thelinuxlink.net

Woman says Dell computer kept her from taking online classes

http://www.wkowtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=9667184

--Allan

There are some positives here...

First she bought the computer thinking that it was a standard computer and got the best OS in the world by accident.

Second the Dell rep told her the truth that Ubuntu is a good OS and advised her to stick with it.

But there were some bad parts...

The Dell rep should have been more helpful (couldn't he get Verizon on the line)
Verizon installed the Internet connection without testing her computer?

---I may be alone in this idea, but I think even the less computer literate folks should be allowed to have a computer. However, I do they should not be allowed to talk to the media...

jstgtpaid wrote: ---I may be alone in this idea, but I think even the less computer literate folks should be allowed to have a computer. However, I do they should not be allowed to talk to the media...

I have long advocated a training video be included with every computer sold...no matter what the operating system. It could help consumers see how things work, fix things on their own and help the companies selling the computers save money in basic support help.

[soapbox]
At the college where I used to work at, they did require a competency test before taking any credit computer classes but not for the community non credit classes. Most of the those tests automatically assumed you would be using or had Microsoft software. Only now are colleges, beginning to see the light that MS is not the only OS. My brother is teaching Ubuntu installation in his hardware classes. This was without department approval. Now that the department head has been ousted that will definitely change as a standard policy.
As for the isp, most isp's if you get the usual low level help desk will tell you that you can not use linux. I remember swbell first came out with dsl instructing me not to use linux because it would not work. Worked find for me. That is also beginning to change. Helpdesk people are slightly more aware. The isp install disk is generally worthless anyway if you use some kind of nat box. To put things in perspective. When we went up to stay at my brother's during the last hurricane. I wanted to wash some clothes as to be less of a burden. Their washer and dryer was so complicated, I was awestruck. Our washer and dryer are very simple. Anyway, my brothers wife was kind enough to give me enough instruction to use the units. whew! I guess my point is linux obviously should not be the scapegoat. Generally most (brick and mortar or mail order) retailers only care about getting the product out the door and customers want the "George Jetson single push button approach to how things work." It is not really that way. Because of the cutthroat pricing competition, most retailers have cut back on the service unless you pay extra or bitch enough. When I worked for Sears (pre-Kmart), service was burned in our brains to help customers. Also individual mom and pop retailer have not been able to compete. Generally at the "True" independent mom and pop computer store, you usually get quite a bit more support than the traditional retailer. I know when I worked for one we made sure the customer had what they wanted by actually having the customer do what they needed to do on our sales floor machines. We had few returns. And as long as I worked there the sales kept increasing with quite a bit of repeat business. That is not going to happen at Fry's, Microcenter, or any mail order house. [RETAILERS DO NOT KNOW HOW TO SELL ANYMORE and the sad part is they do not understand why they are having financial issues.) Certainly the public is much more aware of what goes on with computers, but there are still a portion of the public who have not been introduced. Both myself and my two brothers are all computer addicts. Our now deceased mom would not touch one.
To sum it all up.... A video might be nice, but most people would probably not look at it anyway. Remember rtfm. There should be computer aware commercials whether it be for Microsoft or Linux aka public service announcements that deal with the most common issues that you and I take for granted. (Are you listening DELL????).
[/soapbox]

There is utter failure all around here:

1) The college for creating or contracting to an online service that only supports on OS.

2) Dell for not providing better resources or not informing this person about said resources to understand her computer's OS better.

3) and ultimately the person for not doing her research before complaining and making a false accusations.

Ubuntu did not prevent her from getting on the internet or using the online classes at her college. Linc did! Not Ubuntu!

Verizon failed by not providing accurate documentation and training their support people properly so that customers can use their services properly.

Dell failed to support this woman properly by not providing her the resources necessary when saying the OS on her system, while different, was a "good OS" encouraging her to keep the system and then not providing her the support necessary for her to understand what she is getting into. I'm not saying they had to hold her hand, but they should have provided her with links or names of books to start with. I am merely going on what was reported in the article so it is quite possible they did provide her with this information and she did nothing with it.

This lady failed to take the initiative to understand Ubuntu better when she agreed to keep the system. If she was having problems getting online with Verizon she should have brought this up the the Dell representative when she called for support. Ultimately, she made the choice to keep the system beyond the date she could return it.

Most customers do not know what to research or how to evaluate what they are researching to begin with. Obviously the whole situation was a mess and the customer had unrealistic expectations and preconceptions. I will also bet that the customer had some negative peer pressure about owning a linux based computer. That is my point. Nine times out of ten most people do not do research. Part of making a sale is asking customer questions to ascertain what a customer needs and then educating them. Sales persons need to know that they are part of the customer research process. (Are you aware that....?) It is just not done anymore and needs to be. A sales person should have no qualms about suggesting a customer look at other options when the customer is not sure what they need or know what they were getting into. The customer does come back to you and even spends more money with you. Most sales people intentionally or unintentionally are now just order takers. I have been guilty of that too. That goes for most vendors and not just Dell. Dell if they wanted to take the easy way should of just made a deal with her on a mswindows restore disk and let support babysit the customer till she felt safe. In rare cases, that just has to be done. I am also appalled at the news reporter. I tried to respond to the article but it said that comments were closed. Wonder why?

"Miracle on 24th street" was and is one of the worlds greatest sales training film.

This article struck close to me because when I first started using linux my ISP refused to support it. Therefore, any time I had a problem with my internet connection I was completely on my own. This caused me to go back to windows for a while, because at the time, I didn't know enough without the ability to get on the internet and research.

So, I feel for that lady. But I also think other points are right. The sad part is that others have told her that she made the wrong decision buying ubuntu and that she should have gotten Windows. That is a horrible conclusion because it is very likely that Ubuntu is better for her than Windows.

Rather than posting a comment, I wonder if you could draft an article and submit it to the paper. Maybe the counterpoint or another view would be well received...

Ohh sorry, I missed the most important point that Dann made... It is Linc's fault...