall was issued. Every owner of an affected battery was notified. Dell sent out a recall for the batter months ago, and before any other company I might add. 3. It's sony's battery, not dells. If you want to act like a five year old and blame a company, blame them. 4. Fires are caused by all sorts of reasons, this is why you have insurance.
"The parent post is an utter and malicious lie."
And your post is pure flamebait.
The poster is actually Michael Jackson, and he's complaining about how someone downloading an mp3 of "Beat It" put the entire Jackson family in dire poverty.
a new reality series - Extreme Makeover: Michael Dell Edition!
Cake or Death? Cake Please!
Apple has had its fair share of bulging batteries, and laptops catching on fire. It's not like they are magically immune or something.
Ah, you must be a small business customer. That dialect would emanate from the Oklahoma City, Oklahoma call center, just north of the Apache.org-stole-my-website town of Tuttle, Oklahoma.
However, considering the large influx of Indian contractors on IT slave-VISAs they still might be originally from Bangalore. Part of that think global, buy local mentality. So it must be good, right?
"You cannot have a General Will unless you have shared experiences. You cannot be fair to people you don't know."
I wont do business anymore with companies that use offshore call centers. Dell and Registery for example.
-=|hook
Dell didn't need to say a damn thing about the battery recal. It was not their problem, the problem was with Sony. Sony denied that there was an issue with the batteries, and so, Dell at the cost of doing the battery recall themselves. And by the way, there were a few other notebook manufacturers that used the same sony cells, and some of them still deny that there is anything wrong with the batteries. Before you start spewing forth information, maybe you should get you facts straight.
PS. I dont reall care about my spelling or grammar.
so if this is redundant, mark it so and fuck off!
"Dude! You bought a Dell!"
This is funny because I have a client who just Friday had yet ANOTHER Dell power supply blow out - the third one in the last couple months out of his 22 machines (none of the machines are more than three or four years old). He went out and bought a replacement power supply as he did before.
I was aware that Dell power supplies tend to be non-standard (or have been, depending on the year and model). But I thought that had to do with case layout only (and it does affect case layout - standard power supplies on some Dells will not have the power connector accessible without cutting a slot on the case.) So I checked and discovered that I was unaware that Dell power supplies in many cases were not merely non-standard in layout, but have different pinouts. Meaning that if you put a standard power supply in such a Dell, you will FRY YOUR MOTHERBOARD! Dell has NO warnings on the case about this!
I double-checked the model number on the client's system inventory I took, and determined that it is Dell 8300, which is one that DOES take a standard ATX power supply. However, had it been the 8400 machine NEXT to the 8300 machine, it would NOT.
"Dude! You bought a Dell!"
Anybody who buys a Dell, an HP, a Gateway, or any other "consumer grade" machine from a large corporation for corporate use is going to get bit down the road by that purchase. Quite frankly, home users shouldn't even buy that crap.
PCs are COMMODITIES. Buy them that way. Buy a white box from a storefront run by some Chinese guys. You'll get standard parts, an installable OS CD, and no crap on the desktop.
(Aside: My client just replaced his own desktop Dell with a white box PC. We spent several days trying to figure out how to get his hard drive moved to the new PC while still allowing him to run his existing Windows XP, before dropping the idea and just putting a new XP on the new box. Since he had no Dell reinstall CD - since the original box came with Windows 2000, Dell had no reinstall XP hat he could use - and since trying a Sysprep move would have been risky, and since the old XP was screwing up anyway, we decided to just install a new XP and reinstall his apps.)
(Further aside: That's when I discovered QuickBooks Premiere requires him to run as Administrator ALL THE TIME! Nice move, Intuit, YOU MORONS! He went ahead and installed it on the default admin account before I could warn him to create a NEW Admin account, so now we're hosed security-wise. And I can't even put my own account on the box now to enable remote monitoring because if I do, it will send the original admin account to Safe Mode access only, and QuickBooks is totally tied to that default admin account. Nice work, Bill, YOU MORON!)
(Final aside: Just think about it, folks! The accounting software that practically every small business and small business accounting firm uses to keep track of your books, your transactions, and your credit card numbers is that one software that runs on Windows in ADMINISTRATOR MODE AT ALL TIMES! Tell me again about "security is job one".)
Richard Steven Hack - This sig is TOO GODDAMN SHORT TO DO ANYTHING USEFUL WITH! MORONS!
Hi, I'm a Mac
And I'm a PC
Woa, what happened to you PC?!
Oh, I just burned down a 200 year old house, no big deal. Happens all the time.
Never accept a 'no' from someone who doesn't actually have the authority to say 'yes'
There is one thing every one is missing due to their needs to jump on the anti big PC manufacturer wagon.
.....
There is no proof that the fire was caused by the laptop. If you read the article it says the fire chief asked if he had a laptop as it might have been that, the battery, or the power cord. For all we know a pan may have been left on, or another electrical device shorted
-Eric
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
Kind of Tongue-In-Cheek; But I never thought that the statement, "Your getting a Dell", could be considered a threat.
No one complains about Goldstar customer service when their VCR burns their house down. Or do they? Anyway, I've heard of other appliances (usually TV's) starting fires, and that's usually where it all ends.
This is really more an issue of appliance "standby" mode, isn't it?
I double-checked the model number on the client's system inventory I took, and determined that it is Dell 8300, which is one that DOES take a standard ATX power supply. However, had it been the 8400 machine NEXT to the 8300 machine, it would NOT. It's funny that you mention that about the 8300. The power supply in my 8300 went out after my last move. (According to my power supply tester, the +5v lead to the motherboard was marginal -- it would work if you jiggled the wire around, but you of course can't do that when the PS is mounted inside your case.) Contrary to your reaction, I was pleasantly surprised when I discovered that it was a standard ATX case. When I buy an OEM PC, I just expect the fact that many of the parts won't be standard. I thought everybody knew that Dell power supplies had non-standard pinouts, though. For the record, I also own a Compaq and a Micron PC and neither one of those machines use standard ATX power supplies, either. (After I learned that the 8300 PS was standard ATX I was hoping to use one of those power supplies in my 8300 until I could get to the store and buy a new one.) I did have to cut the back of the case to fit the new power supply, but only because the new PS also had a master power switch on the rear of the PS. It's just a fact of life when you buy an OEM PC that some stuff will be to the OEM's standard and not ATX (or BTX or whatever). You notice when you buy a PC from them, they don't claim conformity to any case standards on their sites, so you shouldn't be surprised when their machines do turn up different. I'm just thankful that none of the manufacturers force you to use proprietary RAM like in my parents' old Pentium generation Compaq.
That said, I will be the first to admit that Dell's quality does seem to have gone down hill over the last decade. The last several PCs that my friends and family have bought from Dell have required repairs of some sort within a year of purchase. I guess that's what happens when you buy a cheap computer... Just think about it, folks! The accounting software that practically every small business and small business accounting firm uses to keep track of your books, your transactions, and your credit card numbers is that one software that runs on Windows in ADMINISTRATOR MODE AT ALL TIMES! Tell me again about "security is job one" That's really Intuit's fault for writing crappy software. Granted, Windows should force a "sudo" type situation for Quickbooks, but it is in no way Microsoft's fault that Intuit wrote their software that way.
If Murphy's Law can go wrong, it will.
Didn't say it was Microsoft's fault that Intuit wrote their crap that way. I did say that it was stupid that Windows places the Admin account in Safe Mode and then requires a SECOND admin account. Never have seen an answer as to why that is.
Richard Steven Hack - This sig is TOO GODDAMN SHORT TO DO ANYTHING USEFUL WITH! MORONS!
If Murphy's Law can go wrong, it will.
TZ
Thanks for proving me right
(sigh) Ego,
You *really* need to spend some time away from your computer. You've all but mastered the art of schoolyard insults, perhaps try something a (little) more productive and appropriate for your age?
While you have done a simply wonderful job of insulting me, the fact remains that 'ethics of profit or debit' remains fragmented and unexplained.
Ethics is something that is posessed, used (by demonstration), which makes it (in your use) a noun. 'Ethical' would be a completely different story.
Profit or Debit describe the state of something, a number to be specific, which makes them prepositions (in your usage of them). This should be the other way around. Profit can have no 'ethics', nor can debt. Some guy named Michael Moore touched on this when he complained of the government declaring war on nouns.
You still need a subordinator of some sort, I suspect. The sentence is just too fragmented to continue trying to decipher. What was that about proper English, again?
About 'globalism', we are working from two entirely different meanings of the word. Colloqually, its (broadly) assumed to reference a single unified 'global' economy without hinderence of special interests influencing government and trade.
Global is good because we really should be working together (united) to get off this rock before it can no longer sustain us rather than worrying so much about 'profit and debit' as you put it.. you are welcome to call Stephen Hawking 'stupid' too, if you like. I would not be at all amazed to see you pick on a guy in a wheel chair. Wow, 8'th grade is really coming back now. IT WAS YOU! YOU BASTARD! YOUR THE ONE WHO DUNKED MY HEAD IN THE TOILET AND FLUSHED FIFTY TIMES!
On a more serious note
I want to remove the barriers on which you perch while throwing eggs at people via tcp/ip, I doub't sincerely that we'd ever come to a meeting of the minds. Let us just both agree that is a good thing, and move along
This post and the few that predicate it are off topic. Please moderate accordingly, unless of course you also lost your virginity in a trailer while plaing Zack McCracken on a Dell laptop that caught on fire.
Per a news story on WOAI-TV lately, the number to the Office of the President of Dell is (512) 728-5494 - Direct Line
m bers.htm for more information...
See http://www.centralmediaserver.com/woai/bigexecsnu
You're only right in your own little polkadot universe, dude.
:)
And speaking of the 8th grade, that must have been the best 25 years of your life, God knows it's been downhill ever since. Your wit is almost as sharp as Stephen Hawking's martial arts skills, and I can't even say your IQ without getting frostbite. For instance, only an idiot doesn't know you can't post and moderate at the same time. Oh wait, that's you.
Errors, errors, errors, that's all you do. It's the one thing you're better at than me.
--- Grow a pair, liberals... stop letting the Republicans bully you!
When you manage to find your way out of Darwin's waiting room, let the rest of us know, ok?
Cool. Now we can concentrate less on your tragedy of factual and logical errors and more on your dead on arrival jokes!
--- Grow a pair, liberals... stop letting the Republicans bully you!
(By the way, are "Mod parent up" posts considered rude?)
This is not a signature.